Twenty Blocks On Foot
Explore · Easy · 100 points · 1 hr
Walk twenty blocks in a straight line and watch the neighbourhood change.
The catch: No subway shortcuts.
Bonus +50: Stop at the most interesting corner and eat something there.
Free travel game
Side Quest
Turn New York into an adventure.
Tell us where you are. Pick your kind of adventure. We'll give you something unexpected to do. No account. No app. Just go.
Start a side questPlay anywhere · Complete quests · Earn points · Screenshot your wins · Challenge your friends
Step 1
Pick your place
Tell us what city you're exploring.
Step 2
Get your quest
Choose a category or let us surprise you.
Step 3
Complete + share
Finish the challenge, earn points and screenshot your achievement.
Playing Side Quest in New York
New York is a walking city that pretends to be a subway city. These quests use both, and push you into boroughs, bodegas and blocks that never appear on a first-trip list.
- Best time to play
- Weekday mornings for the working city, Sunday afternoons for the neighbourhood one.
- Local rule
- Keep left of the sidewalk if you are slow, and never stop dead at a subway exit.
- Honest note
- One deep afternoon in a single neighbourhood beats four rushed landmarks in a day, every time.
Where are you right now?
No location access needed — just tell us the city.
What kind of side quest?
How far do you want to go?
Your side quest score today
0 points
0 all-time
100 points to Explorer
Scores are saved in this browser on this device only. No account, no email, nothing sent anywhere. Clearing your browser data clears your score.
Side quests written for New York
These challenges only work here. Play them in any order — the game will mix them with quests that work anywhere in United States.
The Two Slice Rule
Food & Drink · Quick · 50 points · 30 min
Try a slice from two different pizza counters and pick a winner.
The catch: No sit-down restaurants and no toppings.
Bonus +25: Ask each place how long they have been open.
Nobody Looks Up
Photo Quest · Easy · 100 points · 30 min
Photograph five pieces of old New York hiding above street level.
The catch: Nothing below the first floor.
Bonus +25: Find a painted advertisement for a business that no longer exists.
The Free Boat
Explore · Quick · 50 points · 45 min
Ride the Staten Island Ferry both ways at golden hour.
The catch: No paying for a harbour cruise.
Bonus +25: Photograph the skyline without a filter.
The Slice Test
Food & Drink · Quick · 50 points · 20 min
Eat a plain cheese slice standing up, folded, in the street.
The catch: No knife, no fork, no toppings.
Bonus +25: Try a second slice at a different place and pick a winner.
One Avenue, Thirty Blocks
Explore · Adventure · 200 points · 2 hrs
Walk thirty blocks straight up or down one avenue and watch the city change.
The catch: No subway shortcuts.
Bonus +75: Eat in whichever block felt most different.
Great Lobbies
Hidden Gems · Easy · 100 points · 1 hr
Visit three public building lobbies for their architecture alone.
The catch: No photographs where security says no.
Bonus +50: Find brass, marble and a ceiling mural.
Stoop Time
Local Culture · Easy · 100 points · 45 min
Sit on a public stoop, steps or plaza and watch a block for forty-five minutes.
The catch: Phone stays away.
Bonus +25: Count how many languages you hear.
Bodega Breakfast
Food & Drink · Easy · 100 points · 30 min
Order a bacon-egg-and-cheese from a bodega the way regulars do.
The catch: No sitting down, no substitutions.
Bonus +25: Learn the counter guy's name.
Pay What You Wish
Museums · Easy · 100 points · 1–2 hrs
Use a pay-what-you-wish museum window and see one collection properly.
The catch: No rushing the whole building.
Bonus +50: Find the smallest object in the room.
Iron And Sky
Photo Quest · Quick · 50 points · 30 min
Photograph fire escapes against the sky, five different buildings.
The catch: Nothing at street level in frame.
Bonus +25: Find one with plants growing on it.
Ask A New Yorker
Local Culture · Bold · 300 points · 45 min
Ask three New Yorkers for their favourite place within four blocks, and go to one.
The catch: You must go, not just note it down.
Bonus +75: Tell them afterwards that you went.
Walk A Bridge
Outdoors · Easy · 100 points · 1–2 hrs
Walk across a New York bridge on foot, end to end.
The catch: No turning back halfway.
Bonus +50: Come back on a different bridge or the ferry.
Late Set
Hidden Gems · Adventure · 200 points · 2 hrs
Find live music in New York after 10pm that you did not book in advance.
The catch: No pre-booked shows.
Bonus +75: Talk to the musician afterwards.
Four Boroughs, One Day
Must-Do · Epic · 500 points · 5 hrs
Set foot and eat in at least three New York boroughs in one day.
The catch: Manhattan counts as only one.
Bonus +150: Make it four boroughs.
Share your Side Quest
New York Side Quest
Send New York side quests to whoever you're travelling with. The link opens this city ready to play.
https://buybeforeyoufly.com/side-quest/new-york
#BuyBeforeYouFly #SideQuestTravel #NewYorkSideQuest
What is a travel side quest?
A side quest is a small, self-contained challenge you can complete wherever you happen to be standing. Side Quest is a free browser-based travel game from Buy Before You Fly: you tell it which city you are exploring, choose the kind of adventure you are in the mood for, and it hands you something unexpected to do. Every quest is built from an objective, a constraint that makes it interesting, and an optional bonus — so instead of another list of the same twenty attractions, you get a reason to walk down a different street, order something you cannot pronounce, or look at one painting for twenty minutes.
There is nothing to install and nothing to sign up for. It works on the phone in your pocket, in the gap between a late checkout and an evening flight, or on a full free day in a city you have never visited.
How Side Quest works
- Pick your place. Search for the city you are exploring. No location permission and no precise GPS required.
- Choose a category. Food, museums, landmarks, exploring, photography, culture, outdoors or hidden gems — or let the dice decide.
- Get your quest. Each one comes with a mission, a catch and a bonus objective worth extra points.
- Earn points. Quick quests are worth 50 points and epic ones 500, with bonuses from 25 to 100 on top.
- Screenshot and share. Completing a quest turns it into an achievement card built to fit a phone screenshot.
Side Quest ideas for travelers
Food & Drink
Markets, bakeries, street food and the dish locals order without looking at the menu.
Museums
One room, one object, one story — museum challenges that beat drifting past everything.
Must-Do
The landmark experiences, with a twist that stops them feeling like a checklist.
Explore
Neighbourhood walks, wrong turns on purpose and streets guidebooks skip.
Photo Quest
Small photo missions that train you to notice details other travellers walk past.
Local Culture
Language, music, craft, ritual and everyday life where you happen to be standing.
Outdoors
Parks, water, viewpoints and green detours between the busy bits.
Hidden Gems
The small, quiet, odd and overlooked corners of a city.
Play Side Quest with friends
Side Quest has no accounts, no friend lists and no leaderboards to join — which is exactly what makes it easy to play together. Everyone opens the page on their own phone, plays the same city, and compares screenshots at dinner. Agree on a target before you split up: first to 500 points, most quests completed before sunset, or one epic quest each. Points are kept in your own browser, so the only scoreboard is the one you keep between you.
- 100 — Explorer
- 500 — Wanderer
- 1,000 — Adventurer
- 2,500 — Globetrotter
- 5,000 — Side Quest Legend
Explore more with Buy Before You Fly
Side Quest is free and always will be. When you want the rest of the trip sorted, the same site covers it:
- Destination guides
Country-by-country guides, things to do and short itineraries.
- Airport guides
Arrivals, transport, wi-fi, food and connections for major hubs.
- Travel eSIMs
Mobile data in 200+ destinations, installed before you land.
- Personalized trip plans
A downloadable plan built around your pace, interests and budget.