Riyadh Season Treasure
- Brand
- Riyadh Season
- Year
- 2023
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Puzzle
- Platform
- App
- Agency
- UNIT9
Objective
GEA built the hunt to promote the fourth Riyadh Season and turn its scattered lineup of concerts, exhibitions, sports and food into something fans had to actively track to win. Entry was open worldwide, so the game doubled as a pull for international winter tourism to Riyadh, with the goal that every player would end up knowing the season's program inside out by the live final.
Solution
Players download the free app and land on a virtual map of Riyadh Season. Each week unlocks a new round of challenges: logic puzzles, codes hidden in photos and videos, detective-style riddles, AR tasks, and QR codes to scan. Many of the clues live outside the app, planted at real festival venues and on the official social accounts, so cracking a round means actually following what Riyadh Season is doing that week. Finishing a round earns one of eight "aspect" keys and points toward weekly cash prizes and a finalist spot; after eight rounds, the ten fastest players fly to Riyadh to compete live for the grand prize.
Results
The app passed 100,000 downloads over its roughly two-month run.
- 1
The player downloads a free app, playable from any country, and enters a seven-week competition for a $1.6 million prize pool; eight rounds take place entirely inside the app.
- 2
Progress unfolds on an interactive virtual map of the festival organized into nine themed zones rather than a single linear path, and players move between zones to find tasks.
- 3
New rounds release on a weekly schedule, so players must keep returning to the app rather than finishing the whole competition in one sitting.
- 4
Within each round, players search the map for clues and solve a mix of puzzle types: logic riddles, code-breaking challenges, media-decryption puzzles, and detective-style tasks.
- 5
Some tasks push into augmented reality, requiring players to raise the phone's camera and complete a spatial AR challenge rather than tap through a menu.
- 6
Other clues are locked inside QR codes that players scan with the in-app camera to unlock a hidden piece of a puzzle.
- 7
To find missing answers, players must step outside the app into the real world, checking the festival's program and venues and following organizers' social media for hints.
- 8
Completing a round earns one of eight themed keys that track overall progress, and the fastest player in each round also wins a separate weekly cash prize.
- 9
Collecting all eight keys unlocks a Digital Final that narrows the field to the fastest players; the top ten worldwide then travel to an in-person final at real festival venues in Riyadh.
- 10
The in-person final crowns one overall winner, who takes the grand prize.
