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Pac-Man meets Jumanji at HintHunt’s multi-level mission room
Enter a retro arcade world with 8-bit graphics, lasers, and Pacman-style mazes
Last updated: Friday, 6 March 2026
The team behind Africa’s best escape rooms has launched a new game, that’s the first of its kind. Called Bomb Time, it’s a mission room (not an escape room). An experience that’s best described as Jumanji meets arcade nostalgia – all 8-bit graphics, neon-lit mazes and pulsing 80s electronic sounds. Expect five fast-paced rooms, laser beams, memory challenges, and of course, a final boss battle.
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Caption: Our team was the first to play! Image: CapeTownMagazine.com
HINTHUNT'S NEW MISSION ROOM
What are mission rooms? Unlike an escape room, where you solve puzzles to get out, a mission room is about scoring points and progressing through levels that get increasingly difficult.
In Bomb Time, you and three other players move through five timed rooms. You get 10 minutes in each room, gaining points that determine how much time you’ll get in the final boss battle room. The better you play, the higher your points, and the more time you’ll have in the final room to defeat the boss and win.
It’s fast. Physical. Competitive. And best of all, replayable.
INSIDE THE 8-BIT WORLD
Bomb Time begins like an arcade game. Within seconds, it glitches and, just like Jumanji, you’re “sucked” into an 8-bit world, the pixelated style of early console games.
Think pixel art, the manic maze energy of Pac-Man, final bosses like Donkey Kong, and electronic bloops and bleeps straight out of the 1980s.
The HintHunt team spent two years researching mission-style games across Europe and the UK, followed by a year of design, to get Bomb Time just right. Built by a production company responsible for internationally-renowned TV shows, everything is designed to feel hyper-real.
UV lights flood certain rooms, making neon targets, beams and markings glow as they would on a film set, while reactive sound effects trigger instantly when you score or miss. You’re not walking into a game; you’re stepping into a world.
You’ll feel the nostalgia as soon as you start playing. Image: HintHunt
5 IMMERSIVE ROOMS
The first room, Echo, tests your memory with flashing patterns and vanishing cues. It feels manageable at first…until the game’s pace starts increasing. From there, a UV-lit laser maze forces your team to duck and pivot without breaking the beam in the Laser Room.
Precision replaces speed in the third room, Labyrinth, which demands full-team coordination through a giant Pac-Man-style maze. In Pixel, lights flash in rapid-fire sequences and accuracy is everything. By this rate, your heart rate is up and time is tight.
Finally, you reach the boss level.
Without giving too much away, the ending is cinematic and explosive. Image: HintHunt
HOW TO CLIMB THE LEADERBOARD
Unlike escape rooms, which you can only solve once, Bomb Time is built for replays. Each room changes its light sequences and beam patterns, so no two challenges are identical and every round plays out differently.
Your team’s final score goes onto a leaderboard, which tracks daily, monthly, yearly and all-time rankings. That means even after you leave the room, you’re still competing against other teams – you can return to beat your own score or knock a rival team off the top spot.
Every mission is a chance to climb higher and beat your best score. Image: HintHunt
CHALLENGE EACH OTHER
Teams enter the first room every 15 minutes, which means groups of up to 160 players can play per day. Corporate teams can split into smaller groups and compete against each other, while friends can challenge rival teams, and serious contenders can chase top-tier status.
Bomb Time doesn’t just end with a bang; it leaves you wanting another round. Ready for your next mission? See what other worlds await you in HintHunt’s escape rooms.
PLAY BOMB TIME AT HINTHUNT
HintHunt Africa is open: Monday to Thursday, 10am - 7pm; Friday to Saturday, 10am - 8.30pm; Sunday, 10am - 5.30pm
Find it: Watershed, 17 Dock Road, V&A Waterfront
Book: Via HintHunt’s website
Contact on: 021 001 4215, capetown@hinthunt.co.za
Follow: Right now on Instagram at @hinthuntafrica
By Khadeeja Adams
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MORE EXCITING THINGS TO DO
HintHunt’s escape room Marble is being dubbed “the best escape room in Africa”.
Cape Town’s first retro bar and arcade, Barcadia is free to play and free to enter.
There’s always plenty of things to do in Cape Town this week(end).
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