First Impressions

Dig geocaching? Ever setup an outdoor scavenger hunt? If you have, then this new gaming app for iOS and Android just might be for you. It comes from a little company based on the other side of the world from GearGuide HQ – Tallinn, Estonia. The region is a surprising hotbed of innovation thanks to some early investment by Skype and a few other high-tech companies. And, at first glance, Loquiz is a pretty sweet first release from this Eastern European developer.

Features

At its heart, Loquiz is a gaming platform designed for the creation and delivery of outdoor-oriented fun. From what I gather, it’s not aimed directly at the public. Instead, Loquiz is looking to attract businesses that actually orchestrate games and contests, and need a way to rapidly build and deploy clue- and challenge-based events in an increasingly mobile-device-driven world.

It consists of a web-based game design portal for creating any of five types of games, and iOS and Android apps that allow for game delivery. You start by signing up for a Loquiz account, no credit card required (well done, Loquiz, you’ve removed a massive barrier to early adoption by going this route). You can design your games for free and test to your heart’s content with absolutely no cost. When you move into production and start fielding events, that’s when you start paying. Loquiz charges by “team” and the prices range from a high of $63 down to $13 for high volumes.

Specs
Game Types: Basic quiz, extended quiz, rogain, strategy and scavenger
Pricing: Ranges from $63 for single team to $13/team for 200 teams
Website: www.loquiz.com

Game setup is quite simple although the instructions are a little sparse. Loquiz does have a number of helpful video tutorials and a consultation service to help you get started. You begin by entering Questions. Loquiz provides a sample library if you’re stumped. From there, you create a Game and associate questions with the game (along with any location data that’s necessary). Once that’s done, you attached the game to an Event and that automatically generates the six-digit Code that’s needed to access the game on a mobile device.

We chose rogain as our pilot game. For the uninitiated, this is not a men’s hair replacement product but rather a sport of long distance cross-country navigation. After installing the app of your choice – either iOS or Android – you enter the six-digit code and follow the instructions on screen. Head to the locations marked by pins and complete the challenge. There’s a few bits of funkiness to this part, in particular the use of only metric distances There also seems to be no way to enumerate the challenges for the user. They show up in order in the portal, but not on the target device for some reason. (Loquiz, please add these features).

Fit

We liked the platform and the idea behind it. The interface for developing the questions, games and events is straightforward and simple to use. There’s a multi-user capability for event collaborators, places for adding your own logo, and more. Overall, very nicely done for a first release.

There are a few things I’d suggest for the next iterations of the product however. Putting myself in the shoes of a company fielding these challenges, I’d want a little more of a “white label” experience for my clients. In other words, more branding within the application. One group that does this well is TeamApp. I’d also like to see additional gamification using notifications. In the team-based challenges, it would be great to notify other teams when their competitors complete certain tasks, and provide a way for instructors to nudge teams along through the application. You get the idea.

Final Verdict

Suurepärane! Excellent, my Estonian friends. We like your first release of Loquiz. It’s a very flexible and powerful platform for creating and delivering outdoor games. Keep up the good work. Find it at www.loquiz.com.

Thanks for reading another outdoor gear review from GearGuide.