Go Quest Adventures – Birmingham

The self-guided city trail company, Go Quest Adventures, has recently added a new location – Birmingham, to their ever-growing list! In total, they have 26 popular secret city trails across the UK for you to choose from, and to name a few, they have Bath, Belfast, Brighton, Edinburgh, Leeds, Oxford etc.

If you are new to this Go Quest Adventures, just like myself, the aim of the quest is to explore the hidden heritage and interesting facts in detail, solve puzzles, decode riddles, hunt for clues, and of course, enjoy yourself! While you correctly complete tasks and answer questions, you will score points, and at the end of the Quest, your score and timing will be revealed on the leaderboard.

Before starting the Quest, make sure you have your devices fully charged and preferably bring a power bank. Wear comfortable shoes, appropriate outdoor clothing for the ever-changing British weather, paper & pen, drinks and food. To save battery life, close down all other background apps as the questing does zap a lot of your battery life. They estimate it will take groups of all sizes roughly two to three hours to complete.

After purchasing the quest through their website, you and your teammates (up to five players) will need to download the free Go Quest Adventure app to your mobile device and create your profile to access your Quest. Now among the players, you need to choose one responsible player to be the Quest Leader. Please do remember that only the Quest Leader should input the redemption code to access the Quest at the beginning of the game.

The Quest Leader will be given another code once inside the Quest to invite up to four team members to play along. The other additional team members should click on ADD QUEST on their own device and then enter the code that will be displayed on the Quest Leader’s mobile device once inside the game. This will link the quest to the players and it allows team members to Read Only access to the Quest on their own mobile device. This is so useful feature when it comes to re-reading some riddles, or where players wander off or when someone runs out of batteries!

They also suggest downloading the free what3words app to make it easier to find Quest locations when using map hints. It is also required for one question on the Birmingham Quest.

Once we had downloaded the apps, set up our profiles and added the Quest, we were prompted to name our group and to take a group picture, which would then appear on the leaderboard at the end of our quest.

We always thought that we knew Birmingham like the back of our hands and that we wouldn’t have any problems finding the locations. We were so wrong. We have walked past all these places in Birmingham, but we have never really looked closely or paid any attention to all the details. The start of the quest begins in St Martins Square, which we thought was where the water fountain is. This was not even the first quest question but we had already made a mistake! Once we realised we were in Victoria Square, we spent 10 minutes walking to the actual starting point.

When we reached St Martins Square, I, as the Quest Leader, pressed ‘start’ and the timer began. Once it starts, you have one opportunity to pause the game by tapping the ▷ symbol at the top of the screen and following the prompts. You can then tap the same location once you are ready to resume your Quest. I am not finding excuses for the time to complete the Quest (it took over four hours but we had a lunch break), but they were having problems on the day we played and I was asked not to pause the game, just in case. The app crashed a few times while we were playing for me and my teammates. Luckily, it did not reset the Quest nor lose information etc.

For our first question (19 questions in total and with a few bonus questions), we were stuck for a while and after three tries, the scores went to minus as we started from zero. For the points system, if you answer incorrectly or use a hint, 5 points are deducted. For each correct answer, you will score 30 points. Each challenge is 10 points and the bonus question is 15 points. You can skip a question or challenge at any time but no points will be awarded. It is important to check your spelling before submitting your answers, as autocorrect might change your words.

For each question, besides looking out for the landmarks, we had to solve a series of anagrams, arithmetic, true or false, riddles and photo challenges. We were always on the move to the different locations and in some popular locations, due to the crowd, we had to be quite patient while waiting for people to move away from our clues! Also, we had to look out for the road traffic and construction works! The trail follows along the picturesque canals, to learn all about Birmingham’s famous exports and even tells a ghost story or two. I am not going to reveal the secrets/clues, but check out the photos below.

Once you complete your Quest, which was at the Birmingham Cathedral for us, you will find out your final score on the leaderboard. You will also receive an email containing a link to all your photo challenges to download.

We love all the clever challenges that require you to rack your brain. It is like playing in an escape room in a big open city! Also, it prompts you to look around closely at all the landmarks and enjoy the scenery. We have learnt a lot about Brum’s history and I wish I had noted down all the details. I was in such a hurry to complete the Quest to be back home for the school run, I was perhaps a bit too focused on the tasks and forgot to enjoy the scenery and the weather. The timing does not affect your leaderboard position, as it is only used when there is a tie in points with the faster team getting a higher score on the leaderboard. Once the Quest was completed, we were no longer able to access it again.

I would highly recommend Go Quest Adventures to anyone. It is suitable for everyone, even for wheelchair users (they will provide an alternative route) and dogs. I would also suggest to taking a lot of photos of the landmarks and making a note so that you can refer back to the details once you complete the game. Give it a try yourself and let me know how you did!

If you are looking to book your Birmingham Quest during the month of September, you can enjoy a 30% discount by using code BIRMINGHAM30 upon checkout on the website. If you would like to book other quests, you can enjoy 10% off by using this code THANKS10 or get a 20% discount if you sign onto their newsletters.

For more information on Go Quest Adventures, or to book your Quest today, visit https://goquestadventures.com/ and for updates follow @goquestadventures on Instagram or Facebook.

For bookings of more than three groups, (more than 15 people per group), get in touch with hello@goquestadventures.com for special group discount rates. They also offer individually tailored custom Quests for corporate team building, schools, universities and special events such as hen and stag dos.

Disclosure: We were provided a free quest to write about our experience, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own.