Hongdae escape room with logic puzzles: Cube Escape Gestapo

Cube Escape Hongdae Branch between Hongik University and Hapjeong stations

This is Cube Escape Hongdae Branch, a Hongdae escape room in Mapo’s central shopping district, between Hongik University Station and Hapjeong Station. There are lots of themes, and the doors are always open, so it’s also a nice place to drop in as a walk-in. Escape rooms are really great for an indoor date, an unusual date, a get-together with friends, a group experience, or simply something fun to do. Do come by!!

There are also theme recommendations for beginners or anyone who isn’t sure, so check the booklet when you visit and decide with the friendly staff’s guidance!

Inside the venue and the waiting area

The venue is huge, with a spacious interior despite having eight themes.

Is there a waiting area and slippers?

There is a waiting area, and there are slippers. The roomy waiting area has space for at least five groups to sit comfortably. Indoor shoes are also available if you came in heels or uncomfortable footwear, so make use of them if you like. Changing into indoor shoes is not required!

Chargers and a water dispenser

There are chargers inside the venue, as well as a water dispenser. Unusually, they also have Maxim instant mix coffee, so a cup might be nice if your sugar runs low while you’re playing?!

Restrooms inside the venue

There are restrooms inside the venue. The men’s and women’s restrooms are separate!

Cube Escape Hongdae Branch’s eight themes

Eight themes in total! Secret of the Pyramid, Hansel and Gretel, Towering, Gestapo, Monkey House, Organ Trafficking, Deliver, and Romeo Point! I’d already done Hansel and Gretel, Towering, and Organ Trafficking, and on this visit I did Gestapo and Deliver too, so I only have three left before I graduate!

Pre-entry briefing and lockers

Before entering an escape-room theme at Cube Escape Hongdae, there’s a short set of precautions and a briefing? It used to be replaced by watching a video, but it had recently changed. You solve preliminary puzzles online like this—a little test?—and then go in after the simple briefing!

Lockers

There are loads of lockers available~!

What kind of escape-room theme is Gestapo?

Cube Escape Gestapo

You are an agent of the secret-police organization Gestapo, heading to board a train for Amsterdam with your colleague Müller to carry out an operation.

While on the way to the designated meeting place to receive your orders, you are surrounded by mysterious men.

Now it’s your turn to pay the price!

After everything in front of you goes out of focus, you wake up inside the Amsterdam-bound train. Your colleague Müller is collapsed in front of you, and a bomb set for one hour lies before your eyes. The time limit is one hour! Before the bomb explodes, you must get revenge on the enemies who drove you and your colleague into this corner!

Difficulty and puzzle style

Official difficulty: ★★★★. Felt difficulty: ★★★–★★★★.

I really, really love playing difficult themes, and looking back after getting out, I think this one was so much fun to play! Puzzles requiring observation, logic puzzles, puzzles solved intuitively, and more were all tucked away throughout it, and I think it was more fun because it wasn’t all the same. Just when you think, “Is this simple?” it’s complicated, and when you think it might be complicated, it’s simple—seriously fun. Out of Cube Escape’s themes, this may have had the most fun puzzles?

Scare level and story

Official scare level: 0. Felt scare level: 0.

Honestly, there was a skull on the theme poster, so I wondered whether the story would be scary too, but it wasn’t scary at all—it was exactly an espionage story!

Interior, activity level, and device ratio

The props were fun, and everything was set up piece by piece like a real espionage operation.

There’s almost no physical activity! Any outfit is OK.

The locks-to-devices ratio is about 7:3, so locks are the majority! But the device puzzles were fun and fascinating too! A lot of the lock puzzles require you to use your head a little, which made them even more fun, while the device puzzles are a bit more intuitive!

Gestapo overall review

As expected, nothing beats the satisfaction of using your brain to solve puzzles

I’ve already completed five of Cube Escape’s eight themes, and of those five, Gestapo is probably the one where solving the puzzles was the most fun.

Cube Escape Hongdae Branch location and opening hours

Location: 15 Yanghwa-ro 16-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea (Mugwang Building, 4F)

• Mon–Fri: 12:00–22:40
• Sat: 10:00–24:00
• Sun: 10:00–22:40
• The day before public and temporary public holidays: 10:00–00:00