Challenge Activation: GPS, QR & Beacons
The five activation modes that gate when a team may start a challenge — GPS proximity, QR scan, iBeacon, manual start, and the default — plus the facilitator fallback.
Activation controls when a team may start a challenge once it's unlocked. It's a gate in front of the clue and submission form — a team standing anywhere can see a locked "activate" prompt, but only satisfying the gate reveals the challenge.
Activation is not completion
Activating a challenge only unlocks it for that team — the players still submit their answer afterward. Until a team has activated a gated challenge, the server refuses their submissions.
The five modes
The Activation select lives in the challenge editor's Gameplay section (event context — see Event Challenges & Groups). The options, exactly as shown:
- "Available (default — playable as soon as the group unlocks)"
- "Manual — team taps 'Start' before the clue is revealed"
- "GPS proximity — team must be within the radius"
- "QR scan — team scans the printed QR to start"
- "iBeacon — team's mobile detects the configured beacon"
GPS proximity
Choosing GPS proximity reveals an Activation radius (meters) field (1–10,000; the mobile prompt treats 50 m as the default when unset). The player sees live distance feedback — "You're about {m} m away — get within {radius} m to activate." — and a Start challenge button once in range.
The distance check is server-verified: the app sends its coordinates and the server re-computes the distance, rejecting out-of-range attempts (OUT_OF_RANGE) even if a client misbehaves. The app only uses foreground location — there is no background tracking.
QR scan
For QR activation, an Activation QR block appears in the editor after the challenge is saved ("Save the challenge to generate the activation QR"). The workflow:
Save the challenge
The QR is generated from a per-challenge identifier, so it exists only after the first save.
Print and place
Download/print the QR and post it at the physical location where the challenge should start.
Players scan to start
On mobile, the challenge shows "Scan to start"; scanning the printed code activates the challenge. Scanning some other challenge's QR fails with a wrong-code error (WRONG_QR) — the server matches the scanned identifier against this challenge only.
Note this is distinct from the Access Code QR (which fills in a code lock) — a challenge can have both.
iBeacon
For Bluetooth-beacon activation, the editor asks for the beacon's identity: UUID, Major (0–65535), and Minor (0–65535). There is no standalone beacons admin page — beacon configuration lives entirely on the challenge, and it round-trips through event export/import.
How it behaves:
- The mobile app ranges for beacons in roughly 3-second scan cycles while the activation prompt is open, and reports the triple it actually detected.
- The server is the source of truth: the UUID matches case-insensitively, while Major and Minor must match exactly. A mismatched beacon is rejected (
WRONG_BEACON). - Partial configuration is treated as an error, not a relaxed gate — a challenge with only some of the three values refuses activation rather than letting teams through.
- Players whose device can't scan (web, denied Bluetooth permission) see that the scanner is unavailable, with a note that a facilitator can activate them.
Dead beacon? Force activate.
Beacons run on batteries and hardware fails. The fallback is the facilitator's Force activate button on the team's Challenges tab (in the team detail page) — it bypasses any activation gate (dead beacon, damaged QR, GPS trouble) for that one team and challenge. It's idempotent: pressing it twice does nothing extra. The toast confirms "Challenge activated for this team".
Manual ("Do anywhere")
Manual mode has no location requirement — the team simply taps Start before the clue is revealed. Use it when you want a deliberate "we're starting this now" moment (for timed challenges, for example) without tying it to a place.
Tap a map pin to activate
By default, teams open a challenge from the list and go through its activation flow. The event-level Tap Map Pin to Activate switch (on the event's Branding tab) changes this: "Lets teams activate a challenge by tapping its pin on the map. Off by default; teams open the challenge from the list and use its activation flow instead."
Artifacts, Collectibles & Alliances
Power-up artifacts and their effects, facilitator-applied effects, collectibles that reward and gate challenges, and alliances for aggregate team scoring.
Running an Event Live
The Live command center, reviewing photo and video submissions, facilitator completions and force-activation, the help channel, venue displays, and what happens after the event ends.