Around the world: Koezio

Koezio indicative site mapA while back, the good people at escapegame.Paris posted a link with a URL hinting at something with a mixture of Fort Boyard and Total Wipeout… except drier. This sounds highly relevant to this site’s interests. Possibly not so puzzly, but very interesting nevertheless.

The game in question is Koezio. There are two sites, both in France: one in Lille, one in Paris, so both convenient for the Eurostar. It’s a game where teams of two to five don Agent outfits including suits with electronic bracelets and specially tagged shoes) and travel through five zones, searching for clues to solve the Final Enigma and maximise the team’s score.

There’s no lower age limit, though there’s a lower height limit of 1.4 metres (4’7″). Games last about two hours, or maybe a little less. The site opens six days a week (not Mondays!) and pricing is reasonable. On Saturdays, everyone pays €25 at Lille or one more at Paris; on other days, those 13-17 (or students!) pay €18 and those 12 and under pay just €13.

Keymaze describes itself as a giant futuristic labyrinth. “Track down and memorize symbols in order to discover clues allowing your team to enter the next world.” In Speedspot, teams must “cross our giant game elements, as well as our ability and agility challenges, in order to find and activate as many ELECTROSPOTs as possible within the set time limit. Crazy dance floor, giant ball pit, slide, obstacle course, spy-training… Climb, jump, slide and crawl your team to victory!

A more explicitly mental game, Knowzone, invited you into “a knowledge capsule, answer as many questions as you can on varied topics (general knowledge, sports, cinema, music, celebrities, TV series etc.) or write your own mission and test your friends, family and colleagues with a tailored quiz on the topics of your choice: a fun and constructive way to personalise your Mission!” If you’re wondering, you can play in French, English or Dutch throughout.

The Wingway game returns to the mmental-game-twist-on-a-familiar-physical-activity approach: “Exceed your limits as a team across a high ropes course unique to the world. Completely secured by a continuous, switching safety line, you will reach up to 12 meters high on a course of varying levels, suspension bridges, climbing nets, via ferrata, suspended skateboard, Nepalese bridges etc…. But pay attention, you must also face observation tasks and memorise symbols throughout your aerial Mission; in order to obtain the final clue!

Gaining height to take on Wingway is not a trivial challenge; in Paris, there is a fifth mission called Lasercross, a 12-meter tower to climb with a laser maze to traverse. Once you’ve got up, you have to get back down; Paris has a giant slide, but Lille (lacking the Lasercross) has an optional fifth mission called Vertical Drop. This will get you down those 12 metres rather quickly; it looks more like a fan descender than a teeny tiny bungee jump or a SCAD jump.

It’s hard to know how much mental challenge the game offers. Nevertheless, even if it were just – “just”! – a superior, automatically scored gamified adventure playground, a very interesting proposition indeed.

Not an exit game, sure, but this site has always had a thing for other sorts of really interesting mixed-mental-and-physical live adventures…