Dawn Ballard
- Nov 16, 2021
- 5 min read

The Panic Room Gravesend - "Dead Man's Chest"

Updated: Mar 21

LOCATION:  Gravesend, Kent, United Kingdom

Photo above is property of The Panic Room Gravesend

📝 ETR DECODER

🔑 GAME: Dead Man's Chest
📅 DATE PLAYED: November 16, 2021
🎬 GENRE: Pirate, Adventure
🧠 DIFFICULTY (Based on 3 ppl): 5/10
👥 TOTAL # OF PLAYERS: 2-4 ppl
🕒 LENGTH OF TIME: 60 Mins.
💰 PRICE: £40/PP
☎️ BOOKING TYPE: Private
🔓 ESCAPED/ COMPLETED?: Yes

📖 THE STORY

You and your shipmates are adventuring across the seven seas looking for treasure. You spot a ship, the Ti-Panic, which seems to be abandoned so you climb onboard and go and explore.

Upon investigating a strange chest you hear the Captain's voice call to you and tell you of his discovery of an Aztec ruin, laden with gold and a totem of immortality. He confesses to keeping the totem for himself and hiding it from his crew in a chest only he could open. Unfortunately he realizes too late that the totem is cursed and has trapped him inside the chest. It is your mission to solve the puzzles in the chest, break the curse and set the Captain free.

Video above is property of The Panic Room Gravesend

🎯 HIT THE BULLSEYE

This is an interesting concept as all the puzzles are contained within the chest so despite it being set in a lovely themed pirate ship you don’t need to go hunting around for anything, just focus on investigating the chest.
I took two friends who have never played a room before and it was a lovely introduction for them as it is made up of linear puzzles and isn’t as overwhelming as walking into a more traditional escape room where there is usually so much to look at and you don’t know where to start.
We did it as a team of 3 and I think that was perfect, I can imagine it being quite hard to have 4 people jostling to see certain bits at the same time.
The clue system is from the Captain and you can just touch a skull to get a hint. We needed a few to get us through, we were also informed we could go and get a team member from the shop if we got really stuck. The Games Master did come in at the end (and again during the game) as we had completed it but not put back a final piece but that didn’t at all spoil the nice ‘hurrah’ ending.
Photos were done at the end from within the room and efficiently emailed through to us along with our escape time, time cards weren’t given out unfortunately.

🧩 MISSED THE MARK

The Games Master had to come in at one point as a part of the chest didn’t open as expected and there was another part that got frustrating as we knew what to do but it wasn’t happening as slickly as we’d like so could possibly do with a new part. Eventually we were able to succeed.
For players who likes time checks, there isn't one but due to it being linear and a contained chest of puzzles, we didn't feel the pressure as much.

🏹 TAKE A SHOT?

Overall it is a lovely set of puzzles in a great pirate themed setting. The hosts were great and the shop is phenomenal and definitely worth a visit! I’ve been doing escape rooms at the Panic Room for a number of years and it’s been wonderful to see them grow as a company and put the lesser known town of Gravesend in Kent firmly on the map for escape rooms. They have a huge variety of physical escape rooms over multiple locations, mobile escape rooms that can come to you, the new gift shop and soooo many online games that can be purchased through them. Oh and they have now started offering axe throwing as yet another offering! I’m sure it won't stop there and I’ll continue to keep my eyes on them to see what they are going to come up with next!

ℹ️ ADDITIONAL INFO

This room is located in the Don’t Panic – Gifts & Games store which is absolutely amazing with it’s huge range of games, puzzles, gift ideas and you do get a 10% off code after playing Dead Man's Chest which comes in very useful!
There are car parks nearby and all their venues are within walking distance from Gravesend train station with regular trains from London.
There is hand sanitizer to use on the way in and all the staff were wearing masks so it felt very Covid safe.
Do note that this company has multiple venues around Gravesend. This game is based within their Don’t Panic – Gifts & Games store. In this one of their venues there is no reception or cafe but it is located within the shopping centre so there are plenty of places to get a caffeine fix before or afterwards. If you are there early you wouldn’t sit down even if there was a waiting area as the shop is too interesting not to be exploring it, be warned there are sooooo many things you’ll want to buy but get them after the game as you receive a 10% off voucher upon your escape!
You are asked to check into the room using a QR code that allows you to fill in all your details and sign a waiver form. They use those details to send your victory photo through to.
This game wouldn't be accessible for wheelchair users as the chest is up on a table (it does have a raised platform to stand on for shorter players and kids). It would be great for anyone who doesn’t want to have to crawl or climb through anything as all the puzzles are contained within the Dead Man’s Chest itself. The website lists their rooms and experiences that are fully accessible for wheelchair users, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, those with epilepsy or light sensitivity and anyone with issues in low light or who have color blindness.
There is a lot of information on their website (that also has a chatbot) so answers to anything else you need will be found on there.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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Disclosure: We thank The Panic Room Gravesend for comping our tickets for this game. Although complimentary admission was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.