Unpacked: HintHunt, Cape Town’s original escape rooms

Read rave reviews from Google, Tripadvisor and team testimonials

Last updated: Tuesday, 27 August 2024

The appeal of HintHunt’s mind-blowing Escape Rooms is how they merge storytelling, problem-solving, and realistic set design so that you feel like you’re in Mission Impossible, a Marvel series or your favourite murder mystery novel. Don’t take it from us. Listen to these rave reviews from Google, Tripadvisor, and team testimonials about the thrill of HintHunt that keeps friends, families, and teams coming back again.

HintHunt opened its first escape room in 2013, kicking off the craze, and a decade later it’s a global leader in escape-room games. Image: HintHunt

IT FEELS VERY LIFE-LIKE

If you’re new to escape games, HintHunt will exceed all your expectations. Each escape room is extremely detailed, down to the sounds and songs you’ll hear in the background (like ambient club music while you stand in a dodgy city alley). 

You’re locked inside a themed room (two to six players) with 60 to 75 minutes to escape. Each room has its own level of difficulty and a gamemaster, who sends hints throughout the game in case your team gets stuck. 

What Juri Van Deventer (Google reviews) loves the most is how anything can be a clue to the puzzle. “Keys, cards, codes, switches, buttons, valves, hatches…The puzzles are cleverly devised and some clues you see at the start only become helpful at the end,” he says. “You feel like you’re actually in it”. 

HintHunt opened its first escape room in 2013, kicking off the craze, and a decade later it’s a global leader in escape-room games. Image: HintHunt

CHOOSE FROM 6 THEMES   

You can launch a torpedo, escape from jail Prison Break-style, break a curse, recover the Royal Family’s stolen jewels or uncover the truth behind Mr O’s mysterious disappearance. 

Layla Durand (Google reviews) says that because there are so many rooms to choose from, they “booked another one immediately” after playing The Cursed Treasure. In this room, your team needs recover lost treasures and break the curse.

Whether you’re a wannabe sleuth, logical thinker, or creative genius, you’ll get a kick out of unlocking one clue after another to solve HintHunt’s Escape Rooms. Image: HintHunt

POSSIBLY THE BEST ESCAPE ROOM IN THE WORLD?

That’s what’s being said about HintHunt’s newest room. In Marble, a superhero agency has recruited you to save the city. It feels just like Iron Man’s lab, with sleek white walls, lots of tech gadgets, moving screens, and a Marble agent giving you clues on an iPad, like your own Jarvis. 

“It's all there: The sounds, the sights, and some really awesome surprises that had us all buzzing,” says Phindile Langa (Google reviews). “Seriously, it's the KING OF ESCAPE ROOMS!” (and one of the most challenging).

Unlike HintHunt’s other Escape Rooms, you have 75 minutes (instead of 60) to escape Marble. Image: HintHunt

SET DESIGNS LIKE MOVIE SCENES

Some of them are actually based on movies and series – like Escape Plan, a Prison Break-style room where you’re huddled into two cells. You and your cellmates are the new prisoners, and you must decipher the codes left by Michael and Lincoln, using their plan to escape.

Or Torpedo, which “feels like a submarine from Mission Impossible,” says Simone Schultz, head of operations at CapeTownMagazine.com. It’s a dark grey room with pipes and valves everywhere and “really feels like you’re under the water." 

Torpedo has a 5/5 difficulty ranking. Image: HintHunt

EVEN A 5-YEAR-OLD CAN PLAY

It only takes an hour to play most of HintHunt’s Escape Rooms, so you can challenge your colleagues during lunch or take your family over the weekend. Boomie (Google reviews) says it’s the best family fun they’ve had in years. 

“All four of our children from five to 16 years old played and our youngest found clues that we would have missed. We worked as a team and everyone had fun,” she says. 

Boomie suggests you start with the “easiest” of the rooms, Shipwrecked, where you’ll need to recover the royal family’s sacred pearls from Captain Kalman’s lost ship before the storm hits and sinks you and the ship forever. 

Tip: Don't ignore the messages of warning scrawled across the ship's walls. Image: HintHunt

BUILDS TEAM MORALE AND COMMUNICATION

Since HintHunt can accommodate up to 54 players per session, large-sized companies like Pep Africa and Ten Group have played these games at their corporate events or as a teambuilding activity. 

“An intern took full control of our team and it was great to see people taking leadership roles. This was an eye-opener to allow more people the opportunity to do so. Not just at HintHunt, but in a work environment as well,” says Ten Group in a team testimonial.

Playing these escape rooms is one way to reconnect teams and sharpen communication. Image: HintHunt

PLAY THE AMAZING RACE IN CAPE TOWN

HintHunt doesn’t just offer Escape Rooms. In Amazing Race, your group will have to outwit and outpace another team using clues around iconic landmarks in the V&A Waterfront. 

“We raced all across the Waterfront. Through the Watershed, past the Crumbs and Cream food truck, past Sevruga and Tiger’s Milk. You don’t think you’re going to sprint like they do on the TV show but you really do,” says Julia Rowley, managing editor at CapeTownMagazine.com. “It really does feel like The Amazing Race”. 

Races take anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes to complete and there are three routes to choose from in HintHunt’s Amazing Race.

Amazing Race works well for big teams. Image: HintHunt

THRILLING ONLINE GAMES

There are online team adventures at HintHunt, too. The advantage of Cold Case, the online escape game, is that you can play from anywhere, and still feel connected to your friends and colleagues as you put your heads together to find clues over a collaborative video call. 

Melanie N.P (Tripadvisor) says she’s tried the escape rooms and online games. “All are really enjoyable and I would definitely recommend it for the thrill and rush.” In Cold Case, you’ll have to explore a mansion for clues in order to inherit your fortune. 

Online games are well suited to friends and teams that live and work remotely or across various cities. Image: HintHunt

SERVICE WITH A CAPE TOWN SMILE

Above all, what N Duffy (Tripadvisor) appreciates the most is how “professional” the setup is. “One cannot fault them on anything. The staff were amazing, so friendly and funny, plus you can see they love what they do.” 

Alan Willemse agrees. “They offer very friendly service with a Cape Town smile, from the front desk to the one leading you to the escape room and explaining all the rules.”

You can buy cool merch at HintHunt’s offices in the Watershed. Image: HintHunt

END WITH DINNER AND DRINKS

HintHunt is located at the Watershed, right next to the V&A Waterfront. This is what Wihan Cahill (Google reviews) finds so convenient about playing an escape room. 

“I’d definitely recommend it for a fun outing or even a special occasion like a birthday,” he says. “Since it's close to the mall, you can enjoy drinks afterwards." 

No phones are allowed in the rooms. Image: HintHunt

BOOK A HINTHUNT ESCAPE ROOM  

HintHunt Africa is open: Monday to Thursday, 10am to 7pm; Friday & Saturday, 10am to 8.30pm; Sunday, 10am to 5.30pm
Find it: Watershed, 17 Dock Road, V&A Waterfront
Book: Via HintHunt’s website
Cost: From R335 per person
Contact on: 076 187 2764, capetown@hinthunt.co.za

By Khadeeja Adams

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MORE GAMES TO PLAY

HintHunt's Marble is possibly the best escape room in the world. 

It’s free to enter and all the games are free to play at Barcadia. 

Plan your next team-building event. 

There’s always 7+ things to do this week(end).

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