Treasure Hunt Mikulov

Two kinds of groups. International corporations with participants from Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Austria, who meet in Mikulov the way they meet in Bratislava. And Czech companies, especially in the fall, when the wine harvest festival fills the town. Vienna is close, but Austrian firms on their own are rarer than mixed regional teams.

Not as standard. The game runs in English and Czech, and in practically every corporation we work with, English is the company language anyway. We are open to a German version of Mikulov for a reliable partner in Austria or Germany, an event agency or a travel agency that brings German-speaking groups regularly. Without a strong German speaker on our team the game is harder to maintain, so we only build it for close, ongoing cooperation.

Yes, and it is the classic ending here: the tasting as the prize for the winning team, or for everyone. The tasting itself is usually arranged by the hotel where the group stays; we time the finish of the game so that it leads straight into the cellar.

Density. The castle, the Jewish Quarter, the square, and the Holy Hill are all within a few minutes of each other, so the 44 treasures are packed into the town more tightly than anywhere else we play, and a team sees the best of Mikulov in record time. The course is concentrated and mostly easy, much like Treasure Hunt Bratislava; the one climb is the Way of the Cross up the Holy Hill, which rewards the ambitious teams with the view and the selfie spot. Afterwards the program extends naturally: the Pálava hills, or the regional wineries and cellars just outside Mikulov.

We work most with three. Hotel Galant Mikulov and Hotel Volařík Mikulov are the big ones: large, upscale hotels with plenty of rooms, extensive conference space, their own wine cellars, and ample parking, and both stand right in the historic center, so the game starts and ends at the hotel door. For a quieter, more romantic setting groups like Hotel Ryzlink Mikulov, 5 to 10 minutes on foot from the center and the only hotel in town with its own outdoor grounds, with a view of the Holy Hill from the hotel itself. From hotels along the road to Vienna allow 15 to 20 minutes to reach the playing area.

In Mikulov, yes. From the Galant or the Volařík the treasures are in the immediate surroundings of the hotel, so we can hand out the tablets at the end of a session, send the teams out for an hour, and have them back for the next item on the agenda. It is one of the few cities where a Treasure Hunt works as a break rather than as the afternoon program.

At Hotel Ryzlink, yes. Its grounds let us extend the game with simple outdoor activities such as mechanical puzzles, archery, or construction tasks, and the group gets the feeling of being out in nature while staying almost in the center of Mikulov.

The fall is the busiest season because of the wine harvest, and the game runs year round. In December a handful of treasures on the main square may hide behind Christmas market stalls; we keep them in the game so that all teams play under the same conditions.

We play in the rain: ponchos for everyone, an umbrella per team, IP68 tablets with full service, and an indoor Story Game only when the outdoors stops making sense. Short notice is fine; Mikulov is close to our base in Brno, and a self-service game on your phones is always available at the last minute.

Besides the wine: a password-protected results page, online for six months, with the ranking, every team’s answers, hints used, kilometers walked, the routes on the map, and all the team photos to download.