About Mairi
Mairi "Spaceship" Nolan is a UK based Game Designer specialising in puzzle design for escape rooms, immersive events, video games, tabletop games, and murder mysteries.
Additionally she is an advocate and ambassador for the UK escape room industry, as the Editor in Chief of Escape Industry News, and The Escape Roomer.
Mairi has been a guest on multiple podcasts and her work has been featured in a number of publications such as BBC News, New York Times,, Escape Buzz and The Guardian.
Why Spaceship?
Jealous of her peers for all having middle names, at the age of 7 Mairi declared she wanted a middle name and chose "Spaceship". To this day the middle name can be found on all official school and university documentation. The love for sci-fi persists.
Industry Work
Escape Industry News
Editor in Chief 2021 - present
The Escape Roomer
Editor in Chief 2019 - present
Cerebral Puzzle Showcase
Lead Organiser 2024 - present
Thinky Third Thursday
Contributor 2024 - present
Draknek & Friends
Studio Manager 2024 - present
Escape Room Championships
UK Ambassador 2023 - present
Buzzshot
Copywriter 2020 - present
Telescape
Copywriter 2020 - 2024
Enigmarch
Volunteer 2023 - 2024
Sherlocked
Marketing & PR 2022
Escape Hunt
Marketing & PR 2018
Cubic Escape
Copywriter 2018
Game Design Work
Enigmagram
Game Designer 2023 - 2024
Mysterious Package Company
Lead Game Designer 2022 - 2024
Curious Correspondence
Lead Game Designer 2021 - 2023
AR Trails
Lead Game Designer 2023
Wizards of the Coast (D&D+MTG)
Senior Game Designer 2022
Professor Puzzle
Game Designer 2022 - 2023
Eleven Puzzles
Lead Game Designer 2022 - 2023
GLITCHERS
Game Designer 2021 - 2022
Escape Hunt
Game Designer 2018 - 2021
Access Escape
Lead Game Designer 2019
Locked City
Game Designer 2017-2019
A Murder of Crows
Game Director 2017-2020
Freelance, Misc Projects
Game Designer 2015-2017
Other Cool Things
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I've played ~400 escape rooms
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My team placed 33rd in the world in the Escape Room Championship 2022
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A puzzle game design Mentor at Limit Break
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Women in Games Ambassador from 2019-24
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Recipient of the Astra Games Fellowship Grant in 2023
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Graduate of the Games Leadership Network Emerging Leaders programme
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If you added all the Kickstarter games I've worked on together they've raised around $2m (which is probably just slightly less than that I've spent backing KS games haha)
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Shane from Buzzfeed Unsolved / Watcher said he liked one of my games, once.
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There is literally no limit to the amount of tea I can consume in one day.
Contact
Want to talk puzzles? Send memes, morse code, and cryptic ARG springboards to 👉
mairinolan (at) gmail.com
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