S3E5 - Matt Leacock: Creator of Pandemic

In Season 3, Episode 5 of REPOD, we sat down with Matt Leacock, best known for creating the Pandemic series of cooperative board games. There are several expansions for Pandemic as well as the Pandemic Legacy games, which are stand alone versions of the game with an interwoven narrative that affects the rules and mechanics of the game as you play.

The Pandemic and Pandemic Legacy games share many commonalities with escape rooms, including cooperative gameplay, cinematic narrative structure, and gameplay mechanics that tie in closely to the theme. 

It was fascinating to hear Matt describe his game design process and how he approaches it from a user experience design standpoint. There is a dialogue between the theme and game mechanics where they impact each other iteratively. Pandemic Legacy is one of David’s favorite board games, and if you love escape rooms, we think you’ll love this game too.

 

Featured Games:

 

• Pandemic
• Pandemic Legacy Season 1
• Pandemic Legacy Season 2
• Pandemic Legacy Season 0

 

 

Show Notes

 

The Mailbag: Please give us some feedback?

 

We're doing a Mailbag episode where we answer your questions, share your stories, and learn from you fine folks. There are a few ways to take part:

 

• Take our survey
• Leave a voicemail
• Send an email
• Send us some snail mail

 

Here's how to do each:

 

Take A Short Survey

 

Share your feedback anonymously through this survey. 

 

Leave A Voicemail

 

If you’d like to be on the podcast, please submit a voice recording by calling the Room Escape Artist not-so-hotline that always goes straight to voicemail (551-227-7273), and record your thoughts and feels about REPOD straight into the voicemail.

 

Your message should be:

 

• Short, no longer than 30 seconds - it will help to jot down your ideas before recording
• Recorded with as little background noise as possible (recording in a closet, or under a comforter could help)
• Start with your name and where you are from

 

Send an Email

 

Hit us up at: contact@roomescapeartist.com

 

Send a Letter

 

Room Escape Artist
PO Box 683
Nutley, NJ 07110

 

Episode Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors: 

• Morty - A free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.
• Virtual Escape Games - Specializes in virtual team building adventures for teams anywhere around the globe, 24/7.

Reality Escape Convention - RECON

Our escape room and immersive gaming convention, will be an incredible event for creators and consumers of the games we love. We hope to see you in Boston. Learn More about RECON.

 

Production Credits

Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Lisa Spira

Edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside Media

Music by Ryan Elder

Logo by Janine Pracht