Going for a walk in nature is already a pleasant activity. It becomes even more so when the course turns into an open-air escape game.
Creating entertaining and fun experiences for young and old in parks is the mission of Parcours Ludiques, a young company founded by Dominique Gauthier, who is also creative director.
The Fun Parcours entertainment offer took off at the start of the pandemic.
“At the peak of the first wave, the only activity families could do was go outside and play. We wanted to make walking in the parks more fun with our play-based concepts,” says Gauthier.
A diversified offer
Puzzle games, discovery trails, gourmet trails... In two years, Parcours Ludiques has deployed its creations to more than 75 organizations - mainly municipalities -, entertaining more than 100,000 people across Quebec, from safe way.
Depending on the target audience, customers can choose a concept already in the company's catalog and rent it for a fixed period or obtain a tailor-made experience.
"The creative potential is great," says Dominique Gauthier. For example, in Trois-Rivières, as part of a Christmas market, we created a one-hour gourmet tour during which families could taste five bites or cocktails offered by the bars and restaurants present on the site. . At the end, they were entitled to a private musical performance. »
A mobile application (or a web application) helps participants follow the routes, whether to find information on the discoveries they can make there or clues to solve the puzzles.
“In this way, the municipalities do not need manpower to animate the course which is free. Nor do they have to invest in additional infrastructure. We use existing elements, "says Dominique Gauthier.
He and his creative team have no shortage of ideas for developing new activities. The company plans to soon offer routes for biking, driving and even kayaking.
Influenced by Alexandre Taillefer
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Dominique Gauthier was a project manager at Moment Factory. "I felt like I wasn't playing with my own toys. I dreamed of setting up a project from A to Z,” he says.
For his 30th birthday, his wife gave him a special gift: a one-hour meeting with businessman Alexandre Taillefer, which turned out to be a crash course in entrepreneurship. "That's when it hit me and I decided to start an entertainment business. »
Before founding Parcours Ludiques, he therefore created a first company, Trik Truk, with a partner, in 2016. “We imagined a puzzle game that transported participants into the world of Sherlock Holmes. For this, we had set up a replica of a train of the time in a tractor-trailer and we traveled to festivals and other events across the province. Mysterious events took place there that teams of two or three people had to solve. »
Trik Truk has also developed team building activities for which demand was high. Then came the pandemic...
“Overnight, we went from two events a day to nothing. Once the shock was over, that's when we decided to create Parcours Ludiques, which quickly became a success. Our offer met a real need,” explains Dominique Gauthier.
He does not abandon Trik Truk however. As soon as the employers have resumed activities for employees, it will relaunch the activities. In the meantime, he has developed an expansion plan for Parcours Ludiques to develop the Ontario market.
