The investigation starts on Place Georges Pompidou in Paris, with the pipes and glass of the Centre Pompidou behind you. From there the trail runs west towards the Fontaine des Innocents, then north into the Marais past the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature. It is a self-guided murder mystery game played on foot, with the middle of Paris as the crime scene.

The route stays inside a small, busy part of central Paris, so the walking is short and the crowd on the pavement is the main obstacle. It suits families with children, groups of friends, couples and colleagues, and it works just as well on your own. A team is up to four people sharing one phone; larger groups split into several teams and set off separately. Nobody is waiting for a guide, and there is no fixed start time to catch.

How to play

Everything runs from your phone, so there is little to arrange in advance.

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. Clues turn up as you move: a coded message to break, a photo task on a corner of the Marais, a digital character whose account of the evening keeps shifting. One statement sends you towards the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme, another back to the square in front of the Centre Pompidou. Each puzzle you solve takes another name off the list of suspects.

Send out more than one team and it becomes a race, with the scores settled at the end, which is why it also works as a teambuilding activity. You can break for lunch, pick the trail up afterwards and finish in your own time. The case closes in the streets of Paris.