What do you have to know before planning an escape trip to Bulgaria? What rooms should you consider based on your personal preferences? When booking, what should you keep in mind? Escape rooms in Sofia and Bulgaria can be an unforgettable experience. Just stay with this short guide and the most important things you have to know when planning!
When you think of escape trips, maybe Bulgaria is not the first place that comes to mind, but we really hope this article will surprise you and convince you to give this awesome destination a chance. Because in Bulgaria, for the last ten years, the escape room business has grown, evolved, and is currently booming. Or you have been here a couple of years ago and have already played some of the games - why not consider checking some forgotten classics or exploring new ones - magical, mystical, or familiar from the TV screen? We've got you covered. Here is another article in the series of European escape room trips!
This article was written in cooperation with two of our Bulgarian ambassadors, Dimitar Smilyanov and Nadezhda Danabasheva. They know everything there is to know about the market of escape rooms in the Balkans and their own country and decided to share their insights with us.
What does the escape room market look like in Bulgaria?
Bulgaria has more than 120 escape rooms (virtual and with a physical location) and as you can imagine, most of them are located in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. In Sofia, you can play more than 48 games from 28 brands. If you are traveling to the seaside, you can consider Burgas and Varna and enjoy some unique games there. Or why not Plovdiv, the second-largest city in Bulgaria with its 15 games? You can visit the ancient city of Philippopolis between games and enjoy some good wine and delicious food.
Most of the games in Sofia are located close to the city center, but don’t let this fool you. Some of the best games are a couple of minutes away by subway or a taxi and they definitely deserve a trip.
The statistics show that not more than 10% of the players in Bulgaria are tourists or foreigners. We can certainly welcome an English-speaking team with well-translated games, and for more than 90% of the games, you will be welcomed by GMs with fluent English. There are a few games outside of Sofia that are available only in Bulgarian, so keep a close eye on the website when booking; if there is no way to change the language of the interface, it is a good idea to connect with the company through other channels - email of their social media pages.
The history of escape rooms in Bulgaria goes back 11 years to a company called Dextrophobia, which laid the foundations, created an exemplary room and inspired other enthusiasts. In the next 3 years, 75 games opened their operations in Sofia. Currently, Dextrophobia’s legacy is represented by the room Artificial Intelligence by Room 66, the company that bought and provided much-needed love and maintenance for this exceptional room, upgrading and automating it and bringing the game to the next level. It didn't take a while, and Plovdiv followed in Sofia's footsteps, and the first companies appeared.
Two of the oldest brands in the country that continue to bring entertainment to another level, creating new games and pushing the boundaries of what escape rooms are - 3 Key Rooms and Teorema Escape Rooms. Teorema’s game Atlantis keeps the highest Bulgarian ranking in the TERPECA awards to this day, with an impressive 17th place in the world for 2018. Since then, the game that came closest to this ranking is Kryptos, a magnificent game by Myst.
With the market's close proximity to Greece, one can imagine that in Bulgaria, you could find a lot of horror games. Well, this is not the case. There are strong representatives of the genre that will leave you with long-lasting impressions in the face of brands like Kings Rooms and Saw. For the most part - most of the adventures here are horror-free, but not thriller-free :D
With time, the concept of escape room games (pushed partially by the Covid 19 pandemic) left the physical rooms and continued its journey in parks and on the streets; there are city quests you can book on-demand or treasure hunts organized regularly. Plovdiv is actually leading the way in this with all the games available to the players by Timescape and Vutreshen Glas.
How to get to Bulgaria?
Getting to Sofia is not that hard. There are daily flights to Sofia from most European countries with well-established and known airlines. During the summer, there are regular flights to the seaside as well, and if you visit Burgas, you can play Mazze's newest game (also the newest room as of August 2024) —”The Binamu Curse.”
Unfortunately, traveling between cities in Bulgaria is not very convenient with trains, so we recommend buses or, if available to you - renting a car.
You can easily travel by car to Bulgaria (through Serbia or Romania), but keep in mind you will need a vignette (you can buy one online or at a gas station). In Bulgaria, there are no paid highroads.
How do you get around the cities?
All Bulgarian cities are extremely walkable. We recommend going by foot and using the public transit system (especially in Sofia) which is cheap and can get you almost anywhere during the day. You only need a contactless payment solution (be it a card, a phone, or a smartwatch) and a map (or even better - a device with Google Maps).
If you travel by car, make sure to check for parking venues in advance or just use the street parking, which is paid in most cities (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas). You can also use the Sofia Plus app on your phone to pay for street parking within Sofia.
If you're a fan of taxis, we recommend using either “Yellow” or “Volt” via their respective smartphone apps. (Never get a random taxi on the street. Most are okay, but using the apps is faster and gives you some peace of mind).
When in doubt, don’t forget that most locals under 50 understand and can speak English, so you can always count on a local to help you with some info about transport.
Which escape rooms to book in Bulgaria? Notable games and companies
If you are traveling with children. Questomania and EscapeWay are two brands with tons of experience working with children, and the games are kids-friendly. Questomania will provide more than just an escape room experience; their games like Mafia and Among Us in real life are local kids' favorites. But don't let us think for a second that those are only games for kids, both Escapeway games are immersive and closest to the Jack Sparrow or Indiana Jones adventures you can get. We will not mention the real movie replicas made by the masters working on films in the past, that you can find inside the actual rooms - we will leave that to be a secret.
Based on our personal preferences, we still can't decide which of the games we can call the best in Sofia: Voodoo by Enigmania or The Secret Chamber (definitely with the Mystic Wands extension) by Infinity Escape. We played in most of the capitals in Europe, we played the best of the best games (and worst of the worst, to be honest), and we can confidently say that both The Secret Chamber and Voodoo have everything necessary to be on top - absolutely mesmerizing decors, storytelling, well-designed and smooth puzzles, both games are maintained and well taken care of and most of all, they were created with love, keeping in mind the players first, engaging them, pushing them to change directions, challenging them to make choices, interact with actors (sometimes in a very funny way) and most of all, making sure you have an absolutely unforgettable time. So we recommend to play... both.
If you are looking to play something that has a Bulgarian traditional spirit and learn a bit about our history as well, the Road to Freedom by MDB Escape Rooms is the place for you to be. And from there, just around the corner, dive into the Witcher world with Locksmith’s First Hunt.
Very soon, we will be enjoying our ER CHAMP and lock.me Bulgarian connection - both The Cube and Teleportation Chamber games from the championship finals in 2023 will be available to play in Sofia, thanks to Funky Monkeys, as they acquired the license for those games for Bulgaria and Romania.
How much do escape rooms in Bulgaria cost?
The prices of Bulgarian escape games are similar to what you can find in the Balkans or Eastern Europe in general. When planning an escape room trip to the country, you need to be prepared to spend from 80 to 110 euros per game for 4 players.
The price of a game usually doesn't depend on the time and day of booking but is different for different numbers of players - it is cheaper to split the bill for 4-5 people than a game for two. With most Bulgarian companies, if you play and book the next game immediately after your escape, you will be offered a discount.
You can find both (depending on the game) - free booking with an option to pay on-site or prepay a small amount in order to book the game. Some of the rooms don’t have the option to pay by card, so it is a good idea to have some money on you while playing. Or at least, ask in advance to avoid running to the ATM at the last moment while in a hurry to catch up with your next game.
Booking a game?
Only on very rare occasions, you will have to call by phone. Booking is available through websites and you will receive a confirmation email (sometimes a confirmation call). There is no practice to contact the player via WhatsApp or any type of chat service, again not that often, but you will receive instructions on how to get to the place via Viber or via mail.
Aftergame activities, what to expect
With GDPR in place, most companies stopped sharing teams' photos publicly. You will receive your post-game photos via email (the one used for the reservation). If you signed a waiver, the company may share your picture on social media. After some of the games, you will also receive an invitation to share your opinion at vsichkistai.bg - a local website (unfortunately available only in Bulgarian). Still, any review that you can share about your games on any international website is highly appreciated; local companies keep an eye on those and take any feedback into consideration.
