The struggle is sweet at Hungary’s renowned escape-room games. When the door closes behind your back, you have to race against the clock to solve real-life riddles and mind-boggling puzzles to get out. Quirky clues and startling conundrums keep coming your way while you try to crack the code that will finally set you free. And the clock keeps ticking. The themes, designs and concepts of rooms are endless in Budapest, spanning sinister scenes of claustrophobic nightmares and venues of visually pleasing puzzles. Below we assembled some of the best escape games in town. Get out in time or be trapped forever… are you ready?
The rules at escape rooms are always pretty much the same; communication and cooperation are key. Teams always have to work together. Most rooms are best to be worked out in a team of four, but some may require more minds to think alike. If you find a clue, share it with your teammates as the solution is always closer if you think together. A game master is always watching you, ready to give you hints and clues if you get stuck. Most places will only accept cash, while online booking is always necessary. Free your mind to free your body. Enjoy the games!
As the door of a nondescript apartment on ever-buzzing Erzsébet Boulevard closes behind your back, you find yourself in the former residence of Lord Wickelwood. A true adventurer who dedicated his whole life to finding lost treasures all around the world, Wickelwood transformed his apartment into the site of an ultimate real-life adventure before his death. Cleverly crafted puzzles await here, and keep in mind whatever you find as it all may come handy at some point. And all located in the heart of Budapest.
Price: 8,000 - 12,000 HUF Discount for families and students.
Address: 1073 Budapest, Erzsébet körút 8 More details and booking
Enchanting visuals await those adventurous at heart at E-Exit. All rooms here are aesthetically pleasing, full of amazing adventures and enigmas. Santa Muerte is recommended for more experienced escapers, as it is full of intriguing challenges that go beyond opening padlocks. The Circus is their easiest room, but this doesn’t mean that you are guaranteed to break free. You have one hour to set sad-eyed animals and acrobats free or fall into the evil hands of the tyrant director. In the 1984 room you can experience living in the dystopian world of George Orwell’s masterpiece and try to run away from Big Brother and the Thought Police forever. This is particuarly daunting. Heaven and Hell is the most popular room, and rightly so, a game where you have to bring yourself back to life or burn in hell forever.
Price: 10-000 - 14,000 HUF
Address: 1072 Budapest, Nyár utca 27 More details and booking
When visiting Budapest, you will almost certainly spend an evening at Gozsdu Courtyard, a buzzing hub of bars and restaurants. If you wish to change tack from all that wining and dining, you can get yourself locked up at Gozsdu Mission, and break yourself free from three different, well-designed and decorative rooms. Its White Mission is unique, as you get locked in an all-white room and have to get out while the key is in front of you the whole time. If you’ve ever wondered whether you would be able to escape from prison, now you can find out with this thought-provoking game in which you discover your inner Michael Scofield. In the Maffia Room, you become part of a secret society of criminals and complete a mysterious request before the police arrive. Each of these games are full of perplexing puzzles, requiring you to think outside the box in order to get out in time.
Price: 3,000 - 5,000 HUF
Address: 1075 Budapest, Dob utca 16 More details and booking
The games at Locked Room are super exciting, full of unique ideas and complex conundrums. You can catch a psycho serial killer, escape a mad surgeon, get your mitts on some gold in a bank robbery, investigate a series of mysterious disappearances at a cursed motel room or find out what on earth is going on at an abandoned house – there are seven startling games to play altogether. All rooms provide clever mystery and realistic riddles. Highly recommended.
Price: 12,000 - 14,000 HUF
Address: 1061 Budapest, Székely Mihány utca 4.
More details and booking
Those who liked Mission Impossible should definitely enjoy MindQuest. This real-life adventure game is tucked away on the upper story of a downtown ruin pub. Altogether four rooms await temporary secret agents. In The Bomb, you are tasked with diffusing a deadly bomb in the office of a military leader after the Cold War. In the Diamond Heist, you have one hour to steal the world’s biggest diamond before security finds you out, while The Matrix invites you to destroy an evil program before it’s too late. Those who are brave enough can also venture inside an ancient temple, where the ghost of the evil beast Noo’zaca may still linger.
Price: 3,000 - 3,500 HUF
Address: 1072 Budapest, Klauzál utca 19 (inside Füge Udvar) More details and booking
The visuals and accessories at Mystique Room are so jaw-dropping that solving mysteries here is an especially intriguing experience and you may not even want to leave. Strolling in off Jászai Mari Square you quickly find yourself trapped inside an Egyptian burial chamber, and you have the next hour to overcome obstacles and escape. In The Cathedral you and your team have to find the construction plans of a beautiful cathedral, while in Time Machine you have to restart time that a professor accidentally stopped – before it’s too late. The Shogun’s Shadow invites you to sneak into the house of an assailant and steal the evidence from a dark murder case.
Price: 11,990 - 19,920 HUF
Address: 1055 Budapest, Szent István körút 9 More details and booking
Having opened its doors in 2012, Paniq Room was one of the first live escape rooms in the world. In addition to various games in Budapest and Hungary, they also set up business in Los Angeles and Australia. In Budapest, brave teams can try rooms such as The Real Saw, where a frightening film comes to life; Sherlock, where you can awaken your inner Holmes and collecting evidence; and Darkroom, where to spice things up you have to break into the apartment of a freaky photographer and steal a compromising DVD of the girl next door. Just be sure to leave on time. Many more exciting games await here, and whichever you choose, the fun should be guaranteed.
Price: 2,990 - 3,490 HUF
Address: 1085 Budapest, Mária utca 29.
More details and booking
Para Park was a pioneer of escape games in Hungary. They were one of the first to fill underground spaces with surreal objects and come up with endless intriguing puzzles that you have to solve. Their games are unique and original. They have two rooms: Crime Scene ’95 and Community Cube Factory, where you have to solve a maze of puzzles, crack codes, track clues, detect messages and open padlocks in order to solve mind-blowing mysteries. Team cooperation is essential, but if you pay attention to detail, all should come out right in the end.
Price: 6,990 - 9,990 HUF
Address: 1081 Budapest, Vajdahunyad utca 4.
More details and booking
9/10
Pirate Cave
If you would like to be Jack Sparrow for a little while, this is the place to go. Pirate Cave is a little further away from the city center, but it is well worth the journey on metro 2. Here you can embark on a true treasure hunt amid authentic and funky surroundings, cool special effects, sights and lights. They pay extra attention to the visual world that nicely ties in with the storyline. Playing escape rooms here is a laid-back and enjoyable experience. You just need a bit of that Sparrow swagger.
Price: 2,800 - 7,000 HUF
Address: 1106 Budapest, Fehér út 10.
More details and booking
TRAP is an acronym for Team Race Against Puzzles and if you enjoy solving complicated clues, you’ll love this place. They have four rooms altogether, each cleverly crafted, and full of surprises. In the Egypt room, you travel back in time, venturing inside an ancient pyramid, while the Armageddon room invites you to undertake the simple task of saving the whole of humanity. In the Amazon room, you can be trapped in a jungle forever, and if you find yourself stranded in the dungeon of the Boltons in the Game of Thrones Room – as we all know – there is a lot to lose.
