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How to play Manhunt

By Aryan, the Manhunt IRL team · Updated

To play Manhunt you need 6 or more friends, an outdoor area with clear edges, and a timer. Pick a jail in the middle, make about a quarter of the group hunters, give runners a 2 to 4 minute head start, then hunt for 15 to 30 minutes. This quick start gets a first-time host from zero to a running game; the full rules cover every detail.

Your first game in 8 steps

  1. Pick a placeA park, a quiet block, a campus quad or a big yard with places to hide and room to run. Public spaces you're allowed to be in.
  2. Set the boundariesWalk or point out the edges. Keep roads, water and private property out. About 90 m plus 12 m per runner from the middle to the edge. Size table
  3. Choose jailOne landmark near the middle, easy to find in the dark. Everyone starts here.
  4. Pick huntersAbout a quarter of the group. Everyone else is a runner. Hunter table
  5. Agree the house rulesTouch tags only, how jailbreaks work, whether guarding is allowed, and one word that stops the game for safety.
  6. Start the head startHunters wait at jail for 2 to 4 minutes while runners hide. Count the last 10 seconds out loud.
  7. Hunt, tag and break outHunters tag with a light touch; tagged runners walk to jail; free runners sneak in to free them. Tagging · Jailbreak
  8. End the round and rotateCall "Olly olly oxen free!", count heads at jail, and the first runners caught become the next hunters.
On this page
  1. What you need
  2. Choosing where to play
  3. Sizing the area
  4. Picking teams
  5. What to say before the first round
  6. During the round
  7. After the round
  8. Playing at night
  9. Weather and what to wear
  10. Playing with the app

This page is for the person who says “let’s play Manhunt” and then has to make it happen. It covers the logistics. What counts as a tag, how jail works and who wins are all in the Manhunt rules, and there’s a one-page printable version you can hold up while you explain.

How a round of Manhunt works Five stages from left to right: head start, where runners hide while hunters wait at jail; the hunt; a tag, where a caught runner walks to jail; a jailbreak, where a free runner frees the prisoners and the loop goes back to the hunt; and the end, where hunters win if everyone is caught at once and runners win if anyone is free when time runs out. 1 Head start Runners hide. Hunters wait at jail. 2 Hunt Hunters search. Runners hide, sneak, run. 3 Tag Light touch. Caught runner walks to jail. 4 Jailbreak A free runner reaches jail: prisoners free. 5 Time's up All caught at once: hunters win. Else runners win. Jailbreaks send the game back to the hunt
A round in five beats. Jailbreaks loop the game back, which is why hunters have to catch everyone at the same time.

What you need

  • People. Four is the minimum; six to twenty is ideal. Thirty works with a big enough area.
  • A place with hiding spots and room to run, where you’re allowed to be.
  • A timer. Any phone works. The Manhunt app runs it for everyone at once.
  • Shoes you can run in, and at night a small light and something visible to wear.

No equipment, no cost.

Choosing where to play

The best Manhunt areas mix open ground (for chases) with cover (trees, hedges, walls, playground equipment, dark corners). Parks, school fields where permitted, campus quads, church grounds, campsites and quiet residential streets all work.

Avoid anywhere you’d have to cross a busy road, climb a fence or go onto private property. If it isn’t obvious you’re allowed to be there, you aren’t. Parks have opening hours, and some towns have curfews for under-18s; check before a night game (more in safety).

Diagram of a Manhunt playing area A circular boundary about 175 meters from the middle to the edge, kept inside a road that is out of bounds. Jail is a small circle in the middle. Two red hunters wait at jail while six cyan runners scatter outward to hide behind trees, hedges and a building. Road: always out of bounds building BOUNDARY JAIL ≈ 20 m 50 m Hunter Runner Cover
What a good setup looks like: a clear boundary kept well inside the road, jail in the middle, and plenty of cover.

Sizing the area

This is what first-time hosts get wrong most. A tiny area ends in three minutes; a huge one lets runners hide forever. Use a circle of about 90 meters plus 12 meters per runner from the middle to the edge: roughly 125 m for 3 runners, 175 m for 7 and 270 m for 15. The rules have the full table.

Walk the edge with everyone, or at least point at every landmark, and say out loud what’s out of bounds inside it: the parking lot, a neighbor’s yard, the pond.

Picking teams

About a quarter of the players hunt: 2 hunters for 8 players, 3 for 12, 5 for 20. For the first round, take volunteers or play rock paper scissors. After that, the first runners caught become the hunters.

What to say before the first round

Read this out, word for word if you like. It takes about a minute:

“The boundary is [the fence, the path, the end of the street]. Roads and yards are out. Jail is [the big tree]. [Names] are hunting. Runners get [3 minutes] to hide while hunters count at jail with their eyes closed. A tag is a light touch on the shoulder or back: no grabbing, no tackling. If you’re tagged, walk straight to jail. If you’re free and you reach jail without being tagged, tag a prisoner’s hand and shout ‘Jailbreak!’ to free everyone. Hunters win if everyone’s in jail at once; runners win if anyone’s free after [20 minutes]. If anyone yells ‘Freeze’, everyone stops. Go!”

During the round

  • Keep time. Call out the halfway point and the last minute.
  • Settle disputes fast. If nobody is sure whether a tag happened, it didn’t.
  • Watch the edges of the boundary, especially near roads.

After the round

  • Headcount first. Everyone back at jail before anything else.
  • Rotate. The first runners caught hunt next.
  • Adjust. If the hunters won in five minutes, make the area bigger or the head start longer. If nobody was caught, shrink it or add a hunter.

Playing at night

Manhunt is at its best after dark, and it needs a bit more care. Read the night safety checklist first. In short: shrink the area by about 20 percent (darkness is cover), everyone carries a light, younger players go in pairs, nobody hides near roads or water, and someone who isn’t playing knows where you are.

Weather and what to wear

  • Dark, quiet clothes and shoes with grip. No jangling keys.
  • Cold or snow: footprints give runners away; shorten rounds and keep a warm spot at jail.
  • Rain: skip slippery areas and play a smaller boundary.
  • Heat: play at dusk and keep water at jail.

Playing with the app

With the Manhunt app, one person hosts on an iPhone and everyone else scans a QR code or taps a link. The app picks hunters, sizes the boundary to the group and starts a synced head start. Friends without the app, including Android users, join from their browser with the same link.