Deal a card. Go find Waco.

The hunt needs JavaScript

The hunt needs JavaScript to shuffle you a card, and your browser has it switched off — which is a perfectly respectable thing to do. Everything else here works without it: the twenty-nine sculptures of the Sculpture Zoo, and the hundred and thirty-five walls of Waco’s Walls, stories and all.

Your card stays on your phone. We count that somebody opened this page. That’s all we count — not what you found, not where you stood, not how long it took you. There’s no account, no sign-up and no email box. If you clear your browser the card goes with it, so write the code down if it matters to you. → Privacy

How this works

Three steps, and one of them is lunch

Everybody in the car can play the same card. Pass along the code and you’re all, literally, on the same page.

🃏

1 · Deal a card.

Nine squares, sixteen, or twenty-five. Every card is a fresh shuffle of the real trail, dealt so the stops actually sit near each other — so no two Saturdays look the same, and none of them ask you to drive across town twice.

🔎

2 · Go find them.

Tap a square and that piece’s story comes up. Read it out loud — they’re written to be read out loud. The wall will tell you the part most people walk straight past.

🧊

3 · Keep it.

Your card saves itself on this phone. Close the tab, eat lunch, come back at four. Nothing here expires. There is no timer and there is no leaderboard, because this is a walk, not a race.

The three decks

Sculpture Zoo: Twenty-eight bronze and concrete animals along the Brazos, from an 1870 bridge to the zoo gates. Flat, paved, stroller-proof. The easiest yes in Waco. → the whole trail
Waco’s Walls: Sixty-four painted walls, ghost signs, fountains, a courthouse goddess and one genuine Blek le Rat, across downtown, Franklin, the Silo District and a few worth the drive. → the whole trail
All of Waco: Everything, river and walls together — ninety-odd squares in the deck. The one that turns an afternoon into an expedition.

The three sizes

Quick Hunt · 9: Eight stops and a free square. An hour, a stroller, a snack.
The Walk · 16: Sixteen stops. No free square, no mercy. The honest one.
The Whole Thing · 25: Twenty-two stops, a free square, and two Waco Moments that have nothing to do with art and everything to do with being here. On the zoo deck it renames itself The Whole Zoo — every animal there is.

About the Find-me button

GPS is optional, and it never un-stamps anything

Keep this page open and awake. Your phone quietly stops sending your location the second you switch apps — that’s the phone, not us, and there’s nothing we can do about it. It keeps the screen on and it works the battery, so switch it off when you’re done. And GPS never un-stamps anything: if it misses one, just tap it yourself.

Good questions, quick answers

Is it really free?

Yes. All of it. Always. There is nothing to buy on this page and never will be.

Do I need an app?

No. This is a web page. It works on whatever phone you already have, and it works on paper.

Can four of us play the same card?

That’s what it’s built for. Send everyone the link, or read the six-character code out loud across the parking lot. Same card, same squares, same order.

Does it work without GPS?

Completely. GPS is a convenience that stamps squares as you arrive. Tapping them yourself is the normal way to play.

What if we only find a few?

Then you found a few, and that’s a good day. Your card saves itself and nothing expires — come back for the rest whenever. There’s a Call it a day button that will make you a picture out of what you did find.

Can the kids just tap everything?

They can. There’s no referee here and there isn’t going to be one. If somebody stamps a square from the back seat, that’s between them and Waco.

The Art Waco Scavenger Hunt