Building custom games

Local discovery games for chambers of commerce

Connect local businesses, farmers markets, events, and favorite local spots in one game. It gives residents and visitors a fun reason to see more of your community.

Find the Idol team · 6 min read

Vector-style illustration of adults exploring local shops, a farmers market, and a community square along an owl idol route.

Your members are the stops

A chamber already knows the shop owners, growers, makers, restaurants, and event organizers who make a town worth visiting. A Find the Idol game puts those places on one map so people can go out and visit them.

Players collect idols at each stop. At public places they check in with their phone, and at participating businesses they find and scan a physical idol inside, which brings people right through the door. A game could start at the Saturday farmers market and lead to the shops nearby, celebrate a town anniversary, or send festival crowds to businesses beyond the busiest corner.

Playing is free and runs in the phone's browser with no app to download.

Six ideas to get your members thinking

These are starting points to adapt with participating businesses and organizers. Choose a theme and area that make a worthwhile outing for the people you want to welcome.

Meet Your Main Street

Create a Collection Game connecting a mix of independent shops, cafes, galleries, and welcoming member businesses. Include a few places just beyond the busiest block. Each idol gives someone a reason to walk through a door they may have passed many times.

From Market to Main Street

Begin near a farmers market welcome booth, include confirmed vendors, and connect the market with nearby businesses open during the same hours. Players can meet a grower, discover a maker, and continue into the surrounding district. Give guests room to browse without blocking stall queues.

A Festival with More to Find

Build a game around a street fair, seasonal celebration, or community arts event. Connect approved activity areas with participating shops nearby, giving attendees something to explore between performances and a reason to venture beyond the main stage.

The Stories Behind the Storefronts

A Discovery Trail could pair local history, public art, and landmarks with today's businesses. A short story at each stop helps people see the district as a connected place, with shops and gathering spaces that are worth revisiting.

The Neighborhood Mystery

Use a Mystery Hunt to draw attention to architectural details, murals, or other observable features near participating locations. Keep cases independent and provide the information newcomers need. Solving a clue becomes a reason to visit a corner of town they might otherwise miss.

A Season of Local Finds

A longer-running Collection Game can give people several outings to enjoy during a shop-local campaign or seasonal program. Group stops into manageable neighborhoods so residents can explore a few at a time while the game and locations remain open.

Match the format to the outing

Use a Collection Game when people should be able to choose independent stops around their own plans. It is a natural fit for shopping districts, markets, and visits spread over several days.

Choose a Discovery Trail when a suggested start, sequence, and finish make the experience easier to enjoy. A compact loop through a district can help visitors feel oriented while leaving time to browse. The order is guidance, so people can pause or explore a shorter section.

A Mystery Hunt adds observation and clues for people who enjoy solving something together. Keep the puzzles tied to real features and make the search area clear. The aim is to encourage curiosity and visits, not require insider knowledge of the town.

Use physical and digital idols to connect the places

Physical idols invite people into a business

A participating shop or approved market stall can display a wooden idol. Players find it and scan its QR code to collect it digitally, leaving the wooden idol for the next person. That creates a natural introduction to the products, people, and atmosphere of the stop. No purchase is needed to collect.

Digital idols connect outdoor discoveries

A digital idol uses a location check-in at its mapped position. It can suit an approved plaza, public artwork, or an outdoor landmark between business stops. There is no wooden object to install, and collection does not require entering a nearby business.

A mixed route can tell a fuller story

Combine a welcoming business, a public-space discovery, and another participating shop so the outing has variety. Keep the route compact enough that the next stop feels like a natural continuation rather than a long detour.

Plan around the way markets and events actually run

A market stop only works when the market is there. Confirm the dates, operating hours, vendor attendance, and exact collection positions with the organizer. Tell players which stops are available only during the event, and check that nearby businesses share a useful visiting window.

For recurring markets, confirm whether vendors keep the same pitch and who will place, store, and check physical idols. Agree on a communication plan for a canceled market, a missing vendor, or a closed stop. Digital check-in positions should not send people to an empty event site or a location that has moved.

Keep collection points out of queues and entrances, and check accessible paths, crossings, seating, and clear directions. Adults operate game accounts when exploring with children. Plan a relaxed visit that leaves space for conversations, browsing, and the event itself.

Give members something useful to promote together

A shared game gives each participating business a reason to introduce its customers to more of the district. Your chamber can share the game through its own channels, and members can invite their customers to explore the other stops. A clear starting point and a short description of the outing make that invitation easy to understand.

If a participating business wants an optional offer, plan and confirm it separately with clear claim details and a business responsible for fulfilling it. Discuss any sponsor support as part of the custom-game scope. Keep collection welcoming for people who are there to explore, whether or not they buy that day.

Start with a clear goal and a manageable area

Choose what you want to highlight
Pick a goal such as introducing member businesses, connecting a market to downtown, or spreading discovery across an event. Choose a district or compact group of stops that supports it.
Bring willing partners together
Invite a varied group of businesses and confirm organizer permission for event and public-space stops. Check the route, access, hours, and each host's contact person before promising a location to players.
Shape the game with Find the Idol
Your chamber brings local knowledge, introductions, and the places it wants to highlight. Find the Idol helps plan the route and collection format, configure the game, coordinate the rollout, and support the experience while it runs. The timeframe can follow a specific event or a longer discovery program.
Learn from the visits
Ask participating businesses what guests discovered, whether they were new visitors, and where the route could improve. Review available collection information alongside that feedback. Collections are not the same as purchases, so judge sales or economic impact only from evidence you actually have.

What would you like your community to discover?

Bring us a district, an event, or a few member businesses you’d like to highlight. We’ll help your chamber shape a custom game around them.

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