By The German National Tourist Office (GNTB) and Nuremberg Municipal Museums are turning their minds to apps in a bid to reach younger audiences.
The GNTB has recently entered two of its latest digital projects, the game app Grimm’s Quest and the mixed reality app UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany, in various digital awards competitions.
Grimm’s Quest is a browser-based, mobile-optimised game that explores the German Fairy-tale Route. International travellers are taken to places that inspired the fairy tales, guided by 3D papercraft-style characters via an illustrated map with mini games (try catching the Frog Prince. I’m not owning up to my atrocious score!) and travel tips.
At the German Design Award 2026*, Grimm’s Quest was the winner in the category ‘Excellent Communications Design – Interactive User Experience’, and at the Digital Communication Awards (DCA)**, it won gold in the ‘Contest & Game’ category, and bronze in the ‘Storytelling’ category. It has also been nominated for the German Brand Award and the German Innovation Award 2026.
And earlier this month, the GNTB mixed reality app UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany , produced by Triptale, received the Next Reality Festival‘s XR Industry Activation Award*** in the ‘Interactive Business’ category. The UNESCO app has also been nominated for the German Tourism Award and the AUREA Award.
Petra Hedorfer, CEO of the GNTB, says they have been setting the pace in tourism marketing with the implementation of immersive technologies and gamification solutions, for years. “Digital applications are an indispensable tool for presenting Germany as an innovative and attractive quality travel destination in the competition between destinations.”
Perhaps more interesting is the Nuremberg Museums’ Tribunal 45 project, which is designed to be both educational and thought-provoking.
The Memorium Nuremberg Trials has commissioned games developer Playing History to build an app where players can actually play roles in the trials (eg. Aline Chalufour, a female lawyer from the French prosecution team), gather and sort documentary evidence, exchange different arguments during the debate phase, and decide who is more convincing.
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Playing History’s MD, Dr. Martin Thiele-Schwez, has been explaining the development of the game in the Nuremberg Museums blog. (You may need to translate the page)
Playing History have been working on the app for months and recently showed elements of the game at Gamescom Congress 2025. It is due to be launched by the end of 2025.
* The German Design Award is presented by the German Design Council. It is one of the most prestigious design awards worldwide. The award ceremony will take place on 6 February 2026, as part of the Ambiente trade fair in Frankfurt am Main.
** Since 2011, Quadriga University of Applied Sciences Berlin has been honouring outstanding projects, campaigns, and innovations in the field of online communication from across Europe in a total of 50 categories at the DCAs. Submissions are evaluated by a jury of experts from the fields of science and online communication.
*** With this new award, the jury of the Next Reality Festival honours projects by companies that achieve a noticeable impact within their industry through the strategic and sustainable use of virtual, augmented, or mixed reality. The jury was looking for projects that change processes, set new standards, or inspire entire markets. The award was presented at the nextReality.festival on November 6 in Hamburg.
