The Chicken Chase

I created a quick guide to help plan your chicken chase, including how to determine the number of bars and groups. Check it out! 🍻

The TL:DR Overview

Everyone at a party puts money into a communal pot and whoever draws the short straw dons the chicken costume, grabs the money, and picks a bar. The rest of the party splits into teams and attempts to find chicken while he or she is drinking with everyone’s money. If you find the chicken, you get to drink with them. If the chicken isn’t at the bar you choose, you must down a drink and head to the next bar. Last team to find the chicken buys everyone a round.

🐔 Watch the October 2023 Halloween Chicken Chase Video. 👇

🐔 Watch the January 2020 Chicken Chase Video. 👇

Detailed Instructions

Step 1: Everyone shows up to the party and puts money into the community drinking pot.
The actual amount may vary depending on how many people show up to the party. The more people who show, the less everyone has to put in. You may eventually get some of this returned to you in the form of alcohol at the bars. Maybe not. We recommend anywhere between $10 and $20 per person depending on the size of the group. The goal should be for the chicken to have enough cash to not worry about buying any of his or her own drinks for at least a couple hours. Usually, this is a moot point because everyone at the bar ends up buying the chicken drinks anyway.

Step 2: Get drunk.
This part you should be familiar with.

Step 3: Draw straws, and the “winner” puts on the chicken costume.
The lucky person is now the center of everyone’s universe for the night. An easy way to “draw straws” we find is to count the number of people and grab a deck of cards and deal out one card per person. Make sure you have picked a card (ex: the seven of hearts) to the the “short straw” and then shuffle it in before passing them all out. Then have everyone place them on their forehead and see who’s the chicken.

Step 4: Choose a designated “chase area.”
This is actually really important and should be done before people even show up for the party. You want to set a very specific designated area the chicken is allowed to use to choose his or her bar. We recommended doing some research before and finding an area that is 1) walkable for the group and 2) has enough bars that fit the criteria (ex: we always state the bar can never have a cover). You want to pick a region where there is enough bars to keep things interesting but not so big no one will ever find the chicken.

Step 5: The chicken is given the money from the community drinking pot.
This can be a substantial amount, so for the love of God don’t lose it.

Step 6: The chicken has 30 minutes to pick one bar within the designated area where they will spend their evening drinking with everyone else’s money.
This area varies depending on where the chase is taking place and will be clearly established to everyone at the party beforehand (see Step 4 above). For example “any bar in the Mission between Street X and Street Y.”

Step 7: OnceT the chicken leaves everyone else separates into teams.
The team sizes depend on the number of people at the party. Minimum of 2 people but we find 4 is a good number.

Step 8: The teams depart 30 minutes after the chicken and partner have left, and try to find the chicken.
The rest of the night is filled with trying to figure out what bar the chicken is at. There are additional rules listed below that will direct how you’re allowed how to communicate with other teams, and what happens if you do or don’t find the chicken at the bar.

The Rules

The chicken can’t move once they select a bar
The chicken should be getting drunk with everyone’s money
If your team finds the chicken, you also get to start drinking with everyone else money until it runs out
If your team is the last one to find the chicken, you buy everyone a round of drinks
If you get to a bar and the chicken is not there, you must order and finish a drink before moving onto the next bar
Before you leave the bar, you must have someone take a photo of you at said bar
You may not text or communicate to other teams saying where you are going next
You may not text or communicate to other teams saying if you found the chicken
You may text or communicate to other teams saying that you visited a bar, and the chicken is not there and that you are leaving
If by 1:15 AM (or other pre-designated time) everyone has not found the chicken, messages will be dispatched so everyone can meet before closing time

What to Expect as the Chicken

Everyone will ask you why you’re dressed as a chicken. Sometimes it’s fun to tell the truth, other times it’s more fun to make up a lie.
Everyone will want to take photos with you, and everyone will want to buy you drinks. Usually, it’s shots, and often it’s whiskey or tequila. You’ve been warned.
It’s very hot wearing the costume, and you’ll be very gross and sweaty. You also will be too drunk to care.
It is totally ok as a team to ask bewildered people on the street and unknowing bouncers “Have you seen a chicken run by here?!?!” It almost never works but the look on their face is amazing when they really have seen a chicken run by here.