Six to eight teams, one phone each, 60 to 120 minutes on foot. €5 per pupil, teachers free.
More than 3,000 classes and groups have played Questo together.
Real students playingMore than 3,000 classes and groups have played Questo together.
We are a group of language students and we played the game with our teacher: a great and fun way to practise, and learn interesting stuff about our city that we didn't know.
Perfect with a group of A Level pupils. Loved it.
Quests for classes
A Questo field trip in Chicago can stay downtown or head out into the neighborhoods. In the Loop and Grant Park, The Art Heist takes teams from the Art Institute past Buckingham Fountain and over the BP Pedestrian Bridge to Cloud Gate. In Chinatown, Quest for the Dragon Kings runs from the Nine Dragon Wall to Ping Tom Memorial Park by the river. Lincoln Park has The Oz Escape around Oz Park and, for high school, Ghosts of Chicago past the Couch Tomb and the Lincoln and Grant monuments. Lincoln Square's Alchemist's Spell reaches the Berlin Wall Monument. The quests cover ages 8 to 18, roughly 3rd through 12th grade.
95 min · 3.4 km · 14 stops
Starts at The Art Institute of Chicago
Public art and sculpture: the Fountain of the Great Lakes, the Seated Lincoln, Cloud Gate and Crown Fountain
63 min · 2.8 km · 12 stops
Starts at Chinatown Square Plaza
The history of Chicago's Chinese American community at the Pui Tak Center and the Chinese American Museum of Chicago
125 min · 3.2 km · 14 stops
Starts at Merz Apothecary
Cold War history at the Berlin Wall Monument
101 min · 4.8 km · 15 stops
Starts at Former Reebie Storage Warehouse
1960s civil rights activism: the Young Lords and the People's Church
42 min · 3.4 km · 10 stops
Starts at The Untitled Picasso
90 min · 2 km · 12 stops
Starts at 1 Chicago Historical Society
90 min · 1.7 km · 12 stops
Starts at Square @ W Armitage Ave/N Clark St
The five senses, explored at stops such as the Farm in the Zoo and Grandmother's Garden
90 min · 3.6 km · 12 stops
Starts at Old Town Triangle District
120 min · 4.1 km · 11 stops
Starts at Wrigley Field
Teams of 3 to 5 students share one phone.
Under-14s need one chaperone per 2 to 3 teams with agreed checkpoints; for ages 14 to 18, follow your school's policy.
The Loop is compact, so classes mostly walk.
CTA buses and 'L' trains offer no group ticket: full fare from age 12, reduced fare for ages 7 to 11 on request.
Free street toilets are scarce and park restrooms are sometimes locked.
Plan stops at the free Chicago Cultural Center or Harold Washington Library; Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion restrooms are closed for construction.
Millennium Park is open 6am to 11pm and allows packed lunches, with tables and a 100-foot picnic table near Cloud Gate plus open lawns.
Expect bag checks during events and take all litter away.
The Chicago Cultural Center (free, daily 10am to 5pm) and Harold Washington Library's ninth-floor Winter Garden cost nothing; the Art Institute is free for under-14s.
Quests can be replayed free within 30 days.
Caution: The Riverwalk and Lakefront Trail are shared with cyclists and get packed on fine days. Keep teams on the pedestrian side of the markings and walking in single file through busy stretches.
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 (Chicago Fire Relic, Fire Cottage), the Civil War era through the Seated Lincoln, the Standing Lincoln and the Ulysses S. Grant Monument, Lincoln Park's past as a city cemetery (Couch Tomb), the Cold War (Berlin Wall Monument), Chinese American history in Chicago (Pui Tak Center, Chinese American Museum of Chicago) and 1960s civil rights activism (the Young Lords and the People's Church).
The urban geography of the Loop, the lakefront parks and contrasting neighborhoods (Chinatown, Lincoln Park, Old Town, Lincoln Square). Students also practice map reading and orientation by following street intersections such as N Halsted St and W Webster Ave.
Close reading of the story text and instructions at each stop. Kid Quest: Solve the case of the lost senses is also available in Spanish and French for world-language classes.
Sharing roles in a small team (navigator, reader, timekeeper), making decisions together and behaving responsibly in public spaces, on residential streets and outside churches and schools.
Price and terms
No minimum group, no time slot.
A class of 30 on one quest: €150.
Choose a questTell us the quest or city, the class size and the dates. We send an invoice to the school.
In short
A school trip to Chicago with Questo is a self-guided city quest. Pupils in teams of 3 to 5 follow a route of 10 to 15 stops on foot, solving a puzzle at each, in 40 to 125 minutes. 17 quests suit classes aged 8 to 18. There is no guide and no time slot: the class starts when it arrives. The price is €5 per pupil, and teachers play free.
Pupils are an estimate: groups of four or more teams starting one quest together, at about four pupils a team, across all cities since 2018. Ratings are from players of these quests.
In a randomised study of 10,912 students, a single cultural trip raised critical thinking, tolerance and interest in culture weeks later.
458 Amsterdam pupils walked the medieval city in teams, solving tasks on phones at real locations. They learned more than classmates taught the same topic in lessons.
Source: Huizenga et al., Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2009
Across hundreds of studies, game-based learning beats non-game teaching on knowledge and retention; story and playing together are what make the difference.
Source: Sailer and Homner, Educational Psychology Review, 2020
| A Questo quest | A guided walking tour | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is active | Every pupil, in a team | 30 pupils listening to one guide |
| Start | When you arrive | 10:00 sharp |
| Pace | Each team at its own, pause for lunch | The group moves on |
| What the teacher gets before | Plays the whole route free | A confirmation email |
| Price | €5 per pupil, teachers free | €12–€25 per pupil, teachers often charged |
Teacher FAQ
Your next story starts outside.
Get the Questo app. Pick a quest, follow the clues and make the city your playground.
