Manchester Self-Guided Detective Murder Mystery Game

Albert Square is where the investigation begins, with Manchester Town Hall filling one side of it. From there the trail moves through the city centre, past the reading rooms of the John Rylands Library and on towards Manchester Cathedral. It is a self-guided detective murder mystery game, played on foot with your phone as the case file. The route stays on flat pavement across a compact stretch of central Manchester, so it suits families with children, groups of friends, couples and colleagues alike. One ticket covers a team of up to four people sharing a single phone; larger groups take extra tickets and split into separate teams. You can also play on your own. There is no guide walking ahead of you and no fixed start time, which helps on a busy Saturday afternoon when the pavements around the square are full. How to playFour steps stand between you and the first clue. Book the City Game Check the email with your play link Open the link on your phone Start playing whenever you like The case is the murder of Balthasar. You crack coded messages, complete photo tasks and question digital characters whose statements do not line up. Some of that happens on the steps of Manchester Art Gallery, some in the side streets in between, and each solved puzzle removes a name from the list of suspects. When several teams play at the same time the scores turn it into a contest, which is why it works as a teambuilding afternoon as well as a day out. Stop for lunch, pick the thread up afterwards, and finish the case somewhere in the middle of Manchester.