Between June 20 and July 7, Hongdae was home to a Stranger Things Pop-Up in Hongdae! Celebrating the release of season 3, which aired this Thursday. An old house has been transformed into iconic sets from the series. Including the arcade, Joyce’s living room, the upside-down, a classroom from Hawkins High and a few other bits and bobs along the way.
So,
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Not an escape room…
So, the aim of the game. I was given a map with 11 boxes to be stamped. There are 11 specific photo spots around the house. To win a Stranger Things prize, you must take a photo in all 11 locations and upload it to Instagram or Facebook with the relevant hashtags. You can then show your feed to an employee who will give you a stamp for each upload and ensure you’ve checked off all the photo spots. Initially, I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t an escape room and more of a social media frenzy, but
They had some really dope prizes on offer. Some of the bits you could win include a Netflix facemask, ST Monopoly, pins, Hawkins high hoodies, stickers, tote bags, cokes and postcards! The motivation to snap all the necessary shots was high!
The walk though…
So, upon arrival, you had to register using a Korean phone number. We visited on a Saturday afternoon and endured a wait of 1 hour and 40 minutes. Luckily, there is a stunning coffee shop called 1984 across the road, or a CV’s if you just fancy a beer and a snack. Finally, we received the text and headed inside.
Upon entering, you first see some of the famous missing posters from the series. Showing poor barb and will. Then you come to Joyce’s living room, where you need to take your first snap! They had really done an amazing job recreating the sets!
“I will keep these lights up until the day I
Joycedie, if it helps bring Will back. Now get out of my house!”
Totally tubular.
Next up, the arcade. This was my favourite part of the experience. They had a few retro arcade games set up. You could have a go at Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Space Invaders. Or they had two consoles, made to look like arcade games. There, you could play a Stranger Things game, an official companion to season 3. You can play in 2 two-player local co-op to explore the world of Hawkins, solve puzzles, and battle the emerging evils of The Upside Down as one of twelve beloved characters from the show. I would have liked to spend more time playing this game, but the pop-up was busy and HOT, so we moved on to the next step.
If you want to check out the game on steam you can do that HERE.
Entering the upsidedown…
Next, we queued for the Stranger Things photo booth! You could choose the style and how many prints you wanted! This was such a nice souvenir from the experience and was totally FREE. (also necessary to upload to social media to gain a stamp)
Next stop – the upside-down. (I’d also like to take a moment to apologise for the overuse of the word ‘next’ in this post.) Now you can leave the first floor and move up some stairs. The staircase appears infected and draws your eye to the ceiling, where various furniture bits hang upside down. The iconic logo appears in LED lights, casting a red glow that makes this area so photogenic. This is handy because, you guessed it, you NEED a photo of this area to get a stamp.
“It was a seven . The roll ; it was a seven. The demogorgon – it got me. See you tomorrow.”
On floors two and three, you’ll find twotred around the villain photo spots cen
It was super busy once we got to the 3rd floor, so you had to queue up the staircase. On the third floor, we found an area set up like a classroom from Hawkins High. You can take a photo here like you’re attacking a Demogorgon. There was also a way to scan a QR code to make the photo come to life, but it was far too busy by this point to indulge in this activity.
Take a rest.
3 more areas to explore of floor 3. The first, is a much needed seating area on the balcony. Here you can get a free Eggo! It’s also a fantastic spot to look through your photos and do a big upload!
A tiny exhibition space shows artwork for the series in various styles. There was some incredible artwork and an awesome timelapse of someone creating an epic masterpiece. This was a nice area to take a break from snapping photos and geek out over the different ways that artists had interpreted the series.
The last photo spot of floor 3 was Mikes’s basement set up, ready to house 11 in season 1. In this room, there was also a TV showing stranger things. However, the constant queuing made this room a little tricky, as it was so small. It was a one-in-one-out situation, which made it hard to stay in very long without feeling uncomfortable and making other patrons wait. After snapping your final photos and uploading them, there was a little room/cupboard set up like the ‘Snow Ball’. Here you could show your completed map and pick a prize.
The Stranger Things finale!
Now you can collect your prize! I was so pleased to win a tote bag, though I did really want the Stranger Things Monopoly set! Regardless, the Stranger Things Pop-Up in Hongde was a success. Did you get a chance to visit? Let me know in the comments. If you win the monopoly, please invite me to play. I’ll bring the soju.
Want to move to Korea so you can take part in rad events like this, find out how HERE.