playvertise vs Cluetivity: the Comparison

Anyone looking for gamification for events comes across Cluetivity sooner or later. At first glance the two platforms look similar: people play, and behind it is a company that wants to achieve something. Look closer, though, and they solve very different problems.

To be upfront: playvertise is our own product. We still try to be fair and say what each tool is best suited for. The information about Cluetivity comes from its website, as of October 2026.

A quick introduction

Cluetivity is a product of Life Action Games GmbH and offers outdoor escape games and scavenger hunts with augmented reality and GPS. Ready-made scenarios such as “Treasure Hunters” or “Operation Mindfall” lead teams through a city or a site, with riddles and virtual characters appearing in the real surroundings. The games are aimed at experience providers: escape rooms, team building agencies, city tours, paintball venues and campsites, which resell them to their own customers under a licence. Cluetivity cites more than 3 million players in over 40 countries.

playvertise comes from Vienna and grew out of billboard.games. The platform is called GameHub and makes brands playable: the game runs on a big screen, controlled by phone, or right in the phone browser and on a website. More than 100 brands play with playvertise, adding up to over 300,000 plays.

The biggest difference: selling an experience or making a brand playable

Cluetivity is a tool for companies that sell game experiences. An escape room operator uses it to take its offer outdoors, an agency runs team events for anything from small groups to more than 2,000 people. People play in teams, each team gets an iPad, and a round lasts as long as an outing.

playvertise is a marketing tool. The game carries your brand and runs where your audience already is: on the big screen at a trade show booth, in a shop window or on advertising screens, controlled with people’s own phones, or with Web & Social right in the phone browser and on your website. Rounds are short and suit passing foot traffic. Before playing, participants enter their details with consent, so you end up with contacts your sales team can work with.

Compared on five points

	Cluetivity	playvertise
Use cases	Outdoor escape games, scavenger hunts and tours for escape rooms, team building, tourism and education	Branded games for trade shows, events, retail, DOOH, websites and social
Gameplay	Teams solve riddles on site with AR and GPS, along a longer route	Short rounds on the big screen or on the phone, solo or in multiplayer
Devices	One iPad per team	Participants’ own phones, no app, plus a screen with a browser
Data	Operator dashboard with each team’s location and progress in real time	Lead fields with consent, real-time dashboard, CSV export, CRM connection as an add-on
Pricing	City licence as a guide from €199 a month or €1,990 a year, custom game from €4,990	Public prices with a calculator, e.g. trade show week from €1,850 net, online campaign from €2,200 plus €100 a month

When Cluetivity fits

If you offer and sell experiences, for example as an escape room, event agency or tourism business, and your guests should spend an afternoon outdoors together, Cluetivity is an obvious choice. Ready-made scenarios, a city licence with territorial exclusivity and custom games are built for exactly that.

When playvertise fits

If the game should build awareness for your brand and bring in contacts, the question changes. At a trade show booth, in a shop window, in store or on advertising screens, people decide in seconds whether to join in. That calls for a game people understand without an introduction, that runs on the big screen and is controlled with their own phone, without an app and without devices you have to hand out. Examples are the FRIPAC-MEDIS spin the wheel at Top Hair 2026 with more than 600 prizes in two show days, or the Stibitzer campaign on 57 DOOH screens.

At company parties and events, playvertise also has something for every guest at once: multiplayer games on the big screen or the Live Wall, a photo wall where guests create the content.

What to look for in the comparison

• Who plays? A team taking an afternoon, or passers-by deciding in seconds?
• Where do people play? Outdoors along a route, or at a place with a screen, online or both?
• What should the result be? A sold experience, or contacts and attention for your brand?
• How is it billed? A yearly licence per city, or a flat fee per activation and a licence per game?

How playvertise differs from online gamification tools is covered in our comparison playvertise vs Leadfamly, and a wider overview is in The 5 best gamification tools for brands in 2026. To see playvertise for yourself, browse all games in the game library or get in touch for a demo.

Note: The information about Cluetivity is based on cluetivity.com, as of October 2026. Its prices are listed as a guide, and features and offers change. Check the current status before you decide.