7,417 Matches, 270 Cups and One Escape Room: That Was Our Pohoda 2026
We came back from Pohoda Festival tired, but also full of the energy you gave us. If you’re curious how many matches were in the jar, who festival-goers thought would be the biggest lifesaver at Pohoda, why our escape room made some people laugh and others tear up, or where it moved after the festival, read on.
Pohoda Was, Above All, About People
We love coming back to Pohoda every year. But more than anything, we look forward to meeting you. And after three days at our stand, we know those encounters are exactly why it’s all worth it.
Our goal wasn’t just to talk about what we do in Slovakia, Ukraine and other parts of the world. We wanted to meet you, answer your questions, hear your stories, have meaningful conversations, share a laugh and show that even serious topics can be presented in a way that truly engages people.
Judging by your reactions, we succeeded. Many of you told us our stand was one of your favourite stops in the NGO Zone. We couldn’t have asked for a greater compliment.
A huge thank you also goes to Pohoda Festival. For years, it has created space for organisations working to make the world a better place. The NGO Zone is proof that Pohoda is about much more than music – it’s also about values, solidarity and people who care about others.
Are You Ready for a Crisis? A Falling Ruler Had the Answer
Visitors to our stand could test their reaction speed using nothing more than a falling ruler. It may seem simple, but scientists have used this test for decades to measure visual-motor reaction time. And in a crisis, the speed of our reactions can make all the difference.
The best result of the festival? An incredible 0.5 centimetres. Hats off.
If you wanted to test your knowledge as well, we prepared two quizzes. The first explored how prepared you are for emergencies and what every household should have in case of a crisis. The second took you on a journey through some of the world’s biggest disasters. For example, would you recognise the first warning signs of an approaching tsunami?
The 7,417 Matches That Kept You Guessing
We’d bet many of you were still trying to calculate the number of matches in the jar on your way home from Trenčín.
Some relied on intuition, others turned to mathematics. We even saw homemade formulas, volume calculations and a little help from artificial intelligence. And some of you spent so long studying the jar that we started wondering whether we should bring you a chair.
The correct answer was 7,417. It wasn’t just a random number. Every single match represented one person we helped in Ukraine during 2025.
Because behind every statistic is a real person. A family. A child. An older person. That is exactly what we wanted this seemingly simple competition to highlight.
Mum Beat the Power Bank. And Earwigs Beat Prodigy
One of the most entertaining activities at our stand was voting with deposit cups. All you had to do was finish your coffee or beer and drop your cup into the answer of your choice.
The questions varied. Who is the real person in danger at Pohoda – someone heading to a Prodigy concert with only two percent battery left, or someone sharing a tent with earwigs at night? And what helps you more at a festival – a power bank or your mum?
The results genuinely made us smile. Mum won by a landslide, while earwigs turned out to be a far greater source of fear than a dead phone.
And here’s another piece of good news. Together, we collected 270 deposit cups. Everyone who donated a cup gave up the chance of another beer or a ride on the festival Ferris wheel. For us, that means more support we can direct to the people who need it most.
The Smallest Escape Room in Slovakia
The biggest attraction at our stand was probably the smallest escape room in the world: The School Bomb Shelter.
It was built inside a former Inovec cabin donated to us by Pohoda Festival. But instead of escaping from a room, visitors had a very different mission – to repair a school bomb shelter in Ukraine.
These are exactly the kinds of shelters we renovate in real life, so children no longer have to spend hours in dark, damp and inadequate spaces and can continue learning safely during air raid alerts.
Over the course of around twenty minutes, players symbolically repaired the shelter’s lighting, ventilation and other essential equipment. The fastest team completed all the challenges in an impressive 17 minutes.
But in the end, it wasn’t really about the time. Everyone who completed the game received a heartfelt message from Ukrainian children.
Watching people’s reactions was incredibly moving. Some left deep in thought, others with tears in their eyes. Many told us it was only through the game that they truly understood what it means when a school day begins not in a classroom, but in a bomb shelter. At the same time, they genuinely enjoyed solving the puzzles – and that’s exactly what we had hoped for.
And one final piece of good news: the escape room isn’t disappearing after the festival. We’ve moved it to our office on Baštová Street in Bratislava, and we’ll soon share how and when you’ll be able to experience it yourself.
Pohoda Is Also About Important Conversations
For us, the festival wasn’t only about activities at our stand.
Our Executive Director, Andrea Najvirtová, took part in the eight-hour discussion and fundraising marathon Operation Hope, where she joined other guests to talk about the war in Ukraine, humanitarian aid and first-hand experiences from the field.
We’re grateful that even at a music festival there is space for open conversations about issues that deserve our attention.
See You Again Next Year?
If there’s one thing we took away from Pohoda, it’s the reminder that nothing can replace meeting people face to face.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by – whether you came to try the escape room, guess the number of matches, test your reflexes, donate your deposit cup or simply have a chat.
We left exhausted and sleep-deprived, but full of joy and determination to keep going.
A huge thank you also goes to our entire team, who spent months preparing the stand and made sure that everyone who visited us over the three festival days felt genuinely welcome.
We hope this wasn’t our last meeting.
See you at Pohoda again next year.
