Manhunt variations

By Aryan, the Manhunt IRL team · Updated September 26, 2026

The most popular Manhunt variations are Jailbreak (tagged runners go to jail and teammates free them), Infection (tagged runners become hunters), Flashlight Manhunt (hunters tag by catching runners in a beam at night), Sardines (one hides, finders squeeze in with them) and Team Manhunt (two sides, two jails). Each keeps the core idea: hide, chase, tag.

Manhunt has as many versions as it has neighborhoods. Below are the ones worth knowing, with rules you can use tonight. Every variation keeps the same safety basics as classic Manhunt: agreed boundaries, touch tags only, and a word that stops the game for anyone.

All variations at a glance

In the Manhunt app, Classic and Infection are available from launch, and the other modes are built on the same systems (pings, heartbeat, boundaries and verified tags) so they can ship as presets.

Jailbreak Manhunt

The version most people mean by “Manhunt” and the one described in full on the rules page. Hunters tag runners; tagged runners go to jail; a free runner who reaches jail untagged frees the prisoners.

What makes it work: the jailbreak creates comebacks. Hunters can’t just catch everyone once; they have to catch everyone at the same time, which forces them to choose between guarding jail and hunting.

Common tweaks:

• One-for-one: each rescuer frees one prisoner instead of all of them. Good for small groups where freeing everyone swings too hard.
• Chain jail: prisoners hold hands in a chain reaching out from jail, and a rescuer only has to tag the last person in the chain. Faster jailbreaks, more chaos.
• Visible guards: hunters may guard jail, but only in the open (in the app, any hunter within about 35 m of jail shows on runners’ maps).
• “Manhunt, manhunt, 1-2-3”: in some neighborhoods a tag only counts if the hunter holds the runner with both hands and chants it.

Infection Manhunt

Also called Build-up Manhunt, Zombie Manhunt, Zombie Tag or “reverse hide-and-seek” (when it starts with just one or two people hiding and everyone else hunting). It’s the best version for large groups because nobody ever sits in jail.

Rules:

1. Start with one hunter (“patient zero”) for up to 10 players, two for 11 to 20, three for 21 to 30.
2. A tagged runner becomes a hunter. In the app, they get a short “turning” pause before they can tag anyone.
3. There is no jail.
4. Hunters win when every runner has been turned. Runners win if anyone is still human when time runs out (usually 12 to 20 minutes).

Why it’s fun: each tag flips a friend’s allegiance, so the pressure builds steadily. The endgame, one survivor against a crowd, is the moment people film. In the app, runners who become zombies get pings on the remaining humans, and the last three humans get a little extra slack so the ending is a fight, not a formality.

Flashlight Manhunt

A night game where the hunter tags with light. Hunters carry flashlights; runners don’t.

Rules:

1. Play after dark in a small, familiar area with no trip hazards.
2. To catch a runner, the hunter must hold the beam on them and call their name. A wrong name doesn’t count.
3. Caught runners go to jail as normal. Jailbreaks still work by touch.
4. Runners may not use lights. Hunters may not shine lights into anyone’s eyes at close range.

Why it’s popular: it rewards stillness and patience over speed, so it’s safer for younger kids and mixed ages. It’s also fantastic in the woods at a campsite. In the app, a flashlight catch is confirmed the same way as a touch tag: the hunter taps Caught and the runner accepts.

Sardines

Sardines turns hide-and-seek inside out. One person hides, and everyone else seeks alone. When you find the hider, you quietly squeeze into the hiding spot with them. The hiding spot fills up like a tin of sardines. The last seeker to find the group hides next round.

Why it works: it needs almost no running, so it suits parties, mixed ages and small spaces, and the stifled giggling is half the fun. It’s the gentlest variation on this page.

Tips: pick hiding spots big enough for the whole group, and make the boundary small. With 15 or more players, use two separate hiders.

Kick the can

Kick the can is a direct ancestor of Manhunt, widely played in the United States by the Great Depression era of the 1930s. An empty can sits at the base.

Rules:

1. “It” guards the can and counts while everyone hides.
2. When “it” spots a hider, they call their name and location, and race them back to the can. If “it” touches the can first, the hider goes to jail.
3. Any free player who kicks the can without being caught frees everyone in jail, and “it” has to fetch the can and start counting again.

Differences from Manhunt: there’s usually only one seeker, caught players are spotted and named rather than chased and touched, and the rescue is a kicked can instead of a tagged hand. Manhunt’s jailbreak is a direct descendant of that kicked can. See the history of Manhunt.

Team Manhunt

Two teams, two halves of the playing area, two jails. It’s closest to Ringolevio and capture the flag, and it’s the best format for camps and youth groups with 20 to 30 players.

Rules:

1. Split the area in two with a clear midline. Each team has a jail on its own side.
2. You can only tag enemies on your own half.
3. Tagged players go to the enemy’s jail. Teammates free them by reaching that jail untagged.
4. Optional: each team also has a flag next to its jail. Carry the enemy flag back across the midline to win.
5. With no flag capture, the team holding more prisoners at the end wins.

Tip: make a “neutral strip” a few meters wide along the midline where nobody can be tagged. It ends arguments about which side someone was on.

Speedrunner Manhunt IRL

Inspired by the Minecraft Manhunt videos, where one speedrunner tries to beat the game while a group of hunters tries to stop them. The real-life version pits one runner against three to six hunters.

Rules:

1. The runner gets a longer head start (3 to 5 minutes).
2. Before the game, the host secretly marks three checkpoints inside the boundary: a bench, a statue, a particular tree. Only the runner knows where they are.
3. The runner must touch all three checkpoints before being tagged. Reaching each one is announced to the hunters (in the app, reaching a checkpoint triggers a precise reveal).
4. Hunters get a reveal of the runner’s rough location every few minutes.
5. Runner wins by completing all checkpoints. Hunters win with a tag.

Why it’s great: it forces the runner to move, which makes for incredible chases, and it films well. It’s the format creators ask for most.

Mister X

A detective game inspired by the board game Scotland Yard. One fugitive, Mister X, is hunted by everyone else. The fugitive’s exact position is revealed at fixed times (for example at minutes 3, 8, 13, 18 and 23), and in between, detectives only know whether they are standing still, walking or running.

It rewards teamwork over speed, and it has a great optional role for someone who doesn’t want to run: a “control room” player at base who coordinates the detectives.

Shrinking-zone Manhunt

Borrowed from battle-royale video games. The boundary shrinks in stages during the round (for example to 70%, then 50%, then 35%), with each new circle announced a minute ahead. Anyone left outside after a shrink is caught.

It solves camping completely and guarantees a dramatic final circle. Never shrink below about 40 meters across, because phone GPS isn’t accurate enough to judge the edge of anything smaller.

City Manhunt

A large-scale version played across neighborhoods or even a whole city on foot and public transport, popularized by YouTube series such as Jet Lag: The Game’s Hide and Seek seasons and by organized city-wide events. Hiders get a long head start, seekers ask questions (“Are you within 500 meters of me?”, “Are you north of the river?”) and close in over hours.

Only play city Manhunt as adults, on foot and public transit only, never in cars, in public places, and with everyone’s phone reachable. It’s a day trip, not a quick game.

Night Manhunt

Not a separate rule set, but the way most people remember playing. At night, shrink the area by about 20 percent (darkness is cover), and make sure everyone carries a light even if they can’t use it. The Manhunt app switches runners’ screens to a dim, dark “stealth” mode so the glow doesn’t give them away.

A version we don’t recommend: Takedown

In Takedown Manhunt, a tag means bringing the runner to the ground. It leads to real injuries, especially in the dark, and it turns a game about hiding and cleverness into a game about size. We don’t publish rules for it, and the Manhunt app will never offer it. Use touch tags.

Make your own

Most great house rules change one of four things: how runners are found (pings, flashlights, questions), what happens when they’re caught (jail, infection, out), how rescues work (jailbreak, kicking a can), and the space (fixed, shrinking, split). Pick one to change, play a round, and keep it if people laugh.