Laura E. Hall is an American immersive artist,

puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

game designer, and writer. She has written several books about video games, immersive entertainment, and

escape rooms An escape room, also known as an escape game, puzzle room, exit game, or riddle room is a game in which a team of players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal in a limite ...

. Hall co-created one of the first escape rooms in the United States. In 2022, Hall was the subject of a documentary about solving an alternate reality game puzzle 14 years after it was set, called ''Finding Satoshi'' ("").

Puzzles

Hall began participating in alternate reality games in college, and played

Perplex City Perplex City was an alternate reality game created by the London-based developer Mind Candy under the direction of the lead producer and designer, Adrian Hon, that ran from April 2005 to February 2007. The first "season" of the game had playe ...

. She became invested in puzzles after moving to Portland and attending Puzzled Pint events. After Perplex City's completion in 2007, Hall continued to work on a puzzle that was still unsolved, ''Billion to One''. The puzzle focused on exploring the concept of

Six degrees of separation Six degrees of separation is the idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other. As a result, a chain of "friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It is also k ...

by presenting a man's photograph and his first name, "Satoshi", asking players to locate him. In 2020, Tom-Lucas Säger used image recognition software and located Satoshi, reporting it to Hall, who ran the website tracking information about the hunt. In 2022, Hall was the subject of a documentary about the ''Billion to One'' puzzle, ''Finding Satoshi''.

Installation Art and Game Design

In 2014, Hall and five friends opened the first escape room game in the state of Oregon and one of the first 22 escape rooms in the United States. She has since created escape rooms and immersive experiences around the United States and the world. Her installation art and games have appeared in the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum becam ...

, XOXO, and the London Games Festival.

Writing

Hall writes about films, games, and culture for ''

Letterboxd Letterboxd is an online social networking service co-founded by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011. It was launched as a social app focused on sharing opinions about, and love of film, and is maintained by a small team in Auckland, New ...

'', Dan and Dave’s ''Art of Play'', '' A Profound Waste of Time'', and ''The Atlantic''.

''Katamari Damacy'' (2018)

In 2018, Hall published ''Katamari Damacy'' with Boss Fight Books about the creation of the 2004 video game

Katamari Damacy () is a third-person puzzle-action video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. It was released in Japan in March 2004 and in North America in September 2004. Designer Keita Takahashi struggled to pitch the game to Namco' ...

, featuring interviews with creator

Keita Takahashi is a Japanese game designer and artist, his most notable titles being ''Katamari Damacy'' and its sequel, ''We Love Katamari''. The original ''Katamari'' game was a surprise hit and was praised for its quirkiness, originality, and charm. Takahas ...

''Planning Your Escape'' (2021)

In 2021, Hall published ''Planning Your Escape: Strategy Secrets to Make You an Escape Room Superstar'' with

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, about the history of the immersive entertainment genre and a toolkit for new escape room players.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Laura E. Immersive entertainment American game designers Escape rooms Transmedia storytelling Alternate reality games Year of birth missing (living people) Living people