Self-Guided The Mainz Syndicate City Escape Game

Your starting point is the Markt in Mainz, the open square in the old centre, with Liebfrauenplatz right beside it. The route leads from there through the lanes towards St. Quintin and out to Gutenbergplatz. This is a city escape game played outdoors, so the squares and back lanes of Mainz are where the whole thing happens.

A team is two to five people working from one phone, and each player picks up a character with a part to play in the mission, which keeps everyone reading and guessing instead of trailing behind. Families with children who can handle a riddle, friends, couples and colleagues all fit. The old centre is compact, largely flat and easy to loop back through when a clue sends you the other way. Groups above five split into extra teams. There is no guide with you and no departure time to make.

Four steps stand between you and the first clue in Mainz.

How to play

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

Magnus took the formulas and the syndicate wants them back. Following him means codes, riddles and photo tasks, and each character in your team knows something the others do not. The trail carries on past St. Christoph and up towards Schillerplatz.

Put two or more teams on it at once and it becomes a race between them, which is why it doubles as a team building exercise. Nothing has to be done in one go: break off, sit down somewhere, and pick the hunt up again later in Mainz.