“All of Aschach becomes a game board”

A poison scandal shakes Aschach an der Donau – and a group of friends have to explore the place, collect clues and solve various puzzles in order to get to the bottom of the cause. This is the plot of one of the three “Escape Trails”which visitors can solve from April 1 using a smartphone app against the backdrop of the baroque community. “All of Aschach becomes a game board”, announces Verena Steininger, Chairwoman of the Aschach Tourist Association and owner of the Gasthof Sonne. The Aschach Tourist Association implemented the project with the support of the federal, state, EU, Eferding Regional Development Association and Donau Oberösterreich Tourismus.

And this is how it all works: Tickets for one of the three adventures can be bought on the website of the Aschach Tourist Office – one is aimed at children under the age of ten, one at families and one at adults. The prices are between 34.90 euros and 39.90 euros.

The ticket is sent to the buyer by email and scanned with an app – the download link is also available on the website. Groups of up to six people then go on a tour of discovery through the town.

In order to be able to solve the riddles, the participants must, for example, find dates on rows of houses or research one or the other detail about Aschach on the Internet. At the end there is the solution to the riddle – and a small reward that the participants can pick up in Aschacher shops. The puzzle walk with a distance of 2.5 kilometers takes around 90 minutes. In between there are historical facts about Aschach. “On the one hand, we want to give people something to take with them, and on the other hand, the whole thing should also be interesting for schools”, says Steininger. The project has several goals: “We want to bring more guests to the community off-season, so the games are playable year-round. And last but not least, the participants exercise in the fresh air for an hour and a half”says Steininger.

The tourism association had originally planned a themed trail with several stations – but the project was stopped due to resistance to interventions in the townscape. “For the Escape Trails we didn’t have to build anything, the mobile phone, a block and a pen are enough”says Steininger.

The total cost for development and marketing amounts to 90,000 euros – including three more trails, which should be available in about two and a half years. If things go well, there could be even more.