Lola A. Åkerström spotlights a cool new app called Stockholm Sounds.
All photos courtesy of Stockholm Business Region/Pergate
Every once in awhile, we stumble across cool apps and tools that enrich our experiences in Stockholm and one such app is called “Stockholm Sounds”. Touted as an unconventional travel guide to the city, this mobile app is part game, part music guide and it allows visitors to explore Stockholm through its sounds.
The game-based app takes travelers through some of Stockholm’s known and unknown music and sound locations. “The app suggests places and experiences based on your location, and each offering its own challenge, history, quiz or gaming session,” shares the Stockholm Business Region, which developed the app.
Stockholm Sounds was created as a pilot project in cooperation between Stockholm Business Region and Stockholm-based music sharing company Spotify, the relatively new Swedish Music Hall of Fame which opened up last year alongside the ABBA museum, Swedavia which operates and manages Swedish airports, as well as sound artists like Håkan Lidbo.
The app was developed by local gaming company Pergate.
How it works
From clubs and shops to music scenes, cafés and museums, this free app lets you discover some of Stockholm’s hotspots for music and sound experiences. As you explore Stockholm, Stockholm Sounds presents selected music and sounds as challenges to identify, tells stories related to specific locations, and lets you claim points to get rewards as you progress within the game.
Travelers arriving at Stockholm Arlanda Airport receive their first assignment directly which they can start right away but challenges within the app can be started anywhere in the world and you don’t physically have to be in Stockholm to use it.
If the user succeeds in carrying out their assignments, they gain access to unique experiences and events through the accumulation of rewards.
Sample Locations Included
Stockholm Sounds incorporates and covers roughly 40 locations around town which are in some way connected to its music scene and various everyday sound experiences.
Sample quizzes and sound information include:
– What’s the sound of sushi? Discover more at Stockholm’s best kept secrets Akki Sushi in trendy Södermalm
– Music quiz at Pet Sounds – the app guides you around Northern Europe’s best-preserved record store
– The Stampen Blues Jam – jam with jazz giants including Lucky Thompson, Dizzie Gillespie and Sweden’s own jazz diva Monica Zetterlund, who were all regulars at Stockholm’s cozy Stampen jazz club
– Experience Voodoo music at Marie Laveau, Södermalm’s own Cajun hang-out
– Experience green drinks and sounds in Strindberg’s Red room at Berns entertainment palace
Through the Stockholm Sounds app, you can also access six interactive sounds installations around Stockholm which were created by Swedish sound performer Håkan Lidbo.
Getting Started
Stockholm Sounds is available free of charge for download from the Apple AppStore as a beta release and can be played entirely offline so it doesn’t require WiFi access or data roaming.
