Escape Stoke – Escape the Seven Seas

Escape Stoke – Escape the Seven Seas
Location: Stoke
Game Date: 02/04/2019
Team: Amy & Ian

Theme:
“You and your crew have been locked away in the brig. Does your team have what it takes to escape your cell, break into the Captains chamber and steal the treasure all for yourself? Glory and riches await”

The room looked good, with a fairly detailed set that got better as the game went on. The Room was fairly spacious, although I think 6 people will find themselves tripping over each other, especially in the later stages of the game. Lighting was ok, there were a couple of darker moments but these were for effect and atmosphere rather than to increase difficulty.
The immersion was good, thanks to the good level of detail in the set and a piratey sound track!

Game Play:
A game that mixed both linear and open elements with plenty of puzzles. Logic, observation, words, physical, codebreaking, there was lots of variation in the puzzles which led to an interesting and engaging room. All the puzzles were nicely on theme, and for the most part enjoyable.
However, there were a few logic leaps which were a bit out of the ordinary and then compacted by worn down props and poor execution of the puzzles. This was only found in a couple of the puzzles earlier one in the game but then we lost a bit of confidence in the design, and we were second-guessing ourselves all the way through the game from that point on.
There was a good sense of discovery and a few nice ah-ha moments but the flow was a bit stodgy, this was from the earlier logic leaps and ambiguity in the room in the earlier stages.
Signposting was most minimal, and I suppose this is what gives the room its difficulty and 25% success rate… There was little in the earlier part of the game, with it getting better as the game progressed.
All in all a good game once the initial logic leaps had been overcome.

Clue System:
Clues were delivered via a screen, upon request. There are no microphones in the room (and we know how I feel about that!)

Game Host:
I didn’t get our host’s name, but she was polite and ran our game well.

Did we escape?
Yes, in 54 minutes!

Website: https://www.escape-stoke.co.uk/
Price:
Off Peak
2 Players £40
3 Players £48
4 Players £60
5 Players £70
6 Players £78

Peak
2 Players £48
3 Players £54
4 Players £68
5 Players £80
6 Players £90