Lille — The Embraced Secret of the Palais
Decipher the secret correspondence of a Belle Époque artist and his hidden muse, hidden in artworks and stones around Lille's Palais des Beaux-Arts. Solve the passionate enigma before it vanishes forever.
📱 1 to 10 phones · 1 team per phone · Independent codes
In the opulent shadows of Lille's Palais des Beaux-Arts, built in 1892 amid the Belle Époque splendor, a forbidden love unfolded
Dive into the secrets of France's largest provincial museum, where 70,000 artworks conceal an enigma that Charles de Gaulle himself never solved.
Step into the shoes of an art curator on a secret mission in 1944 Lille. You must find a missing Rubens masterpiece before occupation forces discover its hiding place. Your investigation leads from the Palais des Beaux-Arts, built between 1885 and 1892 to Philibert Asprucci's plans, to General de Gaulle's birthplace. At each stop of this 120-minute journey through 1.5 km, open your phone: augmented reality clues appear on Flemish Renaissance facades, coded messages reveal themselves on Old Lille's sandstone cobbles, and botanist Théodore Lestiboudois's shadow guides you toward the Botanical Garden created in 1835. More than an outdoor escape game: an interactive visit immersed in 4 centuries of Lille history, with anecdotes revealed at every stop and hidden sites that classic guides forget.
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
The Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille reveals its first clues within its 22,000 m² housing over 70,000 pieces. Inaugurated in 1892, this historic monument classified in 1994 hides within its collections by Rubens, Van Dyck and Goya the first traces of your mysterious missing canvas. Its 135-meter main facade bears scars from World War II, when many artworks were concealed to escape Nazi looting.
Place du Théâtre, the architectural heart of Old Lille formed in the 17th century after attachment to France in 1667, confronts you with the Opera built between 1901 and 1907 by Émile Dubuisson. This 1,100-seat hall with 32-meter depth dimensions served as a cultural refuge during occupation. Resistance fighters organized secret meetings there, using musical codes to transmit messages. Did your Rubens pass through these Belle Époque backstages?
The Vieille Bourse of Lille, built between 1652 and 1653 in Flemish Renaissance style, reveals its 60 by 40-meter interior courtyard where Flemish merchants once negotiated Europe's most precious canvases. Listed as a Historic Monument in 1921, it now houses a historic bookstore. Here private collectors hid their most compromising acquisitions during the war, in vaulted cellars beneath covered galleries.
The Botanical Garden, created in 1835 by Théodore Lestiboudois over 6.5 hectares, conceals within its tropical greenhouses and 19th-century orangery the ultimate secrets of your investigation. Classified as a Remarkable Garden in 2004, this green sanctuary 5 minutes from the Palais des Beaux-Arts served as a meeting point for resistance networks. Its 3,500 plant species sometimes masked artwork caches, protected by the curator's complicity.
Charles de Gaulle's birthplace at 9 rue Princesse, where the future General was born on November 22, 1890, completes your journey in this early 19th-century residence transformed into a museum in 1973. This historic monument receiving 15,000 annual visitors preserves memories of a man who, from his Lille childhood, learned the value of French cultural heritage.
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?
Art and passion
Discover a vibrant love story set against the backdrop of the Belle Époque and artistic creation.
Secret correspondence
Reconstruct fragments of hidden letters, witnesses to a forbidden romance.
Belle Époque atmosphere
Immerse yourself in the refinement and mysteries of late 19th-century Lille.
Lille: the city where love is written between the lines.
A couples activity in Lille for an unforgettable Valentine's Day.
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, WhatsApp, 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.
Avis des aventuriers
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Your turn to play
Dive into the secrets of France's largest provincial museum, where 70,000 artworks conceal an enigma that Charles de Gaulle himself never solved.
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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