How I built my first outdoor escape course

I wanted to build something for my next city walk that's more than a guided tour — a real puzzle adventure that captivates strangers just as much as friends. With myOutdoorEscape I set GPS stations, choose a puzzle for each one, and submit the course for review at the end. Once it's approved, I can play it with friends for free.

Here I describe how I built my course "Discover the Old Town" — 18 stations through a historic old town, public, with varied puzzle types included.

Creating the course

I'm standing in the market square in front of the fountain — this will be my starting point. In the app I tap "I am the author", then "New course". Three fields and I'm done.

Course name, start location, author name

• Course name: "Discover the Old Town"
• Start location: "Market square, in front of the fountain" — this is the meeting point players see in the catalog.
• Author name: "Thomas"

The app saves my current GPS position as the starting coordinate. That's why I'm actually standing here and not sitting on the sofa at home.

Public or private?

This choice cannot be changed later

I choose Public. My course appears in the catalog, anyone can play it, and I submit it for review after creating it. Once it's approved, I get free plays — which I can use to enjoy it with friends for free.

Choose skin & on the map

7 themes — colors and atmosphere of the game

I choose "Sightseeing & City History" — fitting for landmarks and historic places. I tap "Create" — and land on the map.

After the first station

The map is my control center for the entire course. I walk the planned route and tap "+ Station" at each point — the GPS coordinate is recorded directly. The "Course" button at the top later opens the course details with the final question and features.

The 18 stations

Every station follows the same flow: I tap "+ Station", enter a name, take a search image photo — a distinctive detail that clearly belongs to this station and looks the same all year round — and then choose the puzzle type.

Station 1 — Market Square  Question & Answer

At the market square I take a search image photo of the fountain base and give the station the name "Market Square". As the puzzle type I choose Question & Answer — that's where I start.

Name & search image photo

Then: choose puzzle type

Question, answer, answer type, hint

• Question: "Above some town hall windows there are coats of arms — how many different ones can you see?"
• Answer: # 6 — I choose the type Number so the player sees the numeric keyboard.
• Task photo: A distinctive part of the town hall facade so players immediately know which side is meant.
• Hint: "Only look at the windows facing the market side."

The entry should be easy — visible on site, no searching, no thinking required. The first station is about arriving, not puzzling.

Station 2 — Market Fountain  Question & Answer

A few steps further, at the fountain itself. Name: "Market Fountain", search image: close-up of the relief. Puzzle type again Question & Answer — no new screenshot.

• Question: "The fountain carries a year — for the answer, add the four digits."
• Answer: # 17 (year 1934 → 1+9+3+4)
• Hint: "The year is carved at the base on the north side."

Station 3 — City Church  Question & Answer

Name: "City Church", search image: detail of the church door. Puzzle: Question & Answer.

• Question: "How many stone figures with beards stand at the church portal?"
• Answer: # 12
• Hint: "The figures are arranged in two groups left and right of the portal."

Station 4 — Town Hall Tower  Photo task

Now comes a different type: the Photo task. Players take a photo, there is no answer check. This is intentional — in the first third the team should produce a souvenir photo before the puzzles get harder.

Just a task description — no answer field

Name: "Town Hall Tower", search image: photo of the tower top.

• Task: "Take a selfie in front of the town hall tower — ideally with the tower visible in the background!"

I don't need to fill in anything else here. The station is set up in ten seconds.

Station 5 — Old City Gate  Tile swap

At the city gate I take a photo directly in the app. The gate is a rewarding subject — clear structure, no tiles that look too similar.

Take photo → app automatically cuts it into tiles

Name: "Old City Gate", search image: close-up of the archway.

• Photo: I take it directly in the app, portrait format. The app cuts it into a 3×3 grid and shuffles the tiles.
• Puzzle question: "Bring the tiles back into the correct order!"
• Hint: "Turn to the gate and look at the original carefully!"

Station 6 — Linden Avenue  Direction walk

The Linden Avenue has no striking landmark — and that's exactly what makes it ideal for a Direction walk. Players navigate here using the live compass to a historical hydrant, without a GPS pin.

Introduction, segments with turn angle, question at the destination

Name: "Linden Avenue", search image: view down the avenue.

• Introduction: "Stand at the entrance to the avenue and hold your phone up — the compass will guide you."
• Segment 1 — 90° right: "Walk to the lamp post."
• Segment 2 — 30° left: "Continue until the pavement changes."
• Segment 3 — 45° left: "Walk to the next obstacle."
• Puzzle question: "What is directly in front of you?" — Answer: ⊃ Hydrant

Station 7 — War Memorial  Question & Answer

Name: "War Memorial", search image: detail of the base inscription. Puzzle: Question & Answer.

• Question: "Turn your back to the memorial and look straight ahead — which building stands at the end of the avenue?"
• Answer: ⊃ post — type Contains, so "post office", "post building" and "post" are all accepted.
• Hint: "The building has a yellowish-white facade."

Station 8 — City Park  Spot the difference

In the city park there is a bench with a dedication inscription. I take an original photo and then add two differences — the app gives me two tools for this.

Take original, then add differences

Name: "City Park", search image: bird's eye view of the bench.

• Original photo: Detail shot of the inscription, square, good light.
• Differences added: I place a few small flowers in the image.
• Task: "Compare the image on your phones with the bench in front of you — where does it differ?"

The app automatically detects which image areas I changed and checks whether players tap the correct fields.

Station 9 — Old Bridge  Question & Answer

Name: "Old Bridge", search image: part of the bridge railing.

• Question: "Stand in the middle of the bridge and look upstream — how many towers can you see in the city skyline?"
• Answer: # 3
• Task photo: Shot in the direction of view, without showing the skyline.
• Hint: "Count only the towers that clearly rise above the roofline."

Station 10 — Fountain  Sort images

At the fountain I photograph six reliefs with different animal motifs and enter the animal names. Task: match the images to the animals.

6 photos + 6 labels — the correct match is the solution

Name: "Fountain", search image: full view of the fountain.

• 6 photos: Of animal motifs on the fountain.
• 6 labels: "Lion", "Lioness", "Fish", "Eel", "Swan", "Shell"
• Question: "Which image shows which animal?"

Station 11 — City Wall  Question & Answer

Name: "City Wall", search image: view into the gateway arch.

• Question: "A carved animal head is hidden in the archway — the so-called keystone. What animal is it?"
• Answer: ⊃ eagle
• Task photo: Overview photo of the archway.
• Hint: "Look at the highest point of the arch — directly in the center."

Station 12 — Keep  Crossword puzzle

At the keep I enter five questions relating to the castle. The app builds the letter grid automatically and shows me a preview.

5 questions + answer words to enter

Check the automatically generated grid

Name: "Keep", search image: tower masonry detail.

• "What protected castle gates in the past?" → DRAWBRIDGE
• "What is the water moat around a castle called?" → MOAT
• "Name of the main tower" → KEEP
• "Resident of a castle" → KNIGHT
• "What did people pour onto attackers?" → PITCH

I check the grid in the preview and tap "Rearrange" if needed until I like the layout. Each question gets a short hint with a location description.

Station 13 — Castle Chapel  Question & Answer

Name: "Castle Chapel", search image: the door lock.

• Question: "The chapel door knocker is shaped like an animal — which one?"
• Answer: ⊃ lion
• Task photo: The lower half of the door.
• Hint: "The knocker is on the left of the two entrance doors, at chest height."

Station 14 — Castle Garden  Digits as symbols

The garden gate carries a year — ideal for Digits as symbols. I type the year into the question and press "Encode numbers". The app replaces each digit with a symbol and generates equations as a solving aid.

Enter a number → "Encode numbers" → symbols replace the digits

Name: "Castle Garden", search image: detail shot of the gate.

• Question: "Roman numerals (I, X, D, C) are often found on old buildings. But what kind of code is this: 1768?" — after encoding, the digits 1768 in the text are replaced by symbols.
• With the year, players can already assign up to 4 digits to their symbols. Using equations shown to them, they can finally map all symbols to a digit (0 to 9).

Station 15 — City Museum  Question & Answer

Name: "City Museum", search image: 2–3 letters from the museum name above the entrance.

• Question: "Muesum — what? Never heard that! What could it mean?"
• Answer: = Museum
• Task photo: Photo of the entrance area without the lettering.

Station 16 — Old Mill  Question & Answer

Name: "Old Mill", search image: detail of the recumbent millstone.

• Question: "The old millstone lies flat in front of the entrance — count the grooves on one half and double it."
• Answer: # 24
• Hint: "Grooves are the carved channels that radiate outward from the center."

Station 17 — Mill Pond  Question & Answer

Here I plan an observation of the senses — but I'm honest with myself: this only works in good weather. So there's a hint for cloudy days.

Name: "Mill Pond", search image: view across the water surface.

• Question: "Stand at the edge of the pond and look into the water — what color is the bottom?"
• Answer: ⊃ green
• Hint: "In murky water, look toward the sunny side — the water is clearest there."

Station 18 — Market Square (Finish)  Tile swap

The last station leads back to the starting point — a circular course. For the finale there is the most difficult tile puzzle: the app cuts the photo into a 3×4 grid (12 tiles instead of 9) — more pieces, more combinations, more tension.

Name: "Market Square (Finish)", search image: view of the fountain from the direction of the town hall — same place, different angle from Station 1.

• Photo: I take it directly in the app, portrait format. The app cuts it into a 3×4 grid and shuffles the 12 tiles.
• Hint: "You already know this place — look at the original carefully!"

Course details & final question

Terrain difficulty, skin, final question

Course features: terrain, dogs, public transport …

Via "Course" on the map I open the course details. I set the terrain difficulty to Easy and activate the course features Public transport and Dogs allowed — both apply to the old town. Then I enter the final question:

• Final question: "What word do your collected letters form?"
• Solution word: STADTTOR — 8 letters, evenly distributed across the 18 stations.

The solution word appears in the app as S · T · A · D · T · T · O · R. Players can see from the start how many letters are still missing.

Review everything

All 18 stations, distances, letters

The course overview shows all 18 stations in order with the distances between them. I tap each station, open it in preview mode and check: Is the question correct? Is the search image sharp? Does the answer work?

Submit & receive free plays

"Submit for review" — approved within 1–2 days

In the course details I tap "Submit course for review". Within 1–2 days the team checks the course and approves it. Then it appears in the catalog — and I receive a push notification.