Fighting glum-looking trolls as a warrior, opening locked doors as an elf or bringing light into the darkness as a wizard—not at the living room table or on the games console, but in real life! This is possible at the Nibelungenhort in Bürstadt. In the only fantasy role-playing centre in south-west Germany, children solve puzzles from the world of legends together.
Leo wants to ascend to the next level today and become a monster, a troll perhaps, or a dark elf. His friend Linus has long gone over to the dark side and is up to mischief in the forest; even today, on Leo’s ninth birthday. Leo is celebrating it in the Nibelungenhort centre like many of his friends before him. The children know their roles well and know exactly what equipment they need: a torch, a sword, a magic wand and a cape to dress as a monster. Gamemaster Bärbel Jakob equips the children according to their role and hands the little heroes a riddle card with the question they have to answer as a group: “What lights up in the forest?” A short time later, the group has disappeared into the labyrinth on the left in search of the answer. All that can be heard from outside is the roar of the monsters emerging from the inside.
Into the labyrinth we go! Where adventures await you!
Bowling used to be played here, on the edge of the industrial estate in the north of Bürstadt. Until Bärbel turned the hall into the Nibelungenhort, a fantasy role-playing centre, “the only one in south-west Germany,” as she emphasises. The others are in Hamburg, Munich and Nuremberg. A labyrinth of corridors, rooms, doors and squares has been created where bowling balls used to roll. There is a town with a laboratory, an observatory, a tavern and Kriemhild’s rose garden as well as a forest that harbours monsters and a lurking dragon. The children do not re-enact the real story of The Nibelungs here. However, they move through the world of legends and solve puzzles together.
Bärbel Jakob explains the characters and their different powers.
The game begins with an introduction for children who have never been here before. “Each group needs a wizard,” Bärbel explains. This player is the one who carries the light. Because it is dark in the labyrinth and many clues can only be seen in the flickering light of the electric tea lights. Elves are important, too. “They safeguard the keys and open doors.” Provided they have the right key for the right door—another puzzle to solve. Warriors fight the monsters. And if they are injured, the healers can help. The children can only solve their tasks as a team. “That’s what makes role-playing games so great,” thinks Bärbel. “You don’t play against each other, but with each other.”
The Nibelungenhort is located in the north of Bürstadt…
… where elves and healers wander around on weekends.
Bärbel hands the key to the elf in the team…
… and off they go into the labyrinth…
… where puzzles and answers wait for them.
They are equipped with LARP weapons…
… because there are monsters to be fought in the forest.
Special pieces of play money are the reward at the end.
“It wasn’t planned at all” that she would open a role-playing centre. She did it anyhow, at over 50 years. A trip to Hamburg triggered the unplanned new beginning. She travelled there with her husband and her youngest daughter in 2016. “We had long been fascinated by fantasy role-playing games,” she recalls. They played tabletop role-playing games such as Das schwarze Auge, in which the players take on fictional roles and embark on an adventure story together. The game characters and the course of the game are recorded with a pen on paper.
It’s not just the children who have to work together here, but also the parents.
Bärbel Jakob
“We learnt in Hamburg that there is a centre where you could actually play such role-playing games in live action. We knew straight away that we had to go there.” Soon afterwards they went to visit the Drachenlabyrinth (dragon’s labyrinth) in Hamburg. It was a centre made for children—but the couple were thrilled. “Since then, we’ve always told parents who were looking for a birthday location for their children: Well, we know a place to go, but it’s in Hamburg.”
As a bearer of light, the wizard helps in the search for the answer.
Bärbel is a trained banking specialist. After the birth of her four children she used to work as a freelancer for the Südhessen Morgen newspaper for many years writing about the asparagus festival in Lampertheim or the volunteer fire brigade, for example. “I really enjoyed doing that, but it became increasingly difficult to make a living from the pay.” She needed a second source of income. Since her experience in Hamburg she was holding fast to the dream that this source could be a role-playing centre. “But it took a while before I had the courage to actually realise it.”
Bärbel has always been fascinated by fantasy role-playing games—and is happy to pass on her enthusiasm.
She took the plunge at the end of 2016, convinced that a role-playing centre in the southern Hessian Ried region would be just as popular as one in Hamburg or Munich. Her husband and children shared her vision. “Had I known back then what I’d be facing, I may not have dared to do it,” she says today. The first obstacle turned up right at the beginning: finding a place big enough for a labyrinth and lots of tables to accommodate several groups of children during their stay. “When I rang the district building authority and explained that I wanted to open a labyrinth, the first question was: a corn maze?” When she then explained that it would be one with heroes and monsters, there was silence on the line. But she managed to convince the building authority to find a suitable location in the former bowling hall and to find a bank to give her a loan to build a landscape for heroes and monsters.
The former bowling hall can accommodate several groups of children at one time. To the left is the entrance to the labyrinth.
Most of the backdrops were made by the operators of the Hamburg Drachenlabyrinth, with whom Bärbel has been friends since her visit in 2016, and who have supported and advised her on lots of her ideas. Some of the props come from the collection of the Nibelungenfestspiele festival in Worms Worms: a large cornucopia, a huge chair and several spears, which now serve as curtain rods. The weapons the children fight with are LARP (live action role-playing) weapons and are usually made of foam, so they are not dangerous. But there are still rules that everyone has to follow. It is forbidden to aim for the head, to hit hard or hammer against the backdrops. “I initially thought about doing away with the monsters altogether. But my colleagues from Hamburg said they are the most fun for the children.” The loud roaring in the background proves them right.
Monster versus heroine! By the way, if you come in disguise, you play for free.
Leo and his birthday guests have defeated the monsters in the meantime, just emerging from the labyrinth with the answer to the riddle of what lights up in the forest. “Green mushrooms!” Bärbel nods and hands the heroes their reward: five pieces of play money for each child. This is the Nibelungenhort currency. The bills depict items that were particularly valuable in the Middle Ages, such as salt, iron ore or grain. Once children have collected ten bills depicting a specific item, they can advance to the next level. Then the wizard gets a proper torch, the elf can carry more than one key and the warrior gets a sword. Later, they can also choose the dark side and become monsters. While the children disappear into the labyrinth again with the next puzzle card, Leo’s parents sort the bills and swap them with other parents. Bärbel particularly enjoys this interaction. “It’s not just the children who have to work together here, but also the parents.”
There is a dragon lurking in the Nibelungenhort, of course.
Apart from children’s birthday parties, it is mainly school classes and holiday groups that come to the Nibelungenhort. Visitors come from as far as Aschaffenburg or Frankfurt am Main. “Grandparents with their grandchildren also drop by. Siblings turn up spontaneously. And soon,” she adds, “someone will be celebrating their 45th birthday here.” The only condition: “Children have to accompany them.” No problem at all—anyone who has been here will come back again and again. To solve more puzzles together, collect more bills and advance to the next level.
The Nibelungenhort centre is open on Fridays from 2 pm to 7 pm, Saturdays from 11 am to 7 pm and Sundays from 11 am to 6 pm. Bookings are required and can be made by phone at 0160 1577333 or by email at willkommen@nibelungenhort.org.
The game costs seven euros per hour for each player. Special rates apply for groups. No particular age is required, but at least one person in the group should be able to read in order to solve the puzzles. It is also possible to book a “butler” for the little ones.
The Nibelungenhort centre is located in close proximity to the Bürstadt railway station.
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