This week Eric Reynolds and Paul Harvey take a break from producing their latest game, The Shackleton Series, to talk about all things Escape Mail. They have been working full-time in the company for the past 8 years, with some big changes recently that they will touch on later. Outside of work, they love to spend time with their children (three each) and enjoy climbing mountains.
(Meet Your Maker is an interview series featuring creators of puzzle and mystery games and experiences from across the globe. We aim to shine a spotlight on both established creators and those who are just setting out on their journey. Stay tuned for more interviews coming soon.)
Escape Mail wasn’t the original name for the company. Can you explain a bit about the evolution of the business?
It began with Mobile Escape and a mission to Awaken Wonder. We sought to do that by bringing mobile escape room experiences to students in southern Alberta. We grew that company right up until Covid hit. When schools closed, we were forced to come up with a pivot so we took the escape room experience and put it in an envelope.
Drawing from our passion for storytelling and puzzle design, we developed Escape Mail, a mail-based interactive adventure series. It quickly resonated with families and puzzle enthusiasts around the world, growing into an award-winning product that continues to awaken wonder and bring people together. Post Covid, we tried to run both brands but they really are quite different. We found ourselves stretched too thin. We see a lot of potential with Escape Mail and were ready to say goodbye to Mobile Escape and see it thrive in someone else’s hands.
One of the more significant factors that propelled us in this direction was our time on Dragons’ Den. The dragons noticed that we had multiple irons in the fire and encouraged us to focus. That is probably our biggest single takeaway from the show, along with some other pointed feedback that we have taken into consideration as we move forward.
How is it working together as brothers?
Being family isn’t necessarily good or bad as some people like to say. What really matters is that you share the same values and respect one another and that you are different enough to see one another’s blind spots. In the first few years, we used to see people cringe and “warn” us about going into business with a family member – now that we’re eight years in and going strong through many highs and lows, people are quick to root for us as a family-owned business.
Why did you opt for an escape room in an envelope, rather than a boxed game?
We are moving away from the ‘escape room’ terminology as there are people who would never want to do an escape room, but would actually like our games quite a lot. The tricky part is that there really isn’t a standardized conventional name for what we do. So trying to communicate that to consumers is challenging.
When we created Escape Mail, our goal was to bring the intrigue and excitement of escape rooms into the comfort of people’s homes, especially as the pandemic made in-person experiences impossible. The idea of a connected series was inspired by the main character in the game, JJ, who (in real life) is a long-time Dungeons & Dragons player and Dungeon Master. JJ loved the concept of an episodic campaign, similar to D&D, and we thought a year-long adventure arriving by mail would be just as fun to create as it would be to play. We really value story and narrative so having our games interconnected was both a financial decision as well as an immersive theme.
Mail, instead of a game in a box, felt approachable and manageable—something anyone could dive into without much setup. Plus, there’s a special kind of nostalgia in receiving a letter in the mail, especially when it’s not a bill or junk. The idea of getting a mysterious message from your “long-lost cousin” every month seemed whimsical and exciting, adding an element of surprise to the experience. Ultimately, Escape Mail combined all these elements—episodic storytelling, tactile puzzles, and a touch of nostalgia—to create an adventure that’s truly unique and engaging.
What were the biggest lessons you learned working on season one of Escape Mail?
The number of lessons we have learned is literally endless. And we are still learning. In fact, we intend to issue a second edition of episode two of the Family Secret series. Episode one is already on its second edition. We continue to hear from players, as well as people play testing, what they enjoy and what they don’t. It can be one of the most challenging parts of the job to edit and reprint. We believe that in doing so we will continually get better and be proud of the products that are in circulation.
One of the biggest lessons that comes to mind though is that we need to make puzzles fun and approachable to a wide audience. This style of game is pretty different from most board games as it doesn’t really have “rules”. A lot of people have a hard time knowing where to begin and how to get started. We’ve come a long way in this regard since the first run of the Family Secrets Series.
Am I right that you recently refreshed the Family Secrets games for retail?
Yes. When we started this journey, we weren’t thinking about retail at all. We were focused primarily on selling through our website and letting people know through social media and digital ads. While we continue to do that, we also recognize that a major channel through which people access games is through in-person: retail stores.
To have our products work in a retail setting, we have had to reconsider packaging. And we are still doing that! For example, while we love the packaging of Shinobi: The Ninja Scroll we have recently learned from retailers that cylindrical tubing creates problems from a presentation standpoint. We will very likely be creating an additional sleeve that is rectangular and allows for a more gridlike placement (with no room for error). It’s things like this that we never thought about in the early days and are continuing to learn.
Speaking of Shinobi: The Scroll – it is a departure from your traditional envelope format. Where did the idea come from?
The idea for Shinobi: The Ninja Scroll was an attempt to challenge ourselves to go above and beyond. We wanted something that was replayable, from an artwork and graphics perspective, and less narratively driven for those who felt the episode series was a lot to take on. The way it actually started was from an inquiry for a custom job that came through, and while most inquiries we simply can’t take on or accommodate, this one sort of stuck. We created a rough prototype during early Covid with all the extra puzzles that didn’t make it into the Family Secrets series, and Shinobi was born.
How was it to develop a standalone project without the constraints of an envelope?
Extremely freeing! Very few people realise this, but every episode in the Family Secrets series is not only confined to the dimensions of an envelope, but every episode is also under 30g (1 ounce). The size and weight of the envelope dictate the postage rate and as soon as we cross 30g the cost of postage increases (and exponentially so with international postage). The number of items and the weights of the items were always a very challenging thing to consider when designing each episode. We had already set the price for the subscriptions before we had designed the bulk of the series, so although we had some really cool ideas, there were many instances where we couldn’t execute them in this series in order to maintain a reasonable profit margin on each episode.
With Shinobi, it was a fun change to be able to think of the puzzles and materials first, then establish the packaging and pricing accordingly to allow us to execute the vision and not the other way around.
Shinobi was funded through Kickstarter. How did you find that experience overall?
Kickstarter is still very new to us and both times we have done one we have learned. We are now on our second Kickstarter, and by the time we launch our third, we will have a clear idea of what to expect and a roadmap for how to succeed. One thing that has surprised us with Kickstarter is the trend these days is to basically do everything in the process, with the exception of pressing print on your full order, before launching on Kickstarter. We didn’t realize how much of a marketing platform it is as opposed to a development platform.
This brings us to The Shackleton Series. Is this linked at all to Family Secrets?
The Shackleton Series is our latest project and it is not directly linked to the Family Secret series. The beloved cousin JJ does make a cameo-style appearance, but his presence is not puzzle-based and he acts as a narrator. Shackleton is a six-episode series, half the length of Family Secrets, and is a true story of Antarctic survival. It is based on the most famous arctic expedition of all time where 28 men survived two years stranded in Antarctica between 1914 and 1916 – a story of courage, optimism and determination.
What are the creative differences between basing games on reality vs fiction?
When creating a game based on a real-world story, there is a sort of Northstar or guiding light that shines down on everything you create. I feel like this adds a lot of helpful structure to an otherwise wide-open creative journey. And because no one is telling us that it has to be 100% accurate, there is still room for flexibility.
The story is so incredible, it gives a huge amount of credence to the work we’re doing. And as others around the world who are experts on the subject matter validate the story, it adds further encouragement to the effort that we’re putting forward.
Why Shackleton?
It started for me (Eric) when I was in high school and I read Lansing’s “Endurance”. It is the most well-recognized work on Shackleton and when I read it, I was deeply moved. I kept the book that my parents gave me and re-read the story as an adult. It was doubly moving and I thought to myself, why are we creating games with fictional stories when one of the best stories I’ve ever heard is a true story? I wanted more people to know this story.
Over the past two or three years I have discovered how deep and rich the story really is. Nearly every time I am in the story I experience a profound sense of perseverance. This is transferred through the decades and miles that separate me from the voyage, and yet somehow still provide encouragement when things are hard.
Episode 1 was great! I’m so impressed with how integrated the envelopes are into the gameplay. What inspired this change?
Thanks for playing Episode 1; so glad you enjoyed it! If you thought the Episode 1 envelope was integrated into the gameplay, we can’t wait to hear what you think of Episodes 5 and 6! One of the biggest changes we made in this series is the way the envelopes are presented. It is both the first impression as well as the packaging, and in most cases, the largest asset that you receive in your game. For these reasons, we wanted to really lean into its potential. We have seen some others in the industry try to do some things with large format envelopes, but we felt like it was still underutilized in its potential.
Another thing that inspired the change came from the limitation we had with 30g per episode in the Family Secrets Series, and in this series, our cap is 100g. The increased limit has allowed us a great deal of flexibility to make some really fun and unique puzzles. There aren’t many challenges with it, other than creating prototypes in the office, which takes several sheets of card stock paper taped together!
Are all of the episodes now complete?
As of this interview, we are happy to say that we just sent in the RFQ for episodes four through six as well as the refill kit. The next steps will be to make final edits and send them to the supplier, who will then produce a sample. This process usually takes a few weeks, and once the samples arrive, we will have them tested and likely make a few minor tweaks before ordering the final run in early March. We are hoping this timeline allows for an April drop date on the rest of the series.
Do you have a favourite puzzle game?
Our favourite games change as we change and evolve. Right now one of my (Eric’s) favourites is a book I got for Christmas called “A Compendium of Meta-Puzzles” by Pedja Banovic.
With the sale of Mobile Escape and The Shackleton Series edging close to completion, what’s next?
We have a few ideas for games in the future, but we aren’t ready to go public about what they might be. One thing that’s really important to us from a business sustainability standpoint is that we maximize the impact financially of the games we have already created. We’ve already invested so much time and energy and only a very small fraction of the market has played our games. So it is both our responsibility and duty to ensure that as many people as possible play our games. Toward that end, there’s much work to be done.
We were pleased to have met up with Rita Orlov (PostCurious) at RECON last year, and there was some chitchat about a collaboration. We would love to explore that further. 🙂
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thanks so much for playing our games, and taking the time for this interview. We appreciate what you do for the puzzle community – keep up the great work!
Thank you!
Eric and Paul are the nicest guys imaginable and it’s been an absolute pleasure to feature them in this series. If you haven’t already, then please check out their website (link below) and the wonderful selection of games on offer. You won’t be disappointed!
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