Belfast Self-Guided Detective Murder Mystery Game

Belfast City Hall is where the investigation opens, beside the Queen Victoria memorial on the lawn out front. From there the clues pull you into the streets north of the square and on towards St George's Parish Church. It is a self-guided walking tour built around a detective murder mystery case, and central Belfast supplies the scenery, the witnesses and the dead ends.

The whole route sits inside a few compact blocks, all of it level, which keeps it easy for families with children and for colleagues in office shoes alike. A single ticket covers a team of up to four people sharing one phone; anyone bringing a bigger group buys extra tickets and sends the teams out separately. One person alone can play it through. Nobody is guiding you and no departure time is set.

How to play

Four steps and Belfast turns into a crime scene:

1. Book the City Game
2. Check the instructions email
3. Download the Loquiz app
4. Start playing whenever you like

The case is the murder of Balthasar. Codes need breaking, photo tasks send you hunting for details on the facades around you, and digital characters supply statements that do not survive close reading. By the Jaffe Memorial Fountain one account starts to look rehearsed, and the questions after that get sharper.

More than one team on the same case turns the afternoon into a competition, which is what makes this a practical teambuilding exercise. Stop for a bite, leave the case where it stands and return to it later; the last answer is given somewhere in the middle of Belfast.