It is the job of Albert Claus, the less famous brother of Father Christmas, to maintain the spirit of Christmas by spreading joy bubbles on Christmas day, but he’s gone missing!

By visiting the trail stops and speaking to each of the cheerful ‘Spirits of Christmas’, players will learn what has happened to Albert and, finally, be able to solve the mystery and save Christmas.

Every parent’s mind will be on restrictions this Christmas. Cheltenham BID is keenly aware of this and has planned activities for families that can be done safely, socially distanced and contactless. They’ve teamed up with QR code trail experts High Street Safari to create a free interactive story-trail that is designed to encourage children to walk, have fun, and most importantly, take their minds off the pandemic.

The trail is positioned around the town centre with 10 ‘Christmas Spirit’ characters positioned in various shop windows, taking on average 45 minutes to complete.

It uses contactless QR codes, meaning participants do not need to download or sign up to anything, and there is no need to actually go inside the venues.

When scanning each character’s unique QR code, the character will burst to life on the smartphone and you can learn their names, stories and gather clues, with the opportunity to also take and share selfies with the character.

Participating families or groups will win a heart-warming Christmas e-book at the end. At around 1.5 miles, or 3,500 steps, it should keep everyone fit and active too.

For the trail map, visit: www.highstreetsafari.com/locations/cheltenham

HOW TO PLAY
Time to set off on the trail!

10 Christmas Spirits have been spotted around these parts. It’s your job to hunt them down and find out what has happened to Albert…

To take part simply:
1. Hunt down the characters using the map below and visit them in any order.

2. By scanning their QR codes with your phone’s camera (or typing the URLs, printed under the QR codes, directly into your browser’s address bar) you’ll learn more of the story as Manu, our hero, speaks to each of them.

3. When you’ve visited them all read the conclusion to story in the free eBook adventure!

IMPORTANT: You must use the SAME browser on the SAME device for character collection. You must have browser cookies enabled and not clear them during the trail.