Solve puzzles from the world of pollinators in our new escape game

The browser-based game takes players to a fictitious city that wants to win the title of "BiodiverCity - the city with the highest biodiversity in Germany". To achieve this, they have to solve puzzles and tasks relating to pollination under time pressure. But only those who have significantly changed the cityscape and created a paradise for pollinators such as hoverflies, bees and butterflies will win first place.

"Project Pollination: A Buzzing Rescue" was developed by a team from the visitor and education research and exhibition departments at Museum Koenig Bonn in close collaboration with the gamification agency Pfeffermind in Berlin. It is aimed at all game enthusiasts and interested parties aged 13 and over. The game can be played alone or with several other players. If you want to solve the puzzles in a group, you will also need a video conferencing tool. The game is free and anyone can start playing in German or English in their browser without registering.

The core of the game is a city map with various locations. At each of these locations, the townspeople pose riddles to the players. What can I plant on my windowsill? This is the question posed by the apartment block, for example. The maximum playing time is limited to 60 minutes. Within this hour, a year passes in the game, during which new puzzles and tasks await the players in four seasons. To solve these, they have to collect clues and information and combine them with each other. "It was important to us to convey interesting facts about pollination and biodiversity in a playful way and to give players practical tips on how they can easily support pollinators at any time of year," explains Dr Inga Specht, Head of the Visitor and Educational Research Department. The game therefore focuses on the pollinators on our doorstep and their importance, not only for us humans, but also for nature and thus the entire ecological cycle.

The game is based on research and practice on serious games and game-based learning, where the aim is to combine knowledge transfer and play, among other things. The evidence-based development of the game on the topic of biodiversity is based on the question of whether escape games can impart knowledge in a sustainable way. As a purely online version, the game can be played independently of the museum visit. In addition, the Educational Escape Game is part of a research project in which two game variants are to be compared with each other in terms of their sustainable knowledge transfer.

The project is funded by the European Union as part of the Union's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.