Chen Chen, born in the 1980s, is a white collar worker in a multinational company in Shanghai’s Jing’an District. After work recently, she changed her high heels to sneakers and went to a city orienteering challenge with her friends. From 7:30 pm to 10:00pm, her team went to Julu Road, Fumin Road, Changle Road, Hengshan Road and Yongjia Road, and had a fun-filled experience under the plane trees.

Chen is like many other young people in the city of Shanghai, who have found new fun after work by taking part in night city orienteering challenges. Having taken the place of Escape Room games, KTV (karaoke) and name tag games, the new sport has become the hottest form of recreation.

“The orienteering challenge sport itself demands both intellectual and physical abilities. The players have to decode the puzzles according to the clues they are given, and get to the destination as soon as possible. Doing this in the evening is more fun than in the morning,” said Chen. Instead of working overtime, people who want to play the game can go directly to the gathering point from their offices. At the same time, in the challenge they can fully enjoy the cityscape at night.

As the night economy in Shanghai is getting more mature, Shanghai’s night life is more appealing. “After the game is over, you can go shopping, wandering, or eat out to your heart’s content, so as to fully appreciate the charm of the sleepless city,” added Chen.

Different from traditional city orienteering challenges, which are often limited to designated areas, night city orienteering challenges can be planned over a wider area and there is no restriction in terms of transport. According to Chen, many of her generation are night owls. “We like to hang out with our friends or colleagues after work. In the past, the options for us were dining out, singing karaoke, or seeing movies. Now we can play orienteering challenge games at night and run through the Inner Ring of Shanghai.”

“For me, the orienteering challenge at night is like a magnified version of Escape Room,” said another enthusiast of the night city orienteering challenge, who is fond of outdoor sports herself. “We have to solve all the mysterious riddles according to the plot.”

According to some industry insiders, many Chinese cities, except for Shanghai, have already seen a boom in night city orienteering challenges, such as Guangzhou, Xiamen, Foshan and Chongqing. While learning to release stress through sports and socialization, more youngsters are harvesting delightful surprises in their spare time.