Shops in Poblenou create a shopping and cultural experience with the “Mystery Game”

Illustrious figures, from Lope de Vega to Julio González, hold the keys to solving an enigma in the heart of Poblenou. And the shopkeepers will be offering clues from their shops. The well-known detectives Hercules Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, and cinema’s archaeologist and treasure-seeker Indiana Jones, mark the three routes -black, green and red trails- on which participants must follow the clues relating to the neighbourhood's street names.

This is the starting point of “The Mystery Game” in which establishments from Poblenou’s shopping district are participating, with 130 members. The initiative forms part of the activities promoted by the Barcelona Trade Foundation for the Year of Commerce and Culture, and will be giving away a total of €500 in prizes to participants.

Gamification: The Game Experience

Through gamification - the use of a game experience to develop an activity - shopkeepers are raising awareness of their establishments, products and services. “People move around the neighbourhood, identify shops and what they sell, get in contact with shopkeepers and form new relationships” says chair of the shopping district, Miquel López.

The activity has been under way since September and runs until 2 November, the date for collecting in all the slips of paper on which participants write down what they discover and which must be deposited in the boxes installed in different shops or in the Can Felipa civic centre, once the chosen route has been completed. The game offers 50 prizes, from batches of products to tickets for shows, to a place on a cooking course, a massage treatment, a lunch or €300 in vouchers for shopping at stores in the district.

Humour also plays a part, as the participants' responses are rewarded, from the most original to the fastest, the slowest or the most confusing, that is, to the one who has answered all the questions badly. For the most intrepid, there is a final challenge, the answer to which can only be discovered by attending a theatre performance (microtheatre) taking place in the street. The next performances will take place on 2 November itself, on Carrer Marià Aguiló, Carrer Bernat Calbó and on La Rambla at the junction with Pujades.

Discovering the neighbourhood shops

Jordi Vendrell is the owner of an optometrist’s on Carrer Llull, and is taking part in the game on the "green" trail. The clues he has relate to the poet and playwright Lope de Vega, who gives his name to one of the streets in Poblenou. Fridays and Saturdays are the days with the highest number of participants in the game. It is mainly children, accompanied by their parents, who come to his store trying to complete one of the three routes.

For Jordi, the most important thing “is that the public find out about us and know that we organise activities they can take part in, that we are active”, he says. A way of creating a pleasant customer experience in shops. For Jordi, it is both rewarding and fun. And when he is not an optometrist, as an active member of the neighbourhood, he is involved with two theatre groups in Poblenou: at the Aliança and the Centre Moral. He has already been in Agatha Christie’s famous play “The Mousetrap”.

Luz, who has a bag shop on Carrer Pujades, agrees with Jordi that the game is an opportunity for the public to appreciate the service offered by retailers in their establishments. Luz has managed to make new customers aware of her shop, especially families with small children who go there looking for the next clue.

The shopkeepers also sign-post the routes with pictures of a compass rose indicating the direction to follow. Extra help to avoid confusion. On Carrer Maria Aguiló, Isidre, who has a natural cosmetics shop, provides information about another of the illustrious characters, the sculptor Julio González. It is part of the green trail, the Indiana Jones route. Isidre plays a more prominent role in the Mystery Game, because she has promised to create the perfume for the award ceremony at the Can Felipa civic centre on November 9. Another mystery altogether.