New incentive for puzzlers to pound Rotherham streets

WanderList has been created by creative hub Kaumaka Ltd, a South Yorkshire-based company which has spent 20 years working in the education sector, and aims to use technology to help bring more educational applications to youngsters.

Co-creator Robbie Mappin, who was born and bred in Rotherham, said: “WanderList challenges people to get out there and solve the puzzles to bag themselves the numerous WanderLists that are dotted in and around various towns and cities in South Yorkshire.

“Whether they want to be a sole wanderer or play with and challenge their friends and family, WanderList is a people game, designed to gently work our brain muscles and our physical muscles in a fun way.”

All of the puzzle answers are located within the town centre and the puzzles are nearly all simple images, such as Rotherham Minster, or a picture of a prominent street sign.  

“The ones designed for beginners ensure it’s more about the journey than the head-scratching,” said Mr Mappin.

A smartphone with an internet connection is required to play the game, which tracks the phone’s location to identify where players are and see if they can find different icons of the area.

“The beauty of people using their phone is that they have an amazing resource at their fingertips to assist them in solving a puzzle,” said Mr Mappin.

“Due to the active nature of the game, it’s more important to us that they get out and about in Rotherham than anything else.  

“We wanted them to spend most of their time moving around, rather than hours trying to figure out a puzzle.

“We also wanted the game to try and encourage the player to speak to local people for assistance.  

“That’s why we’ve tended to use local heroes in some of the puzzles so that the locals would probably identify them straight away, but a visiting player might not.”

The game has multiple levels to adjust to the age and ability of the player, ranging from Walker (easy) to Wanderer (hard), and there are more plans to come, too.

“We’ll also be doing charity-driven special games, where we’ll ask competitors to donate to a particular charity before we give them the access code to join the challenge,” Mr Mappin added. “Hopefully, this will create a few pennies for good causes as well.”

To access WanderList and begin puzzling, visit: www.wanderlist.co.uk.