Essen Self-Guided Sherlock Holmes Murder Mystery Game

The starting point is the Marktkirche in the middle of Essen, a couple of minutes from the Essener Dom. From there the route threads through the pedestrian streets of the inner city, past St. Johann Baptist and on to the Alte Synagoge. It is a self-guided walking tour with a case attached: you read the clues, choose the direction and work out who did it.

Essen packs its centre into a small, level area, so the walking is undemanding and teams tend to stay within shouting distance of each other. A ticket covers a team of one to four people who share a single phone; a department outing or a family reunion buys several tickets and splits into teams. Playing on your own is entirely possible. No guide leads the way and no start time is fixed, so you can begin mid-morning or late in the afternoon.

How to play

The route into the case runs through 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. Coded messages have to be read, photo tasks completed on the spot, and the statements of several digital characters compared until the contradictions show. Between the Grillo-Theater and the streets running towards the Aalto-Theater the story tightens, and the number of plausible suspects drops.

When more than one team is out, the case turns into a competition to reach the right name first, which makes it a straightforward teambuilding option. Pause when you want a break, resume when you are ready, and settle the matter somewhere in the middle of Essen.