In short: Answers about Packhunt, the Escape This outdoor scavenger hunts: how the hunts worked, the four past games, where they start from in mid-2027 and what hasn’t been announced yet.
A Packhunt is a self-guided outdoor scavenger hunt from Escape This that blends a classic treasure trail with escape-room-style puzzles and augmented reality. Teams carry a backpack of clues through real streets, following a story from one landmark to the next. Packhunts aren’t running at the moment and are due back in mid-2027.
Not quite. An escape room shuts you inside a set and asks you to get out; a Packhunt sends you out into the city and asks you to reach a destination. The old Packhunt site said so plainly, while explaining that the hunts borrowed escape-room puzzle craft and mixed it with scavenger-hunt legwork and AR.
Some Packhunt puzzles existed only on screen. Teams used a Packhunt app on an iPhone or Android phone to reveal augmented-reality clues along the route, then combined them with the paper and physical clues carried in the pack. Whether the 2027 hunts use the same app hasn’t been announced.
Under the old format, a Packhunt began with an online booking and an app link emailed afterwards. On the day, staff met the team at a collection point, gave a short briefing and handed over the pack. The team then followed the story around town solving clues, and came back to the collection point for a debrief and a team photo.
The legacy Packhunt pages billed each game at 90 minutes, or roughly two hours including the briefing and debrief, although one page mentioned 60 minutes on the clock instead. The running time of the 2027 Packhunts has not been confirmed, so neither figure should be treated as current.
Packhunts were designed for teams of two to six, with one pack per team. Bigger crowds were split across several packs that set off at the same time. Escape This hasn’t yet said what team sizes the returning Packhunts will allow.
The old Packhunt site recommended players be at least nine years old to get the most out of the puzzles. Escape This will set the age guidance for the 2027 Packhunts when bookings open, so treat nine as history rather than a rule.
They did. Packhunts were run as an all-weather activity, and players were told to bring wet-weather gear or sunscreen to suit the day, plus comfortable walking shoes. Weather rescheduling needed a few hours’ notice back then; the policy for the return will be published with the new Packhunt bookings.
Four Packhunts appear on the old site: The Crooked Eight, Mindcraft and The Buckens, which started from Manly, and Lost in the City, which wound through the Perth CBD from a Northbridge start. Escape This hasn’t said which of them, if any, come back in 2027, so a familiar game could return, be reworked or make way for new stories.
The Crooked Eight was a gold-rush Packhunt set around Manly. It followed a gang of 1850s bandits who signed every heist with a figure eight and, so the story went, left a buried treasure behind after a feud with the founder of Manly. Teams chased the legend through the suburb’s streets. It is not on sale now.
Mindcraft was the Packhunt most aimed at children. Styled like a block-building video game, it asked teams to gather elements and craft weapons to drive marauding Creepers out of the Manly ‘biome’ before they wrecked it. It was promoted to families, school groups and children’s parties.
The Buckens was the Packhunt written for joint bucks and hens parties. Waking the morning after a combined celebration, the team discovered the wedding rings had vanished and had to retrace the night before around Manly’s nightspots to recover them ahead of the ceremony.
Lost in the City was Perth’s Packhunt. Players became newly landed visitors on a mission, picked up their pack in Northbridge and solved their way past the CBD’s sights before finishing somewhere in the city. It was pitched at families as well as adults. Its return hasn’t been announced.
No. Packhunts are not running at the moment, and the old Packhunt booking pages aren’t taking sessions. Escape This has confirmed the hunts return in mid-2027; until then, its indoor escape rooms are the nearest thing to a Packhunt.
Escape This says Packhunts return in mid-2027, across all of its cities. No exact launch day has been set, so keep an eye on this site or join the Escape This coming-soon list to hear when Packhunt bookings open.
Packhunts are set to return from all five current Escape This centres: Perth CBD and Northbridge in Western Australia, Manly and the Sydney CBD in New South Wales, and Melbourne CBD in Victoria. Each centre is expected to be a starting point; individual Packhunt routes haven’t been released.
Escape This hasn’t announced Brisbane Packhunts. The old Packhunt site described Brisbane and Gold Coast hunts as coming soon, but the mid-2027 return names only Perth CBD, Northbridge, Manly, the Sydney CBD and Melbourne. Escape This Brisbane CBD is due to open its escape rooms in the first half of 2027, which is a separate launch.
Prices for the returning Packhunts haven’t been announced. The per-person prices on the old site come from an earlier run and shouldn’t be relied on; Escape This will publish current Packhunt pricing when bookings open.
The booking method for the 2027 Packhunts hasn’t been announced. To hear first, register on the Escape This coming-soon page, or call your nearest Escape This centre on the number listed on this site’s Packhunt start-point pages.
Don’t count on them. The 1300 number and the bookings address printed on the former Packhunt site may no longer be monitored. For Packhunt questions, use the Escape This centre phone numbers on this site or the contact options on escapethis.com.au.
Manly Packhunts were collected from Escape This Manly at 2B The Corso, a short walk up from Manly Wharf. The old site listed Manly Wharf, Clontarf Reserve’s swimming baths, The Corso, Gilbert Park and the beach itself among the places its routes visited. Manly is one of the five centres named for the Packhunt return.
In Perth, Packhunt teams picked up their packs at Escape This Northbridge, 48 Lake Street, and walked south into the CBD. The old description of the Perth route named WA Museum Boola Bardip, Yagan Square, London Court and Elizabeth Quay among its stops.
Yes. Escape This Perth CBD, in the basement under the Hay Street Mall, is one of the five centres Packhunts return from in mid-2027, alongside Northbridge. That gives Perth two places to collect a pack, though how Packhunt routes will be shared between them hasn’t been announced.
The old site only ever listed a Sydney CBD Packhunt as coming soon, with Harbour landmarks in mind, and pointed players to Manly in the meantime. The mid-2027 return names Escape This Sydney CBD on George Street as a starting point, so city-centre hunts are finally on the plan.
Melbourne is on the list for the mid-2027 Packhunt return, starting from Escape This Melbourne CBD at 259 Collins Street. The former Packhunt site only described Melbourne hunts as coming soon, so 2027 is the first confirmed date for Packhunts in Victoria.
That was part of the idea from the start: because Packhunts left from Escape This centres, teams were encouraged to book an escape room before or after their hunt. With the return using the same five centres, pairing a Packhunt with a room should be simple again, although no bundles have been announced.
Packhunts were previously sold for team building, staff rewards and end-of-year functions, with large groups divided into teams that raced on separate routes to a shared finish. Corporate Packhunt options for 2027 haven’t been announced; for team building now, Escape This runs Team Escapes across its venues.
They were a regular choice. Hens and bucks Packhunts started in nightlife precincts such as Northbridge and The Corso, so the group could head straight to a bar afterwards, and The Buckens was written for a combined party. Whether party packages come back in 2027 is still to be confirmed.
Packhunts were promoted for both grown-up and children’s birthdays, with bigger parties split into rival teams. The old site noted that collection points didn’t serve food or cake, so groups ate nearby afterwards. Birthday options for the 2027 Packhunts will be confirmed when bookings open.
Yes. School excursions were one of the uses the old Packhunt site advertised, aimed at students aged nine and up working outdoors in small teams, with Mindcraft suggested for younger classes. Escape This hasn’t said whether excursion bookings will be offered when Packhunts return.
Packhunt is a brand of Escape This. Escape This is Australia’s largest escape room operator, and runs its own escape room design studio and escape room factory in Australia. It was named Escape Room Operator of the Year in 2025 and 2026, and it is the company bringing Packhunts back.
Join the Escape This coming-soon list and you’ll be told about the games, the routes and the day Packhunt bookings open.
