Location-Based Gaming Platform – Building a Location-Based Gaming Platform

Introduction

A new entrant in the skill-based entertainment space set out to launch a real-money scavenger hunt where players compete in real time by solving digital riddles tied to physical locations. To bring this concept to life, they needed a secure, mobile-first gaming platform capable of handling payments, managing events, validating answers, ranking players, and supporting thousands of concurrent users—all while delivering a fun, fast, and fair gameplay experience.

The Problem (Gut-Based Decisions)

Before the engagement, the company had a strong vision but lacked the technology backbone to execute it. Critical gaps included:

• No game engine to manage sequential riddles or enforce progression rules.
• No secure system for player authentication or preventing multi-device cheating.
• No reliable way to accept entry fees or process payments safely.
• No administrative tools to upload riddles, schedule events, or track game outcomes.
• No analytics or reporting to support growth, operations, or regulatory needs.
• No mobile-first experience to support on-the-go gameplay during live city-wide hunts.

The result was a high-potential idea that couldn’t launch or scale without a purpose-built platform.

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The Solution (How Data Changes the Game)

We designed and built a complete, production-ready digital gaming platform—end to end—covering the public website, contestant experience, game logic, admin tools, payments, and security.

1. Public-Facing Website

We built a modern, mobile-optimized site that included:

• A brand and story-driven homepage
• “How it works” education for new players
• City-by-city event listings
• Secure sign-up and payment processing
• Terms & conditions with multi-step acknowledgment
• Winners archive and leaderboard
• Integrated affiliate program for influencers and partners

2. Contestant Gaming Portal

Players received a polished, secure game interface with:

• Login restricted to a single device
• Sequential riddle progression (next riddle unlocks only after solving the previous one)
• Real-time answer validation
• Automatic ranking based on completion time
• Live progress tracking throughout the game

3. Administrative Control Center

The company gained full operational control through a secure admin portal:

• Upload and edit riddles and corresponding answers
• Manage multiple events across cities and dates
• Track participants and game performance
• Download results in CSV/JSON format
• View analytics to improve future events
• Manage edge cases, exceptions, and race adjudication

4. Enterprise-Grade Security

We implemented a hardened security foundation including:

• Encrypted data at rest and in transit
• Session management and brute-force protection
• Device binding to prevent cheating
• PCI-compliant payment integration

5. Scalable, Modern Architecture

The platform was engineered on a highly scalable stack:

• Frontend: ReactJS
• Backend: Azure Functions (serverless, auto-scaling)
• Database: Azure Cosmos DB / Azure SQL
• Hosting: Azure Static Web Apps + Functions
• Payments: Stripe (PCI-DSS compliant)

This ensured reliability, low-latency gameplay, and the ability to scale hunts across dozens of cities.

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Real-World Example (Specific Client Outcomes)

Once launched, the company gained:

• A fully functional gaming platform ready to host real-money scavenger hunts in major cities.
• A mobile-first user experience that made gameplay intuitive and engaging for contestants.
• A secure payment system enabling monetization from day one.
• Real-time riddle progression and ranking logic that ensured fairness and excitement during the game.
• A robust admin portal enabling the team to scale events without engineering support.
• Analytics and reporting tools that improved event planning, marketing, and game design with each hunt.

What began as an idea quickly became an operational business, complete with repeatable workflows, digital infrastructure, and monetization capabilities.

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Conclusion

By building a custom, end-to-end gaming platform, we turned a high-potential concept into a launch-ready product capable of scaling nationwide. The solution unified game logic, payments, security, admin operations, and real-time player experience into one seamless system. With this foundation, the company can now run live scavenger hunts across multiple cities, attract thousands of players, and operate efficiently with a small team—all while delivering a fun, secure, and competitive experience.