Riddler Road Rally: Puzzle-Driven Event App Design
Kristina Simeunovic
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Posted Feb 9, 2026
I designed a mobile-first event platform that turns real-world road rallies into interactive, puzzle-driven adventures.
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Timeline
Mar 28, 2025 - Jun 1, 2025
Clients
Riddler Road Rally
Riddler Road Rally -
Event-Driven Puzzle & Navigation App
I designed a mobile-first event platform that turns real-world road rallies into interactive, puzzle-driven adventures. The app guides teams through live events using location-based challenges, collaborative puzzles, team management, and real-time progress tracking - blending gameplay, navigation, and competition into one cohesive experience.
The core challenge was designing an experience that works in motion, under time pressure, and across multiple roles (players, teams, and event organizers), while keeping the interface intuitive, fast, and immersive.
E
Event Screens
Design Goals
đ§ Clarity in Motion
Design an interface thatâs easy to understand at a glance â usable while navigating, solving puzzles, or coordinating with teammates in real-world environments.
𧩠Engaging Puzzle Flow
Create a puzzle system that feels rewarding without breaking immersion, combining letter-matching, clues, hints, and penalties into a clear, game-like progression.
đ„ Seamless Team Collaboration
Enable teams to form, manage members, track participation, and communicate without friction before and during events.
đ Location-Aware Progression
Tie puzzles, checkpoints, and event stages directly to GPS-based locations, making the physical journey part of the game logic.
đ Competitive Motivation
Highlight rankings, progress states, time pressure, and rewards to keep teams engaged and motivated throughout the event.
Key Design Solutions
Event-Centric Navigation
The app is structured around events, not generic screens. Each event acts as a container for puzzles, rules, rankings, teams, and progress, reducing cognitive load and keeping users focused on the current challenge.
Puzzle-First UI
Puzzles are designed as self-contained experiences with:
Clear instructions
Visual progress indicators
Contextual hints with time penalties
Strong primary actions (âAnswer Puzzleâ, âCheck Locationâ)
This ensures players always know what to do next.
Team & Role Management
Players can:
Create or join teams via connection codes
Add or remove members
See team status and participation in real time
This supports both casual and competitive play without overwhelming setup flows.
Real-Time Event States
The UI adapts based on event status:
Not started
In progress
Location locked / unlocked
Puzzle solved
This dynamic behavior keeps the experience responsive and prevents user confusion during live events.
Dark Mode, High-Contrast Visual Language
A dark UI with bold accent colors improves outdoor readability, battery efficiency, and visual focus, especially important for long, real-world events.
End Result
A fully designed mobile experience that transforms real-world rallies into interactive, puzzle-driven competitions:
Teams can join events, manage members, solve puzzles, navigate to locations, and track rankings in one seamless flow.
Event organizers gain a scalable system for creating structured, replayable rally experiences without manual coordination.
Players stay engaged through clear progression, competitive feedback, and immersive game mechanics.
The result is a distinctive event platform that blends UX clarity, game design, and real-world interaction, creating a memorable experience that feels more like an adventure than a traditional app.