Ghosts of Edinburgh: Bloody Past Exploration Game and Tour

Edinburgh’s grim past makes a fine setting for a city puzzle. This self-guided game leads you from The Mound through the Old Town, using clues to reveal stories of executions, plague-era closeways, haunted places, and famous local figures. You are not following a guide with a flag. You are solving your way across the city.

I like the freedom to start at any hour and pause whenever you wish. I also like the low price, about $7.21 per person, which makes this an easy add-on for a family or small group. The main caution is that the app and puzzles are central to the experience. If the app loads slowly or a clue feels too tricky, the hour can become frustrating rather than fun.

Key points to know before you play

• The Mound to West Bow: The route begins at The Mound and ends at 100 W Bow, taking you through several central Edinburgh sights.
• A puzzle, not a guided walk: You solve location-based challenges on your phone instead of listening to a live guide.
• Edinburgh Castle does not require paid entry: The game can be played from outside paid attractions, according to the provider.
• Offline play is included: You do not need an internet connection once the game is ready to use.
• Flexible timing: Start whenever you want, stop for a meal or break, and continue later.
• Best for groups: Families, couples, and friends can work together, while groups larger than 15 need to make multiple bookings.

How this Edinburgh ghost game works

This is a private activity for your own group. You book the game, receive confirmation, and use your mobile device to guide you from one point to the next. There is no physical tour guide, so you control the walking speed, the order of your attention, and the length of each stop.

At each location, you look around for the answer to a challenge. Solving it advances the game and reveals the story connected with that place. That simple format changes the way you see Edinburgh. Instead of passing a building while listening to a general explanation, you examine details around you and make the next step part of the sightseeing.

The route is listed at about one hour. That is a brisk estimate if you move steadily and solve the puzzles without much delay. You can pause at any point, so a longer outing is possible if you stop for coffee, enter a museum, or simply want more time around the Royal Mile.

The game is offered in English. It is also designed to work offline, a useful feature in narrow Old Town streets where a phone signal may be less reliable. I would still open the app and make sure your booking is ready before setting out. One poor experience involved a long delay loading into the account, which pushed the activity late into the night.

The Mound and the old Nor Loch

The start at The Mound gives you an excellent first lesson in Edinburgh’s unusual geography. This broad slope connects the New Town and Old Town, but it is not a natural hill. It was built from roughly 1,501,000 cartloads of earth excavated during construction of the New Town and dumped into Nor Loch.

The loch was drained in 1765. Today, Princes Street Gardens occupy much of the space below, so it is easy to miss the fact that water once separated the two parts of the city. The opening challenge asks you to look around The Mound for an answer before moving on.

This is a good place to begin because it is open, central, and easy to find. You can get your bearings before entering the tighter streets of the Old Town. The drawback is that the start is exposed and can be crowded, especially around the busy central routes. Give yourself a few extra minutes to identify the correct starting point.

Edinburgh Castle from the outside

Edinburgh Castle dominates the city from Castle Rock, a volcanic formation occupied by people since at least the Iron Age. Its position gives the fortress much of its power. Even before you know the stories, the rock and walls explain why this was such an important place.

The game brings you to the castle as one of its challenges. A key practical point is that you do not need to buy a castle ticket to play. The provider specifically says that paid attractions are not required, so the challenge should be completed from an accessible area outside the paid interior.

That matters because castle admission is a separate expense and can take far longer than this one-hour game. Do not build your plans around entering the fortress during the activity unless you have already arranged a separate visit. The puzzle route is meant to use the city around the attraction, not replace a full castle tour.

The castle stop works best as a visual pause. You get the dramatic exterior, the high position, and the connection to Edinburgh’s earliest settlement without turning this inexpensive game into a costly attraction package.

St Giles’ Cathedral and the Royal Mile

St Giles’ origins reach back to about 1130, when a parish church served Edinburgh during the reign of King David I. It was dedicated to St Giles, the patron saint of lepers and later the patron saint of Edinburgh.

The church sits on the Royal Mile, where the route becomes more tightly packed with historic buildings and daily city activity. Your task is to inspect the area and find the detail needed to continue. This is where the game feels less like a standard audio walk and more like a small scavenger hunt.

I like this kind of challenge because it encourages you to look at the church and its surroundings rather than simply take a photo and move on. Still, clues can be difficult. One low-rated experience specifically found some puzzles too hard to decipher. If your group gets stuck, slow down and reread the wording instead of rushing to the next point.

The game is more enjoyable when one person handles the phone and the rest of the group searches the surroundings. That keeps everyone involved and avoids having four people stare at separate screens.

Mary King’s Close and the stories below the street

Mary King’s Close is a historic close beneath buildings on the Royal Mile. It takes its name from Mary King, a seventeenth-century merchant burgess who lived there. The close is associated with the cramped passageways and layered streets that make Edinburgh’s Old Town so compelling.

The game uses the area to bring you into the city’s darker stories. You should understand the practical limit: a stop connected with Mary King’s Close does not automatically include entry to the attraction itself. The activity is a street-based puzzle game, not an admission ticket or an underground guided visit.

That distinction protects the value of the $7.21 price, but it also keeps expectations clear. You are looking for clues around the location and learning its story through the app. If you want to tour the preserved closeways inside, plan and pay for that separately.

This is one of the route’s more atmospheric points. The Old Town’s layered streets can feel confusing, so the game gives you a reason to pause and inspect your surroundings instead of walking straight along the Royal Mile.

Greyfriars Bobby and the kirkyard entrance

Near the main entrance to Greyfriars Kirkyard, you find the fountain and life-size statue of Greyfriars Bobby. The statue was made by William Brodie and unveiled in 1873. Baroness Burdett-Coutts paid for it.

The famous little dog adds a gentler note to a route filled with prisons, executions, and ghost stories. The challenge here gives you a reason to study the statue and its setting. It also puts you near one of Edinburgh’s best-known kirkyards, a place where the city’s stories of loyalty, death, and memory meet.

You may find this stop easier to enjoy in daylight, when the statue and entrance are clear. At night, the spooky tone becomes stronger, which is part of the appeal. A five-star experience specifically praised the game as just spooky enough for an evening outing with a fifteen-year-old daughter.

Use common sense around the kirkyard. Keep the volume low and treat the location as a cemetery first, a game setting second. That small bit of respect improves the experience for everyone nearby.

The Grassmarket’s grim history

The Grassmarket dates from the 1300s and was once associated with cattle fairs and stables. By around the 1670s, it had become a trading point for goods. It was also a traditional place of public execution.

That combination gives the Grassmarket a strong role in a ghost-themed route. Today, the area is an open urban space below the castle, but its past was far harsher. The game asks you to connect the present setting with the stories that took place there.

This stop helps explain why Edinburgh ghost stories work so well. The supernatural material is tied to real places and unpleasant events, not just invented scares. You are walking through a market area that also carried the public drama of punishment and death.

The Grassmarket can be a good place to take your planned break. Since the activity can pause at any point, you can stop here before continuing toward the later locations. That flexibility is especially useful for families or groups with different walking speeds.

New College and the Mound’s academic side

New College began as a theological college of the Free Church of Scotland. Classes opened in Edinburgh’s New Town on 1 November 1843, and the college soon moved toward its present position on The Mound. Reverend Dr Thomas Chalmers laid the foundation stone for the current building in 1846.

This stop broadens the experience beyond ghosts and executions. Edinburgh’s character comes from its churches, universities, law courts, and old civic buildings as much as from its darker legends. The game uses the building as another point where you inspect the surroundings and solve a challenge.

You may already have passed near New College at the start, so pay attention to the route’s movement through central Edinburgh. The stop shows how much history is packed into a small area. It also gives the game a change of mood before the final locations.

Modern Art and Old College

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art first opened in 1960 at Inverleith House in the Royal Botanic Garden. It moved to its current site, Modern One on Belford Road, in 1984. Modern Two opened across the road in 1999.

The route includes the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art as one of its later points. This is a notable change from the Old Town’s churchyards and medieval closes. You are still following the game, but the subject shifts toward Edinburgh’s art institutions and newer cultural history.

Because the activity is listed at about an hour, do not assume you have time for a full gallery visit during the game. The challenge is an outdoor stop within the wider route. If modern art interests you, treat this as a prompt to return later with more time.

Old College, on South Bridge, brings you back toward the university quarter. Designed by Robert Adam, it now houses parts of the University of Edinburgh administration, the School of Law, and the Talbot Rice Gallery. It was originally called the New College and was intended to replace older university buildings.

This final section helps tie the route together. You move from a medieval church and a public execution ground to major university buildings and art spaces. Edinburgh’s past is not one single story. The city layers old religion, punishment, scholarship, and culture across a walkable center.

Price, timing, and practical value

At about $7.21 per person, this is an inexpensive way to add structure to an Edinburgh walk. You are paying for a digital game, not a live guide, attraction admissions, transport, or a prepared meal. That makes the comparison simple: the value depends on how much you enjoy solving clues on your phone.

For a family or group of friends, the price is particularly easy to justify. You can split up the puzzle-solving, compare answers, and keep the outing active. Group discounts are available, and groups over 15 can make multiple bookings.

The flexible start time is another strong point. The activity is listed as available every day, around the clock, and you can begin at the time you choose. You can also stop and resume later. That is useful if rain arrives, a museum takes longer than planned, or you want to eat between the Grassmarket and the later stops.

The weaknesses are just as clear. There is no guide to explain a clue, adjust the pace, or fill in missing context. The app has also caused problems for some users, including slow account loading. Have the confirmation ready and allow a little time to get started.

The free cancellation policy gives you room to change plans, but only if you cancel at least 24 hours before the start time. Changes or cancellations inside that window are not refunded.

Who should book this game

I would choose this for families with older children, couples who like city puzzles, and groups of friends who want a short activity with a spooky theme. It is also useful if you have already seen Edinburgh’s main streets and want a reason to look more closely at familiar sights.

It may not suit you if you want a polished explanation from a local guide, a long historical tour, or guaranteed smooth technology. You should also avoid treating it as a substitute for Edinburgh Castle or Mary King’s Close admissions. Those are separate experiences.

The game is private, so your group does not need to match its pace to strangers. Most people can participate, service animals are allowed, and the route is near public transport. The main physical demand is walking between central points and standing while you solve the challenges.

Should you book Ghosts of Edinburgh?

Book it if you want a cheap, flexible puzzle walk that connects Edinburgh’s darker stories with major central sights. The best parts are the freedom to pause, the offline format, and the way the challenges make you inspect places you might otherwise pass.

Skip it if app problems would quickly spoil your day or if you need a guide to explain every detail. For the price, it is a sensible extra activity, especially at night or with a small group. Just prepare the app before you set out, remember that paid attractions are not included, and allow more than an hour if you want time to enjoy the stops.

FAQ

How long does Ghosts of Edinburgh take?

The activity lasts approximately one hour.

Where does the game start?

It starts at The Mound, Edinburgh EH2 2EL, United Kingdom.

Where does the game end?

The listed ending point is 100 W Bow, Edinburgh EH1 2HH, United Kingdom.

Is a physical tour guide included?

No. This is a self-guided mobile game and does not include a physical tour guide.

Do I need internet access while playing?

No. The game can be played offline without an internet connection.

Do I need to enter Edinburgh Castle?

No. Paid attraction entry is not required to play the game.

Can I pause the experience?

Yes. You can take a break at any time and resume later.

What happens if I need to cancel?

You receive a full refund if you cancel at least 24 hours before the experience start time. Cancellations within 24 hours are not refunded.