Frequently Asked Questions

What is Traipse?

Traipse is a smartphone application for iOS and Android devices that leads users on a themed tour, stopping along the way to learn interesting facts and complete riddles, brain-teasers, and other puzzles based on the surroundings. Traipse stops include local businesses where users who complete the stop’s challenge may be rewarded with a discount or free sample. Users will find Traipse to be great for a date night, bar crawl, shopping day, foodie adventure, kid-friendly activity, or history-themed team building exercise.

 

I love this, where can I learn more about Traipse?
Follow us on social media to keep up with our shenanigans. Do you represent a historic business district, Main Street, or some other organization? Head over to our "Hire" page to learn more.

 

What do I have to do to register and log in?

You can explore the app before creating an account, but to begin a tour you have to register. You can either register using an email address, or by using your existing Facebook or Google accounts.

​

Glossary of Traipse lingo

• Stop: An interesting location or business, usually includes a puzzle for you to solve when visiting.

• Tour: A themed collection of stops, like a pub or architecture tour. Often we’ll refer to a tour as a Traipse.

• Area: A geographic filter for different regions where tours are located.

• Challenge: Many stops have a puzzle attached to them. These puzzles often require your powers of observation to answer a question about something found at the location.

• Bonus Challenge: Some tours have an extra, overarching puzzle. Clues to that extra puzzle are given as you complete each stop within the tour.

​

How long does a Tour take?

Tours can take anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours and up, depending on how much time you’d like to spend exploring each stop. And please, go explore! That’s the whole fun part of this kind of adventure! You can pause a tour at any time and pick it up again later. Each tour gives an estimated completion time. Available tours are viewable in the “My Journey” tab of the app, filtered by the area at the top of the screen, and your current progress on a tour is indicated as a percentage.

 

Can I do a Tour at any time?

Some stops are limited by time of day, particularly if the stop is a business. This will be indicated in the stop’s description. You can also visit stops individually without necessarily following the tour they’re a part of, so if you’re slogging through your typical errands anyway you can at least complete a fun stop or two on the way!

 

I don’t understand what I’m being asked to do.

Read the text carefully. Not all tours, stops, and challenges start at a specific location. For a few stops, the puzzle is figuring out where to go next rather than the app taking you directly there. We’re gigantic puzzle nerds so we’ve thrown some curveballs at you.

 

I’ve encountered a different problem.

Please contact us if you’re having a problem with the app or with one of the tours. We want you to have a good time and we can’t fix it if we don’t know about it! There’s a “Something’s Not Right” button for each tour that will email us. You can also go to the Get In Touch tab of our website where there’s a form to fill out, plus it lists our social media accounts.

 

Why can’t I see the Bonus Challenge?

Bonus Challenges are found in the dropdown menu on the map screen of the tour you’re currently exploring. You’ll need to complete a few stops before it’s unlocked.

 

I want to destroy my friends, how does scoring work?
While Traipse works perfectly great for noncompetitive folks, we have a scoring system if you’d like to tackle our tours in groups and see who can complete them most efficiently. The short version: the more hints you take, the lower your score. The long version: scores are calculated based on the stop’s difficulty level multiplied by 2, minus the number of hints you used multiplied by 2. Completion of the Bonus Challenge is 25 points. So, completing a level 4 difficulty stop, using one hint, would earn you 4 points.

 

Is there any reward for speed?
Nope. Take your time, be safe, and enjoy exploring the city and its businesses.

 

I figured out a way to game the system to get a better score and exploit the participating businesses! Aren’t I awesome?

Also nope. Please don’t cheat, it entirely defeats the purpose of this experience. The mission of Traipse is to help people have fun and to support local businesses. Don’t do anything that will keep others from having fun or negatively impacts participating businesses. We will delete any user accounts that we believe are engaging in any activity that fits that description.

 

There aren’t any Tours near me.

For now, Traipse is available in a handful of cities in the mid-Atlantic United States. However, we are rapidly expanding! Please contact us if you are interested in helping us bring Traipse to your area. We are especially looking to expand to locations where Traipse can get logistical and/or financial support from public agencies (e.g. tourism and economic development offices) and where there are people passionate about history, games, and their town who can assist in generating content.

 

Can I get a customized Traipse for my group or event?
Absolutely. Customized Tours are perfect for team-building and conference activities, and even as fun activities for guests at family events such as weddings! (just ask our founder, Darren, what he did for his wedding!) There is a reasonable fee for creation of customized tours depending on the parameters. Please contact us for more information.

 

It looks like I have to go onto private property?

You’ll never have to trespass in order to reach a stop or to complete a challenge. Please pay attention to where you’re going and respect property and business hours. We don’t want to cause a fuss.

 

Are you going to do anything with my info?

Traipse collects anonymous information about usage of the app, but collects no other personally identifiable information aside from your email address. Traipse does not share your email address with third parties. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information. 

 

What is the mailing address for Traipse?

Traipse

32 N Augusta St
Staunton, VA 24401