Chicken Rush - the ultimate hide-and-seek adventure for social and corporate events

Imagine racing through the city streets chasing a chicken 🐥​

Yes, it’s as brilliant as it sounds and exactly what turned Fred’s passion project for a few friends into a unique business.​

Chicken Rush, inspired by ‘Ou est le Poulet?’ (which is French for ‘where is the chicken?’), is a game that incorporates hide-and-seek with technology. Someone dressed up as a chicken hides in a bar with location tracking and a slowly shrinking circle that helps teams of players track down the chicken, all while completing challenges and trying to slow down the other teams.​

Fred started developing the software simply as a fun game to play with friends, however it was such a hit after the first few test games that he decided the software could be released to the public so people could create their own game. Beyond this, the first key market for organised games were singles looking for a fun and more interesting way to date. The first three events were held over a six-month period, growing bigger each time, from 40 to 60 to 100 participants. ​

“We made a few videos and one of them in February 2023 did well on Tiktok so we suddenly had a lot of people wanting to know how to play this game.” said Fred.​

From that early success, It’s hard to believe that the dating-theme came about by accident. “Someone misheard me and thought we were doing a game just for singles. Suddenly I had a lot of people asking when’s the next dating chicken hunt so I went along with it.”​

A whirlwind year followed which saw people all over the world self-hosting their own games. Meanwhile, organised events in Madrid and New York saw 50-60 strangers playing. Advertising towards corporate groups also proved successful, something Fred admits he should’ve considered earlier.​

“We’ve had a lot of companies in the last eight months use Chicken Rush to organise social events. Brands that I would have never expected to be interested were playing the game. There were brands that you think would never chase chickens, who were out there chasing chickens. Honestly, it’s been a dream come true.”​

When asked about his biggest win or moment of enjoyment in his journey so far, Fred recalls wearing a chicken costume in Times Square and no one blinking an eye being a fairly iconic memory.​

“They probably just saw a guy who wants to wear fancy dress. I felt strange wandering around in that costume, but we did some really fun marketing shoots.”​

Another part of the journey that has been a favourite for Fred is seeing people actually play his game. Talking about his past experiences as a developer he shared how it’s very rare for developers to meet the end user and they’re often shooting in the dark as to whether the development is good or not.​

“With a lot of tech-enabled entertainment, you don’t know how fun it is and whether it’s working until you’re in the room with the users. ”​

Fred mentioned that many developers struggle with the lack of direct engagement with end users in their work. For him, creating this game was a unique opportunity to witness people enjoying and interacting with his creation, making the experience both rewarding and satisfying.​

Like many entrepreneurs, Fred initially faced the challenge of wearing multiple hats. He was not only the head chicken but also the developer, marketer, and admin person. Balancing these roles was a struggle, and he often found himself doing two jobs poorly instead of one job well.​

“We’re getting to the point this year where I can delegate more effectively because we have some cash to do it.” says Fred.​

With two amazing hosts for the London-based games, as well as administrative support, it freed Fred up to be able to focus on improving the game.​

“The hosts have been brilliant. There’s only so many times you can wear a chicken costume, and I didn’t know what my limit was but I found it last year, so now I’m actively trying not to wear it myself.”​

The dating events could also be tough at times; people were matched by hand, and if players pulled out they’d have to find more people to attend and rework the teams. Having the corporate games helped and was the turning point that made Fred realise it was a serious business. ​

“Everyone told me for months that corporate is where the money is as there’s more budget for this sort of thing. I listened but it took a while for me to clock on and start advertising it. Since then it’s been super positive and we’ve had really good reviews.”​

Before Beany, Fred found accountants unresponsive. “There’s not many sectors where you pay for a service and then you feel like you’re having to hunt them down to deliver it.” Even when asking around, others agreed that you just have to hound your accountant because they’re busy and that’s just how it works.​

However, a friend's recommendation for an accountant who provided “peace of mind” led him to Beany. “You’ve just been responsive and blown me away by the tech side. We just did our first tax return and I like the fact I could just upload information, download my return, review it and then just press approve and it gets sent off. It was legendary really.”​

As a sole founder, Fred also reflects on how different the creative and tax hats are and the difficulty of switching between them. “I think the two most different hats are creating a fun game and making sure your tax is on time and you’re confident in it. It’s hard to stop, pause and forget about the creative stuff and work on your admin, so having that person who does have your back on that side has been really good.”​

When asked for advice for other business owners, Fred shares how “the ease and speed that you can build something new has completely changed, even in the last two years.”​

Inspiring us with some great advice, here’s the tips he provided:​

These are some great words of wisdom for any new entrepreneur, whether you’re in the tech space or not.​

Version 2 of the game was recently launched, and was being played just 3 hours later, featuring upgrades inspired by games like Mario Kart.​

“Before we were just a hide-and-seek game and it’s a race to find the chicken and you can do tasks along the way, but now we’re doubling down on that. You can find stuff hidden around the cities and use them to inconvenience other teams while you hunt for the chicken.”​

Players will also soon be able to run their own games more easily, with this improvement coming in the next couple of months. ​

Fred also intends to expand advertising to other cities, including Melbourne, New York, Dublin, and Berlin. “Up to now we only advertise in London and anyone else that finds out about us is through word of mouth or just randomly seeing us on social media, so this is the first time we’ll be advertising in other cities. It’ll be cool to test the waters.”​

Fred’s story is a testament to the power of creativity, innovation and a willingness to take risks. It’s a great reminder for entrepreneurs everywhere that sometimes it’s the craziest idea that might lead to the greatest success.​

We are so excited to see Chicken Rush continue to grow. Hopefully, there’ll be chicken costumes taking over every corner of the world.​

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