Interviewee: Dillon Le
Interviewer: Caitlin Nguyen
Date: 10/9/2022
Attendees: DL = Dillon Le (Interviewee) CN = Caitlin Nguyen (Interviewer)
CN: Welcome to EDscapade’s first podcast style interviewHi my name is Caitlin Nguyen and I am a game master/ host here at Escapade Games. Today I am here with…
DL: Dillon Le, who is also a game master, host…
CN: And newly…
DL: newly promoted manager/PIC
CN: Yeah! Everyone says good job Dillon in the comments! Alright today I will be asking Dillon about working here at EDscapade games. Alright Dillon what is your favorite game to run here?
DL: My favorite game to run here would be Hostage. Simply because I think it's really fun with the thriller aspect and all, seeing the players be scared and a little shaken up and seeing how that affects their puzzle solving skills. It is just really fun to mess with them, I feel like it brings a lot of joy coming into work being able to mess around with the customers.
CN: Now what originally drew you into working at an escape room, it is quite a peculiar job.
DL: Honestly, I only have done three escape rooms before joining EDscapade games, although I have been constantly convinced to apply through friends of my own because they say it's a fun time but I feel like in reality they just needed more people. All in all when I came here I didn’t know what to expect but everybody was very welcoming, I have no qualms with anybody who works here and I always know I’ll have fun at one point or another during my shifts.
CN: Now if a customer were to ask you, how would you compare Nursery to our other games?
DL: Awh man, I can’t really find the words for it, but it is very different from what we have for Hostage and BOX, very intricate. A lot of stuff is in play in Nursery compared to Hostage and BOX which both are more toward a traditional sense of an escape room, very hm what is the word I am looking for. There are a lot of interactions with the live actors, not to spoil, but I feel like if parties want to enjoy it they really have to play into the situation that they are given because that would amplify the fun that they have. I’m sorry that was a difficult question for me to answer.
CN: No it's a hard question overall, we try not to reveal too much about games here. Asking questions like that usually end in the answer of…
Both: You’ll find out. [chuckles]
CN: You’ll find out, that’s our go to answer for a lot of the stuff. Now have you ever played any of our games yourself with your friends or anything?
DL: I have played Hostage during its first beta phase, it was 2020 if I remember correctly, EDs was trying to hit the ground running during COVID, which was just really unlucky for them. When I tried it, it was the second escape room I have ever played in. I don’t want to spoil but at the very beginning I was taken-aback, it was not what I was expecting. The puzzles were hard although not impossible to solve. It had a nice mixture of difficulty, I would describe the puzzles as intermediate. I’ve also played this other one that did not make it past beta, I will not bring it up because I think people talk poorly of it…
CN: Are we talking about [redacted]
DL: We are talking about [redacted]
CN: Oh I will censor that…
Both: [laugh]
DL: Yeah and I haven’t played any other games here at EDs I was given a run through of nursery and box. I would have loved to play nursery had I not known the run through of it all. I wish I would have gone in not knowing anything because, when run right, it is a really fun game. We have a GM here D’Angelo Tran living at… [laugh] no I’m just kidding. D’Angelo Tran and Brennon Echon and they run it really well. Quite amazingly, they don’t miss a beat and if you have them as your GM I’d say you're really lucky, they really add on to the game play.
CN: Yeah I want to add on to that because I always say this, but I’ve never said it to him. If some gets, what is his last name? If some gets Vincent…
DL: Viray
[Overlapping] : Vincent Viray for Hostage
CN: So good!
DL: He is so good. He really plays into his character, I always think it is such a pleasure to hear it when I am working the same shift as him.
CN: It’s almost scary how much he [laugh]
DL: Oh no, yeah. Oh my gosh it is just, awh man I couldn’t not live up to that. If any of his past parties came back and they wanted Vincent but they got me instead, I would probably just be so, so unmotivated. He just really sets the bar honestly.
CN: He does, I have always said that in my own opinion that Vincent is one of the top, if not the top people who run Hostage. Just in my personal opinion.
DL: I think he is the top honestly.
CN: He is so good!
DL: He really pushes it, he really goes the extra mile.
CN: Without praising Vincent too much [laugh]
DL: Without praising him too much…
CN: We’ll move on [laugh]
DL: We don’t want to give him a big head. [chuckle] No, but he’s really good.
CN: Yeah he is. I think everyone is great in their own way, but Vincent really just, he sets the baseline of what Hostage really stands for.
DL: Mhmm. Definitely, I’d say so.
CN: Just to close off this interview with you Dillon. If you were to give some advice to people who are either going to apply for EDscapade or going to play a game at EDscapade, what advice would you say?
DL: If they were to apply at EDscapade I would say don’t be discouraged if you have not played an escape room at all. That is the situation I was in. I had only played three before, and I was reluctant to join because of the whole role playing aspect of it all because I’m not very expressive in that way. Honestly though, it’s all in good fun, it's just really fun playing into it. I didn’t think I would enjoy it. I'm not a role play kind of person, but once you get past it, you'll learn to love it. You play another character and get to mess around, it's really fun so don’t be afraid to join. Just give it a try and if it really isn’t for you, there's different things we do here at EDs that don't pertain directly toward role playing, maybe you’ll find something you’ll really like if you open yourself up to doing that here. For people who want to play escape rooms, I’d say go in with an open mind and if you are having a lot of trouble and you get frustrated, try to calm yourself. We have a lot of groups come in and they get very frustrated and they get blindsided by that and become unable to solve their puzzles, so try to go in with a calm and collected mind.
CN: Alright! Well thank you Dillon so much for joining me for this interview, once again congratulations on your new manager position.
DL: Thank you, thank you.
CN: And again thank you so much for joining!