Handpicked experience · Frankfurt
Frankfurt, Germany
A phone-led puzzle route through a few hundred metres of old town that once staged an entire imperial coronation, including a fountain rigged to run wine and an ox roasted on the square.
A puzzle route played from your own phone, starting whenever you like
Ground once used for imperial elections and the ceremonies that followed
A square where the public was fed and paid on coronation days
A civic building working continuously since the fifteenth century
Short, flat distances suited to families and small groups
No group, no schedule and no waiting for anyone else
A self-guided exploration game through the old town of Frankfurt, played from your phone. You follow a route between landmarks, solve a puzzle at each stop to unlock the next, and set your own pace — there is no guide, no group and no fixed departure.
The ground the game covers is not arbitrary. For centuries this small area was where Holy Roman Emperors were elected and, later, crowned — and the procession between the church where the ceremony happened and the hall where the feast was held ran along these few hundred metres.
That is why the distances are so short and the buildings so grand for their footprint. A whole imperial ritual was staged in a space you can cross in ten minutes, and the route you are being sent along is essentially the one the new emperor walked.
On the square at the centre of the route stands a fountain with a figure of Justice on top. At coronations it was rigged to run red and white wine instead of water, and the crowd drank from it.
There was also an ox roasted whole on the square and a scramble for coins thrown to the public. The formal business happened indoors; the square was where the city was bought off, and it is worth standing there with that in mind rather than as a backdrop for a photograph.
The stepped-gable building everyone photographs is not a museum. The city bought it from a merchant family in the early fifteenth century and has used it for municipal business ever since, which makes it one of the longest continuously working town halls anywhere.
Its upstairs hall holds portraits of the emperors elected here — a wall of faces covering several centuries of a political system that no longer exists.
It is a walking route with puzzles, played at whatever hour suits you, and it works well for families and small groups who want a structure rather than a lecture. It is not a guided tour: nobody is explaining anything beyond what the app tells you, and the historical depth is light by design.
Short distances on flat, paved ground in the middle of the city. You need a charged phone and mobile data, and it is worth starting with the battery well up, since the screen is in use throughout.
Playable in any weather, though the puzzles involve looking at building details, which is harder in heavy rain and after dark. The squares are busiest at midday and on market days, and quietest early.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
No. It is self-guided from your phone, so you start when you like and move at your own speed.
The old town, which for centuries was where Holy Roman Emperors were elected and crowned, so the route follows the ground the ceremony used.
Because the whole imperial ritual was staged within a few hundred metres, between the church used for the ceremony and the hall used for the feast.
At coronations the fountain on the main square was rigged to run wine rather than water, alongside a whole roasted ox and coins thrown to the crowd.
Yes. The city acquired it in the early fifteenth century and has conducted municipal business there ever since.
An upper hall hung with portraits of the emperors elected in this city, spanning several centuries.
It works well for families, since the puzzles give structure and the walking distances are short.
A charged phone with mobile data, since the screen is in use for the whole route.