Self-Guided Scavenger Hunt: How to Play One in Any City

It is an outdoor game in which a small team follows a trail of clues to real locations and solves a challenge at each stop. The answers are in the city itself: a date on a facade, a detail on a statue, the name of a bridge. No guide walks with you, and no fixed departure time decides your day.

• You choose the moment. Any day, any starting time, as slow or as quick as your group likes.
• You take part instead of listening. Everyone solves, nobody trails behind a raised umbrella.
• You stay in your own group. Family, friends or colleagues only.

1. Pick a city and a game concept and choose your date.
2. Meet your group at the starting point and open the game on one phone per team.
3. Walk from clue to clue. Each location holds a puzzle, a challenge or the next piece of the story.
4. Use a hint whenever a clue resists. The route always continues.
5. Finish at the end point and compare scores over a drink.

Walking distance, playing time, available languages and the exact start location differ per city and per concept. The details for each destination are listed with every city where you can play a City Game.

If you mainly want to see the place, an exploration route is the natural choice. The Secrets of exploration game mixes the landmarks with the corners most visitors never reach.

For groups who want a proper puzzle, a narrative route works better. In the Sherlock Holmes murder mystery game the city becomes the scene of an investigation you have to solve together.

A scavenger hunt scales well: split into teams of four, play the same route and compare results afterwards. Bookings for bigger groups are arranged through the page for companies and groups.

• One charged phone per team, with mobile data, plus a power bank on longer routes.
• Shoes you can walk cobblestones in. Historic centres have stairs, slopes and uneven surfaces, and these differ per city.
• Clothing for the weather, since the whole route is outdoors.
• Two to six players per team: enough ideas for the puzzles, small enough to hear each other.

• Read the clue standing still and away from traffic, then walk.
• Pass the phone around so every player gets to lead part of the route.
• Plan a coffee or lunch stop halfway. The game waits for you.
• Photograph the funny moments as you go; they are what the group remembers afterwards.
• Respect opening hours and house rules of the churches, museums and courtyards you pass.

A self-guided scavenger hunt turns an ordinary afternoon into a route with a purpose: you see more of the city, you solve something together and you finish on your own schedule. Pick the concept that suits your group and the city you want to explore next.