Room Escape Artist

Battle the true enemy: scurvy

Location: Bridgewater, NJ

Date played: November 13, 2017

Team size: 3-8; we recommend 2-5

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $200 per team

Story & setting

We had been taken captive and brought aboard the dread pirate Blackbeard’s ship. It was time to escape.

Escape Room Center’s spacious location inside a strip mall has a corporate and family-friendly aesthetic. Their 6 escape rooms are adjacent to one another, with walls reaching 3/4 of the way to the ceiling. This was a structure that we’ve seen before and hated… However, Escape Room Center makes it work.

Blackbeard’s Brig was a pirate ship-inspired, simply constructed and sparsely decorated gamespace. It was light and airy. It represented a pirate ship, but never pretended to be one.

Puzzles

Blackbeard’s Brig included a selection of nautical- and pirate-themed puzzles. They ranged in complexity and tangibility. There was a lot of puzzle variety.

Standouts

Blackbeard’s Brig included a few satisfying layered puzzles. These complex interactions were a lot of fun to work through.

The set decor provided a little nudge toward one potentially more challenging solve. It was a subtle touch.

Later in the escape room, a few unexpected props facilitated more interactive puzzling.

Escape Room Center designed some funny puzzle solutions that nodded to our captivity aboard this brig.

The puzzles and props were all thematically connected to the pirate ship setting. Escape Room Center built a particular pirate ship aesthetic for this puzzle game and it worked.

Shortcomings

One early puzzle seemed unnecessary. It was likely meant to be an on-ramp for uninitiated room escapers, but it was uninteresting and entirely grounded in “escape room logic” where an item had meaning that was neither logical nor earned.

The wear on one puzzle added unnecessary confusion for a brief while.

Blackbeard’s Brig was a pirate ship-themed puzzle room. We enjoyed the thematic puzzles, but we never suspended our disbelief. While this was Escape Room Center’s deliberate design decision, Blackbeard’s Brig was still escape room first and pirate ship second.

The walls were far too glossy. Had they been matte finished, they wouldn’t have glistened and seemed so out of place.

Should I play Escape Room Center’s Blackbeard’s Brig?

Escape Room Center is a bright, open, and inviting escape room facility. Blackbeard’s Brig had approachable puzzles and unintimidating surroundings. It belonged here.

Blackbeard’s Brig was primarily about the puzzles. These varied in challenge level, puzzle type, and interactiveness, which made this escape room more interesting than it originally appeared.

At Escape Room Center, we weren’t meant to believe we were on a pirate ship. We were meant to share a collection of seafaring solves and a few chuckles. That’s exactly what we did.

Blackbeard’s Brig would be a great choice for new escape room players, families, and corporate groups. This is a wonderful place to learn the basics of escape room puzzling.

This would also be a fun playthrough for more experienced players who prefer puzzles to set design. It won’t be too challenging, but it will probably surprise you. Escape Room Center certainly surprised us a few times.

Book your hour with Escape Room Center’s Blackbeard’s Brig, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Full disclosure: Escape Room Center provided media discounted tickets for this game.