Self-Guided The Alkmaar Syndicate City Escape Game

The starting point is Canadaplein in Alkmaar, between the Grote Sint-Laurenskerk and the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar. From the square the trail heads into the ring of canals and comes back out at the Waaggebouw. The old town is flat and enclosed by water, so the route circles rather than stretches, and you rarely walk the same street twice.

Bridges and cobbles aside, the walking is easy, and the game suits families with children, groups of friends, couples and colleagues equally. A team is two to five people sharing one phone; a larger party puts a second team on the trail and starts both at once. Each player receives a character with a role of their own inside the mission, so the work is spread across the team. There is no guide, and no timetable you have to keep to.

How to play

Before the first clue appears on screen, there are four things to do.

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

Magnus is somewhere ahead with the formulas, and the pieces of his trail sit along the canals of Alkmaar. Your team decodes what he left, solves the riddles attached to it and sets up photo tasks, working from the Vismarkt back through the streets in between. The roles you took on at the beginning decide who notices what.

Send out two teams and they will finish by comparing scores, which is what makes this usable for teambuilding. There is no obligation to play it in one stretch, so a break in the middle costs you nothing. It is a quiet way to spend an afternoon walking through Alkmaar.