A crime tour of Krakow: fact and fiction in the game

If you’re looking for a crime city game in Krakow where your team runs an investigation on real streets, The Last Crime comes closest to that idea. It’s a story-driven chase after an escaped criminal, played with a tablet on a route between the Vistula Embankments and Błonia. A small team books it with Gamescape, while a bigger group, for example on a hen or stag do, can choose a version for several teams with a shared finale.

Below you’ll find the game’s key details, the differences between the versions and the answer to a question that often comes up on this kind of outing: what in this story is fact, and what is fiction?

The Last Crime at a glance

• Story: Adam S., a copycat of a murderer known in the scenario as the Hangman, escapes from prison. Players form a task force that has to track him down.
• Route: about 3.5 km on foot around Salwator, between the Vistula Embankments, Błonia and the Rudawa valley. It’s a walk beyond the Old Town itself.
• Time: 140 minutes, starting and finishing at Gamescape, ul. Kościuszki 74.
• Team: the game card at Gamescape says 1 to 4 players. The operator rates the difficulty at 5/10.
• Kit: an iPad with a GPS map and a digital hint system, plus a detective kit. Augmented reality elements combine the view of your surroundings with digital clues.
• Language: the whole scenario is also available in English.
• Age: the game card doesn’t give a minimum age. If there are teenagers in your group, ask the operator before you book.

A small team or the whole group?

For two, three or four people, a standard booking on the Gamescape game card is all you need. You play at your own pace, and your only rival is the clock.

For a bigger group, the version described on the EscapeCity website works better. Standard packages cover up to 10 people, and the flexible option 11 to 500. The group meets for a briefing and splits into teams of 5 or 6, and each team gets an iPad and a physical suitcase of case files and evidence. At the finish, all the teams come together for a shared finale with results and badges. The city game operator also says light rain doesn’t stop the game, and in extreme weather it offers another date or an indoor game.

For a hen or stag do, Gamescape has a separate offer for these groups. One of the packages includes a city game of your choice, The Last Crime among them. The offer covers groups of 6 to 52 people, split into teams when there are more participants.

When planning the evening, add to the 140 minutes of play the time to collect and return the kit and to get to your next stop. Starting and finishing in the same place makes it easier to meet up with people who join later.

What’s fact and what’s fiction?

Adam S. and the Hangman are characters in the scenario. When the mission description talks about secret files, access to investigative databases or a murderer on the run, that’s part of the game’s setup, not news of a real manhunt on the streets of Krakow.

The game does have a second layer, though. EscapeCity says that while solving the case of Adam S., players learn about real crime stories from Krakow’s history, including the case of Karol Kot from the 1960s and the investigation known as “Skin”. These events involved real victims, their families and the work of investigators. A scene from the scenario doesn’t become historical fact just because it plays out on a real street, and a real case doesn’t become entertainment just because it appears in a game.

If one of these stories catches your interest, look afterwards for reliable studies or reportage that separate the findings of courts and investigators from sensational interpretations.

Is it a good choice for your group?

A serial killer theme isn’t a neutral adventure for everyone. Before you book the game for a hen or stag do or a night out with friends, ask everyone whether the theme works for them. It only takes one person who finds true crime stories hard going for the evening to stop being fun for everyone.

If anyone in the group has doubts, choose a story without a crime theme. Blackout: City in the Dark is a spy city game played on a tablet around Mały Rynek and Kazimierz, rated 8/10 by the operator, so it takes similar deduction. For something calmer, try Krakow Legends in an app on your own phone, with no time limit and no fixed start time.

How to run an investigation as a team

The fun of a crime game comes from piecing information together. One person notices a detail in a description, another remembers an earlier clue, and a third checks whether the resulting version of events holds up without contradictions.

A simple split of your notes into observations and hypotheses helps. “The message mentions two places” is an observation. “The culprit was at both” needs more evidence. This distinction keeps the fictional investigation organised and stops the team getting attached to its first idea.

Take turns holding the tablet, too. One person reads the material, another looks around, and a third sums up what you’ve established. When all the attention is on one person’s screen, the rest of the team easily loses the thread. At crossings and in crowds, ordinary awareness of the city comes first.

Don’t read walkthroughs with the solutions beforehand. A description of the story and its theme is enough to choose the game, and working out the answers yourselves is the most satisfying part.