Free Chicago Scavenger Hunt: For Tourists and Locals

Chicago has so many sights to see, and this free scavenger hunt will lead you to all the best places, local haunts, and have you keeping an eye out for what makes Chicago unique! Below, is our free scavenger hunt, where you can click or tap each item to mark it as complete. And for the planners out there, you can drag and drop rows to change the order in case you want to map out everything in advance.

Read further for more information on how to play or check out our hard-mode Chicago scavenger hunt if you prefer that over the below checklist-style option.

For a print-and-play instead, click the picture below and you can download and print that.

Chicago Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger Hunt Checklist for Chicago

ItemPoints
Cloud Gate (The Bean)3
Lion statues at the Art Institute of Chicago4
Ferris Wheel at the Navy Pier3
Willis Tower Skydeck4
The Magnificent Mile shopping district on Michigan Avenue2
Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park3
Wrigley Field3
The Museum of Science and Industry3
The Chicago Riverwalk3
The Chicago Theatre marquee on State Street2
Dinosaur skeletons at the Field Museum of Natural History4
Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion2
A giraffe at the Lincoln Park Zoo4
The John Hancock Center’s 360 Chicago Observation Deck3
An otter at the Shedd Aquarium4
The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park3
The Second City comedy club4
The Robie House2
The glass dome of the Chicago Cultural Center2
The 6064
The Garfield Park Conservatory3
The Willis Tower Skydeck Ledge3
The Urbanbelly Mural in Wicker Park4
The Harold Washington Library Center2
Millennium Park’s Crown Fountain3
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)2
The Chicago Botanic Garden2
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum3
The Green Mill Cocktail Lounge3
Portillo’s4
A person wearing Chicago Bulls gear2
A person wearing Chicago Bears gear2
A person wearing Chicago Cubs gear2
A person wearing Chicago White Sox gear3

How to Play

For this Chicago scavenger hunt, we’ve come up with a list of things to see in the city. Some of them are popular tourist attractions while others are more local secrets. For each item, you (or your team) will need to take a picture that shows both you and the listed item. For each photo you take, you’ll get the corresponding amount of points listed to the side of that item. 

At the end of the allotted time for the scavenger hunt, you can see what level of rank you’ve earned and whichever team has the most points wins! You’ll be allowed to go to City Hall and ask for a key to the city. (We haven’t actually made any arrangements, but it doesn’t hurt to ask, right?)

Additional considerations for how you play:

  1. We recommend three hours for the scavenger hunt just to have a limit on the time you’re focused on this activity, but that’s up to you.
  2. If you’re traveling as part of a group and don’t want to split up, we’d recommend treating this as a game of I-Spy and awarding points to whoever in the group spots the item first or takes the first photo.
  3. It’s up to you how tough you want to make it with respect to awarding points just for seeing something, or if you have to go inside, or taking it further and requiring even more depending on the location.

Score and Rankings

0-10: Did you even leave your hotel?
11-20: Business trip traveler
21-30: Frequent business trip traveler
31-40: Tourist
41-50: Lives in the next city over
51-60: Over-caffeinated tourist
61-70: Recent transplant
71-80: Local
81-90: Actually grew up here and has always lived here
91-100: Mayor

Think you’re the best ever? Let us know how you did in the comments (and how long it took you) and sign up for our newsletter to be alerted of other scavenger hunts, our challenges designed for only the top finishers, and more.

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