The Secret Passages
Baudelaire, Dumas, and artificial paradises
📱 1 to 10 phones · 1 team per phone · Independent codes
Paris still has 150 covered passages, remnants of a 19th century when the bourgeoisie strolled sheltered from the rain between luxury shops and cabinets of curiosities. But some of these passages housed the Club des Haschischins — a secret society where Baudelaire, Dumas, and Gautier explored the frontiers of consciousness.
Behind the gilded shop windows, a parallel world awaits discovery
The covered passages of Paris are time capsules from the 19th century — mosaic floors, Art Nouveau glass roofs, shops from another era. The Galerie Vivienne, with its allegorical mosaics and neoclassical columns, was the meeting place of the Parisian intellectual elite. But beneath this facade of respectability, literary Paris of the 19th century hid a far darker secret: the Club des Haschischins, where the greatest writers of the era gathered at the Hôtel Pimodan for "sessions" of hashish and opium.
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.
« "One must always be drunk. That's all there is to it — it's the only question." »— — Charles Baudelaire, Le Spleen de Paris, 1869
The Covered Passages — secret 19th-century Paris
Covered passages appeared in Paris at the end of the 18th century, when the capital's streets were still muddy cesspools without sidewalks. These glass-roofed galleries offered the bourgeoisie a clean, lit, and sheltered space for shopping. The Passage des Panoramas, opened in 1799, was the first public place in Paris to be gas-lit in 1817 — a technological revolution that drew the crowds.
But it was in a private mansion on the Île Saint-Louis — the Hôtel Pimodan, steps from the passages — that the Club des Haschischins met between 1844 and 1849. Founded by Dr. Jacques-Joseph Moreau de Tours, a pioneering psychiatrist, this club brought together Baudelaire, Théophile Gautier, Alexandre Dumas, Gérard de Nerval, and Eugène Delacroix. Each month, they ingested a green jam made from hashish — dawamesk — and recorded their hallucinations. Baudelaire would draw from these experiences for his essay "Artificial Paradises."
Today, the covered passages survive as forgotten jewels in the heart of Paris. The Galerie Vivienne retains its 1823 mosaics. The Passage Jouffroy houses the Musée Grévin and antique bookshops. The Passage Verdeau is a collector's paradise. Together, they form a secret itinerary through the romantic, literary, and bohemian Paris of the 19th century.
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?
19th-century architecture
Walk through glass-roofed galleries with period mosaics, true time capsules of Romantic Paris.
Living literature
Walk in the footsteps of Baudelaire, Dumas, and Gautier — giants of French literature.
Secret societies
Uncover the mysteries of the Club des Haschischins and its experiments at the frontiers of consciousness.
Hidden Paris
Explore lesser-known covered passages, far from the usual tourist circuits.
Covered route
An escape game playable in any weather — most of the route is sheltered.
One must always be drunk with curiosity.
Uncover the secrets of the covered passages and the Club des Haschischins.
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.
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Your turn to play
From the Galerie Vivienne to the Passage Verdeau, from Baudelaire to Dumas — walk through the covered passages of Paris on the trail of a literary secret society in an escape game where every shop window hides a clue.
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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