Garipalli (Gari from Garibaldi, and palli meaning “fast” in Korean) was founded in 2021 by young entrepreneurs with the aim of offering interactive and unconventional playful experiences across Italian cities. This is how City Escapes were born: escape-room-style, open-air, city-scale game experiences activated through a mobile application.
Today, Garipalli also designs digital and phygital games — blending the real and the digital — to engage communities in innovative and entertaining ways, helping organizations and companies communicate effectively through the power of play.

CITY ESCAPES: THE CITY IS YOUR PLAYGROUND

Set within historic Italian cities, City Escapes are hybrid experiences that merge the digital world with the physical one, turning cities into large “game arenas” for young people, travelers, backpackers, tourists, as well as residents and families. Through clues to collect and puzzles to solve, players are guided across key areas of the city — often lesser-known ones — and get to relive stories based on real historical events.
Solving the challenges always requires interaction with the surrounding environment, encouraging participants to observe the city with attention and curiosity. Garipalli’s City Escapes combine digital innovation with real places and people, offering engaging, educational, and immersive experiences suitable for both curious travelers seeking smart ways to explore cities, and local “domestic tourists” looking for new activities to enjoy with friends or family.

POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE TERRITORY

Thanks to precise and curated storytelling, tourists are guided towards alternative and less-frequented areas of the city. This redistribution of visitors and of tourist spending helps promote local businesses that are usually outside the main tourist routes.

Each City Escape is environmentally sustainable: all experiences are designed to be completed on foot, encouraging slow mobility and a positive impact on the territory and its community.

Every City Escape includes partnerships with selected local businesses. Players are invited to take a “rest stop” during the game at cafés, bars, bakeries, bookshops or other local venues chosen for their sustainability, historical value and authenticity. Since the visit is perceived as part of the gameplay, purchasing a product or having a drink becomes a natural and engaging consequence of the experience.

FROM CONSUMER TO BUSINESS

Garipalli also develops new forms of digital entertainment to help organizations and companies reach new and existing communities with effective, measurable messages through play. Beyond awareness-raising, education and territorial promotion, City Escapes have supported major brands in engaging their communities through communication and onboarding initiatives.
From product launches to internal communication campaigns, leading brands and groups that have chosen Garipalli include Primark, Amaro Montenegro, Jack & Jones, Kiko, Cluedo, and Bending Spoons. Garipalli collaborates with renowned companies to design highly engaging, fully customized phygital entertainment solutions tailored to diverse engagement needs.
For municipalities, public institutions, schools, and corporate team-building events, Garipalli creates bespoke events and experiences modeled on City Escapes.

BEYOND CITY ESCAPES

City Escapes have grown far beyond entertainment. Garipalli has partnered with the European Parliament Office in Rome and the Municipality of Milan to raise awareness among young people on key social and civic topics: from the role of the European Parliament, to the importance of voting, to the tragic events of the Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan, and the cultural heritage of remarkable sites such as Palazzo Gonzaga in the province of Mantua.
Garipalli launched the first Museum Escape at the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia, followed by Accademia Carrara in Bergamo: immersive experiences inside museum halls that guide visitors through sculptures and paintings hiding clues and solutions inside the artworks.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

In September 2024, Garipalli won first place in InnovaCultura, a project promoted by Regione Lombardia to identify and reward startups and young companies capable of innovating the cultural sector through creative innovation.