City Peaks Challenge 2

A game that helps you get to peak fitness

Office life is increasingly deskbound, and staring out at the city skyline while slumped at a computer isn’t good for our health or sense of adventure. So Digit thought: why not ditch the lift and turn taking the stairs into mountain climbs that make it fun to get fit?
City Peaks Challenge is a game where players race each other up the office stairs. Inspired by tower running - the sport of running up the stairs of skyscrapers – it’s the ultimate cardiovascular exercise. Just 15 minutes of tower running equals the workout of a 30 minutes run, and with City Peaks it’s also fun.

How does it work?

Using NFC technology, players swipe their Oyster cards on readers at the bottom and top of the office staircase that record how far and fast they climb. Each player logs in online to start their climbing mission. Climbers are represented as flags on the faces of iconic London buildings, visualised as mountains. The first climber to place their flag on the summit conquers the mountain; then everyone’s scores are recorded, and the whole group moves to an even taller peak. When all the London City Peaks have been climbed, the game resets, and the climbers compete to beat the time of the conquering mountaineer. In addition each climber’s overall distance climbed is recorded to give a personal sense of achievement. Players are also rewarded with medals and messages of encouragement. Edmund Hillary, one of the first men to conquer Mt. Everest, said: ‘you don’t have to be a fantastic hero to compete. You can be an ordinary person, sufficiently motivated.’ We agree. You don’t have to travel far to climb great heights. You could just take the stairs.