It's safe to say that Budapest is the capital of escape rooms, not only because it was the cradle of this genre in 2010, but also because it’s home to the best and most spectacular rooms, locked with tricky riddles, where we have 60 minutes to escape from. We recently visited the MystiqueRoom to try the Magic Castle, which opened last year, and the newly inaugurated Hatter room. In the former, we found ourselves in the magical world of Harry Potter, boarded the Hogwarts Express, and made potions, while in the latter, we were welcomed by the well-known character from Alice in Wonderland as we went on a quest to find the Hatter's lost friends. While we were there, we also peeked into the other rooms, where we could roam further into Alice's fairy-tale world, discover the secrets of the Pharaohs' tomb, experience pirates’ adventures, or experiment in a secret laboratory.
MystiqueRoom's exit games belong to the new generation of escape rooms, which means that instead of mechanical locks and keys, magnetic ones and electronic solutions unlock the secrets. This guarantees that the look and tasks of a room will always be changing, and even the most experienced escape room champions will be constantly surprised by the games. In MystiqueRoom's newest additions, the Magic Castle, for example, magic wands can be used to get closer to lost relics, while in the Hatter's room, the world literally turns upside down.
The new generation of exit games are unparalleled not only in their challenges but also in their visuals, as you enter a room, you find yourself in a different fabulous world, ensuring you can fully immerse yourself in the story. The only problem with this is that while we're gazing and gawping at the rooms, the clock is rapidly ticking, as we have exactly 60 minutes to unravel all the secrets and escape. But the race against time calls for even tighter teamwork and more excitement, providing a truly intense experience.
There are many escape rooms in Budapest, but MystiqueRoom is one of our favourites for a reason. With 12 rooms to choose from, there's something for everyone, whether you're with friends, kids, on a date, a birthday, a team-building activity or a family fun day. The puzzles and riddles will keep the team on their toes, there'll be a need for logical leaps and imagination, but if you get stuck, the friendly staff will always give you a few hints.
In MystiqueRoom, the difficulty of the levels is measured on a scale of 1 to 10 (the hardest one, the Magic Castle, being a 10, and the easiest level, the Iron Throne, is a 5), but the choice of room will be decided by the theme that the team feels most comfortable with. If you're still not sure which room to choose, you can even take a test on the website to see which suits you best. But let's see what rooms you can choose from.
We first tried the Magic Castle, which opened last year. It's no secret that our team is a fan of the Harry Potter books and films, so it was a real treat for us to wrap ourselves in the imaginary wizard's cloak and get to hop on the Hogwarts Express in the amazing set, meet Hedwig on Platform 9 and ¾, make potions, be surrounded by moving paintings and solve puzzles in the magical study. Unfortunately, we can't tell you any more without spoiling the game, but for those of us who are fans of the wizarding world and want to spend an hour in the Harry Potter stories, it's a must-see adventure.
The room was a real brainstorm, so we took a break and then popped into the MystiqueRoom's Wonderland, Alice's room, where we were tasked with finding the White Rabbit in a vest, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and Humpty Dumpty, the Egg. In the beginning, just like Alice, we find ourselves in a room where we have to pass through various doors, meet the Queen of Hearts and finally, if we've cleared the obstacles, we're invited to the famous five o'clock tea party. The scenery here is also quite stunning, as if we were on the movie set, and the challenges, similarly to the Magic Castle, are very creative and crafty.
This room has become so popular that a sequel, The Hatter, was created this year, which is not directly linked to the story of Alice's room, but you'll definitely want to go through both. We're in Wonderland once again, this time we're on a quest to find the Hatter's friends in a topsy-turvy world, so it's worth turning your mind 180 degrees to get past the obstacles and into the hat room, the card room and all the other exciting locations familiar from Alice's story.
The movie-themed rooms don't stop there, as The Iron Throne takes us to the universe of Game of Thrones, the Cube brings us to a modern laboratory, and we're tasked to retrieve the plans of the building as monks in The Cathedral. If you'd rather be a pirate, an archaeologist, or a time traveler, you'd like to find the Shogun's Shadow or solve a high-tech submarine mystery, MystiqueRoom is the place for you.
