Hai Pixel, the first interactive LED-floor venue in Chișinău, opened in June 2026 and has been running daily ever since, from 10:00 to 22:00, on the second floor of the Grand Hall building at 2/4 Constantin Negruzzi Boulevard. A visit means a one or two hour session on roughly 360 m² of pressure-sensitive floor that reacts to every step, with more than 30 movement games, short rounds of 2 to 3 minutes and a live score on a wall monitor. You play in socks, in groups of 2 to 24 players. Below is everything worth knowing before a first visit: how an hour there actually goes, what you play, what it costs for your exact group size, what changes for a birthday, and when Hai Pixel is not the right call.
What Hai Pixel is, in short
Hai Pixel is a game room built around a pressure-sensitive LED floor. The panels under your feet sit beneath toughened anti-slip glass and respond to weight, footsteps and movement, so the floor itself becomes the screen the game plays out on. You wear no headset, hold no controller and install no app. You step onto the surface and play with your whole body.
The June 2026 opening mattered for a simple reason: until then there was no commercial interactive LED floor anywhere in the Republic of Moldova. The format could only be tried abroad, and the people who knew it had seen it on holiday. Hai Pixel was the first venue in the country with this technology and has operated in the same space ever since, daily. It is no longer news but a fixture, which is why this piece reads as a guide rather than an announcement.
The project is a local one, founded and run by Valeria Cealic and Davis Sarmins, on the idea that the city lacked a way to go out that does not depend on the weather and works equally well for a group of eight-year-olds and a group of thirty-five-year-old colleagues.
The numbers that describe the place are few and worth remembering: roughly 360 m² of active floor, more than 30 games in the library, rounds of 2 to 3 minutes, sessions of one or two hours, 2 to 24 players, open daily from 10:00 to 22:00. Staff speak Romanian, English and Russian, and the venue currently holds a 5.0 rating on Google.
What a visit actually looks like, step by step
The most common question before a first visit is not about the technology but about what actually happens in that hour. The shape is simple and almost identical for every group.
- Arrive about 10 minutes early. Play time starts at the booked hour, not at the moment you finish hanging up your coat.
- Shoes stay at the entrance. You play in socks only, because the glass over the panels scratches and because grip in socks is better than you would expect. If you have come straight from the office or forgotten your socks, anti-slip socks are available for 30 MDL a pair.
- An operator explains the rules in two minutes. Every game is explained again, briefly, right before the round, because the rules are deliberately simple.
- The first round is a warm-up, usually an easy reaction game that shows the group the floor really does answer to footsteps. This is where the self-consciousness goes, adults included.
- Then comes the rotation. Each round runs 2 to 3 minutes and the operator picks the next game from how the group responds: more competition, more cooperation, more or less running.
- Breaks are short and frequent. Thirty seconds between rounds to breathe and check the score. In practice an hour means between fifteen and twenty rounds.
- The last few minutes belong to the group. Almost every group asks for a rematch on whichever game went best, then keeps a few minutes for photos at the lit wall.
One honest note: it is more tiring than the videos suggest. It is not athletic effort, but it is close to an hour of near-continuous movement with sharp starts and stops, and adults who come after a day at a desk feel it the next morning. For most groups one hour is the right length; two hours make sense when the group is large and people rotate on and off the floor, or when the visit includes food.
What you actually play
The library runs to more than 30 games, and in an ordinary session you get through ten to fifteen of them. You do not need to know them in advance, but it helps to understand the categories, because you can ask for what you want.
- Reaction games. Zones light up and you have to get there first. The simplest ones, best for warming up or for mixed-age groups.
- Team territory games. The group splits into two colours and each side tries to hold more cells. These produce the most noise and the best dynamic for corporate groups.
- Elimination games. The safe area shrinks round by round and whoever is caught outside drops out. They work very well with large groups: the eliminated players turn into a crowd.
- Memory and pattern games. A sequence appears and the group has to reproduce it. Children often beat adults here, changing the whole mood of a family party.
- Cooperative games. The whole group plays against the system with a single shared score. We recommend these when a group does not want internal competition, for example a work team where rivalry would sour the evening.
- Ball and wide-movement games. Genuinely active variants with running, best for teenagers and for groups that want real physical effort.
Scores appear in real time on a wall-mounted monitor. For some groups that is the most important part of the visit, for others it matters not at all, and the operator can run it either way.
How many players fit, and how the floors scale
A Pixel session is booked for a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 24 players. The detail most people miss: the playing surface scales automatically with headcount, so a large group is never packed onto the area a couple uses.
- Up to 8 players: one floor.
- 9 to 16 players: two floors.
- 17 to 24 players: three floors.
In other words, the system adds space and rounds can run in parallel. For groups of 25 to 60, booking moves off the website and onto the phone, because at that size it becomes an event with a purpose-built programme and extra staff.
There is no age limit. Families with small children come, so do teenagers, couples, office teams and adults marking round-number birthdays. Very young children need an adult on the floor with them, more for reassurance than safety.
What a session costs: the full grid
Session price depends on three things: how many players you are, whether you come on a weekday or at the weekend, and whether you come during the day or in the evening. The table below is for one hour of play, total for the whole group, not per person.
| Players | Weekday, daytime | Weekday, evening | Weekend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 300 MDL | 400 MDL | 440 MDL |
| 4 | 600 MDL | 800 MDL | 880 MDL |
| 8 | 1080 MDL | 1440 MDL | 1600 MDL |
| 9 | 1250 MDL | 1580 MDL | 1770 MDL |
| 12 | 1400 MDL | 1760 MDL | 2040 MDL |
| 16 | 1600 MDL | 2000 MDL | 2400 MDL |
| 20 | 1880 MDL | 2340 MDL | 2820 MDL |
| 24 | 2200 MDL | 2700 MDL | 3300 MDL |
Three rules for reading that table, so the maths comes out right:
- The total climbs with headcount. Each figure applies to exactly that number of players. 1250 MDL is the weekday daytime price for 9 players, not what a group of 16 pays. A group of 16 pays 1600 MDL in the same slot.
- The per-person price falls as the group grows. On a weekday daytime slot, 9 players works out at roughly 139 MDL each, 16 players at 100 MDL each and 24 players at roughly 92 MDL each. That is the only real discount on offer: bring more people.
- Two hours cost 1.85 times one hour, not double. For example, 12 players on a Saturday: 2040 MDL for one hour and 3770 MDL for two.
The cheapest way to try the place is still a session for two on a weekday daytime slot, from 300 MDL an hour, rising to 400 MDL in the evening and 440 MDL at the weekend. The exact hour the evening rate begins, and the full grid with every headcount in between, are on the prices page.
A worked example: 12 colleagues, Saturday evening
Here is what the arithmetic looks like on a real booking. Twelve colleagues want a Saturday evening out.
- One hour, 12 players, weekend: 2040 MDL, or 170 MDL a head.
- Two hours, same group: 3770 MDL, or roughly 314 MDL a head.
- The same twelve people on a Friday daytime slot, two hours: 2590 MDL, or roughly 216 MDL a head.
The honest recommendation here is the single weekend hour: twelve unathletic adults playing two hours with no food break run out of energy before the end. Two hours only work with a planned break in the middle, with pizza or snacks as an add-on.
Birthday parties: three packages, one flat price on any day
Birthday packages are a different product from a plain session. They run two hours and include both time on the LED floor and a private celebration area where the cake goes and people sit down. The price is a single flat figure whatever the day of the week: there is no weekend surcharge.
| Package | Guests | Length | Flat price, any day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | up to 8 | 2 hours | 3000 MDL |
| Grand Party | up to 16, hard cap 18 | 2 hours | 5000 MDL, plus 250 MDL per guest above 16 |
| Festival | up to 50 | 2 hours | 7000 MDL |
On the larger packages the group is not on the floor the whole time: teams go on in waves while the rest of the guests stay in the private area, which keeps a party of forty or fifty manageable instead of chaotic.
The packages have no age limit. They are booked for children's birthdays, but also for teenagers, for eighteenth birthdays and for adults marking thirty or forty. The format is identical; only the game selection and the volume of the music change.
Add-ons include anti-slip socks, snacks, cake, pizza and an extra hour. Gift cards are also available, the simplest solution when you want to give the experience but have no idea which date suits.
And the less commercial part, worth saying plainly: the package is not always the cheapest option. If you have eight guests, do not need a private area and are not bringing a cake, an ordinary two-hour weekday daytime session costs 2000 MDL against the 3000 MDL of the Party package. At the weekend, though, that same two-hour session for eight costs 2960 MDL, so the package lands at practically the same money and throws in the celebration area. The practical conclusion: at the weekend the package is almost always the rational choice, while on a weekday it depends on how much you need the table. Full details are on the birthday packages page.
Team building and company groups
For work teams the format has an advantage most classic team-building activities lack: it requires no prior skill. Nobody arrives with an edge because they have played football for ten years or done escape rooms before. The rules take two minutes to learn, so the quietest person on the team is in the game within five minutes.
Practical advice: take a weekday daytime slot, the cheapest and the quietest; ask for more cooperative games than competitive ones if the team already has friction; and only book two hours if a food break is part of the plan. Above 24 people the programme is built over the phone. More on the team building page.
What to bring and what to know first
- Socks. Non-negotiable, play is in socks only. If you forget them, anti-slip socks are 30 MDL a pair.
- Comfortable clothes. Nothing that gets in the way of running, bending or jumping. Short skirts and tight trousers are the common regrets.
- A hair tie if your hair is long. A small detail that visibly changes the experience.
- Do not eat a large meal right before. The first half hour is the most intense.
- Book ahead. Weekend evenings and school-holiday afternoons fill first. For a weekday you can usually book a day in advance.
- Languages. Sessions run in Romanian, English or Russian, and for mixed groups the operator switches between them.
Booking is done online on the booking page: you pick the day, time, length and number of players, and the price is calculated on the spot. For large groups, special events or add-on questions, the phone number is +373 79 238 617.
When Hai Pixel is not the right answer
A useful guide also says where the recommendation stops. There are a few situations where something else serves you better.
- Very small children, under three. The format assumes rules, reaction and quick movement. For that age a classic soft play centre remains the better option.
- An evening of long conversation. If the point is to talk for three hours, a restaurant or a cafe does that better. Hai Pixel works well as the first half of the evening, followed by a meal elsewhere.
- A full-day programme. The natural length here is one or two hours. Beyond that the group tires and starts repeating games.
- Groups with serious mobility limits. Some games are slow and accessible, but the full experience assumes sustained movement. A phone call first is worth it.
- More than 60 guests. At that volume a conventional event hall fits better than a game session.
Season, weather and budget
Most of the demand comes in the windows when the city cannot play outside. In winter, on rainy days and through the stretch of the year when it is dark by five, an indoor room open until 22:00 solves a real problem. In summer the advantage inverts: during the hottest hours, when Cathedral Park or Valea Morilor only turn pleasant towards evening, an hour in the cool beats one more walk along Ștefan cel Mare Boulevard.
On budget, the practical split looks like this. Small budget: two people, weekday, daytime, one hour, from 300 MDL in total. Mid budget: a group of eight to twelve friends, one hour, on a weekday evening, between 1440 and 1760 MDL for the whole group. Larger budget: a two-hour birthday package with a private area, from 3000 MDL. Other activities around town, from escape rooms to event halls and trampoline parks, are quoted very differently from place to place and usually only by phone, so compare them directly for your group size and length.
If you are planning further ahead, keep reading: the general city guide and the birthday venue comparison.
Frequently asked questions
What is Hai Pixel and where is it?
Hai Pixel is the first interactive LED-floor venue in Chișinău, open since June 2026. The address is 2/4 Constantin Negruzzi Boulevard, 2nd floor, Grand Hall building. It is open daily from 10:00 to 22:00.
How many players can join a session?
From 2 to 24 players. The surface scales automatically: up to 8 players use one floor, 9 to 16 use two floors and 17 to 24 use three. For groups of 25 to 60 people, booking is done by phone.
How much does a session cost?
For two people, an hour starts from 300 MDL on a weekday daytime slot, from 400 MDL in the evening and from 440 MDL at the weekend. The total rises with headcount while the per-person price falls: 16 players on a weekday daytime slot is 1600 MDL, or 100 MDL each. A two-hour session costs 1.85 times the one-hour price.
How much is a birthday party and what ages is it for?
There are three two-hour packages at one flat price on any day of the week: Party for up to 8 guests at 3000 MDL, Grand Party for up to 16 guests at 5000 MDL with 250 MDL per guest above 16 and a hard cap of 18, and Festival for up to 50 guests at 7000 MDL. There is no age limit: the packages are booked for children, teenagers and adults alike.
What should I bring?
Socks and comfortable clothes. Play is in socks only, and if you forget yours, anti-slip socks are 30 MDL a pair. You need no equipment, no app and no previous experience.
Do I need to book in advance?
Yes for weekend evenings, school holidays and any group larger than eight. Book on the booking page or by phone on +373 79 238 617.
Hai Pixel, the first interactive LED-floor venue in Chișinău. 2/4 Constantin Negruzzi Boulevard, 2nd floor, Grand Hall. Open daily 10:00 to 22:00. Phone +373 79 238 617. Book on the booking page, full grid on the prices page.
