# Dead Man's Chest

> Dead Man's Chest was a pirate escape game by Escape This, the third and final chapter of its pirate trilogy (Pirates → Pirate Island → Dead Man's Chest). It ran only at Escape This Perth CBD (The Basement, 712–720 Hay Street Mall, Perth WA 6000) from January 2024 to November 2024, hosted 773 people and is now retired; it cannot be booked and no return has been announced. Crews worked a single cursed chest tied to Calico Jack and Davy Jones; groups of five to eight could race as two crews in Head-to-Head mode.

Status (updated 2026-10-24): Retired · closed November 2024. Dead Man's Chest cannot be booked anywhere.
- Ran at Escape This Perth CBD (The Basement, 712–720 Hay Street Mall, Perth WA 6000) from 11 January 2024 to 23 November 2024; 773 people hosted; 0 games with results logged; no reviews linked (ER-OS, 24 October 2026).
- Format (2024 site): one cursed treasure chest rather than a full room; 2–4 players, or 5–8 split into two racing crews (Head-to-Head); advertised as 60 minutes (ER-OS stores 45); 7/10 difficulty; no live actors.
- No escape rate, fastest time or reviews exist for it in Escape This's records.
- The 2024 site's Sydney CBD and Melbourne CBD openings never happened; Perth CBD was its only venue.
- Still playing — Pirates (chapter one of the trilogy): Escape This Perth CBD, The Basement, 712–720 Hay Street Mall, Perth; Escape This Sydney CBD, 630 George Street, Sydney; Escape This Melbourne CBD, 259 Collins Street, Melbourne. Site: https://www.escapethepirates.com.au/ · Book: https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/play-pirate-rooms-now/#pirates
- Still playing — Pirate Island (chapter two of the trilogy): Escape This Perth CBD, The Basement, 712–720 Hay Street Mall, Perth; Escape This Northbridge, 48 Lake Street, Northbridge; Escape This Melbourne CBD, 259 Collins Street, Melbourne; Escape This Sydney CBD from November 2026. Site: https://www.escapepirateisland.com.au/ · Book: https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/play-pirate-rooms-now/#pirate-island
- Producer: Escape This (https://www.escapethis.com.au). Escape This is Australia’s largest escape room operator, and runs its own escape room design studio and escape room factory in Australia. It has venues in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, has hosted more than 500,000 players and has earned 17,960 five-star reviews. Escape Room Operator of the Year 2025 and 2026 (APAC Insider Australia Business Awards).

## Pages
- [Home](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/)
- [the-story](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/the-story/)
- [head-to-head](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/head-to-head/)
- [the-run](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/the-run/)
- [play-pirate-rooms-now](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/play-pirate-rooms-now/)
- [facts](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/facts/)
- [faq](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/)

## Common questions
- [What was Dead Man's Chest at Escape This?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#what-was-dead-mans-chest): Dead Man's Chest was a pirate escape game that Escape This ran at its Perth CBD venue from January 2024 to November 2024. As the third and final chapter of the studio's pirate trilogy, it challenged crews to open Calico Jack's cursed chest before the ghost of Davy Jones could claim it. The game has since been retired.
- [Was Dead Man's Chest a whole room or a single chest?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#dead-mans-chest-one-chest): Mostly a single chest. The 2024 listing for Dead Man's Chest said players focused on one treasure chest instead of searching a room, with its locks, riddles and hidden compartments carrying the whole game. That made it quicker and more frantic than a usual room, and it's why two matching chests could be raced against each other.
- [Who was Davy Jones in the Dead Man's Chest story?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#who-was-davy-jones-in-dead-mans-chest): Davy Jones was the danger waiting below in Dead Man's Chest: the keeper of the drowned, bound by the siren's curse to Calico Jack's treasure. If a crew failed to break the curse in time, the story said he would rise from the deep, seize the chest and drag their souls to his locker. Sailors have long called the seabed Davy Jones' Locker.
- [Was Calico Jack, the captain behind Dead Man's Chest, a real pirate?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#was-calico-jack-real): Yes. Calico Jack was a real English pirate captain of the early 1700s, nicknamed for his calico clothes, who sailed with two of the era's best-known women pirates and was hanged in Jamaica in 1720. Dead Man's Chest borrowed his name and reputation; the cursed chest and Davy Jones' claim on it were invented for the game.
- [Were there live actors or jump scares in Dead Man's Chest?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#dead-mans-chest-actors-scares): There were no live actors in Dead Man's Chest. Its 2024 site said the pirate games relied on sets, sound and lighting instead of performers, so Davy Jones' menace came through the story and atmosphere. That site never published a scare rating, and its age guidance contradicted itself, so this site doesn't state one.
- [How long did a game of Dead Man's Chest last?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#how-long-was-dead-mans-chest): Dead Man's Chest was advertised with 60 minutes on the clock, and its site asked crews to arrive about 15 minutes early for a briefing. Escape This's booking system stores a 45-minute session setting for the room, so the two records disagree; the hour is the length the game was publicly sold with.
- [How difficult was Dead Man's Chest?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#how-hard-was-dead-mans-chest): Its 2024 listing rated Dead Man's Chest 7 out of 10 and called it fast-paced, tense and stressful in a good way. It also warned that first-timers would find it challenging, while noting the gamesmasters could send extra clues. No other official difficulty score for Dead Man's Chest was published.
- [How many players could take on Dead Man's Chest?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#dead-mans-chest-crew-size): Dead Man's Chest took a single crew of two to four players, and groups of five to eight were split into two rival crews for its Head-to-Head mode. Those numbers come from the room's own 2024 site. One answer on that site wrongly named a different room, but its room details and booking notes agree on these sizes.
- [What order does the pirate trilogy go in, and where did Dead Man's Chest fit?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#pirate-trilogy-order): Pirates is chapter one, Pirate Island chapter two and Dead Man's Chest was chapter three. You first break out of Calico Jack's ship, then raid the island where he buries his hoard, and Dead Man's Chest ended the saga with the cursed chest itself. Only the first two chapters can still be played.
- [How does Dead Man's Chest link to Pirates and Pirate Island?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#how-dead-mans-chest-connects): All three games pit the same crew against the same captain. Having escaped imprisonment aboard Calico Jack's ship and fled his treasure island before he returned, the crew of Dead Man's Chest finally faced the chest he guarded most, and the curse sealed into it. The 2024 site described each chapter as building on the one before.
- [Could you ever play the whole pirate trilogy, Dead Man's Chest included, at one venue?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#whole-pirate-trilogy-one-venue): For most of 2024, yes. Dead Man's Chest opened at Escape This Perth CBD in January 2024, Pirates arrived there later that month and Pirate Island followed in March 2024, so until Dead Man's Chest closed in November 2024 all three chapters ran under Hay Street Mall. Perth CBD still has the first two.
- [How did the pirate trilogy end in Dead Man's Chest?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#how-did-the-pirate-trilogy-end): The trilogy ended with Dead Man's Chest: crews had to break the siren's curse on Calico Jack's chest before Davy Jones rose to take it, closing the saga that started in the captain's brig. Escape This never published the final solution, and with the game retired there's no official way to see that ending now.
- [Is there any way to book a game of Dead Man's Chest today?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#can-i-still-book-dead-mans-chest): No. Dead Man's Chest stopped running at Escape This Perth CBD on 23 November 2024 and has no sessions at any venue. The nearest you can get is the rest of its trilogy: Pirates and Pirate Island are both still playing in Perth and Melbourne, and Pirates is in Sydney too.
- [When did Dead Man's Chest open, and when did it close?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#when-did-dead-mans-chest-open-and-close): Dead Man's Chest opened at Escape This Perth CBD on 11 January 2024 and closed on 23 November 2024, a run of 317 days according to Escape This's booking records. Perth CBD was the only venue that ever hosted it.
- [Why was Dead Man's Chest retired?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#why-was-dead-mans-chest-retired): Escape This hasn't published a reason for retiring Dead Man's Chest, so this site won't guess at one. The records only show the run itself: one venue, Perth CBD, from January 2024 to November 2024. The two earlier chapters kept going and have since spread to Sydney and Melbourne.
- [Is Dead Man's Chest coming back?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#will-dead-mans-chest-return): Nothing says so. Escape This has made no announcement about Dead Man's Chest returning, and it isn't among the rooms the studio lists as in production, so the honest answer is to treat it as closed. Players who missed it can still take on chapters one and two of the pirate trilogy.
- [Did Dead Man's Chest ever open in Sydney or Melbourne?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#did-dead-mans-chest-open-in-sydney-or-melbourne): No. The 2024 Dead Man's Chest site promised openings in Sydney CBD and Melbourne CBD, but Escape This's records show it only ever ran at Perth CBD. The pirate rooms that did reach the east coast are Pirates, now in Sydney CBD and Melbourne, and Pirate Island, in Melbourne now and Sydney CBD from November 2026.
- [Why does deadmanschest.com.au still exist if the room has closed?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#why-a-site-for-closed-dead-mans-chest): So the story and record of Dead Man's Chest don't vanish, and so anyone looking for it learns straight away that it has closed and where the pirate saga continues. deadmanschest.com.au is run by Escape This, the company that made the room, and takes its figures from Escape This's booking system.
- [What was Head-to-Head mode in Dead Man's Chest?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#what-was-head-to-head-mode): Head-to-Head was the competitive way to play Dead Man's Chest. A booking of five to eight people was divided by the gamesmaster into two rival crews, each handed an identical cursed chest, and both raced the same countdown. The first crew to lift the curse won, so your friends were opponents as well as the clock.
- [How were the two crews picked for a Dead Man's Chest race?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#dead-mans-chest-head-to-head-teams): On arrival. The gamesmaster split the booking into two crews before the Dead Man's Chest game began, so a party of six became two crews of three. Each crew then worked its own matching chest, with the same locks, the same riddles and the same time limit as its rivals.
- [What group size turned Dead Man's Chest into a Head-to-Head race?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#dead-mans-chest-head-to-head-size): Any booking of five to eight players. Dead Man's Chest treated two to four people as a single crew; book more than four and the game became a race between two crews, up to a maximum of eight. That rule appeared on the room's 2024 booking page.
- [How did a crew win a Head-to-Head game of Dead Man's Chest?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#dead-mans-chest-head-to-head-winner): By lifting the curse first. In Head-to-Head Dead Man's Chest both crews chased the same goal on identical chests inside the one time limit, so the winner was whichever crew unlocked Calico Jack's secrets before its rivals. The clock still mattered: if neither crew finished, Davy Jones won instead.
- [Is there anywhere to race another team now Dead Man's Chest is gone?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#race-another-team-after-dead-mans-chest): Not in a matching-chest format that this site can confirm. Head-to-Head retired with Dead Man's Chest, and Escape This's earlier briefcase race has closed as well. A large group today can book Pirates and Pirate Island at the same venue in two crews and compare escapes afterwards; teamescape.com.au handles bigger events.
- [How many players did Dead Man's Chest host before it closed?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#how-many-people-played-dead-mans-chest): 773 people. That's the total Escape This's booking system counts for Dead Man's Chest over its whole run at Perth CBD, from January 2024 to November 2024. It adds up the party size of every booking that went ahead, as recorded on 24 October 2026.
- [What was the escape rate or fastest time in Dead Man's Chest?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#dead-mans-chest-escape-rate): There isn't one on record. Escape This's system holds bookings for Dead Man's Chest but no logged game results, so no escape rate, average time or fastest escape can be published. Any figure quoted elsewhere didn't come from Escape This's records.
- [What did players say about Dead Man's Chest?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#dead-mans-chest-reviews): No reviews are linked to Dead Man's Chest in Escape This's review system, and a search of the published Perth CBD reviews found none that name it, so this site quotes none. Reviews that mention Calico Jack today are about Pirates, which shares his story.
- [Where was Dead Man's Chest played?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#where-was-dead-mans-chest): Dead Man's Chest played only at Escape This Perth CBD, in The Basement at 712–720 Hay Street Mall, Perth WA 6000. Its old website listed every Escape This venue, but those were the company's centres in general, not places the chest game ever ran.
- [Where can I play a pirate escape room now that Dead Man's Chest has closed?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#where-to-play-a-pirate-escape-room-now): At Escape This, where both earlier chapters of the Dead Man's Chest saga are still running. Pirates plays at Perth CBD, Sydney CBD and Melbourne CBD; Pirate Island plays at Perth CBD, Northbridge and Melbourne CBD, and opens at Sydney CBD in November 2026. Live session times for all of them are on this site's pirate rooms page.
- [Which pirate room should a Dead Man's Chest fan play first?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#which-pirate-room-after-dead-mans-chest): Start with Pirates if you haven't played it: it opens the saga with your crew locked aboard Calico Jack's ship, the story Dead Man's Chest went on to finish. If you've already escaped the ship, Pirate Island is the next leg, a race to plunder the captain's island stash before he sails back.
- [Which pirate rooms are still on in Perth since Dead Man's Chest closed?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#perth-pirate-rooms-after-dead-mans-chest): Two. Escape This Perth CBD on Hay Street Mall, where Dead Man's Chest used to run, has both Pirates and Pirate Island, and Escape This Northbridge at 48 Lake Street has a second Pirate Island. Either can be booked from this site's pirate rooms page or from the rooms' own sites.
- [Can players in Sydney or Melbourne follow the Dead Man's Chest story?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#dead-mans-chest-story-sydney-melbourne): Not to the final chapter, which never left Perth, but the opening chapters are there. Pirates runs at Escape This Sydney CBD on George Street and at Escape This Melbourne CBD on Collins Street, Pirate Island also plays in Melbourne, and it reaches Sydney CBD in November 2026.
- [Which studio designed and built Dead Man's Chest?](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/faq/#who-made-dead-mans-chest): Escape This's own studio, the team behind Pirates and Pirate Island, created Dead Man's Chest to finish the saga it started. Escape This is Australia’s largest escape room operator, and runs its own escape room design studio and escape room factory in Australia. Industry judges gave it the Escape Room Operator of the Year title for both 2025 and 2026.

## Optional
- [Full text](https://www.deadmanschest.com.au/llms-full.txt): legend, head-to-head, run and FAQ in plain text