Room Escape Artist

Legend has it…

Location: Brooklyn, New York

Date Played: May 27, 2026

Team Size: 2-8; we recommend 2-4

Duration: 60 minutes

Price: $45 per player

Ticketing: Private

Accessibility Consideration: There are stairs up to the games.

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

When we stepped into Captain Kidd: The Hangman’s Treasure, we were immediately taken by the floor-to-ceiling shipwreck set. It looked great.

The gameplay was charming, albeit bumpy. Coney Escape Room leaned into pirate-y themes with their choice of props and interactions, and of course, with the music. It was fun to solve our way through these thematic nods.

That said, the gameplay had flow issues. The set was dark, especially in tight corners where we needed to input codes. This issue was compounded when we repeatedly had to try any derived solution in multiple possible inputs of the same digit structure. We got stuck in places that shouldn’t have been challenging, which created frustration in place of momentum.

Captain Kidd: The Hangman’s Treasure had a lot going for it. With some adjustments to move the challenge from inputting solutions back to the puzzles themselves, it would be a more satisfying, smoother escape game.

From our visit, it was clear that the folks at Coney Escape Room love what they are making, and are excited to bring escape rooms to their community. They’ve taken an excellent first step; that’s the hardest part. This game had good bones, and we hope they continue to iterate and improve it.

Who is this for?

• Puzzle lovers
• Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack fans
• Any experience level
• Players who don’t need to be a part of every puzzle

Why play?

• It’s a good looking pirate ship
• Some fun puzzling and ahas

Story

In the 1830s, Captain Kidd’s ship wrecked on the shores of Coney Island. Looters plundered the ship for weapons and other valuables, but Captain Kidd’s real treasures were never recovered. He and his crew were hanged for their crimes, but legend said that he had left a trail to his booty for those brave or foolish enough to try and seize it.

Setting

Captain Kidd: The Hangman’s Treasure surprised us out of the gate with a striking shipwreck set. The ship had both an exterior and an interior. Both did a good job of housing the puzzles.

The biggest opportunity for improvement in the set would be adding a little spotlighting on puzzles and locks. There were a lot of dark nooks and corners that were relevant, and while lanterns were available to shed a bit of light, they weren’t convenient to rely on.

Gameplay

Coney Escape Room’s Captain Kidd: The Hangman’s Treasure was a standard escape room with a moderate level of difficulty.

Core gameplay revolved around searching, observing, making connections, and solving puzzles.

Analysis

➕ Captain Kidd: The Hangman’s Treasure was grounded in a genuine local legend. We love when escape rooms lean into their local stories to create adventures.

➕ The set evoked a pirate ship from the moment we entered. Even the floor was textured. We appreciated being provided with plastic shoe coverings!

➖ At any given time, there were multiple locks available with the same value structure, and the clue structure didn’t connect the puzzles to their inputs. The gameplay would be smoother with lock mapping. There was also an opportunity to use more thematic locks, such as brass maritime locks.

➖ It was often uncomfortable to input a solution. The lighting was dim, making it challenging to correctly input codes into locks, which stymied momentum when we had the correct solution. In one case, the input mechanism was quite high up. With this design, the challenge shifted from the puzzle aha itself to getting the room to accept the correct solution.

➖ More intuitive interactions would provide more satisfaction. For example, one answer was nonsense when other similar solutions were thematic. It felt wrong. In another case, an interaction with a thematic prop didn’t roll the way we would have expected. It also didn’t quite work, but even so, we were unlikely to engage with it correctly on the first attempt because it wasn’t natural. We suggest that Coney Escape Room lean into how players want to interact with props to build more gratifying interactions.

➕ Coney Escape Room set up a pirate-esque moment, and then paid it off with a satisfying shot.

➕ The finale reveal was dramatic, and the music enhanced the moment.

Tips For Visiting

• We ate at Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs, an iconic Coney Island restaurant, which is right across the street.
• We took the subway.

Book your hour with Coney Escape Room’s Captain Kidd: The Hangman’s Treasure, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.

Disclosure: Coney Escape Room provided media discounted tickets for this game.