The Escapement: Pirates of Polaris

By | March 20, 2019

by The Escapement Margate (website)

65 Northdown Rd, Cliftonville, Margate CT9 2RJ

Margate

2-6 players

90 mins
πŸΆπŸ‘Ά
Trapped onboard the ship Polaris, you and your crew of have been thrown in the brig, however, there’s been a mutiny onboard and all remaining crew members have abandoned ship!
Navigate the stars and the seas and figure out how to sail the ship through thunder bolts and lighting back to land!
This room contains flashing lights – please let us know if you require this feature to be removed from the game.
Pirates Of Polaris features genuine artefacts and items from a 130-year-old ship – Polaris. Our rooms are highly immersive and theatric, we want you to feel as though you are on a movie set!
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Overall rating

Rated between 4 and 4.5 out of 5

based on ratings from 47 users
combined with 7 pro reviews

Your review

Player reviews

🀘The Pick of Destiny expert rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 10 Jun 2024 Team size: 2
cleverimmersivestory-driven

YES, YES, YES!!! This was our favourite room at this site! Such great puzzles and immersion! Often escape rooms forget that a good puzzle is worth more than a fantastic set, and luckily, this room had an abundance of both! Thank you to our GM, Tom, for making this experience unforgettable from start to finish!  

DypanicDuo experienced rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 28 Feb 2023 Team size: 4 Time taken: 43:16 Outcome: Successful escape!
AJ’s expert rated this:Rated between 3.5 and 3.5 out of 5
Played: 22 Aug 2020 Team size: 2 Time taken: 58:07 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersivefamily friendly
An impressive build with a great mix of puzzles! Real atmosphere inside the game and on point puzzles to theming! Really fun game! 
escapeartist1212 expert rated this:Rated between 4 and 4 out of 5
beautifulcleverimmersive
A Blacksmith expert rated this:Rated between 4.5 and 4.5 out of 5
Played: 10 May 2023 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivestory-drivengreat hosting
Really great game, one of my favourite pirate themed games. Great hosting, great unique puzzles. You won't regret visiting. 
HazelChester rated this:Rated between 4 and 4 out of 5
Dan Getliffe experienced rated this:Rated between 5 and 5 out of 5
Played: 20 Aug 2023 Team size: 2 Time taken: 56 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulgreat hosting

Had such great fun in this room - amazing that they used legitimate ship parts for this! Really great hosting adds to the experience, and music/sound effects are on point. Puzzles can be a little easy, but I was pleased to see that there's little hand-holding or telling you which order you need to do things in. 

puzzlebitch experienced rated this:Rated between 4.5 and 4.5 out of 5
Team size: 2 Time taken: 54:27 Outcome: Successful escape!
immersivegreat hostingepic

We had a lot of fun in Pirates of Polaris! The set is absolutely outstanding, with parts of a real pirate ship built into the game. That was the absolute highlight of the game for us, you really do feel immersed in the game due to the authentic, epic set and well-themed puzzles, some of which I've never seen before. 

A few minor issues with one prop not working and there being no timer which I never personally like. This room is also extremely key heavy, which detracted from the experience slightly for me. We still had tons of fun though, it's a great room and I would recommend playing!

Adam was a brilliant GM, huge props to him as he was really fun, friendly and great in character. Even when the prop wasn't working and he had to intervene, he did so in character which I liked. 

I do feel however, that the games at The Escapement don't need to be 75 minutes. We were told that they have a 75 minute timer to allow everyone more than enough time to complete everything (so everyone escapes), which takes the fun out of it a little as it was essentially a guaranteed win. 

StaceyF expert rated this:Rated between 4 and 4 out of 5
Played: 14 Aug 2021 Team size: 4 Outcome: Successful escape!
Jen Wells (Get Wells Soon) expert rated this:Rated between 4 and 4 out of 5
Played: 31 May 2023 Team size: 2 Outcome: Successful escape!
beautifulimmersive

An excellent game that may be our favourite pirate game to date. The puzzles were very logical with some really unique ones and a fantastic premise and atmosphere.

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Reviews by escape room review sites

First of the three games I played at The Escapement, Pirates of Polaris places you in the brig of a pirate galleon, abandoned by the crew and left to go down with the ship, unless you can find a way to escape. The venue has achieved quite a reputation amongst enthusiasts, and it was instantly clear why: Pirates is a beautiful game that starts well and never misses a beat.

As the website description states, some of the decor is taken from an actual antique ship, from which the game takes its nam...

A review of Pirates of Polaris, an excellent escape room which managed to deliver both an atmospheric set and great puzzles.
This room is beautiful, it really is, and when a room uses genuine artifacts there is no doubt you are in for a treat

We know this is a super common theme among Escape Rooms, but wow! We were so impressed with what the team had managed to put together. The floorboards, the walls, the ceiling, everything was creaky in the right places, and really made you feel like you were on a real life ship…OH WAIT – are those genuine artefacts from a real life 130 year old pirate ship called Polaris?! Yes, yes they are. 

The Escapement make very little noise about the fact that much of Pirates of Polaris is constructed from an actual 130-year-old ship, the Polaris. It’s something we didn’t find out about until after our game, but it does go some way to explaining how good the theming in this room is.

Can you steer the ship in the right direction?

Lists

This game is part of the following user-created game lists:
  • Best UK escape rooms 2022 by Escape the Review virtuoso
    These are the 100 highest rated escape rooms in the UK, as of 31st Dec 2022, based on combined ratings from enthusiasts, bloggers and experts - every game here comes highly recommended. 
  • Best UK escape rooms 2021 by Escape the Review virtuoso

    These are the 100 highest rated escape rooms (out of 1600) in the UK, as of 31st Dec 2021, based on combined ratings from enthusiasts, bloggers and experts - every game here comes highly recommended. 

  • Best UK escape rooms 2023 by Escape the Review virtuoso
    These are the 100 highest rated escape rooms in the UK, as of 31st Dec 2023, based on combined ratings from enthusiasts, bloggers and experts - every game here comes highly recommended. 

See also