ClueKeeper
ClueKeeper is a bootstrapped, two-sided platform for creating and playing location-based clue hunts, serving hunt creators (escape rooms, puzzle designers, team-building companies) and end players (families, corporate teams, puzzle enthusiasts) via a web creator app and iOS/Android mobile player app, monetizing through per-team transaction fees and a Pay As You Go subscription.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersLos Altos, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What ClueKeeper does
ClueKeeper is a privately held, bootstrapped software company founded in 2013 and based in Los Altos, California, that operates a two-sided platform for creating and playing location-based clue hunts. The product consists of a web-based creator application used to design hunts (with configurable policies for GPS enforcement, scoring, hints, unlock order, and mini-hunt meta-puzzles) and a player-facing mobile app available on iOS and Android that delivers clues, accepts answer submissions, and displays real-time leaderboards. The platform supports two distribution models: Hosted Hunts (scheduled, staff-assisted events at a flat $10 per team) and Self-Guided Hunts (on-demand, sold via a Stripe-integrated point-of-sale page at up to $5 per team plus processing fees). Creators can also subscribe to a Pay As You Go model that bills weekly only when hunt codes are redeemed.
The business model is transaction-based with a light subscription layer. Free tier for building and testing hunts drives creator acquisition; monetization occurs at the point of sale or code redemption. Distribution is global via the Apple App Store and Google Play, with no geographic restrictions disclosed. The company augments its platform with a Zappar partnership for augmented reality content integration, a video tutorial library, and a ClueKeeper Developers Facebook community that supports creator onboarding and retention.
ClueKeeper serves two distinct customer types: hunt creators (escape room operators, puzzle designers, team-building companies, and individual organizers who build and sell hunts) and end players (families, corporate teams, and puzzle enthusiasts who consume the hunts). Named enterprise and institutional users include Stanford University, Rose-Hulman University, Palantir Technologies, The Motley Fool, Palace Games, Ravenchase Adventures, and Bay Area Night Game. The team is small (11-50 employees), led by founders Rich Bragg (CEO) and Brent Holman (CCO), with no external funding rounds or M&A activity disclosed.
ClueKeeper firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ClueKeeper
- Legal name
- ClueKeeper LLC
- Website
- https://cluekeeper.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- ClueKeeper is a bootstrapped, two-sided platform for creating and playing location-based clue hunts, serving hunt creators (escape rooms, puzzle designers, team-building companies) and end players (families, corporate teams, puzzle enthusiasts) via a web creator app and iOS/Android mobile player app, monetizing through per-team transaction fees and a Pay As You Go subscription.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ClueKeeper industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Location-based games and mobile scavenger-hunt software
- NAICS
- Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Membership, Accreditation & Credentialing Registration Systems (THAHAFAG)
Keywords
Where ClueKeeper is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Los Altos
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
ClueKeeper business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Self-Guided Hunt Sales (Transaction Fee): ClueKeeper charges creators a fee for each self-guided hunt sale through their platform. For hosted hunts, a flat rate of $10 per team is charged. For self-guided hunts, a variable rate up to $5 per team plus Stripe processing fees (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction). Creators receive the remainder minus ClueKeeper's platform fee (capped at $5).
- Pay As You Go Subscription: Creators can subscribe to Pay As You Go, which allows them to generate hunt codes free of charge upfront and only pay when codes are redeemed by players. Billed weekly with no charge if no codes were redeemed.
- Hosted Hunt Registration: For private or hosted hunts, ClueKeeper charges a flat rate of $10 per team. Discounts are available for non-profit organizations or charity events.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Hosted Hunt - $10 per team flat rate |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Self-Guided Hunt - Up to $5 per team + Stripe fees |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Pay As You Go Subscription |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
ClueKeeper product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ClueKeeper is a cloud-based platform consisting of a web application for hunt creators and a native mobile application (iOS/Android) for players, used to design, distribute, and play location-based clue hunts. The platform supports two product types — Hosted Hunts (scheduled, staff-assisted events at a flat $10 per team) and Self-Guided Hunts (on-demand, app-only experiences sold via ClueKeeper's point-of-sale page or hunt codes for up to $5 per team plus Stripe fees). Creators pay transaction fees or subscribe to Pay As You Go weekly billing, while the platform handles GPS-verified clues, scoring, hints, leaderboards, offline play, and Stripe-based payment processing.
Product overview
ClueKeeper is a unified platform consisting of a web-based creator application and mobile apps (iOS/Android) for playing location-based clue hunts. The platform supports two hunt types: Hosted Hunts (scheduled, staff-assisted events) and Self-Guided Hunts (on-demand, self-service). Core features include GPS-enforced location verification, a mini-hunt meta-puzzle system, point-based scoring with hints, online leaderboards, and Zappar AR integration for augmented reality content. Creators build hunts using a step-by-step web interface and distribute them via hunt codes or point-of-sale. The platform also includes free tutorial hunts for onboarding and a Pay As You Go billing model for creators.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- ClueKeeper Platform End-to-end cloud-based platform consisting of a web application for creating hunts and a mobile application for playing them, supporting hosted and self-guided location-based clue hunts with GPS verification, scoring, hints, and leaderboards.
- ClueKeeper Mobile App Native iOS (12.0+) and Android (7.0+) application that delivers clues to players, accepts answers, handles in-app purchases for hints and self-guided hunts, and shows real-time leaderboards during play.
- Hosted Hunts One-time, scheduled clue-hunt events where teams register in advance and play at a set date and time with on-site host support, priced at a flat $10 per team through the ClueKeeper platform.
- Self-Guided Hunts On-demand, mobile-app-only clue hunts that do not require on-site staff and can be sold through ClueKeeper's point-of-sale page or distributed via creator-issued hunt codes, with fees of up to $5 per team plus Stripe processing.
- Pay As You Go Creator Subscription Weekly subscription billing model for hunt creators that allows them to generate hunt codes free of charge upfront and pay ClueKeeper only when those codes are redeemed by players.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 100 combined years of puzzle hunt experience among founding team
Companies that use ClueKeeper
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
ClueKeeper technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
Feature6 records
ClueKeeper partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- ZapparcoreClueKeeper has partnered with Zappar to bring augmented reality (AR) integration to location-based clue hunts. Creators can build AR experiences using ZapWorks Studio and integrate them into their ClueKeeper hunts. As of June 2025, new creators must use ZapWorks Studio (requiring coding expertise) as the legacy ZapWorks Designer tool is deprecated.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
ClueKeeper competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- Zappar: Zappar is ClueKeeper's AR technology partner, providing the ZapWorks platform that powers ClueKeeper's augmented reality integrations — an enabler/partner rather than direct competitor.
Broad incumbents
- Eventbrite: Eventbrite is a large-scale event registration and ticketing platform that broadly competes in hosted event infrastructure, though it does not specialize in location-based clue hunts.
Direct peers
- The Go Game: The Go Game provides team-building scavenger hunts and gamified experiences for corporate clients, overlapping with ClueKeeper's hosted hunt use case for enterprise customers.
- Actionbound: Actionbound provides an interactive scavenger hunt app with GPS-based missions, quizzes, and tasks, closely mirroring ClueKeeper's location-based clue hunt model for both consumer and educational use.
- Strayboots: Strayboots designs and operates scavenger hunts and team-building activities for corporate clients across many cities, overlapping with ClueKeeper's hosted hunt offering for enterprise team-building.
- Scavify: Scavify is a scavenger hunt and gamification platform used for employee engagement, onboarding, and team-building, sharing ClueKeeper's hosted-event and leaderboard mechanics.
- Let's Roam: Let's Roam offers self-guided scavenger hunts and team-building adventures via a mobile app, directly competing with ClueKeeper's self-guided hunt product for consumer and corporate segments.
- Goosechase: Goosechase is a scavenger hunt and team-building platform with mobile apps and a creator interface, directly competing with ClueKeeper in the location-based interactive experience market for corporate and campus events.
Emerging players
- Geocaching: Geocaching is a location-based outdoor activity with a global community of players, sharing ClueKeeper's GPS-verified, location-driven gameplay model though focused on geocache discovery rather than narrative puzzle hunts.
- Detour (by Bose): Detour produces location-based audio walking tours and experiences, sharing the broader category of GPS-triggered location-based narrative experiences relevant to ClueKeeper's market.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
ClueKeeper social profiles
Digital presenceClueKeeper financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ClueKeeper leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
ClueKeeper funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ClueKeeper M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ClueKeeper
What does ClueKeeper do?
ClueKeeper is a cloud-based platform consisting of a web application for hunt creators and a native mobile application (iOS/Android) for players, used to design, distribute, and play location-based clue hunts. The platform supports two product types — Hosted Hunts (scheduled, staff-assisted events at a flat $10 per team) and Self-Guided Hunts (on-demand, app-only experiences sold via ClueKeeper's point-of-sale page or hunt codes for up to $5 per team plus Stripe fees). Creators pay transaction fees or subscribe to Pay As You Go weekly billing, while the platform handles GPS-verified clues, scoring, hints, leaderboards, offline play, and Stripe-based payment processing.
Is ClueKeeper a public or private company?
ClueKeeper is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was ClueKeeper founded?
ClueKeeper was founded in 2013. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is ClueKeeper based?
ClueKeeper is headquartered in Los Altos, United States, in the North America region.
How does ClueKeeper make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Self-Guided Hunt Sales (Transaction Fee) is the primary driver. The others are pay As You Go Subscription and hosted Hunt Registration.
Who are ClueKeeper's main competitors?
Zappar is listed as an others. Eventbrite is listed as a broad incumbent. Direct peers are The Go Game, Actionbound, Strayboots, Scavify, Let's Roam and Goosechase. Emerging players are Geocaching and Detour (by Bose).
Does ClueKeeper have an API?
No public API is recorded for ClueKeeper.
What industry is ClueKeeper in?
ClueKeeper's product category is Location-based games and mobile scavenger-hunt software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAHAFAG, Membership, Accreditation & Credentialing Registration Systems. Its NAICS code is 561920 and its SIC code is 7372.