Self-Guided The Kiel Syndicate City Escape Game

The game opens on the Alter Markt in Kiel, with the Nikolaikirche in the middle of the square, and moves from there toward the water. The route reaches the Bootshafen, follows the quay for a stretch and comes back up past the Kieler Rathaus. It is a city escape game in the open air, and each puzzle stays locked until the team stands in the right place.

Kiel is a working port and its centre is level and largely rebuilt, so the walking is easy and the water is never far away. A team is two to five players on one phone, and each of them plays a character with a role in the mission, which means the group solves things by talking rather than by one person scrolling. A group bigger than five plays as two or more teams, one phone per team. No guide, no fixed departure, and no order you have to keep to on breaks.

How to play

Everything is handled by an app, so there is nothing to collect before you start.

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

Magnus shipped the stolen formulas out through this harbour, and following him means codes, riddles and photo tasks divided between the characters in the team. The trail takes in the Stadtmuseum Warleberger Hof and passes the Opernhaus Kiel before turning back toward the quay. Some of it opens up only when two players compare the fragments they were handed separately.

Send several teams along the same route and it becomes a contest, which makes it a practical team building format for colleagues. Nothing is timed, so a stop by the harbour for something to eat and a restart afterwards costs nothing. The last clues bring the team back into the centre of Kiel.