Catania Self-Guided Detective Murder Mystery Game

Catania's case begins in front of the Cattedrale di Sant'Agata, a few steps from the Fontana dell'Elefante on the main square, and the trail runs from there into the grid of dark lava-stone streets. It then turns towards the Teatro Massimo Bellini and, later, the walls of Ursino Castle. This is a self-guided murder mystery game: you walk, you read, you work it out, and Catania is where it happens.

The old centre is flat and easy to cover, which makes it a simple outing for families with children, for friends, couples and colleagues, and for anyone who wants to play alone. One ticket covers a team of up to four sharing a phone, and a group larger than that buys extra tickets and splits, which keeps everybody reading and guessing rather than following. No guide walks with you, and there is no fixed hour to be anywhere.

How to play

Getting into the game takes four steps.

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. There are codes to break, photo tasks to complete and digital characters whose statements have to be compared, since they cannot all be true. Near the Roman Amphitheater a coded note points one way, on the ground around Palazzo Biscari a photograph points another, and the suspects drop away one by one.

With several teams working the same case at once it becomes a competition, which is why it serves as teambuilding as well as an afternoon out. Stop for an espresso, take the trail up again where you left it, and finish in the streets of Catania.