Manhunt game rules: how to play real-life manhunt

What is manhunt?

Manhunt is an outdoor game that mixes hide and seek with tag, played across a park, a campus or a few blocks. The targets hide and keep moving. The hunters search for them and tag them with a touch. The game ends when every target is caught or time runs out.

Every neighborhood plays its own way, so agree on your rules before anyone moves. This page covers the real-life game, not Rockstar Games' Manhunt video games.

How to set up a game

To set up manhunt you need a group, a safe area, a time limit and a few rules everyone has heard.

1. Pick the area and walk its edges together.
2. Choose a base and a meeting point. One spot can be both.
3. Pick the hunters by drawing straws.
4. Agree what a tag is: a light touch on the shoulder or arm.
5. Give the targets a head start of a minute or two while the hunters count at base.
6. Set a finish time, and how you'll call everyone back.

Boundaries and base

Boundaries are the edges of the game, and base is the one spot everyone can find again. Use edges nobody can argue with, like a path or the end of a block, and keep roads, railways, water, cliffs, construction and private property outside them. Many groups count a target who crosses the line as tagged.

Base is where the hunters count and where everyone meets at the end. Some groups make it home free: a target who reaches it untagged is safe.

Classic team manhunt

In classic manhunt, two even teams take turns: one side hides as targets, the other hunts, then they swap. A tagged target walks back to base and is out for the round. The round ends when every target is tagged or the clock runs out, and the team that lasts longest as targets wins.

Manhunt with a jail

Jail manhunt adds a rescue: tagged targets wait in a jail, and a free target can break them out. Put the jail in plain sight, usually at base. A free target who touches it frees everyone inside, so the hunters have something to guard. The hunters win if every target is in jail at once.

Infection manhunt, or manhunt tag

In infection manhunt, also called manhunt tag or zombie tag, a tagged target changes sides and becomes a hunter. Start with one hunter. Every tag adds another, so the pack grows until nobody is left or the clock runs out. Nobody sits out, which makes it the easiest version for big groups. Give each new hunter a short turning pause, so one tag doesn't set off another on the spot.

Which version should you play?

Play infection with a big or mixed group, jail if your group loves a rescue, and classic if you have two even teams.

How many players, and how long?

Manhunt is at its best with about 6 to 20 players and rounds of 15 to 30 minutes. Those are starting points, not rules. Match the area to the group: the Manhunt app’s circle zone starts at a radius of 400 m (about 0.25 mi), and the host can set it from 100 m to 3 km (about 1.9 mi). A handful of players in a 3 km zone will spend the whole game walking.

Playing manhunt at night

Manhunt at night works if you play somewhere well lit that you already know by day, and everyone can be seen. Wear something bright or reflective, carry a light and agree a firm finish time. Hiding in the dark is fine; running blind is not. Younger teens should play in daylight, with friends they know, in an area an adult has looked at.

Keeping it safe

Safe manhunt comes down to a few rules, and whoever hosts is responsible for picking a safe area. The full list is in our safety rules.

• No roads or railways. Keep them out of the area, and never run into or across traffic.
• No private property. No yards, fences, rooftops, construction sites or closed buildings.
• A tag is a touch. Never grab, push, trip, tackle or chase anyone into danger.
• On foot only. No cars, bikes, scooters or skateboards.
• Play with people you know, and leave any game that doesn't feel right.
• Respect people who aren't playing. Give them space, and don't hide in businesses.

Playing with or without phones

You don't need phones to play manhunt, but they fix what usually goes wrong. Without them, the game runs on sight, sound and trust: you need a loud way to call everyone back, and hunters can lose everyone until the game stalls. Keep a phone on you for emergencies anyway.

With phones, even a group chat helps you call tags and finish on time. If you'd rather have an app run the game, you can compare the best manhunt apps.

How the Manhunt app handles each part

The Manhunt app runs the infection version for you, so nobody has to referee from memory.

• Boundaries: the host draws the zone on a map. A target who leaves it shows up on every hunter's map.
• Hunters: a roulette picks the first hunter, Patient Zero, at random. It's one player by default, and the host can start with more.
• Time: games run 15 to 90 minutes, with presets and a head start built in.
• Finding people: pings show hunters where targets are, and a danger meter warns targets as a hunter closes in.
• Tags: a hunter's tag is still a real touch, and the tagged player confirms or disputes it on their phone. No answer counts as a tag, unless the two players’ locations don’t back it up: then the host or referee reviews it. Disputes go to the host or a referee, and a replay shows every path afterward.
• Automatic tags: A target who stays outside the zone too long, or offline too long, is tagged automatically, and no hunter gets the credit. The host or referee can undo it for a short while.
• Turning: a confirmed tag starts the turning, and moments later the target is a hunter.
• Base and jail: there's neither, so just agree a meeting point.

It's free, for 3–50 players. Friends install the app and join from your link, with no sign-up. Read how to play for the full walkthrough, then get the app.

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