Shadows of Dawn — The 1906 Fire's Untold Conspiracy
Decipher the hidden truth behind San Francisco's catastrophic 1906 earthquake and fire. Uncover suppressed evidence, conflicting testimonies, and a conspiracy to conceal the real cause of the city's destruction.
📱 1 to 10 phones · 1 team per phone · Independent codes
On April 18, 1906, San Francisco was shattered by one of America's deadliest natural disasters
San Francisco's Broken Dawn
On April 18, 1906, San Francisco was shattered by one of America's deadliest natural disasters. Official records blame the earthquake alone—but whispers persist of a darker truth. A network of survivors, engineers, and city officials possessed evidence that contradicted the public narrative. Some spoke of structural failures deliberately hidden. Others claimed fires were deliberately set to cover up industrial sabotage. One journalist's investigation vanished. One engineer's blueprints were burned. One widow's testimony was silenced. You have inherited fragments of their secrets: coded letters, architectural sketches, newspaper clippings marked with cryptic annotations. Your mission: walk the scarred streets of the Financial District and North Beach, visit the sites where the fire raged fiercest, and reconstruct the suppressed truth. Every landmark holds a clue. Every shadow conceals a lie. Can you expose what the city's founders worked so hard to bury?
« The great San Francisco disaster was not an earthquake but a fire, and the fire was not an act of God but an act of man. »— Jack London, "The Story of an Eyewitness," Collier's Weekly, 1906
The City of Ashes and Resurrection
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906, with an estimated magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale, was one of the most powerful in US history. It caused the San Andreas Fault to rupture for nearly 470 kilometers. However, it was not so much the initial tremors that destroyed most of the city, but the fires that followed. Broken water pipes rendered firefighters helpless, and strong winds spread the fire across dozens of neighborhoods, consuming over 25,000 buildings over 12 square kilometers.
The reconstruction of San Francisco after 1906 was a stunning testament to human resilience. Despite the near-total destruction of the city center and the displacement of over 200,000 inhabitants, the city quickly rose from its ashes. Banks, notably Amadeo Giannini's Bank of Italy (future Bank of America), played a crucial role by providing loans for reconstruction, often based on trust rather than solvency. The ingenuity and determination of the inhabitants transformed the catastrophe into an opportunity to modernize and beautify the city, which was largely rebuilt in less than a decade.
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 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?
Historical Investigation
Delve into a journalist's secret archives to uncover hidden facts.
City Ablaze
Journey through key sites of the disaster and reconstruction.
Indomitable Spirit
Discover how an entire city rose from its ashes in record time.
From dust and flames, a legend was born.
San Francisco's forgotten heroes await you.
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.
Avis des aventuriers
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Your turn to play
Put on your detective shoes, follow in the footsteps of survivors and builders. Uncover the mysteries of a broken dawn to reveal San Francisco's incredible strength.
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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