Outdoor trails and digital treasure hunts come in two shapes: a guided route run inside a dedicated app, and a series of steps players open from a link or a QR code in their own browser. Lock Challenge is the second kind. Each step is a lock, one of them checks where the player actually is, and nothing has to be installed.
We do not publish Actionbound's features, licences or prices here, because we cannot keep them accurate and a wrong claim about someone else is worse than none. The right-hand column is what to check on their own site and in their app.
| Criterion | Lock Challenge | What to check on Actionbound |
|---|---|---|
| Location check | A GPS lock, free, that verifies the player's real coordinates against a target and a radius you set, beside a map lock where the player places a pin | Whether a location is verified, how precisely, and whether it can be faked from home |
| What players install | Nothing. Each step is a web page opened from a link or a QR code, with no account | Whether players need an app, an account or a download before the first step |
| Offline play | Not supported. Every answer is checked on the server, so each step needs a data connection or wifi | Whether a trail can be downloaded before leaving and played without signal |
| Printable QR codes | Pro: one PDF with every step's QR code, ready to print and stick on site | How codes are produced for a physical route, and at which tier |
| Where the answer is checked | On the server, after the player submits. Discrete answers are stored as bcrypt hashes, so nothing in the page gives them away, and the reveal is not sent to the browser before a solve | Whether the answer, or the next page, can be reached from the page source or by clicking around instead of solving |
| Timer | Pro: a clock kept by the server, one play per device, one clock across every step of a trail. Reloading the page does not reset it | Whether a countdown is enforced or only displayed, and what a page reload does to it |
| Leaderboard | Pro: competition mode, where teams add their names to a ranking when they finish | Whether results can be ranked, and whether that ranking is built from verified solves |
| Who played, and how | Free accounts see sessions, solves and attempts. Pro adds each player's result, attempts and hints used, names and emails when you ask for them, a live board on the day and a CSV export | Whether you can see who finished, when and in how many tries, and take that list away |
| Player accounts | Never required | Whether players are asked to register or install anything |
| Free tier metering | Players and attempts are unlimited; the free tier is bounded by what you build (3 basic locks, single or multi-step, of up to 3 steps each), and a basic lock never expires | Whether the free tier counts players, attempts, experiences or days |
| Paid options | Two ways to pay: the Event Pass, paid once for one event, at $7.90 for 15 days or $9.90 for 30 days, or Pro at $14.90 per month, cancellable at any time | Whether pricing is per event, per seat, per month, or one time |
| Languages | English, French, Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese, player interface included, in the language the creator picks | Whether the player interface is translated, not just the marketing site |
The GPS lock compares the player's real coordinates with a target and a radius you choose. It is free, it is the one mechanic that cannot be solved from a sofa, and it chains with the other formats, so a step can ask for a place and the next one for a code found there.
Players open each step from a link or a QR code, in the browser they already have, in English, French, Spanish, Catalan or Portuguese. That matters with a school group, a family day or a team-building crowd, where one person who cannot install an app holds everyone up.
Every answer, position included, is verified on the server, so the next clue cannot be read from the page. Guessing is rate limited, and on Pro you can cap attempts or players and keep one clock for the whole trail.
Pro ($14.90 per month) adds a printable PDF of every step's QR code, a leaderboard, a live board while the trail runs, and each team's result with attempts and hints, exportable as CSV.
If your trail must work without a signal, guide players along a map route, collect photos or videos as answers, or score many question types per team, a dedicated trail app will serve you better. Lock Challenge verifies answers on the server, so every step needs a connection, and its steps are locks, not media missions.
