A reason to walk Main Street, any day of the year
A downtown has its history in plain sight: the bank that became a café, the theatre, the names carved over the doors. A quest turns a walk down Main Street into a game, and every stop brings players past your businesses.
Ask about a quest for your townWe build it and take care of everything. Your historians and guides are welcome to join in.
- Named the most disruptive startup in hospitality by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
- Awarded by Booking.com for the impact we bring to tourism worldwide
- Played by more than a million people in over 1,000 cities
How can a Main Street program bring more people downtown?
Give people a reason to walk the whole street, not just the block they parked on. A quest leads players from one landmark and storefront to the next, on any day, and every stop is a chance to step inside. It runs without staff, booths or opening hours.
How it fits your downtown
- 1
The oldest building on the street, and who built it
- 2
A storefront with a past life, now a local business
- 3
The square where the town gathered for a century
- 4
A last clue that ends at a place to sit down and eat
Maryville, Tennessee: a Christmas quest through two centuries of downtown
Maryville commissioned a Christmas quest for its downtown: something families and visitors can play on Broadway any day in December, past the shops, taverns and restaurants that line the street.
- Quest
- A Timeless Christmas: The Twelve Gifts of Maryville
- Route
- 15 stops on and around Broadway, starting and ending at the town's Christmas tree
- Made for
- Families, residents and visitors in the Christmas season
- Status
- Being tested on the street, launching in December
The story
Players are guided by a merchant and former mayor who knows every corner of town. Through a brass spyglass, Maryville's old buildings come back into view as they once were. Each era leaves a puzzle to solve and a gift to collect: twelve in all, across two centuries of Christmases.
What makes it different
It follows the town's founding map. Maryville was laid out in 1795 as 120 lots, on fifty acres given by the Revolutionary War veteran John Craig, and almost every building on the route still stands on one of them. At most stops, players find a shop, tavern or restaurant that is open today and learn what stood on the same lot before it.
What players discover
3Raven
The temperance newspaper that helped persuade the town to give up its own charter in 1879, just to close the saloons
7Bella + Palace Theatre
The Palace, finished in 1886 by a German-born cabinetmaker who was also the first man in town to advertise as an undertaker
8Bank Corner
The corner of Blount County's first courthouse, where a young Sam Houston enlisted in 1813
10Federal Building
The house that sheltered a Union general's headquarters in the winter of 1863, later moved to make room for the post office
11Dandy Lions Gifts
The library a widow gave the town in memory of her husband, who died on Christmas Eve, 1929
How do we create a walking tour for our town?
We build every quest from scratch and take care of all of it: the research, the route, the clues, the story, the testing and the upkeep. If you want to be part of it, we build it together. Your team, local historians and guides join the work and pick the stories that matter most to your town. Residents discover something new about where they live, and visitors get a reason to stay the afternoon.
- 1A first call about your town and your occasion
- 2Research and a first route, with your historians and guides if you want them involved
- 3We write it and test it on the street, and you see it before launch
- 4Launch, with the material to promote it
No staff on the day. No tickets to sell. It runs every day of the year.
Made for the moments towns plan around
Questions towns ask us
Can local businesses be stops?
Yes. A business with a story makes a great stop, and players walk in the door while they solve it.
Is it only for visitors?
No. Residents are often the most surprised players, because they walk these streets every day and never knew the stories.
Does it work on weekdays?
It works any day and any hour. Players start when they like and need nobody to let them in.
Your town is the next stop
Tell us about your town and the moment you're planning for. Alex, our founder, reads every request and replies by email.
- You send this form
- Alex replies by email
- A first call about your town and your occasion