Observation
Players notice a specific detail in plain sight and answer a question about it. A text-style type that shines with Multiple Choice.
Observation challenges reward attention: the answer is in plain sight, but only for teams who really look — the color of a door, the name on a cornerstone, what a statue is holding. Mechanically it is a text-style type — it shares the exact answer flow described on the Riddle page; only the "Observation Challenge" label and map icon differ.
What players experience
The shared challenge screen: dark header with the name and "Observation Challenge", the Clue as rich text, difficulty badge, {points} pts chip, optional audio, and the speed-bonus line when configured. Input follows the Answer Type: a multiline "Your Answer" box (Text), single-line "Fill in the blank", True / False buttons, or a tappable "Select your answer" list for Multiple Choice.
Hints (Need a hint? (-{cost} pts) / "Free hint available!"), access-code and activation gates, the confetti "Challenge Complete!" modal, the "Not Quite!" retry modal, and unlimited retries all behave exactly as on every text-style type.
Scoring & answers
- Valid answer types: Text, True / False, Multiple Choice, Fill in the Blank. Observation questions fit choice-based answers especially well.
- Text answers compare case-insensitively against Answer plus comma-separated Alternate Answers; matching is exact text.
- True / False and Multiple Choice are judged against the configured correct choice — no free-text ambiguity.
- Hint Cost deducts from the award when the hint was used (never below 0); Speed Bonus tiers reward the first non-staff finishers; Max Completing Teams caps completions.
- Retries: unlimited until correct — which is why plain True / False observations are easy to brute-force (see Tips).
Configuring in the admin
| Section | Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Challenge Details | Name, Type (Observation), Difficulty, Points, Answer Type | Points default 100 |
| Content | Clue | Point the eye ("Look above the east archway…") without naming the answer |
| Content | Answer / Alternate Answers, or Correct Answer (True / False buttons), or Answer Choices (radio-select, + Add choice, "Add at least 2 choices. Select the correct one.") | Depends on the chosen Answer Type |
| Content | Hint, Hint Cost | "Points deducted when a participant uses the hint (0 for free hints)" |
| Location | Zone, Latitude / Longitude, map picker | Stand where you expect players to stand when you drop the pin |
| Media | Challenge Image, Challenge Video | Avoid images that show the observed detail |
| Access Code | Code, Prompt message, Access Code QR | Optional |
| Gameplay (event only) | Activation, Max Completing Teams, Speed Bonus | GPS proximity keeps the observation on-site; see Activation & Beacons |
Tips
- Multiple Choice beats True / False here. Retries are unlimited, so a True / False observation is a coin-flip a team can simply guess twice; four-plus plausible choices make actually looking the fastest path.
- Write distractor choices from the same scene — other colors on the same building, other names on the same plaque — so eliminating them still requires observation.
- Use GPS proximity activation when the detail is findable on Street View; hiding the question until teams are within the radius keeps the challenge in the real world.