Zakodowany Poznań Outdoor city game in Poznań for companies and groups
Decode Poznań
An outdoor city game for teams and companies, played across Poznań's Old Town. We bring together a map, custom cards and a referee app in a single race against a ticking clock. The winning team is the first to crack the Poznań code.
Where did the idea for this outdoor city game come from?
For some it's a shortcut to the office across the Old Market Square (Stary Rynek), for others a morning jog along the boulevards of the Warta river, and for someone else a coffee beneath the colourful townhouses, waiting for the bickering goats on the Town Hall tower to lock horns at noon. Poznańn or visitor - everyone soaks up the pulse, the scent and the Greater Poland character of this city in their own way.
The thing is, in the whirl of everyday life we breeze straight past most of what's truly worth a look. Renaissance attics, coats of arms on the facades, the small traces of old Poznań - we look, but we don't see. We simply can't see the wood for the trees.
Over years of designing and running outdoor city games, we've learned to track down these hidden stories - the ones that surprise, draw in and amuse our players. We turned every one of them into a riddle, and the answers wove together into one inimitable code.
The City Code. The Poznań Code.
How we designed Zakodowany Poznań
We built the game on three pillars: a map of Poznań's Old Town, custom riddle cards and a dedicated app that acts as the brain of the game - an impartial, unflappable referee. We wrapped it all in the mechanics of time running out, and that's how a fresh, modern take on team-building was born - the Zakodowany Poznań outdoor city game.
// app = referee
Map
A paper map with a slice of Poznań's Old Town marked out - this is where your game plays out.
Cards
On the front, a photo leading you to a specific spot; on the back, a twisty riddle to crack.
Application
The command centre of the game - an impartial referee that counts down the time and updates the leaderboard.
Breaking outdoor-city-game standards
Zakodowany Poznań does away with the worn-out conventions of outdoor city games. Here's what you won't find with us:
No trudging behind a guide and no challenges in the style of hammering in nails, picking padlocks or shredding cabbage.
You don't have to track down actors in the field and talk them into handing you a clue on a whim.
There's no tedious waiting at the finish line for someone to check the solutions by hand - the result is settled automatically by our app.
Now that you know what we don't do, here's the question: what exactly are you meant to do? Fire up your imagination, sharpen your senses, add a pinch of sharp-eyed observation and dive into a game where simply solving our riddles is only the warm-up.
// game cards
Hiding in plain sight - our guiding idea
Our riddles are rarely obvious - they're a real workout for the mind, because even their wording is a puzzle in itself. We want you to see Poznań from a new angle: fresh and unconventional, the way even a born-and-bred Poznańn rarely gets to see it.
We've gone all in on new technology, but we've built the riddles so that Google, Google Lens or Maps won't do the thinking for you. Here it's your eyes and your heads that do the work - and with every new game we watch the teams' ingenuity with genuine curiosity.
Who's in charge and what's the goal?
The whole game is conducted by an app running at its own web address that tracks the teams' moves live. The moment a team picks up the scent of an answer, they check it in the system straight away. Every hit is rewarded with a digit - another piece of the special code that will stop the team's ticking clock. And it's that stopping of the clock that the entire game is about.
This constant dialogue with the system throws in one more thrill - you can glance at how your rivals are doing. To keep things from getting too comfortable, though, we refresh the leaderboard every 15 minutes, and half an hour before the finish we freeze it completely.
The final half-hour plays out in radio silence.
How the game unfolds
Every team's task is simple to describe but hard to pull off: stop the clock and reach the finish faster than your rivals.
The key to it is a special CODE, without which there's no way to halt the game's running clock.
To make the clock stop, you need to enter the CODE you've collected along the way on the webpage we've prepared.
Those code digits take some hunting, though - teams roam the lanes of Poznań's Old Town in search of answers to one question after another. The signposts are the game cards, with photos leading you to specific spots. Once the investigation team is standing in the right place, the answer is within arm's reach :)
Assembling all the pieces of the puzzle opens the final stage of decryption - working out the CODE you use to log into the page and stop the clock. The first team to manage it walks away with the win.
// investigation team
Who is the outdoor city game for?
It makes no difference whether you're from Poznań, from Wielkopolska (the Greater Poland region), from the other end of Poland or from abroad. If riddles draw you in, crosswords and rebuses are your thing, mysteries intrigue you and you treat code-breaking as a sporting challenge - the Zakodowany Poznań outdoor city game is just the thing for you!
Companies turn to us when they're after a fresh idea for team-building or some out-of-the-ordinary fun around the city, but so do private groups - for hen and stag nights, birthdays or surprise occasions. We'll run the game in two languages: Polish and English.
Companies
A fresh idea for team-building and unconventional city entertainment your staff will remember.
Private parties
Hen and stag nights, birthdays, surprises - for those moments when an ordinary party just isn't enough.
Anyone who loves puzzles
Poznańns and visitors, Wielkopolska and the rest of the country, in Polish and in English - if rebuses and codes are your thing, you're in.
Arena: the heart of Poznań - the Old Town
The playing field is the historic heart of Poznań - the Old Town, headed by the Old Market Square (Stary Rynek) and its Renaissance Town Hall. Teams get a paper map with the area marked out, across which they hunt for answers. The route runs past the Town Hall with its famous bickering goats, the colourful townhouses and Poznań's Parish Basilica (Fara), revealing details that passers-by miss day to day.
A little tip - stick to the marked-out area, because a trip beyond its bounds is just minutes lost in the fight for first place.
// game zone
You play when it suits you
We've tailored the game so you can sit down to it on a date that suits you. When you choose ZAKODOWANY POZNAŃ, you book as many packs as you need. One pack covers a team of 3-4 - so a group of 20 needs at least 5 packs. The fewer people in a team, the slightly higher the bar :)
We meet on an agreed day, at an agreed time and at an agreed place. We explain the rules, start up the app that runs the game - and from that moment on, you're on your own. Victory comes down to your sharp eye, your quick wits, smart use of the clock and clever use of the team's talents.
When the allotted time runs out, we gather at the meeting point and announce each team's results.
That's the moment we crown the winners and reward them accordingly.
Game promo video
Ready to decode Poznań?
► Book the gameWhat does it cost?
Curious how much it costs? The easiest thing is to write to us or give us a call. We price every game individually, so we can tailor the offer to your real needs. Just say the word that you're interested and we'll send back a quick, clear proposal. No obligations and no small print. Get in touch - and game on!
Frequently asked questions
Pretty much whenever you like - all year round and at any hour of the day or night. With autumn and winter evenings in mind, we've prepared a separate NIGHT edition of the game!
There's no upper limit. We split players into teams of four, and there can be as many of those as you like.
Because teams roam the lanes of Poznań's Old Town on their own, without a chaperone, players simply have to be old enough for the law to allow it.
The briefing, the search for solutions and the finale add up to roughly 3 hours in total. The playing time is fixed.
Both adults and younger players feel right at home in this game. The key to a great time is an open mind and a watchful eye.
The foundation of the game is the cards: on one side, photos of the objects to track down; on the other, some seriously twisty riddles. The photos, though, zoom in on details so small that Poznańns don't get an easy ride either. And the riddle text can give any player a run for their money. So yes - the Zakodowany Poznań outdoor city game is for anyone living in Poland. We promise everyone will have a cracking time.
The game closes at a time and place set in advance. Even if a team doesn't crack the code, they'll reach the finish (the meeting point) and find out their final placing. We created the game with players in mind - it calls for thinking, sharp eyes and a bit of cunning, but above all it's meant to be fun. That's why we made sure every team can taste a bit of success and never gets stuck feeling helpless at any point - because that's a real downer :)
