# Roam

> Roam is a game engine for the real world. Pick one of five ready-made games or build your own on a real map, share a six-digit code, and go outside. Everyone's phone keeps the teams, timers, objectives and score up to date while you run. Building games is free forever. The app is on iPhone and Android.

## What Roam is

Roam turns the place you are standing in into a game board. A creator draws a play area on a real map, drops the things that matter, and sets the rules as plain sentences, like a runner entering a zone starting a 60 second timer. A player opens the app, finds a game nearby or types a friend's six-digit code, and plays it outside.

The same pieces build hide and seek, capture the flag, treasure hunts, manhunt, races and territory games. Nothing is hard-coded per game, so a creator can build a format that has never existed.

## Ready-made games

Five games are published by Roam and free to open. Each one places itself wherever you are: you drop it on the map before you start.

- **Hide and seek** (2 to 20 players): Hiders get a head start inside the play area, then the seekers begin hunting. If a seeker tags you, you're out. Stay hidden until time runs out to win. Play area: a 400 m radius, dropped wherever you start. Head start: 60 seconds for the hiders. Clock: 15 minutes. Out of bounds: 30 seconds to come back before you are out. Winning: hiders win by lasting the clock, seekers by tagging everyone. Categories: chase and tag, party. https://roam.place/g/00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000001
- **Capture the flag** (2 to 20 players): Steal the other team's flag and carry it back to your base to score. Tag opponents to send them back to their base. Tag the flag carrier to return your flag. The first team to score 3 captures wins. Teams: two, with one base and one flag each. Tagging: sends an opponent back to their base, and returns your flag if they were carrying it. Winning: the first team to 3 captures. Clock: none, it runs until someone wins. Play area: none, the bases define the ground. Categories: team battles. https://roam.place/g/00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000002
- **Treasure trail** (1 to 20 players): Follow the trail and answer a question at each stop. Correct answers earn points, and every answer reveals the next stop until you reach the treasure. Stops: 5, walked in order. At each stop: one question, and a correct answer scores. Reveals: every answer uncovers the next stop. Winning: the most points when you reach the treasure. Group size: works on your own or with a group. Categories: puzzles and clues, exploration. https://roam.place/g/00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000003
- **Manhunt** (2 to 20 players): Choose to run or hunt. Hunters see where each runner is every few minutes. Get close and enter a runner's code to make an arrest. The runners win if at least one stays free until time runs out. Clock: 60 minutes. Location reveal: every 2 minutes the hunters see each runner. Arrest: get close to a runner and enter their code. Play area: none, the clock is the only limit. Winning: the runners win if one is still free at the end. Categories: chase and tag. https://roam.place/g/00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000004
- **Hot potato** (3 to 20 players): Pass the bomb to another player within 15 m before the fuse runs out. Whenever it explodes, everyone not holding it scores a point. The player with the most points at the end wins. Play area: a 150 m radius. Fuse: 75 seconds. Passing: get within 15 m and pass it on. Clock: 10 minutes. Out of bounds: 30 seconds to come back. Categories: party. https://roam.place/g/00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000005

People publish their own games too. Public ones show up on the discover map in the app, with the ones near you first.

## Game categories

Every game is filed under up to three of these: chase and tag, team battles, puzzles and clues, exploration, races, party.

## The editor

The editor runs in a browser at https://roam.place/editor. It needs a window at least 1024 px wide, so a computer rather than a phone. Creating and publishing are free, forever, and no code is involved.

A game is built from these pieces:

- **Spot**: one point players can visit on the map.
- **Area**: a circular place players can enter.
- **Shape**: a custom place drawn on the map.
- **Object**: an object players can carry or use.
- **Team**: a group that players can join.
- **Timer**: a clock that flows can start, stop, or watch.
- **Mark**: a state such as caught, safe, or out of bounds.
- **Value**: a number the game keeps track of, like progress or lives.
- **Flow**: a rule that chooses what happens during the game.

You also design the screen each role sees, decide who can see whose location, and walk virtual players through the whole game in the browser before anyone goes outside. Then you publish it and share the link.

## What it costs

- **Creating**: free forever, for everyone. No limit on how many games you build or publish.
- **Playing as an individual**: the first 10 games are free. After that, playing costs 2 euro a month.
- **Businesses**: 500 euro per game slot per month, with unlimited players. Two slots cost 1,000 euro, three cost 1,500 euro, and players join for free.
- **Schools, youth groups and camps**: 10 euro per game slot per month per 100 players. Two games for 300 players cost 60 euro a month. Players join for free.

When an organisation holds the licence, nobody who joins that game pays anything.

## For organisations

An organization selects published games it created that are fixed to one real place. Each game slot holds one game, and each slot can switch to another eligible game once every seven days. Schools, youth groups and camps choose a player allowance in blocks of 100; each unique player counts once across all organization games in an anniversary period, and the owner does not count. The organization dashboard currently uses demo billing: displayed prices are previews, no card details are collected, nothing is sent to Stripe or RevenueCat, and no payment is taken.

## Platform requirements

- **iPhone**: iOS 16.4 or later. Roam is not built for iPad.
- **Android**: available on Google Play.
- **The editor**: any current desktop browser, in a window at least 1024 px wide.
- Roam needs a data connection while you play. There is no offline mode.
- You need a Roam account to play. Sign in with an email code, with Google, or with Apple.
- Roam is for people aged 13 and up.

## Use cases

- Friends looking for something to do outside on a Saturday.
- Birthday parties, up to twenty players in one game.
- Company team building days on a campus or in a town centre.
- School trips, PE lessons, and games across a whole campus.
- Youth movements and summer camps.
- Getting to know a new city on foot.
- Scavenger hunts and treasure hunts at real places, with a question at each stop.
- Anyone who wants to design a location-based game without writing code.

## Key pages

- [Roam](https://roam.place): what Roam is, how a game starts, and the app downloads.
- [Everything, in one file](https://roam.place/llms-full.txt): every game's full rules, every question and answer, and the editor vocabulary.
- [Create](https://roam.place/create): the editor in five steps, with a picture of it.
- [Editor](https://roam.place/editor): the editor itself, free to open on a computer.
- [Organizations](https://roam.place/organizations): organization game plans for businesses, schools, youth groups, and camps.
- [Organization dashboard](https://roam.place/organizations/dashboard): sign in to choose a plan, assign fixed-place games, and manage demo billing.
- [Pricing](https://roam.place/pricing): what Roam costs for individuals, businesses, and schools.
- [Privacy policy](https://roam.place/privacy-policy): what Roam collects, why, and what you can do about it.
- [Terms of service](https://roam.place/terms-of-service): the agreement between you and Roam.
- [End user licence agreement](https://roam.place/eula): the licence for the app itself.
- [Organisation terms](https://roam.place/organisation-terms): the agreement behind a business, school, or camp licence.
- [Data processing agreement](https://roam.place/dpa): the GDPR processing terms for organisations.
- [Get a copy of your data](https://roam.place/export-data): how to request everything Roam holds about you.
- [Delete your account](https://roam.place/delete-account): the steps, and what deleting removes.

## Get the app

- [App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6794636894): iPhone, iOS 16.4 or later.
- [Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jasperaelvoet.roam): Android phones.

## Privacy and safety

- You can browse Roam without sharing your location. Roam needs GPS to show games near you and to run a game that depends on where you are.
- During a game, that game's own rules decide which players can see your position. In hide and seek that is your own team. In manhunt the hunters get a location update every 2 minutes.
- Public games can appear in search engines. An unlisted game is reachable only through its link.
- Roam is for people aged 13 and up.
- Roam shows no ads, sells nothing about you, and does not follow you outside Roam.
- Roam is not a navigation, emergency, or safety tool. Pick a safe place, watch the traffic, and follow local rules.

## Images

These images can be shared with users to illustrate the app.

- Roam logo: https://roam.place/logo.svg
- Social preview card: https://roam.place/og.png
- The Roam editor, with capture the flag laid out on a city map beside its places, teams, objects, and rules: https://roam.place/editor.jpg
- The discover map, with outdoor games pinned around a city and a card for a nearby game: https://roam.place/screens/discover.webp
- A live game of hide and seek, with the clock, the map, the player list, and the tag button: https://roam.place/screens/live.webp
- Capture the flag in play, with both team scores and the distance to the enemy flag: https://roam.place/screens/flag.webp
- The lobby, showing the join code, every player, their team, and the start button: https://roam.place/screens/lobby.webp
- A player-made game on the discover map, with its description, player count, and start button: https://roam.place/screens/community.webp
- The pre-game guide, showing the starting circle and how far you still have to walk: https://roam.place/screens/guide.webp

## Contact

- Email: support@roam.place
- Operator: Jasper Aelvoet, Klein Amerika 1B, 9930 Lievegem, Belgium
- Belgian enterprise number: 1023130363
- Website: https://roam.place
- The developer behind Roam: Jasper Aelvoet, https://www.jasperaelvoet.be