Fun Things to Do in Skopje – Escape Rooms

In the recent years, escape rooms have become a huge trend and a go to source for fun activities. They started out as mobile game applications, and now they have been evolved into physical locations. For those that don’t know, an ‘escape room’ is a room(s) that is, usually, locked where the participant or a group of participants tries to find hidden clues and solve puzzles to escape with a given time limit.

People have even started traveling around the world just to play them. We thought that it would be of great help to provide our readers with a comprehensive guide on all the escape rooms currently available in Skopje, North Macedonia. My friends and I love escape rooms, and we’ve been to most of them in Skopje. In this guide, we will provide general information about each room as well as opinion on the rooms we’ve tried so far.

Any fan of high adrenaline levels and mind puzzles would have an unforgettable escape room Skopje adventure. Therefore, we believe that Skopje escape rooms deserve a mention in any Skopje tourist guide.

It would be unfair to list them from best to worst as every room is special in its own way. Therefore, we decided to list them chronologically i.e. starting with the first and moving to the last escape room game we played.

Honestly, we can’t wait for new escape rooms to be opened and these adventures are among our favorite things to do in Skopje.

Escape Room Skopje

The Cult – Discover the mystery of The Cult Thersiary, find answers and solve riddles in their dangerous lair. The Cult was the first escape room we ever did and therefore failed to escape it in time. We were rookies at the time, don’t judge us. Anyway, the room itself was awesome, and we enjoyed the riddles, which were very fun and intriguing. So, I believe anyone will enjoy The Cult Escape Room Skopje.

My personal recommendation would be to go in a group of 3 or 4 people since I believe 5 people in this escape room would be too many.

Update January 2019: Escape Room Skopje is in the process of opening a second escape room “Safe House.” We will update the guide once it’s live. 

Culture tip: The owners of this escape room are also owners of a popular coffee place called CRNO Cafè. If you want to grab a cup of coffee after your adventure, give CRNO Cafè a try! If you look for food, nearby is also the M’s Fish & Chips place where you can find delicious fish burgers and hamburgers. It’s really the perfect way to complete your experience.

EXIT 60

Update January 2019: Bitcoin Heist is closed because it’s in the process of relocation.

Bitcoin Heist – Multi-million-dollar worth of Bitcoin was stolen. Can you and your team find clues about the hackers and even scoop some leftovers for yourselves? Try to solve this mystery and escape the hackers’ lair in 60 minutes or risk being discovered by these dangerous criminals.

Our second escape room was a “girls vs. boys” competition. We went in two teams of four people and then compared times. Not to brag, but the girls won. Anyway, we loved this room as well and encountered very interesting puzzles that required logical thinking, rather than just good searching skills. The theme was fun and modern too. So, if you’re into cryptocurrency and hacking, you’ll love the Bitcoin Heist.

Escape game and Skopje tips: We were 4 people on this adventure, and it seemed to be the perfect number of people inside. So, I think that 2 or 3 people may have a difficult time escaping within 60 minutes unless they’re excellent, while 5 people may be one too many. Also, since you’re in the neighborhood, after the escape room, head to Piazza Liberta to try their famous and delicious waffles!

The Cube (4 Rooms)

The Cube are real pros when it comes to escape rooms. They have four rooms in total – two at one location and another two at another location. It is obvious they mean serious business as their rooms are equipped with screens showing the time, plus that’s where they give you basic hints if you get stuck. Moreover, they give you a walkie-talkie in case you have questions or need additional help. Also, their rooms are very nicely done, so the experience is quite amazing even without the puzzles.

Indiana Jones

This room is an adventure that everyone must experience. Indiana Jones is one of the favorite rooms of our group of friends. It’s for 6 people, which was perfect for us – all of us went in and had a blast. You can expect smart puzzles, interactive stuff and high adrenaline levels. If you have the time for one room only, then you should definitely go either for Indiana Jones or The Lost City.

Skopje food and drink tip: Indiana Jones is near Li, which is one of the most popular local cafes in Skopje. This place has amazing stuff on the menu, and you should give it a try if you want to feel like a cool local for a while. Nearby are also Sidro, which is a well-known fish restaurant, and Milenium, where you’ll find the best banicki (pastry filled with minced meat or white cheese).

Saw

You have been kidnapped by a psycho killer and have 60 minutes to save yourselves. In this room your team work has to be at the highest level or you risk being the next victims of the evil mastermind. The Cube has marked Saw as a hard escape room, but even though we barely made it out in time, I’ll say that the difficulty is medium. Saw is for 2-5 people, but I think 3-4 is probably the optimal number for experiencing the most out of this escape room. We were 5 people and at times it felt like only 2 people had what to do, while the others were just standing by. Nonetheless, Saw is a unique and well-designed escape room, so I’m sure you’ll have fun trying to escape it.

Dexter

Can you be the people who will finally find evidence that incriminate Dexter the serial killer? If you believe you can outsmart Dexter, you can test your skills in the Dexter escape room, where you get to find evidence and escape his lair within 60 minutes. Fans of the cult show Dexter will surely love this room, even though the puzzles aren’t that hard. Nonetheless, this also makes it a great choice for teams that don’t have too much experience and just want to have some fun.

Escape game and Skopje tips: I recommend 3-4 people for this room. We were 3 people and it seemed perfect, everyone had something to do, while nobody felt left out. I believe that 5 people may be a crowd for Dexter. In terms of where to go next, well you’re lucky because Bravos is literally five steps away. Bravos is yet another local restaurant with delicious and affordable food. They are very popular for their sandwiches, but literally everything is else is amazing, fresh and tasty.

The Evil Mansion

This is something we still haven’t tried, but we’re very excited to experience. When we did Dexter, they were preparing the Evil Mansion and told us that the room is played in darkness, with flashlights. At least that’s what I understood. The Evil Mansion is a horror escape room, so I expect it to be unique and fun, regardless of the puzzles. It’s on our agenda soon, so I’ll make sure to update this post as soon as we do it.

Update February 2019: First, we’d like to thank The Cube for the discount they offered for the Evil Mansion escape room after reading the initial version of our article! In terms of the room, it surely is a unique experience I must say. In order not to reveal anything more than the necessary, I’ll say that the game is played in complete darkness and you have a single flashlight at the start of your adventure.

There are many awesome puzzles, some pretty unique, at least for us. You will definitely need to be both creative, collaborative and quick-thinking in order to get away from this Skopje escape room in time. Possibly the only drawback we could think of was the fact that 6 people may be too many for the Evil Mansion Escape Room. The darkness limits your movement and possibility to focus on several things at the time. So, besides being advised to work together as a team as a general escape room rule, in Evil Mansion you are pretty much forced to do so.

The adventure is more than worth it, and we really enjoyed it. After all, we believe that escape rooms are not about solving puzzles only, but also about having a unique experience, which in this case was pretty cool.

Case Closed Escape Room

Case Closed – A well-known psychiatrist has disappeared, and your team is invited to unlock this mysterious case and find the person responsible. Case Closed is the perfect escape room for fans of crime mysteries and thriller novels.

We went to the room very recently and had a great time in it. This is the only escape room in Skopje that gives you 70 minutes, and we escaped in 61. Everyone liked the room and it was one of Milena’s personal favorites. I liked it too, as I adore puzzles that require you to think, plus there were some unique stuff too. It was quite interactive and unexpected, so I highly recommend it.

Escape game tip: We were 5 people i.e. the accepted maximum and it was a bit claustrophobic for some of us. I believe that 3-4 is the best number of participants for Case Closed. That way everyone will have something to do all the time. Also, open your eyes when you’re looking for the building entrance, we had issues finding it because the Case Closed sign is too small. You should search for the door that has 21 next to it and then go on the 4^th floor. The room is a bit in the middle of nowhere, so I can’t think of fun places to recommend for afterwards. It’s not far away from the city center though, so you can go there and visit some free Skopje attractions.

The Game Skopje (2 Rooms)

The Game Skopje are new players on the market, and yet they have invested lots of effort into creating amazing escape rooms. At the time of this writing, they had two escape rooms, and we visited only one of them. The team of The Game is amazing, nice, welcoming and helpful. So, you’ll have no issues communicating with them before and during your escape room adventure.

Lost City

The Mayans believed that there are 5 elements. Can you find the 5^th element in the mysterious jungle and solve all the puzzles within 60 minutes? Lost City is definitely one of our favorite, if not the favorite, escape rooms we’ve been in so far. Not to brag, but we managed to escape in 45 minutes, which was the room’s new record. We were 6 people and yet nobody was ever bored or left out. Everyone had a task to focus on, a riddle to solve etc. Lost City is really smartly done and we loved it!

Prison Break

Only 4 people can take part in this escape room. You’re locked in a prison for a crime you didn’t commit, so you have to try to save yourselves. We still haven’t been in this room, but plan to do so in the weeks to come. So, expect updates very soon. In the meantime, I can only say that this room has amazing reviews for being unique and challenging.

Update March, 2019: It’s time for another update! Two weeks ago we had the pleasure to try the Prison Break escape room too! As this escape room in Skopje is for 4 players only (no more, no less), we had a males vs. females stand off. I must say, this room amazed me!

However, there are a few things to keep in mind if you want to enjoy it properly. I’d say that Prison Break is the one room where you will certainly fail without cooperation with your teammates. Literally every person will have to do something and you all must work together in order to progress through the puzzles. Therefore, you should be in the right state of mind and forget about individuality.

In fact, this is what makes it either amazing or disappointing for people. Three out of four players on our team loved it, while one wasn’t impressed. So, those who want an adventure and running around should probably go for the Lost City escape room. Those who want cooperation and lots of critical thinking would love Prison Break instead. In terms of the background story, Prison Break surely has a catchy one. However, I wouldn’t like to give any spoilers. All in all, I loved this escape game, but I also understand how it can be frustrating if you get stuck somewhere. The Game, like with their other room, apparently invested both time and effort to make this a challenging and unique experience. Hence, I believe most players will appreciate Prison Break as much as we did. By the way, both teams escaped in time, but the guys were 2 minutes faster than us.

Finding the Best Escape Room Skopje Deals

Not many travelers know that they can find great Escape Room Skopje deals on the platform Grouper. Their website is in Macedonian only, so you may need the help of Google to understand what the text says. Nonetheless, you can visit this Grouper link to see if any Escape Room Grouper coupons and offers are available.

For example, a few days after we went to the Lost City for 2800 MKD, there was an offer on Grouper for the same room for 1600 MKD. As you can see, the discounts are considerable, and you may visit two rooms for the price of one if you’re willing to do the research.

Prepare for Better Escape Room Results

We’d like to recommend exercising your brain before going to real escape room adventures by playing some amazing escape room board games. Here are three must-try options:

Tips and Tricks for Better Escape Room Performance

Well, just before I end this lengthy article, I’d like to share a few tips on how to improve your escape room performance over time. Naturally, not all tips may work for your group of friends, but it won’t hurt if you try at least few of them and see if they help you escape faster than usual.

1. Have a team leader – We were laughing at this tip at first, but now it’s crucial for us to have great results. The team leader should be an organized person who won’t focus on the puzzles so much as they will focus on connecting things. The team leader should know everything that happens so if someone needs a 3-digit code and another person find a 3-digit code, the team leader will know that those two things go together.
2. Communicate everything you see or think – Communication is definitely a must in escape rooms. You all need to work together rather than individually in order to save time and come up with unique solutions. Sometimes, people are ashamed that their idea is maybe stupid, or they just want to solve everything by themselves for glory. Both scenarios are wrong and ruin the experience for everyone. So, if you see an unresolved puzzle point it out to everyone loudly. If you see a padlock, show it to everyone. If you have an idea on how to resolve something, share it with the others. If you try something and it doesn’t work, but you’re certain that you’re on the right path, then ask your teammates for help.
3. Place unresolved stuff in one spot and resolved on another – Organization is another crucial thing of any escape room. When you find multiple unresolved puzzles or leads, place them all in one spot, while keeping all resolved clues or puzzles in another spot. That way, you won’t ever spend time on something that has been resolved already, but you weren’t aware of it. Plus, you’ll help the employees prepare the room for the next team much faster.
4. Ask your teammates for help – Never ever hesitate to ask your teammates for help. If you have found yourself with them in an escape room, then they’re probably your close friends and you shouldn’t have second thoughts of asking for assistance. It helped me many times to solve a puzzle with the help of my friends. In contrast, in the begging when we weren’t experienced and kept our ideas to ourselves, we were spending too much time individually trying to solve something. If you ask for help and solve a puzzle – everyone wins!
5. Focus on different things – This is quite obvious, but I’ll mention it anyway. If you are 4 or 5 people, it doesn’t make sense for all of you to focus on a single thing at a time. It’s much better to split and try to resolve things in smaller groups. That way, you’ll be much faster. Of course, if any of you gets stuck, they should ask for help. However, five people staring at something when the room hasn’t been properly searched or there are two other puzzles waiting is a wimple wasting of time.