Review of Escape Game Pirates

Pirates Escape Game: A High Seas Mystery by Éric Nieudan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


You awake to find yourself all alone on a ship in the middle of the sea. You have no memory of what happened. Where is the captain? What became of your mates?

That is the premise of this combination adventure, mystery, puzzle book. Written for pirate apprentices between the ages of eight and twelve, it’s up to you to unravel clues, decipher secret messages, and wend your way through the ship to gather the information you need to answer those questions.

This book actually consists of two volumes, one bound inside the other. The main book contains the puzzles and pictures, as well as several pages of answers, while the clue book contains objects and information needed during the course of this adventure. The main book also contains several pages for note-taking and list-making.

While the idea for this book is tantalizing, the translation doesn’t always work. According to the instructions at the beginning of the book, you are alone on the ship. This is a fallacy, because there are others aboard. The fact that one may be a traitor is downplayed, rather than emphasized, which made me wonder why this was important to the story. Checkmarks throughout the book are supposed to alert readers that these objects are important, but I only found one such marking and by the time I did, I’d forgotten what the purpose of the checkmark was. The page numbers are so small that they are difficult to read. Although the artwork is great and fits the mood of the story, the subdued coloring makes it difficult to find essential items. For example, the trap doors at the end of one maze are barely visible. Another problem is that some numbers hidden in the page illustrations are brown on brown or black on black, which makes them difficult or impossible to locate. (If you’re wondering, I have 20/20 vision and was sitting directly under a bright light and still haven’t found one or two of the numbers.) Assumptions are also made that readers will know what a particular item is, such as in the pantry where the food and other items are strewn about, or that they understand foreign words, for one puzzle uses a French number rather than its English equivalent. A few clues were so cryptic or lacking sufficient detail, I couldn’t solve them and there is at least one place where the stated solution on the answer pages can’t possibly be correct because the number of letters in the clue and the answer don’t match.

If children enjoy this book, they may be disappointed that its format really only allows them to solve the mystery once. Another format, such as a spiral-bound or loose-leaf book with laminated pages, might have allowed them to erase their answers and solve the mystery again and again. Another reason the format is an issue is that some text and illustrations on the double-page spreads are lost in the book’s binding. For example, where one maze crosses the center between one page and the next, there’s no way to tell if the path through the maze is open or blocked.

One final caution to consider is how adept pirate apprentices are at unraveling puzzles. If they are easily frustrated or have short attention spans, this book may not be a treasure they will enjoy.

Akin to role playing games, for which the author is a specialist, this book requires readers to explore, investigate, and maneuver not only the ship and the sea, but also the intricate details of the illustrations. A sharp mind and excellent eyesight are essential, and while the instructions don’t mention the need for a magnifying glass and good lighting, some pirate apprentices may find these as essential as the compass and other tools found on a ship.

In spite of these issues, I enjoyed the majority of the book. The puzzles and mazes are fun and somewhat challenging. It is a book that most pirate apprentices will not complete in a single sitting, which is why those blank pages are a good inclusion so you don’t forget what you’ve found once you’re able to return to the mystery. Although aimed at pirate apprentices, full-fledged adult pirates who like puzzles will find challenges and have fun deciphering and unraveling these.




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