This morning, Nintendo announced it’s creating a real-world puzzle game based on The Legend Of Zelda and taking it on a tour of eight U.S. cities throughout 2017. Called Defenders Of The Triforce and inspired by the live-action escape rooms that have popped up all over the globe in recent years, it’ll be a replica of the Zelda world where a team of six players work to solve a puzzle within a set time limit. The would-be heroes will interact with traditional Hyrule denizens, like the stone-skinned Gorons and fish-like Zoras, and find items that open up new areas and help them progress through the game’s mystery.
It’s being produced in partnership with SCRAP, the Japanese company that designed the first live-action escape room game and helped turn them into a worldwide phenomenon.
This is seemingly part of Nintendo’s newfound desire to do more with its iconic games and characters. Over the last year or so, there’s been plenty of chatter about bringing them back to movie screens, and before that, Nintendo announced it would be invading Universal theme parks. Defenders Of The Triforce could easily be a prelude to the kinds of rides the company would bring as part of that partnership. And earlier this year at the E3 convention in Los Angeles, attendees got a little taste of what to expect from a real-world Zelda experience. Nintendo’s booth featured life-size replicas of places and characters from the upcoming Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, sights and sounds that changed as the space moved from day to night, and even special odors.
The full list of eight cities that Defenders Of The Triforce will be visiting has been announced, but only four have been given specific tour dates. Tickets for those stops are available now and can be purchased from the event’s website.
Defenders Of The Triforce tour dates
1/31-2/5—San Francisco, CA
2/10-2/12—Los Angeles, CA
2/12-2/17—Phoenix, AZ
2/24-2/25—San Diego, CA
TBA—Seattle, WA
TBA—Houston, TX
TBA—Chicago, IL
TBA—New York, NY