What do you buy for someone who has everything? Where do you take someone on a first date when dinner and drinks feels a little predictable? And what do you do when you fancy a day out that involves a little more than simply wandering around the usual tourist attractions?
The answer, rather intriguingly, might be a mystery.
Mystery Guides turns some of the UK’s best-known cities into real-life treasure hunts, combining puzzles, local history, landmarks and an actual hidden prize. For £19.99, each guide sends you on an approximately two-mile adventure, deciphering clues, investigating your surroundings and working together to crack the case.
And unlike your average walking tour, there is something waiting at the end of it.
Real treasure.
The concept sits somewhere between a treasure hunt and an outdoor escape room, with the city itself providing the playing field. Rather than simply following a prescribed route, players are encouraged to look a little closer at buildings, monuments, plaques and historical details that are usually passed without a second glance.
It also makes a rather good date.
Forget Dinner and Drinks
First dates can be surprisingly formulaic. A drink. Dinner. Another drink. Perhaps a walk if things are going particularly well.
Mystery Guides gives couples something to actually do together. There are clues to debate, puzzles to solve and, inevitably, the moment when one person becomes convinced they’ve cracked the entire mystery while the other quietly carries on looking for the answer.
The approximately two-mile routes can easily be combined with coffee, lunch, drinks or dinner, turning the mystery into part of a bigger day out. There is also no fixed start time or booking requirement, so the experience can fit around the rest of your plans.
It is dating, but with considerably more plot.
The £20 Gift for Someone Who Has Everything
The same thinking makes Mystery Guides an appealing alternative when it comes to gifting.
At £19.99, you’re not buying another object destined to occupy a drawer or sit on a shelf. You’re buying something to do. Each guide comes with a gift sleeve, while a physical gift card is also available for those who would rather let the recipient choose their own city.
They’re suitable for birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries or simply those occasions when you want to give someone something that doesn’t begin with the words “I wasn’t sure what to get you…”
And with almost one million guides sold, it’s clearly an idea that has found an audience. Mystery Guides was also recently named a Gift of the Year winner by the Home and Giftware Association.
There Really Is Treasure
The treasure isn’t just part of the story. It’s actually hidden somewhere along the route.
Players follow the trail, decipher the clues and use the information they uncover to work out where they need to go. The challenge is to solve the mystery and locate the prize.
The stories themselves are fictional, but they’re rooted in real history, genuine locations and historical details, giving the adventures an educational element without ever feeling like a history lesson.
In York, The Mystery of the Gunpowder Snitch takes players around locations including the Shambles, York Minster and the City Walls. London’s adventures include The Mystery of the Great Coin Robbery and The Mystery of the Holy Grail, while Southampton offers The Mystery of Titanic’s Missing Millions. Nottingham, meanwhile, gets The Mystery of Robin Hood’s Secret Stash.
It’s a clever way of rediscovering places you might think you already know.
A Different Way to See the City
Mystery Guides was founded by Jack Wells in 2019, developing the original concept from his spare room. With a background in history, Wells combined research, route planning, puzzle writing and storytelling to create an experience that uses real-world locations as part of the game.
What started as a single adventure has grown into a collection covering cities across the UK, including Bath, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Cardiff, Chester, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton, Stratford-upon-Avon, Winchester, Windsor and York.
With three London adventures alone, there’s plenty of scope for repeat offenders.
Perhaps the appeal is that Mystery Guides makes you look up.
In an age of screen-led entertainment, algorithmically selected restaurants and increasingly familiar date-night formulas, there is something rather refreshing about being handed a set of clues and being told to go outside and figure something out.
You get a walk. You get a story. You get to discover a little more about the city around you.
And, if you’ve done it properly, you get the treasure too.
Mystery Guides cost £19.99, with each adventure containing 40 full-colour pages and a gift sleeve as standard. Physical gift cards are also available, allowing recipients to choose their preferred location.
