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CLUE: A Walking Mystery

CLUE: A Walking Mystery

⭐ CLUE: A Walking Mystery brings the iconic family-favorite board game to life! Search for clues in downtown Chicago throughout the city and be the first to solve the mystery in this interactive walking experience full of surprises. Have you ever wanted to solve a cold case of murder? Have you ever wanted to inhabit the world of Clue and unravel its mystery like a real detective? This is your chance

Tickets for CLUE: A Walking Mystery in Chicago 🎫 Ticket for 1 to CLUE - includes access to the interactive murder mystery walking experience 🎨 Choose your group’s character when purchasing: Always been a Scarlett? Love you some Mustard? Team Green forever? Pick your team when you and your friends buy your tickets. 

Highlights 🎲 The iconic family-favorite board game comes to life! ✨ Step into the world of CLUE by dressing in your team colors, or come as plainclothes detectives when you arrive at Block 37 to start your investigation 🤵 Follow the case to iconic Chicago locations to find the real antiques from Tudor Mansion. This edition is now set mainly indoors to keep our detectives warm and ready to solve the mystery 🔎 Search through evidence, solve puzzles, and connect clues to discover the information you need to crack the case!

General Info 📅 Dates and times: select your date & time directly in the ticket selector ⏳ Duration: This is a go-at-your-own-pace experience that takes 60 min - 2 hours if you choose to visit all locations 📍 Location: Block 37 (starting point) 👤 Age requirement: all ages welcome. Recommended for ages 8+. Free entry for children under 5 ♿ Accessibility: unfortunately the experience is not ADA accessible ❓ Please, consult the FAQs for this event here

Description The case of who murdered Mr. Boddy has gone cold, with the murderer still at large. The furniture from Tudor Mansion has been auctioned off and scattered throughout downtown Chicago. Now, you’re on the case to find the pieces that might hold the key to the identity of Mr. Boddy’s murderer. Get ready to search for these long-lost antiques from the iconic rooms in Tudor Mansion (the Library, the Billiard Room, the Ballroom, etc.) to figure out WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT! The recovered artifacts are still covered with holiday décor exactly as they were the evening Boddy Black was murdered all those years ago on Christmas Eve. The Butlers will welcome the detectives with a holiday treat, hopeful that the players will discover once and for all who has been naughty and who has been nice. Ready to dive into the world of CLUE? Get your tickets for CLUE: A Walking Mystery in Chicago!

User reviews

  • Michelle B. Jul 2023 This was awesome! kids loved it, was a little hard along the way to keep the time in mind, but we loved the exercise, adventure and fun overall! Only feedback is let people know average time it takes ( 3-7pm in our case) but we hung on just fine! such a memorable day!! ty!! please please do more
  • Kristy T. Jul 2023 Everything was very well done and thoughtful - from the Butlers to the clues. We had a great time wandering through Chicago on a beautiful day while playing a fun interactive version of Clue!
  • Carrie S. Jul 2023 This was really amazing!!! It was well thought out. On this the best activity that I have done one this app.
  • Gerardo H. Sep 2023 It was an amazing and fun experience!!!
  • Shayan A. Sep 2023 Well thought out and good duration!!
  • Naheel R. Sep 2023 We went to see some really cool places and had so much fun!
  • David T. Sep 2023 That was a LOT of fun and an excellent experience overall!
  • V7bd4zt9zz Sep 2023 Great Fun and the staff and support was amazing!
  • Sk482wkyyd Sep 2023 Had a great time!
  • Allison R. Aug 2023 Very fun!
  • Brian C. Aug 2023 Really awesome! Perfect experience!
  • 9cnbhw62cw Aug 2023 Great family event!!
  • Kathy W. Aug 2023 We had a lot of fun. The clues were just difficult enough and the butlers did a great job!

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108 North State Street, Chicago, 60602

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Clue A Walking Mystery

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Iconic family-favorite board game comes to life!

Iconic family-favorite board game comes to life!

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CLUE: A Walking Mystery

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108 N State St

Chicago, IL 60602

Washington St & Court Pl

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Photo of Risha M.

This was such a fun experience!! Thanks to Yelp Elite for allowing us to participate!! This was a very carefully thought out mystery that allows you to explore new places in downtown as you try to guess who murdered Mr. Boddy, where, and with what? We made a whole day out of it by grabbing drinks at a few spots so we could work through the mystery! We got it right correctly on our second guess!

clue walking tour chicago

Wow! What a fun time! This is an awesome way to spend a afternoon! The butlers were awesome and set up the scene and played their parts well! There's a lot of walking and the clues are challenging, but well worth the price! You can also pick up some extra Yelp reviews on the businesses you find clues. I won't give away the answer (because what fun is that), but I got 2 out of 3 right. I got another chance and got 3 out of 3! I highly recommend this event! It's was a perfect Sunday afternoon and a way to see part of town!

clue walking tour chicago

We had so much doing this. It's not super obvious. We got 2/3 and then 3/3 after they gave us another chance. It took us ~3.5 hours because my partner detective wanted to review the clues but I'd say it's better than an escape room. The butlers really made the game fun for us. It was decently well thought out.

clue walking tour chicago

Located in Block 37 lower level, the mystery starts with the descendents of the mansion. The butlers are jovial and informative. This walking tour takes you to a few sites near downtown and River North. I suggest coming on a nice sunny day and get ready for a leisurely walk around the city. This will take a few hours. You can omit some of the sites but it would take away from the adventure. The clues are challenging and twisty. I suggest reading the booklet with clues and analyzing the clues at the sites. I would do this again. This would be excellent for a weekend afternoon.

clue walking tour chicago

See all photos from Sue L. for Clue A Walking Mystery

Photo of Stephanie K.

You meet at a kiosk in the mall and are given papers to keep track of your notes and clues that are scattered across different stores and restaurants in the city. We went all the way from the macy's basement to the river walk but a group of 5 adults didn't guess correctly. Feel free to use the hints, it won't spoil anything. Many people can sign up, it's not an actual competition between the players to "finish first". Some minute details were too vague in my opinion, but still good exercise!

Team peacock after completing the game

Team peacock after completing the game

Photo of Lilia D.

LOTS of walking, but the locations are easy enough to find. We didn't get lost and picked up the clues pretty quickly and it still took us about 3+ hours. The game itself was really fun, but it was a lot more difficult than I assumed it would be. I don't recommend this for small children or groups of 5+. It can get cramped in some clue areas, especially when it's busy downtown.

Photo of Alesa W.

We live in the river north area, so the walking mystery locations were convenient for us to walk to. It was surprising that all of the stops for clues were places we'd actually never been, so it was great to see new places in our area. The actual game was well-structured and surprisingly difficult! I would recommend for a group of friends or a date and stop mid-way to gather your thoughts and have a drink/snacks.

Photo of Genna G.

This was really fun and unique. I was a huge Clue board game fan as a kid so loved seeing familiar aspects of the game incorporated into this walking mystery adventure. They estimate it takes about 2 hours but in order to really focus on solving the crime, I recommend you start early in the day , pace yourself with lunch or coffee stops etc throughout the day and do it over a period of 4 or 5 hours. Must make sure you have good weather as 95 percent of the event occurs outside. This mystery is not easy to solve. I kind of felt we were in a super advanced level of a game that was almost impossible to solve correctly and would have preferred an option to have an advance beginner type level ( our final "butler " who you give your guess of who did the crime, with what weapon and on what room estimated only 10 percent of people solve the mystery with their first guess ). That said, what a clever game and fun way to spend time in downtown Chicago. Even my 10 year old got into it ( it's a ton of walking - over 5 miles so I wouldn't recommend bringing kids younger than that). Tips: Wear gym shoes, bring water, wear sunscreen and make sure you are well rested both mentally and physically as you must bring your "A game " concentration to even get close in figuring out this mystery . Recommend.

clue walking tour chicago

This is a great family activity. Our 11 year old daughter completely loved the mystery and our 9 year old son also enjoyed it. We took our time and had dinner in the middle which was nice since we could talk about the mystery and the clues. We did this with another family as well which added to the excitement!

Photo of Melanie C.

This was the first event we scheduled when planning our trip to Chicago and our family loves to solve puzzles. However, this fell short. The idea was great, but there were so many people scheduled for the game that we ended up waiting at each clue for a significant period of time. Two clue areas - we sat for 20-25 minutes waiting for previous game players to finish "assessing" the clue area. It took over 2 hours 15 minutes to complete.

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clue walking tour chicago

Get your tickets for CLUE: A Walking Mystery in Chicago! An interactive game that takes place across multiple locations in downtown Chicago starting at Block 37. Guests step into the roles of beloved CLUE characters.

Guests will choose to play Mayor Green, Colonel Mustard, Solicitor Peacock, Professor Plum, Miss Scarlett and Chef White as detectives to solve the mystery of who murdered the elusive Mr. Boddy. The furniture from Tudor Mansion has been auctioned off and scattered throughout downtown Chicago and now you’re on the case to find Mr. Boddy’s murderer. Get ready to search for these long-lost antiques from the iconic Tudor Mansion rooms and be the first group to figure out WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT! Ready to dive into the world of CLUE?

Tickets are $35.

  • January 27, 2024

108 N. State Street Chicago, IL 60602

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CLUE: A Walking Mystery Tickets

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CLUE: A Walking Mystery: What to expect - 1

About CLUE: A Walking Mystery

The iconic family-favorite board game comes to life! Enter the world of CLUE in the all-new interactive and immersive experience, CLUE: A Walking Mystery.

CLUE: A Walking Mystery is an interactive game that takes place across multiple locations in downtown Chicago. Detectives will be greeted by the Butler and then sent on their way to solve a mystery, gathering clues from popular Chicago sites and shops.

In this new spin on everyone’s favorite mystery game, guests step into the roles of the beloved CLUE characters (Mayor Green, Colonel Mustard, Solicitor Peacock, Professor Plum, Miss Scarlett and Chef White) as detectives to solve the mystery of who murdered the elusive Mr. Boddy.

The case has gone cold, with the murderer still at large. All the furniture from Tudor Mansion has been auctioned off and scattered throughout downtown Chicago. Determined to finally catch the culprit, the newly minted detectives are led by the Butler in search of clues that can be found in the furniture that came from the iconic rooms in Tudor Mansion (the Library, the Billiard Room, the Ballroom, etc), now located throughout the city. Searching for these long-lost antiques will challenge players to figure out WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT?

•Duration: The experience can be completed in 90 minutes to 3 hours.

•Investigations: Visiting all nine locations takes up to 3 hours.

•Walking: About 1.5 miles of walking over 2+ hours for all locations.

•Skipping Locations: You can skip locations and still solve the mystery.

•Shortened Experience: Completing it in about 90 minutes with minimal walking is possible.

•Rest Stops: Rest opportunities are available at each location.

September 8th, 2023

October 31st, 2023

Block 37 - Chicago

CLUE: A Walking Mystery: What to expect - 1

Unfortunately, tickets for this event are no longer available.

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CLUE: A Walking Mystery

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Time Out says

Based on the family-favorite board game, this immersive and interactive experience puts guests into the roles of beloved CLUE characters as they try to solve the murder of Boddy Black on Christmas Eve. The mystery starts at Block 37, where detectives are greeted by the Butler before being sent on their way to gather clues from popular Chicago sites and shops. You’ll be tasked with finding long-lost antiques and figuring out who did it, where and with what.

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CLUE: A Walking Mystery

clue walking tour chicago

Enter the world of  CLUE  in the all-new interactive and immersive experience,  CLUE: A Walking Mystery . 

One of them committed the crime.... and it’s up to you to find out whodunit!!  

In this new spin on everyone’s favorite mystery game, guests step into the roles of the beloved CLUE characters (Mayor Green, Colonel Mustard, Solicitor Peacock, Professor Plum, Miss Scarlett and Chef White) as detectives to solve the mystery of who murdered the elusive Mr. Boddy. 

The case has gone cold, with the murderer still at large. All the furniture from Tudor Mansion has been auctioned off and scattered throughout downtown Chicago. Determined to finally catch the culprit, the newly minted detectives are led by the Butler in search of clues that can be found in the furniture that came from the iconic rooms in Tudor Mansion (the Library, the Billiard Room, the Ballroom, etc.), now located throughout the city. Searching for these long-lost antiques will challenge players to be the first group to figure out  WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT?

CLUE: A Walking Mystery  is an interactive game that takes place across multiple locations in downtown Chicago. Detectives will be greeted by the Butler and then sent on their way to solve a mystery, gathering clues from popular Chicago sites and shops. The game begins at Block 37, located at 108 N. State Street, Chicago, on the Pedway Level near Starbucks.  CLUE: A Walking Mystery  opens to the public on Thursday, July 27, only in Chicago and runs through the Fall.

CLUE: A Walking Mystery   is a family friendly event and is recommended for ages 8 and older with an adult accompanying minors. Upon purchasing tickets, guests can choose which of the characters they will bring to life. Tickets start at $35 and are available  NOW  exclusively through  Fever .

clue walking tour chicago

Produced by Right Angle Entertainment, the producers of the highly successful Los Angeles run of CLUE Live: A Walking Experience, and under license by toy and game company Hasbro,  CLUE: A Walking Mystery  offers fans a new immersive iteration of solving the crime of Mr. Boddy’s murder. The new experience is created by the award-winning interactive designers, The Wild Optimists.

To learn more, click  HERE .

Follow  CLUE: A Walking Mystery  on  Facebook  and  Instagram .

"CLUE: A Walking Mystery" is a licensed experience produced by Right Angle Entertainment in association with Hasbro. © 2023 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

About Right Angle Entertainment:

Right Angle Entertainment specializes in the production, marketing, management and distribution of live theatrical, digital and concert events. RAE’s proud roster includes: America's Got Talent Live, Disney’s DCapella on Tour, The Price is Right LIVE!, Wheel of Fortune Live!, The Masked Singer National Tour, Jay Shetty Love Rules – World Tour, The Simon & Garfunkel Story, The Office! A Musical Parody (New York City and National Tour), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer -The Musical, Sasha Velour’s Smoke & Mirrors Tour, among many others. 

About The Wild Optimists

The Wild Optimists is an award-winning interactive entertainment company devoted to designing new ways to play.  In the past three years they have created over 40 memorable interactive experiences for tabletop games, virtual games, theme parks, music festivals, historical sites, marketing activations, and more.

WO began when Juliana Moreno and Ariel Rubin combined their theatre degrees and writing backgrounds in Hollywood with their life-long love for gaming to create the Kickstarter sensation, Escape Room In A Box: The Werewolf Experiment. As the first at home game to ever recreate the “escape room” experience in a tabletop setting for all ages, Escape Room in A Box was a genre-defining success that was licensed by Mattel and soon distributed worldwide. Game of the Year winner at the Mattel Inventor Awards, the Escape Room in a Box brand has now evolved into an ongoing game series with Mattel, selling over 300,000 copies.

Building upon that success, Wild Optimists has since created immersive gaming experiences for a variety of clients on and beyond the game table. Collaborations include interactive design for theme parks such as Universal Orlando and Mall of America, marketing campaigns supporting high-profile Film/TV properties such as Escape Room 1&2 (Sony), Invisible Man (Universal), and Nancy Drew (CW), live immersive experiences for the Electric Forest Music Festival and the Santa Monica Pier; and tabletop game design for Mattel, Renegade, and Arcane Wonders.

About Hasbro  

Hasbro is a toy and game company whose mission is to entertain and connect generations of fans through the wonder of storytelling and exhilaration of play. Hasbro delivers engaging brand experiences for global audiences through toys, consumer products, gaming and entertainment, with a portfolio of iconic brands including MAGIC: THE GATHERING, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, Hasbro Gaming, NERF, TRANSFORMERS, PLAY-DOH and PEPPA PIG, as well as premier partner brands.

Hasbro is guided by our Purpose to create joy and community for all people around the world, one game, one toy, one story at a time. For more than a decade, Hasbro has been consistently recognized for its corporate citizenship, including being named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by 3BL Media, one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute and one of the 50 Most Community-Minded Companies in the U.S. by the Civic 50. For more information, visit   https://corporate.hasbro.com . 

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Block 37 poses as a mansion for ‘Clue: A Walking Mystery,’ an interactive whodunit that’s lots of fun

Challenging crime-solving game continues in chicago through new year’s eve..

Reporter Stefano Esposito and his son, Lucca, work to figure out who killed Boddy Black in “Clue: A Walking Mystery,” a game located mostly in downtown’s Block 37 complex. | Victor Hilitski, for the Chicago Sun-Times

Reporter Stefano Esposito and his son, Lucca, work to figure out who killed Boddy Black in “Clue: A Walking Mystery,” a game located mostly in downtown’s Block 37 complex.

Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

I suppose that if Col. Mustard held a revolver to my head or if Miss Scarlett threatened me with a lead pipe in the conservatory, I’d figure out whodunit — but on the whole, games requiring a lot of detective work hurt my brain.

I grew up less than two miles from where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the brains behind Sherlock Holmes, lived in London during the 1890s ... but that’s where the similarities end.

Thankfully, my 12-year-old son, Lucca, has a far more nimble mind than his dad and rather fancied the idea of traipsing around downtown Chicago on a recent Friday evening in search of clues to the fictional mystery: Who killed Boddy Black, with what murder weapon and where within the walls of his Tudor mansion?

“Anyone here solve a mystery before?” asked a young man wearing a black bowtie and matching vest who introduced himself as Butler Barnaby Bunberry, aka actor Matt Keeley. “Anyone commit murder? Nothing quite like that to get you in the holiday spirit!”

Matt Keeley, center, an actor hired as a butler, gives instructions at the ground level of the multi-story mall, BLOCK 37, prior to the start of the interactive murder mystery game, “Clue: A Walking Mystery.” | Victor Hilitski, for the Chicago Sun-Times

Matt Keeley (center), an actor hired as a butler, gives instructions at the ground level of Block 37, prior to the start of the interactive murder mystery game, “Clue: A Walking Mystery.”

“What do you think of his accent?” I whispered to Lucca.

“Kind of English — ish ,” he said.

There is no board in this game. No dice either. It’s called “Clue: A Walking Mystery.” The participants, or “detectives,” are handed an “auction catalog” of the deceased’s mansion and, going from “room” to “room,” they are supposed to uncover the clues to his grisly death.

Sound simple? It ain’t. Particularly when you’ve a week’s worth of workaday clutter in your head and you’d really rather have a beer and put your feet up.

“The puzzles are challenging — they are not simple,” explained Kevin Hammonds, the game’s producer and a New Yorker whose regular gig is designing escape rooms. Best to go with a group so you can combine brain power, Hammonds says.

“Clue: A Walking Mystery” producer Kevin Hammonds advises playing with a group for maximum brain power.

“Clue: A Walking Mystery” producer Kevin Hammonds advises playing with a group for maximum brain power.

But Hammonds and his crew are so darn friendly and encouraging that I felt guilty at not being a little more game. Besides, Lucca was champing at the bit.

“I come from a place called really far away,” said Butler Bunberry, when I quizzed him about his accent.

And with that, we headed up an escalator in search of the first clue. Here’s the weird thing: There is no mansion — not even a house dressed up to look like one. You’re searching for clues in Block 37, a glistening, multi-story shopping mall. On this particular evening, it was swarming with teens doing what teens do: clutching each other, giggling, gawking — blissfully unaware of the crime that had been committed in their midst.

“My word, have some imagination!” said Lisa Marsh, a fellow gamer in from California, after I groused out loud about how the mall didn’t look anything like a British stately home.

“ He does,” she said, pointing at my kid.

Spouses Lisa Watson (right) and Lisa Marsh, from Los Angeles, study a bit of information while playing “Clue: A Walking Mystery.”

Spouses Lisa Watson (right) and Lisa Marsh, from Los Angeles, study a bit of information while playing “Clue: A Walking Mystery.”

Finding the “rooms” was simple enough — mostly in stores within the mall, as well as a few housed in nearby shops. In each location, you find a piece of furniture: an armoire, a bookcase, a grandfather clock. Trying to decipher the clues inside twisted my brain in knots.

But what’s not to love about a bookshelf where, by tugging on certain books, a clue in the form of a word is spelled out? Or a wardrobe in which one of the coats — just one — has an oddly familiar (potentially incriminating) tear?

Or my favorite: a safe that self-destructs if you twitch the dial in the wrong direction. I’m kidding, but it’s not easy getting inside.

Reporter Stefano Esposito and his son Lucca after finally figuring out how to open the safe, in which was hidden yet another clue. | Victor Hilitski, for the Chicago Sun-Times

Reporter Stefano Esposito and his son Lucca after finally figuring out how to open the safe, in which was hidden yet another clue. | Victor Hilitski, for the Chicago Sun-Times

“Uh oh, it says the safe will lock you out after six attempts. I did it seven times!” said a panicked Lucca.

Twenty minutes later, we managed to open the safe and retrieve the clue — sort of.

“We have the clues, but it feels like we’re not going anywhere,” Lucca said at one point.

About two hours in, after going up and down and up the escalator, weaving through the Christmas shopping crowds, I wondered if we were ever going to finish.

The game is self-guided and the Clue team sticks around until 9 p.m. If you wish to stay later, you can enter your findings online and check to see if you’re right. The game has no time limit — so you can grab dinner or a drink (or three) along the way.

Cameron Brenson (right) and Lucca Esposito discuss clues as Lucca’s dad, Stefano, observes.

Cameron Brenson (right) and Lucca Esposito discuss clues as Lucca’s dad, Stefano, observes.

But that felt like cheating — and besides, the Chicago Sun-Times was paying me to play the game. Many years ago, I went on what was supposed to be a 24-hour stakeout for a story. After 22 hours, the photographer and I, figuring we weren’t going to see anything interesting, went home. My editor was furious: “You want us to lie to the readers and say you were on a 24-hour stakeout when you weren’t?!”

So Lucca and I stuck it out. We limped over the finish line, kinda sorta thinking we might know who done it, with what and where.

We were wrong.

Thankfully, we encountered Lizzie Bourne, another of the game’s butlers. She hails from Guildford, a town about an hour’s drive southwest of London.

Christine Duke of Chicago celebrates with Matt Keeley, an actor who’s part of “Clue: A Walking Mystery, after successfully completing the game.

Christine Duke of Chicago celebrates with Matt Keeley, an actor who’s part of “Clue: A Walking Mystery, after successfully completing the game.

When your spirits are flagging, she says all the right things.

“Oh smart cookie!” she told Lucca. “Tell me more about secret passages!”

Or: “You know a lot of things. Most people, I have to really drag this out of!”

Then: “They’re solving it, they’re solving it!”

I can’t tell you who whacked Boddy Black; if I did, I’d have to ... well, you know.

Lucca and I walked out into the night and headed for the parking garage and then home.

“I didn’t think it would be this exciting,” said Lucca, who is usually very hard to please. “I thought it would be kind of stupid.”

Luis Robert Jr., Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada at the batting cage.

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Live-Action Downtown ‘Clue’ Now Extended Through Halloween

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clue walking tour chicago

DOWNTOWN — “Clue: A Walking Mystery,” an interactive mystery game that takes place across many notable spots Downtown, is a cross between an escape room and a scavenger hunt. It kicked off this summer and has proved to be so popular that it’s now been extended from its original closing date of Labor Day to Halloween.

The outdoor mystery game, which debuted July 27, maintains the basic premise of the classic board game: Somewhere in his mansion, Mr. Boddy has been murdered with a household tool by one of his colorfully named dinner guests, and the players must determine who, how and where.

The twist? It’s 25 years later and pieces of furniture have been removed from the mansion, with evidence intact, and placed at various locations Downtown, all conveniently within a half-mile of one another.

Armed with an auction catalog and a map, players — descendants of the original six suspects — must track the pieces down and solve puzzles to uncover clues hidden inside. And the autumnal spooky season will likely only add to the game’s mysterious ambience.

Stops include notable Chicago locations like Magnolia Bakery, 108 N. State St., Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse, 33 W. Kinzie St., the LondonHouse hotel, 85 E. Wacker Dr., and Barbara’s Bookstore in the basement of Macy’s (111 N. State St.)

“The overwhelmingly positive feedback we got from players who participated in ‘Clue’ over the past month has been incredible,” said Kevin Hammonds, a producer with Right Angle Entertainment, which devised the game. “The success of ‘Clue’ has absolutely warranted an extension here in Chicago and I think Halloween is a fittingly macabre date for any good murder mystery to end on.”

“Clue: A Walking Mystery” was born in Los Angeles during the pandemic when Right Angle was trying to figure out ways to keep its employees employed. The theatrical and concert events the company usually produced were out of the question, but they thought an interactive outdoor walking tour might be a solution.

Hasbro, the manufacturer of “Clue,” granted the rights to the game and “a new world opened up,” said Hammonds.

When the producers decided to move the game to Chicago, most COVID restrictions had been lifted, which allowed them to hide clues indoors and be less constrained by bad weather.

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Hammonds said the most challenging part of setting up the game was not the puzzles themselves (created by L.A. company Wild Optimists) or dealing with Hasbro, but finding locations for the clues.

Each spot needed to remain open during the game’s operating hours, equipped to handle up to 30 amateur detectives blundering through every 20 minutes. The locations also needed to have what Hammonds called “a ‘Clue’ vibe” — that is, wood paneling.

Right Angle provided the clues (yes, there is a lead pipe and a candlestick) and the furniture, most of it purchased by Hammonds through Facebook Marketplace.

When Hammonds began cold-calling businesses in and around the Loop, he was surprised to find that many were happy to be involved after he said the words “Clue” and “Hasbro.” It wasn’t just the chance to participate in one of the world’s most beloved murder mysteries; it was also an opportunity for businesses to attract customers.

The game isn’t timed and is essentially noncompetitive — the goal is to solve the mystery, not necessarily to beat the other teams — so players have a chance to, say, stop for a cheeseburger at the Billy Goat Tavern, 430 N. Michigan Ave., lower level, or have a drink at the bar at the Staypineapple Hotel, 1 W. Washington St.

Hammonds estimates a full game should take about three hours, though with meal breaks, it can last as long as five.

During the game’s preview run, customers and employees seemed more amused and curious than annoyed by the sight of “detectives” studying shelves filled with glued-down knickknacks or rummaging through a wardrobe filled with winter coats.

Some had seen so many players attempt the puzzles that they felt qualified to offer advice. (The game itself does offer official help in the form of a scannable QR code on the map and staffers known as butlers.)

“It gets more people coming by,” said Dustin, a manager at Harry Caray’s who declined to give his last name, after the game’s first weekend. “There’s more traffic coming in.” 

Hammonds said Right Angle is already scouting other locations in other cities, though they don’t plan on switching games.

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to do other games as successfully,” he said.

After all, “Chutes and Ladders” or “Sorry!” don’t quite lend themselves as well to interactive gameplay, or a chance to explore a city, he said.

“If you like puzzles,” Hammonds said, “you’ll have a good time.”

Clue: A Walking Mystery now runs until Halloween, Oct. 31. The game starts at 5 p.m. on Sundays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, in addition to Labor Day and Halloween, at Block 37, 108 N. State St., near the Starbucks on the lower level.

Tickets are $35 and you have to pick your team color (Peacock, Plum, Scarlett, etc.) when you reserve your spot, with a maximum of five members per team. Children are welcome, but it’s recommended that they are at least 8 years old to play the game.

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Clue: A Walking Mystery misses local color

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A hand holding notes labeled "The Study. Drinks are visible on the table in the background.

July 27, 4:58 PM, in the sweltering afternoon of a hothouse week, my friend Jeff and I arrived at a kiosk between a shuttered Starbucks and a Cash4Gold stand on the pedway level of Block 37. We were reporting for duty as Detectives Peacock, among the first set of Chicago players to officially experience Right Angle Entertainment’s Clue: A Walking Mystery , an interactive piece previously seen in Los Angeles, based on the murder mystery board game. (The game was first presented in the UK as Cluedo and released as Clue in the U.S. by Parker Brothers in 1949; Hasbro currently owns the brand.) 

Let it hereby be admitted that, though Jeff and I have played Clue in our lifetimes, neither of us could recall doing so in the past 20 years. Upon scanning the QR codes that serve as tickets, we were handed a map and an auction catalog for objects in the estate of the deceased Mr. Boddy. A butler dressed as a catering waiter read us a brief history from a clipboard: those assembled by the elevators of this unsightly mall are descendants of the original suspects—here to gather evidence from Boddy’s belongings, which have been conveniently scattered in businesses within a 0.3 mile radius in the Loop and on the Riverwalk—and are aided in our mission by the descendants of the original butler of Tudor Mansion. 

Clue: A Walking Mystery Through 10/31: see cluewalkingexperience.com for schedule and reservations, $35-$45

Within our cohort were teams representing Chef White and Professor Plum. Though informed we could work together and encouraged to stop for cocktails during the game, let it be established that nothing was done to cultivate camaraderie or competition within the group, nor were beverages distributed. We were taken by said butler to the Conservatory (a planter by the south entrance to Block 37) and the Kitchen (Magnolia Bakery), then turned loose with our maps and catalogs to roam the streets in pursuit of relics from the mansion and solve the puzzles presented therein.

Like a board game, the experience is fairly low production: surface attention is given to the set pieces of the encounter, which have an Ikea-meets-faux-antique vibe, yet little could distract from the general nature of the Loop, where fast food and fast fashion compete with the architectural detail of the past, and unhoused humans pose more obvious need than a fictional dead white millionaire. Tailed at times by both publicist and producer, this writer initially had difficulty with immersion in areas insipidly lit by fluorescents and replete with sale racks of unwanted stock. 

Yet, like a board game, where Candy Land and Life are pretenses for spending an evening rolling dice with friends, the company is what creates the experience. Jeff, being more logical and also more willing, solved puzzles with aplomb. I made up for being a cranky deadweight with a sense of direction and familiarity with the terrain. 

Together, we stumbled from cabinet to clock to hotel to Riverwalk, assembling information from the night of Boddy’s alleged demise in the form of questionable written statements by the suspects and unreliable visual evidence found in drawers, on bookshelves, in secret codes, and so on, at a reasonably quick clip. I, being cheap, slipped a sip of the fruit water in the lobby of the Dining Room (Staypineapple); Jeff, being suggestible, stopped for a beer at the Hall (LondonHouse), which served as an intermission from the heat of the day. After untangling one last logic puzzle in the form of an eccentric set of rules for hanging clothes (coats belonging to those with last names that begin with the same letter must be hung one apart, etc), Jeff, who has boundaries, abandoned the mission, mystery unsolved, at the 90-minute mark, the stated run time of the evening (which can take up to 4.5 hours, depending on how many beers are consumed in the process). For the purpose of this review, I stayed the course.

As the remaining representative of Team Peacock, I proceeded alone from the cool, urine-scented underbelly of Michigan Avenue for the Study (the historic, neon-lit Billy Goat Tavern), where a safe was cached in a corner perhaps once occupied by a pay phone, in a room where reporters chowed cheeseburgers after work. Here, I briefly joined forces with Team White, which consisted of some crackerjack codebreakers (in the form of adolescent girls) accompanied by their chaperones (“we’re just along for the ride”). We breached the safe in our first attempt, obtaining evidence that (to this player) was just as befuddling and subjective as the previous. 

We thanked each other and parted ways, I to the Lounge (Harry Caray’s), they, no doubt, to victory. At Harry Caray’s, the most fascinating aspect is Nitti’s Vault, former hideout of Al Capone gang member Frank Nitti, which now contains photographs and news clippings (including a page from the Tribune documenting both Nitti’s indictment and subsequent suicide and the arrival of Madame Chiang Kai-Shek to Chicago)—as well as a real safe, big enough to hide a body or two, in a small museum just under the bar. A cabinet of Clue curios can only pale in comparison.

As a family-friendly walking tour of the city, Clue: A Walking Mystery could be fun for those who enjoy puzzles, and the reference to the board game provides familiar structure. However, the potential for an experience shaped by the real murders, the real architecture, and the real history of this place go largely untapped and figure only incidentally in an imaginary British drama imposed upon a far more interesting American landscape.

Clue: A Walking Mystery let's you and your friends tour the Loop and solve a murder.

All the usual suspects can take part in this murder mystery that is like a scavenger hunt. Whether you like Professor Plum or are more fond of Miss Scarlet, you can take on a character and solve a crime while enjoying a walk in Chicago's Loop. Tim McGill got a preview of the experience that will be running through Labor Day.

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    Launching in Downtown Chicago July 27! Get Your Tickets Now! Skip to Content. 00:00. 00:30. % buffered. In this all-new immersive experience, guests become detectives to solve the mystery of who murdered the elusive Mr. Boddy. The newly minted detectives will be led by Mr. Butler (the Butler) through the game board come to life, outdoors.

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    Downtown. Live-Action Downtown 'Clue' Now Extended Through Halloween. In a twist on the classic board game, players search for clues at various iconic locations to find the weapon, room and culprit involved in the murder of Mr. Boddy. by Aimee Levitt August 31, 2023Updated October 13, 2023.

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