New App “Köln Duell” offers lessons in the Cologne way of life

Cologne, 26.05.19 

Where is Karl-Berbuer-Platz? What is it about carnival? What is actually no question for seasoned Cologne residents is sometimes a problem for new Cologne residents. Like Robin Kracht (25) and Christian Paland (25), graduates of the Digital Management course at the University of Applied Sciences Fresenius and programmer Oliver Sonntag (24).

“All three of us are not from Cologne and have not understood why carnival is so popular and why people drink Kölsch and no other beer.

The three of them, who came from Paderborn and Aachen to study in Cologne, didn’t understand one or the other Cologne resident at the beginning. Because of the dialect.

“Cologners are local patriots!”

Out of their irritation, the three graduates have now made a job and in return delved deeply into the peculiarities of the Cologne way of life and history. Together they have developed an app called “Köln Duell”, which contains more than 2300 questions on topics from the fields of history, culture, entertainment, gastronomy and carnival.

“It’s the most Cologne app ever,” says Kracht with a smile, “so it should work on the market. “The people of Cologne are local patriots, they are crazy about their city.”

Anyone who plays along can use the app to find an opponent and starts the quiz at the lowest level – as “Düsseldorfer”. The more questions you answer, the higher you climb in the game’s ranking, all the way up to Cologne’s president.

App so far only for iPhone users

Players can chat with the opponent via a message function. The game is free, but can currently only be used for the iPhone, “We are working on an Android version,” says Kracht.

For two years the game developers have been tinkering with the app, questions had to be considered, some had to be discarded. The tasks should not be too easy and not too difficult.  “After all, it should be a game for everyone.”

Their research took them to the lower chandelier room and the historic forts. In addition, a start-up involves a lot of work – from accounting to business plans and marketing.

Soon perhaps for other cities as well

In the meantime, they have moved from the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences to the neighboring Startplatz, a start-up center that is also located in the Mediapark. If things go well, the three inventors are thinking about transferring the Cologne app to other cities – Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg or Munich could be considered.

Initial successes prove them right: the game has reached thousands of downloads. Mayor Henriette Recker is said to have played it, as did NRW’s Minister of Economic Affairs Andreas Pinkwart. In the meantime, the young men are working with a number of companies in the region who are giving away prizes for the game: tickets to the games of Fortuna Köln or the Cologne basketball team Rhein-Stars, for example.

Original article in the Express from 26.05.19: here