Nouille — Shadows of the Penal Colony
Uncover the dark secrets of the Pacific penal colony in Nouville. Follow the footsteps of Commune deportees like Louise Michel to decipher hidden codes in the ruins and expose a forgotten conspiracy among the convicts.
📱 1 to 10 phones · 1 team per phone · Independent codes
In 1873, the Presqu'île de Nouville became a hellish outpost for France's most dangerous political prisoners, including the fiery revolutionary Louise Michel, deported after the Paris Commune
Nouille — Shadows of the Penal Colony
You are a newly arrived political prisoner, autumn 1873, among the 4,000 insurgents transported to Nouméa.
You disembark in this Pacific outpost after a
Walk through the remains of New Caledonia's penal colony where 22,000 convicts and Paris Commune insurgents endured colonial hell from 1864 to 1927.
The story that haunts this land
Place des Cocotiers opens before you like the threshold of colonial hell. Here convict convoys disembarked from 1864, under the gaze of penitentiary authorities who sorted prisoners by sentence. The bandstand, built later, now masks the old wharf where Louise Michel and her Commune comrades first set foot on Caledonian soil. Palm trees still rustle with sobs of those 4,000 Parisian insurgents torn from families after May 1871's Bloody Week.
The Transportation camp plunges you into Napoleon III's prison system heart. These wood and corrugated iron barracks housed new arrivals before distribution to penal islands. Jules Ferry, Navy Minister, supervised from Paris this man-crushing machine transforming convicts into free colonial labor. Dormitory remains still witness the inhuman overcrowding where up to 200 inmates crammed per building.
Nouville cemetery spreads its anonymous graves like an open book on the penal colony's horrific mortality. Over 15,000 deportees rest here, victims of malaria, dysentery and forced labor exhaustion. Wooden crosses rotted away, but Testimony of a Past association registers preserve their names. Louise Michel buried dozens of comrades here, writing in her memoirs that "Caledonian earth drinks the proscribed blood."
University of New Caledonia now occupies part of former penitentiary grounds where carpentry and forge workshops stood. Convicts manufactured their own chains under armed guard surveillance. Caboteurs wharf preserves mooring rings of prison ships transporting repeat offenders to Nou Island, prison within prison. Saint-Joseph Cathedral, built partly by inmates themselves, raises towers like stone paradox: faith erected by chained hands.
Your route ends where everything began: Place des Cocotiers, now symbol of Caledonian resilience. The GRALL app revealed ghosts of this buried past, these 22,000 destinies broken by imperial justice. You carry Louise Michel's memory, who transformed exile into freedom's fight, and all those anonymous souls whose sufferings shaped modern New Caledonia. The penal colony ended in 1927, but its scars still mark every Nouméa street.
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.
The game downloads to your phone on start. Once the "✓ Downloaded" indicator appears, everything works without data — narration, AR, GPS and puzzles. Perfect abroad without a data plan.
Want to go deeper?
Places tied to your adventure — optional entries, totally up to you · per person
The Route
5-10 curated sites across the territory
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 · 14,90€No calendar booking. Code sent immediately by email.
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Practical info
Why this route?
Chains of the Past
Uncover the forgotten stories of the deported convicts in Caledonia.
Forgotten Manifesto
Reconstruct Louise Michel's secret journal, witness to her struggle.
Path of Resistance
Follow a route that highlights resilience in the face of colonial oppression.
The memory of the oppressed is an eternal force.
Louise Michel
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
Q01What's the difference with a regular indoor escape room?
Outdoor escape game format: no physical locks, no actor, no fixed time slot. You start when you want, progress through Nouméa, New Caledonia with your phone, and the city itself is the set. More immersive on local history, more flexible in pace.
Q02How long does it take to finish Nouille — Shadows of the Penal Colony?
Plan 1 h 30 to 2 h 30 depending on your pace. Some finish in 1 h 10, others take 3 h in slow-mode. No pressure: the clock only counts for the leaderboard, you play at your tempo.
Q03Do we need to be several people to enjoy it?
No, solo works very well. The outdoor escape game format in self-guided mode leaves room for introspection: read the story at your pace, hunt clues like a detective. 2-6 players is more social, solo is more contemplative.
Q04Is Nouille — Shadows of the Penal Colony stroller-accessible?
Depends on the exact route in Nouméa, New Caledonia. The vast majority of stops are downtown, on sidewalks or squares. If a stair or narrow passage is involved, it's flagged on the product page. Generally: yes, doable with a standard urban stroller.
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Your turn to play
Walk through the remains of New Caledonia's penal colony where 22,000 convicts and Paris Commune insurgents endured colonial hell from 1864 to 1927.
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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