Sion — Shadow of Plague and Witchcraft
Sion, 1428: Uncover the dark conspiracy behind Europe's first witch trials. Decode the omens of plague and sorcery hidden among the medieval towers before the curse claims more souls.
📱 1 to 10 phones · 1 team per phone · Independent codes
In 1428, as the Black Death's shadow lingered over Sion's Valais stronghold, terror gripped the Old Town
Sion — Shadow of Plague and Witchcraft
You are François-Elie Romont, a 17th-century chronicler tasked by the Sion authorities to document the mysteries and tragedies afflicting the city.
Your mission begins on the Place
Immerse yourself in Sion, the historical capital of Valais, and confront the shadows of witchcraft trials and plague epidemics that marked the city from the 14th to the 18th century.
A game, a guided tour and a heritage guide — all in one
You're not just buying an escape game. You're carrying a living guide — historical anecdotes, forgotten legends, key monuments, hidden architecture — unfolding as you go.
At each stop, places ordinary guides miss — secret façades, sculpted crests, alleys steeped in history.
Every riddle is rooted in a real historical fact or local legend. You leave with dozens of stories to tell.
Learn to read buildings — flamboyant Gothic, Baroque, Art Deco — like a real art historian, while having fun.
Walk through the city like a novel's character — every alley becomes a stage, every square a theatre.
A voice walks with you at every step, tells the story of each place, reads clues, adds a cinematic feel.
Keep access to the guide & game for 1 year. Come back any time, share it with friends.
« You will not leave this city the way you entered it. »
How does it work?
Explore the city on foot solving puzzles based on real historical facts. No locked room — the city is your playground.
No app to download. Play directly from your browser. Guided step by step, at your own pace.
One purchase per phone is enough. Play with family, friends or as a couple — everyone participates.
Point your phone at the façade: a historical character appears and speaks to you in your language. Golden letters magically write themselves on the wall to reveal the puzzle answer.
Stuck? Progressive personalised hints. The character repeats the puzzle on demand — at your own pace.
French, English, German, Spanish, Italian + 27 other languages auto-translated by AI.
Want to go deeper?
Places tied to your adventure — optional entries, totally up to you · per person
« The welfare of the people is the supreme law »— Official motto of the city of Sion
The story that haunts this land
Your quest begins on the Place de la Planta, named after the noble family who resided there. This historical quarter's nerve center, 1.5 km from the castles of Valère and Tourbillon, is surrounded by medieval buildings. From there, your gaze falls upon Sion City Hall, built in 1574 in a Valdôtain Renaissance style. Its facade adorned with allegorical frescoes and its clock tower dating from 1641 attest to its central role as the seat of municipal power. It was here, in the 17th and 18th centuries, that councils and judicial executions took place, often linked to the witchcraft trials in Valais.
Continuing your visit to Sion, you head towards the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Valère. This fortified church, a classified Swiss historical monument, was built between 1235 and 1441. It houses the oldest medieval organ in the world still in use, dating from 1390. Located 300 m from the Place de la Planta, and accessible via the Chemin des Châteaux, Valère was a place of pilgrimage and burials since the 13th century. This site, part of the UNESCO tentative World Heritage, is a key element for understanding the beliefs and fears of the era that fueled the witch hunt.
Adjacent to the Basilica, the Old Cemetery of Valère, in use from the 13th to the 19th century, reveals its secrets. This place houses medieval tombs and ossuaries, witnesses to the plague epidemics that ravaged Valais from the 14th to the 17th century. Archaeological remains exhumed in 1980 even showed funerary practices linked to superstitions and witchcraft. Just 350 m from the Place de la Planta via Rue des Châteaux, this cemetery is a poignant historical site of the Valais city of art and history.
Your journey then takes you to the Valais State Archives, housed in a former tithe barn from 1554. This building, classified as Swiss heritage, located on Rue de l'Industrie 400 m from the Place de la Planta, preserves 800 years of archives. Among them are the Valais witchcraft trials (1428-1689), with the minutes of the Sion pyres documenting over 300 executions. You conclude your exploration at Tourbillon Castle, an episcopal fortress founded around 1294 by the Bishop of Sion. Residence of the prince-bishops until the 17th century, this castle, visible from the city center 1.2 km from the Place de la Planta, was a place of imprisonment for witches during the trials of 1428-1446 in Valais, before being destroyed by fire in 1788.
This interactive visit to Sion will have allowed you to grasp the extent of the persecutions and scourges that marked the historical capital of Valais. From the Place de la Planta to the ISOS-classified castles of Sion, passing through the archives that preserve the traces of the pyres, you have walked a thematic circuit revealing the dark pages of Sion's history. This augmented reality GPS treasure hunt offers you a unique perspective on Valais heritage, far beyond classic guides, and allows you to understand why figures like Jost de Silenen, Prince-Bishop of Sion, and Georges Supersaxo, castellan, played crucial roles in this tumultuous period.
The Route
8 stages through the city
The gameplay: AR, camera, hidden clues
At each stop, open your phone camera: an augmented reality character appears on the façade and speaks your language. Hunt the clue — it materializes as golden letters on the real wall or floats in front of you. When you find it, the phone vibrates, an AR chest opens and reveals your answer fragment. 8 stops, 8 clues to find with the camera, 1 final code.
The stops on your route are a surprise. You'll discover them one by one, guided by your phone, starting from the meeting point.
How does it work with a group?
One phone = one team. Pick the number at checkout (1 to 10).
Solo, or a group sharing the screen. One team, one code.
Family, couple, or 2-3 teams competing. Each phone has its own code and its own score.
Friends, bachelor/bachelorette, small office outing — each their own code, each plays at their own pace. Tiered pricing then €6 flat per phone from the 6th.
- ✓All codes are independent — play at the same time OR separately, each team advances at its own pace.
- ✓Leaderboard between your teams + global game leaderboard — each score appears in the public ranking.
- ✓More than 10 phones or need a personalized quest? Discover custom tours.
Ready to live this adventure?
Get my code · 12€No calendar booking. Code sent immediately by email.
🔒 Secure payment · Code in 5 min · Free cancellation
Practical info
Why this route?
The forgotten diary
Trace the hidden words of a clerk who witnessed the 1428 trials, revealing the backstage of a tragedy.
Secret chronicle
Untangle the threads of a political and religious intrigue, where fear became a formidable weapon.
Valais 1428
Dive into the tragic beginnings of witch hunts in Europe, a dark chapter in history.
Retrace the whispers of a forgotten era, where truth was burned alive.
Unveil the dark secrets of Valais in 1428.
9 features nobody else has
OddballTrip combines gamified play, augmented reality and AI. All our competitors deliver 1 or 2 of these angles. We deliver all 5.
AR treasure chest
A golden chest floats in front of the monument. Tap → opening animation → reveals a secret message.
AR narrator character
Point your phone at the façade: a knight, witch, monk, sailor, detective or ghost appears full-screen and speaks to you in your language with their dedicated ElevenLabs voice (each character has their own unique voice) — your living guide.
Magic golden letters
At the puzzle climax, golden letters magically write themselves on the real wall — that's the puzzle answer. An unforgettable visual effect.
Written + audio narration
Every puzzle available as text AND voice-over: read at your own pace or listen eyes-free while walking. Great in groups and for accessibility.
360° radar + vibration
A mini-radar shows the target even behind you, and the phone vibrates when you aim in the right direction.
Heritage storytelling
Every puzzle weaves in real historical facts (architecture, era, anecdotes). You learn by playing — like a gamified audioguide.
Progressive AI hints
3 levels of AI-generated help: vibe → where to look → answer format. You're never stuck.
AR selfie memento
At the end of the game, capture a selfie with OddballTrip banner + mascot, shareable on Instagram, TikTok.
Zero app to install
PWA technology: open the link, it plays in your browser. Same quality as an app, no App Store hassle.
Frequently asked questions
Q01Do I need to download an app?
No, never. You get a link, you click, it plays in your browser. That's the point of a PWA: same as an app, without the hassle.
Q02Does it work offline?
GPS yes (handled by your phone). Maps yes (tiles cached). AI and hints need an intermittent 4G connection.
Q03How long does a game take?
1 h 30 to 2 h 30 depending on your pace. The timer runs but only for the leaderboard — you play at your own tempo.
Q04What happens if I'm stuck?
You get 3 levels of hints per puzzle (increasing penalty). If truly stuck, you can skip the step (45-min penalty but you keep going).
Q05What's the age range?
From 12 without an adult, from 6 with an adult reading puzzles. Works for families, couples, friend groups, companies.
Q06What if my city isn't in the catalogue?
Pre-register or contact us — we'll email you as soon as your city is live.
Q07What is augmented reality exactly?
Point your phone at the façade: a historical character appears full-screen and speaks to you in your language. At the puzzle climax, golden letters magically write themselves on the real wall — that's your answer. After each puzzle solved, a treasure chest floats in front of you. Seeing is believing.
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Your turn to play
Immerse yourself in Sion, the historical capital of Valais, and confront the shadows of witchcraft trials and plague epidemics that marked the city from the 14th to the 18th century.
1 purchase = 1 phone. Play several on the same device.
No calendar booking. Code sent immediately by email.
🔒Secure payment · Code in 5 min · Free cancellation
🪙+24 TripCoins granted with your booking
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