Short answer: Frankenstein’s Mad Scientist Cocktail Lab is a 21+ Halloween pop-up bar from Bucketlisters, and for the second year it lives inside Puttery in Chicago, Houston, New York City and Washington, D.C. It runs September 24 through October 31, 2026, Wednesday through Sunday, in 90-minute seatings that start at 6 pm. A ticket covers your seat and one interactive welcome drink. It does not cover mini golf. Tickets are sold only through Bucketlisters and start at $20.35 per person, including fees. Unlimited mini golf, additional themed cocktails, and themed food can be bought onsite.
Buy tickets on Bucketlisters:
What is Frankenstein’s Mad Scientist Cocktail Lab?
Frankenstein’s is a ticketed cocktail experience: a bar dressed as Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory, where the drinks arrive on surgical trays with the last step left for you. You pour the charcoal. You stir with the dry ice. You add the lemon that changes the color of the gin. Bartenders in lab coats run the room, the monster is laid out on a table under an “It’s Alive” sign for your photos, and the food menu has names like Blackout Nachos and the Grey Matter Sundae.
Bucketlisters created the concept and runs it in cities around the country every fall. In four of them, the lab is built inside a Puttery venue, and our bartenders and our scratch kitchen do the pouring and the cooking. Last fall was our first year hosting it. This fall it is back in the same four cities, with a food menu that changes by city and the same rule as before: your drink is the experiment.
Where is Frankenstein’s, and which room is it in?
Each venue gives the lab its own space, so you are not squeezed next to a tee time. Tickets are city-specific, so buy the right one.
| CITY | PUTTERY VENUE | THE LAB IS IN |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 932 W Randolph St, Fulton Market | The Parlor and the Study |
| Houston | 1818 Washington Ave, Sawyer Yards | The entire first floor |
| New York City | 446 W 14th St, Meatpacking District | Rojo Room, our underground supper club |
| Washington, D.C. | 800 F St NW, Penn Quarter | The Upper and Lower F Street bars |
When is Frankenstein’s open?
September 24 through October 31, 2026, Wednesday through Sunday, from 6 to 11 pm. There are five seatings a night: 6:00, 6:45, 7:45, 8:30 and 9:30 pm. Each seating is 90 minutes and each one is capped, so expect Fridays, Saturdays and the last week of October to sell out first. If your group only works on a Saturday, buy now and argue about the time later.
What does a Frankenstein’s ticket include?
General admission covers:
- 90 minutes of open seating in the lab
- One interactive welcome drink, cocktail or zero-proof
- The photo ops, including the monster on the table
- Access to the full lab drink menu and the themed food menu, all available to order
It does not cover mini golf gameplay, extra drinks, or food. Tarot readings are offered on-site for an additional cost. Everyone needs to be 21 or older with a valid ID, including the person ordering the zero-proof version. Tickets are sold only through Bucketlisters, and any refund request goes to Bucketlisters, not to the venue.
How do the welcome drinks work?
You pick one of three. All of them show up on a metal surgical tray, and all of them need you to finish them.
Electric Jolt. Blanco tequila, triple sec, lime and simple syrup over pebble ice in a glass beaker. It comes with a packet of activated charcoal and a glow-in-the-dark swizzle stick loaded with dry ice. Pour the charcoal in, stir with the dry ice, and watch the whole thing go dark and start smoking. This is the one people film.
It’s Alive. Prosecco with edible glitter in a champagne flute, next to a small beaker of color-changing gin and simple syrup and an Erlenmeyer flask of lemon juice. Pour the gin, then the lemon, and the color shifts in the glass. It also comes as a zero-proof version, so the designated driver still gets an experiment
Monstrosity. Rye whiskey, fig liqueur, cinnamon syrup and two kinds of bitters over pebble ice in a beaker, finished green, with a dry-ice stirrer so you can swirl the color in yourself. The whiskey drinker’s answer to a Halloween cocktail.
Our pick: the Electric Jolt for the show, It’s Alive for the photo, the Monstrosity if you think tequila and prosecco are for other people.
What else is on the lab menu?
Once the welcome drink is gone, the rest of the menu is where the bar teams had fun. Prices are on the menu in the lab. Everything here is available to order during your seating.
- Igor. Aged rum, absinthe, orgeat, grenadine, lime, grapefruit, cinnamon syrup, bitters and ginger beer over pebble ice. It arrives covered and filled with smoke, gets unveiled at your table, and you stir it to reveal the color.
- Blood Bag. Vodka, cranberry, hibiscus syrup and apple juice served inside a blood bag hanging from a display stand, with a beaker of pebble ice for the transfusion. Built for the photo.
- Deadly Dose. Citrus vodka, elderflower liqueur, lychee and lemon over pebble ice, with a syringe of grenadine on the side. You can swap the syringe for a strawberry gelatin shot.
- Divination. Mezcal and blanco tequila with blue curaçao, orgeat and lime in a sugar-rimmed coupe, plus a pipette of mole bitters to finish it yourself.
- The shots. Reanimator (vodka, sour apple, blue curaçao, grenadine, apple juice, gummy ring), Lightning Bolt (reposado tequila, melon liqueur, lime, charcoal-salt rim), Voltage Shot (rum, hibiscus, pineapple, gummy worm or eyeball), Franken Shot (peach liqueur layered with Irish cream and a splash of grenadine), and the Blood Shot, a strawberry gelatin shot in a capped syringe. Order the first four together as the Fright Flight and let the table fight over the eyeball.
What is on the Frankenstein’s food menu?
Six dishes are on the menu in all four cities, then each kitchen adds its own. Everything on it is available to order during your seating, which matters more than it sounds: 90 minutes goes fast, and nobody wants to leave for dinner halfway through.
| DISH | WHAT IT IS | WHERE |
|---|---|---|
| Firebolt Frankenwings | Wings in green buffalo sauce with a “radioactive ranch antidote” | All four |
| Radioactive Spinach Sludge Dip | Neon-green spinach artichoke dip bubbling in a mini cauldron, black tortilla chips | All four |
| Blackout Nachos | Charred black chips, queso blanco, black beans, pico, green tomatillo slime and a beet crema drizzle | All four |
| Slime Fries | Crispy potato spikes under green garlic herb cheese sauce and radioactive ranch | All four |
| The MonsterSmash Burger | Double patties, American cheese, glowing green aioli, house pickles and a sriracha ketchup syringe | All four |
| Grey Matter Sundae | Cookies and cream ice cream, dark cookie crumbles, whipped cream “tissue,” candy eyes and a vial of raspberry drizzle | All four |
| Necromancer’s Cajun Alfredo | Black-ink penne in creamy Cajun alfredo with chicken or shrimp | Chicago, Houston, DC |
| Lightning-Bolt Nashville Hot Chicken | Crispy chicken in Nashville hot sauce over pickles and coleslaw | Chicago, Houston, DC |
| The Mummy’s Cobb Salad Wrap and The Cryptkeeper’s Caesar Wrap | Wrapped tight like a specimen, with chicken, bacon, avocado, egg and blue cheese, or romaine, chicken, croutons and pecorino | Houston, DC |
| Surgeon’s Slice of Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice | Ahi tuna with gochujang aioli, avocado and fresno chili over a crisp rice slab | New York City |
| The Shock Therapy Chicken Sandwich | Crispy chicken thigh with a Sichuan peppercorn rub, sriracha pickles and charred scallion mayo | New York City |
| Graveyard Panzanella, Pipette alla Vod-Kook, The Abomination Steak Frites | A charred-bread salad, a vodka-sauce pasta with fresno chili, and a wagyu flat iron with chimichurri and house fries | New York City |
How does the night run?
Same script in all four cities:
- Arrive 15 minutes before your seating time. A line forms outside and nobody goes in before their slot.
- Show your Bucketlisters confirmation and your ID at the concierge. You get a welcome drink ticket.
- The concierge walks you into the lab, where a server or bartender greets you, walks you through the menu, and trades that ticket for your welcome drink.
- Your 90 minutes run from your seating time, not your arrival time. Show up late and you lose the difference. More than 15 minutes late and the venue can turn you away, with refunds handled by Bucketlisters.
- When the clock runs out, tabs close and the lab turns over for the next seating. You are welcome to keep going in the rest of the building.
Two things to know before you buy. Seating is not guaranteed on sold-out dates; the venue makes every effort, but seats go first come, first served, and busy nights mix table seating with standing cocktail space. And your seating time is hard-edged on both ends because the next group is scheduled right behind you.
What we learned from last year
We read every review from the 2025 run. The five-star ones name a bartender.
- “Jalen was our bartender. He took fabulous care of us and everyone else.” (Tina H. via Google, Puttery Houston, Oct 13, 2025)
- “Frankenstein’s Lab was very fun, festive and interactive.” (Olivia via Google, Puttery Houston, Oct. 13, 2025)
- “I was there for Frankenstein and had the best time.” (Taylor C. via Google, Puttery Chicago, Oct 29, 2025)
- A New York guest reviewing us last Halloween season put the best advice in one sentence: “come early though that way you can actually play golf for a couple of rounds” (Kwame O. via Google, Puttery New York City, Nov 27, 2025).
Which brings us to the obvious question…
Can you play mini golf with a Frankenstein’s ticket?
Not with the ticket, but yes on the same night. Gameplay is sold separately, and the courses run on regular venue hours, which go later on Fridays and Saturdays. Buy gameplay at the concierge when you check in, or book a tee time ahead for the slot before your seating so the reviewer’s advice actually works. Chicago has the Library and the Lodge. Houston has the Conservatory, the Lodge and the Library. New York City has the Lodge and the History Museum. Washington, D.C. has the Art Museum, the Conservatory and the Illusion. Every hole is a world you step into, not just play through.
The lab is 21+ every night it runs. Puttery itself is a different story: family-friendly during the day and built for adults at night, with cutoffs that vary by city. If you are bringing anyone under 21 for the golf part, check the age policy by location first.
