The world according to Jeff Goldblum

Where to watch

Owners and Creators of Cross Roads Escape Games, Luke & Madison, along with the owners and creators of Exit Game OC, Jeremiah & Christine, played ‘Wrongfully Convicted’ at Escape Revolutions with the one and only, Jeff Goldblum!

Check out the ‘Puzzles’ episode (season 2, episode 7) on ‘The World According to Jeff Goldblum’ streaming now on Disney+.

How we got on the show

We are good friends with the owners of Exit Game OC, Jeremiah, and Christine, who opened just a few months ago down the street from Cross Roads. Christine is also a YouTube star and has been doing videos on Escape Rooms for years. She and her husband have played over 500 escape rooms! The show looked for enthusiasts to play with Jeff, so she was contacted. They needed two others to join her, so she name-dropped us (who have played a modest 250 escape rooms), and after a short video interview, we were in!

Playing an Escape Room with Jeff Goldblum

We were told that the game was modified for filming, so big spoilers or answers were not given away to people who still wanted to play. This was understandable, but it also made it much harder to play. Navigating through the game and not knowing what was relevant to us was very difficult. Not to mention that we were being watched by a crowd of people (the film crew), who were expecting us to fly through the game because we were “experts,” which made it very stressful. Oh, and Jeff made it impossible to focus.  

Jeff is an incredibly nice guy, naturally funny, and unpredictable. It took us 6 hours to play the 1-hour escape room because Jeff likes to talk… a lot. Before we started playing, the director told us our job was to keep Jeff on track. Easier said than done.

To be fair, this was Jeff’s first escape room, so he was overwhelmed, confused, and amazed. He was new to what a clue is and how to piece together a code. There is a learning curve for solving escape room-type puzzles, so we had to help guide him through our thought process.

Jeff is easily distracted and jumps from story to story and question to question. He tests your movie knowledge, constantly quoting lines from movies and quizzing you on what movie it’s from and who said it. It was not only hard to get him to focus, but also hard to focus yourself.

One thing Jeff is great at is making you laugh. As stressed as I was, Jeff is a hilarious guy, and it’s hard to take anything too seriously with him around.

Something you didn’t see in the episode is that we figure out a four-digit code for a number lock, and we tell Jeff to be the one to put the code in. Before he does, Christine asks him if he is familiar with that kind of lock and if he knows how to enter the code. Jeff goes into this 10-minute spiel about how he is a “lockmaster,” and his “middle name is Lock,” and he has been “opening locks since he was five years old.” Finally, once he finishes his speech and puts in the numbers, he pulls down on the lock, and it doesn’t open. He looks at us like, “you gave me the wrong code!” So, Christine looks over and says, “oh, you lined it up wrong,” and points to where the code should have gone. He looks back at us and says, “Well, how was I supposed to know that?!” To which I respond with, “Jeff, you just took the last 10 minutes to tell us your middle name was Lock, we thought you knew!” That got a big laugh out of Jeff and the film crew.

Jeff is big into word association games. We noticed him playing a game with himself during breaks where he would say the name of an actor, then a movie that actor was in, then a new actor from that movie, a movie that actor was in, and so on. We jumped in and played a few rounds with him (he was really good).

After the 6 hours of playing the escape room, we finally escape, and we are taken outside for Jeff to interview us and ask us some questions. The director tells Jeff, “Ask them what they like about solving puzzles.” Well, instead of asking us, he answers the question himself. Director says, “That was great; now ask THEM the question.” He turns to us, and instead of asking the question again, he notices an ear hair on Jeremiah, PLUCKS IT FROM HIS EAR, puts it in his pocket, and says, “I’m going to keep this to remember you by. This was such a great day, I’m going to remember it forever.” There is no controlling this man or knowing what he will do next.

Overall, it was a really fun day. The game was challenging, but Jeff made it a blast. He wanted to know all about us and was interested in our story. He cares a lot about other people, goes out of his way to make you laugh, and takes it upon himself to make sure you have a good time. I hope he continues playing escape rooms and had as much fun as we did.

Make sure to catch the ‘Puzzles’ episode (season 2, episode 7) of ‘The World According to Jeff Goldblum‘ streaming now on Disney+.