The Bories of Gordes
Dry stone, lavender and Cistercian monks
📱 1 to 10 phones · 1 team per phone · Independent codes
Mysterious dry-stone huts dot the landscape — who built them and why? The Cistercian monks of Sénanque know. Between the Château de Gordes, the Village des Bories and Sénanque Abbey with its lavender fields, a secret of stone awaits decoding.
Stones without mortar, monks in silence, a secret in lavender
Gordes is one of France's most beautiful villages, clinging to a rocky promontory facing the Luberon. A few kilometers away, the Village des Bories gathers dozens of dry-stone constructions — huts without mortar assembled using a thousand-year technique whose origin remains mysterious. Further on, Sénanque Abbey, a 12th-century Cistercian jewel, bathes in its lavender fields. The monks of Sénanque keep an ancient knowledge that the bories illustrate in stone.
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
« "Dry stone is the language of those who had no other words than their toil." »— — Jean Giono, Provençal writer
Gordes — the mystery of stones that hold without mortar
Bories are dry-stone constructions — without mortar, cement, or framework. Limestone slabs stacked in corbelling form perfect vaults that have withstood centuries of weather and earthquakes. The Village des Bories, a listed historic monument, gathers some thirty of these structures grouped in "quarters" — dwellings, sheepfolds, ovens. The technique is the same as that used for the nuraghi of Sardinia and the trulli of Puglia, but who transmitted it?
Sénanque Abbey, founded in 1148 by Cistercian monks, is one of the three "Provençal sisters" along with Silvacane and Le Thoronet. The Cistercians, an order founded by Bernard of Clairvaux, advocated absolute austerity — no sculptures, no paintings, nothing but bare stone and light. Sénanque is a masterpiece of this aesthetic: the abbey church, cloister, dormitory, and scriptorium are of breathtaking architectural purity.
The Caves of Palais Saint-Firmin, beneath the village of Gordes, are a network of underground chambers carved into the limestone — oil mills, cisterns, granaries, and secret passages. Gordes is built on a honeycomb of underground cavities whose complete mapping has never been finished. What else do these galleries hide beneath the most beautiful village in the Luberon?
The Route
5 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?
Dry stone
Explore the Village des Bories — thousand-year constructions without mortar.
Lavender & Sénanque
France's most photographed Cistercian abbey, nestled among its lavender fields.
Most beautiful village
Gordes — a stone village perched facing the Luberon.
Underground world
The Caves of Saint-Firmin — an unexplored underground network beneath the village.
Stone speaks to those who know how to read it.
From the bories to Sénanque, decipher the secret language of Gordes' stones.
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
From the castle to the bories, from Sénanque to the underground caves — unlock the mystery of stones that hold without mortar in the Luberon's most beautiful village.
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
🪙+15 TripCoins granted with your booking
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