Families
Hidden Springs with kids: a mystery they can walk
I wanted a game a seven-year-old would drag their grandparents down Central Avenue for. So the rule from day one was simple: every door has to be fun to open, even for someone who can't read the whole story yet.
Short legs, short walk
When you start a chapter, the game asks one question: how much time do you have? About 30 minutes is a short walk of 4 shops. About an hour is all 8 and the whole story. You can switch later, and your stamps stay put.
Things to do with their hands
Every door has a quick mini-game before its lock: line things up, find what's out of place, tilt the phone to look around a room. Every door also has its own 3D room behind it, and kids can pick things up and turn them over. Then a stamp slams onto the Tunnel Map, and that stamp is the best sound in the game.
Nothing scary, nothing grown-up
- The story is a 1936 newspaper mystery. Nobody gets hurt, and the only spook is a con man called the Lark in a bedsheet.
- The story never shows drinking.
- Every phone is asked its age once. Players under 21 never see a 21+ business. Restaurants that serve meals are family doors.
- No luck, ever. No spins, no mystery boxes, no "first ten kids win". Everyone who opens a door gets the same reward, so nobody walks away crying because a sibling got the good one.
Brass Tokens and a detective's office
Opening doors, solving a lock cleanly and finishing a chapter all pay Brass Tokens, a fixed amount, the same for everyone. Kids spend them furnishing their own 1930s detective office, one piece at a time. Tokens can't be bought and they never trade for a shop's reward. They're just for fun.
One phone is enough
A family can play on one phone and take turns tapping. It's free to play, there's nothing to download, and progress stays on that phone.
Where the story goes
The chapters walk past places kids already love downtown, like sweet shops, an ice cream counter, a magic shop and a miniature town. A shop's door only gives out a reward once that shop has joined. Until then the door says "reward coming soon", so nobody walks in expecting something that isn't there.