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A DOT Dominus demo · Santa Cruz, Madeira

The Wild Run

Pac-Man on the real streets. Your phone's GPS is the hero, the lanes of Santa Cruz are the maze, and four draugar — the restless dead of the sagas — wander them at random. You are the one who moves: walk to gather the runes, keep away from the dead, seize Mjölnir, and turn on them.

This is a demo. It awakens only in the town of Santa Cruz, Madeira, and only through the GPS of a phone.

Before you begin

  1. 1. Be in Santa Cruz, Madeira

    The gate opens only within about 1.5 km of the old town — the church square, Praia das Palmeiras, the seafront promenade. Anywhere else on Earth the run stays shut.

  2. 2. Use a phone, outdoors

    The run is driven only by your phone's GPS. There are no on-screen controls, and it does not run on a laptop or desktop.

  3. 3. Allow precise location

    When the browser asks, allow location for this site with precise location on. Turn on GPS / location services, and mobile data for the map.

  4. 4. Keep the screen on

    Keep this page in the foreground while you walk. The run tries to hold the screen awake, but if the browser sleeps the draugar pause with you.

How to play

  1. 1

    Your round shield is you. It moves only when you move — about one step per second.

  2. 2

    Runes lie along the streets within a few hundred metres of where you start. Walk over one to gather it: 10 points each.

  3. 3

    Four draugar wake at the edges of the maze and wander the streets at random — they do not know where you are. If one drifts into you, you lose a shield. You carry three.

  4. 4

    Mjölnir hangs at the far ends of the maze. Seize a hammer and for fourteen seconds the draugar flee — walk into them to banish them: 200, 400, 800, 1600.

  5. 5

    Read the streets. Arrows at the edge of the screen point at draugar you cannot yet see, and the badge at the top warns when one is close — choose the lane they have left, not the one they are entering.

  6. 6

    Gather every rune and every hammer to finish the run. Valhalla pays a thousand more.

The four draugar

  • Glámr, the red — restless, the quickest of the four.

  • Þórólfr, the rose — lingers at every crossroads before choosing a way.

  • Hrappr, the frost — wanders far, from one end of the town to the other.

  • Kárr, the ember — slow, but never stops walking.

Look up

The streets are real. Watch for cars, kerbs, steps and other people. Do not run — the draugar are tuned to a walking pace. Play in daylight, and take a friend.

The maze is drawn over Google Maps when the map is available; otherwise the streets of Santa Cruz are drawn as a rune maze on their own.