La Chaux-de-Fonds — The Pact of the Time Masters
Uncover the sinister Pact of the Time Masters, a secret watchmaking society that bound elite craftsmen in a blood oath to control horology's secrets. Decode their hidden symbols across the urban grid to expose the conspiracy before it claims another victim.
📱 1 to 10 phones · 1 team per phone · Independent codes
In the early 19th century, La Chaux-de-Fonds transformed into a grid-planned watchmaking powerhouse, its streets lined with ateliers where master horlogers forged time itself
La Chaux-de-Fonds — The Pact of the Time Masters
You are a special investigator for the Swiss Federal Department of Public Economy, arriving at La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1905.
Your mission in the world capital of mechanical precision
Dive into the secrets of La Chaux-de-Fonds, UNESCO city where master clockmakers shaped Switzerland's most revolutionary urban architecture in the 19th 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 story that haunts this land
La Chaux-de-Fonds rises from its ashes after the 1794 fire that destroys the medieval town. Charles-Henri Junod, visionary architect, draws in 1835 the first urban plan adapted to the watch industry: perfectly grid streets, oriented north-south to optimize natural light in workshops. This urban revolution transforms a rural borough into the European capital of watches, attracting thousands of Swiss and foreign craftsmen who will shape the identity of this working city.
On Rue de la Serre, you enter the district of great manufactures where rise the Former Longines Workshops, built between 1905 and 1911. These four-story neoclassical buildings housed 2000 workers producing 150000 watches per year, making Longines the most exported brand worldwide before 1914. Industrial architecture blends functionality and prestige: large windows for precision, ornate facades for brand image. Each workshop specialized in a manufacturing stage reveals Taylorian organization ahead of its time.
Villa Schwob, masterpiece by Charles-Édouard Jeanneret known as Le Corbusier, stands since 1901 as an architectural manifesto. Built for clockmaker Anatole Schwob, this Art Nouveau residence breaks with traditional bourgeois codes: geometric volumes, interplay of raw materials, landscape integration. The future Le Corbusier, then aged 14 at the end of construction, experiments here with principles he would later theorize in his Five Points of Modern Architecture.
The Tissot monumental clock, installed in 1853 on Grand-Rue, symbolizes the golden age of La Chaux-de-Fonds watchmaking. This 4.5-meter diameter dial, visible from 500 meters, proclaims the technical mastery of the house founded by Charles-Félicien Tissot. Around this temporal landmark urban life organizes: workers adjusting their watches, merchants synchronizing their business, bourgeois parading their latest acquisitions. The Watchmaking Urbanism Center, opened in 2010, deciphers this unique symbiosis between industrial time and urban time.
Your investigation in La Chaux-de-Fonds reveals more than a watchmaking success story: the invention of an urban model exported worldwide. From Detroit to Brasília, 20th-century industrial cities adopt this grid plan optimizing production and circulation. You leave with intimate understanding of this Swiss alchemy: transforming mechanical precision into art of living, making a Jura valley the laboratory of European modernity. The masters of time's pact continues beating in every street of this UNESCO city.
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?
A Lost Register
Find an ancient document that seals the fate of watchmaking.
The Industrial Heritage
Explore the remnants of an empire built on the mastery of time.
The Ancient Secret
Unveil the clauses of an agreement that shaped the watchmaking world.
Unveil the oath that forged the empire of time.
Every second counts, especially the hidden ones.
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
Dive into the secrets of La Chaux-de-Fonds, UNESCO city where master clockmakers shaped Switzerland's most revolutionary urban architecture in the 19th 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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