FAQ

The Dunny escape room — every question answered

In short: Every common question about The Dunny escape room: what it is, how hard it is, prices, ages, group sizes, accessibility, locations, records and who makes it.

About The Dunny

What is The Dunny escape room?

The Dunny is a 60-minute adventure escape room produced by Escape This. Players are locked inside the outback outhouse of Huge Axeman, a fictional and unhinged Aussie celebrity, and must solve puzzles to escape and radio for help before daylight runs out. It plays in Sydney at Manly Beach and in the Perth CBD.

What is a dunny?

“Dunny” is Australian slang for a toilet, traditionally an outdoor outhouse or “long drop” out the back of a bush property. The Dunny escape room recreates one: a weathered timber outback outhouse that you have to escape from.

Who is Huge Axeman?

Huge Axeman is the fictional, somewhat unhinged Aussie celebrity at the centre of The Dunny’s story. Several years ago he went crazy and took to the bush, and his old dunny door has stayed shut ever since — until you prise it open on a tour of his property and it slams shut behind you.

Is The Dunny scary?

The Dunny is equal parts creepy and hilarious rather than a horror room. Expect fading light, periods of darkness, the odd jump scare and plenty of outback humour, but no crawling, confined spaces or smoke effects. Families play it all the time.

Is The Dunny like Wolf Creek?

The Dunny is a hit with Wolf Creek fans. It shares the lonely outback setting and the sense that someone is out there with an axe, but it is an adventure escape room played as much for laughs as for tension, not a horror experience.

What makes The Dunny different from other escape rooms?

The Dunny is uniquely Australian. You play inside a full-scale outback outhouse, with cicadas buzzing, someone whistling “Waltzing Matilda” and an axe thwacking outside while the daylight fades. It is designed, built and run by Escape This — Australia’s largest escape room operator, with its own escape room design studio and factory — and every booking is private to your group.

How hard is The Dunny?

The Dunny is rated 7 out of 10 for difficulty. The clues are generally easy to find but challenging to solve. It suits players who have done an escape room before, and beginners up for more of a challenge. Gamesmasters give extra clues whenever you need them.

How long does The Dunny take?

You get 60 minutes in The Dunny. Arrive 15 minutes before your start time and allow about 15 minutes afterwards to debrief, so the whole visit takes up to 90 minutes.

Is The Dunny good for a first escape room?

Yes. First-timers find The Dunny challenging, but it is one of the most popular first rooms at Escape This, and the gamesmasters give extra clues whenever a team needs them.

Booking & prices

How much does The Dunny cost?

At Manly The Dunny costs $59 per adult and $49 per child under 16. At Perth CBD it costs $49 per adult and $39 per child Monday to Thursday, and $59 per adult and $49 per child Friday to Sunday. Prices exclude public and school holidays.

How do I book The Dunny?

Book The Dunny online with live availability on this site or at escapethis.com.au, and your booking is confirmed instantly. You can also call Escape This Manly on (02) 9173 8535 or Escape This Perth CBD on (08) 6118 0286.

Book now →

Do I need to book The Dunny in advance?

Yes, booking ahead is recommended. The Dunny is one of Escape This’s most popular rooms and weekend and school-holiday sessions sell out. Perth CBD also takes walk-ins on the day, subject to availability.

Is The Dunny good for team building, birthdays and parties?

Yes. Every booking of The Dunny is private to your group, and it suits birthdays, families, friends and work teams. Larger groups can run several rooms side by side, and Escape This also runs corporate events — call the venue to plan one.

Who can play

How many people can play The Dunny?

The Dunny takes 2–6 players at Manly and 2–8 players at Perth CBD (4–8 on Saturdays). The group limits are not flexible; larger groups can book several rooms to start at the same time.

Is The Dunny suitable for children?

Yes, The Dunny is a popular family room, but the age rules differ by venue. At Manly 9+ is recommended and children from 7 can play in a family group with a paying adult in the room. At Perth CBD the minimum age is 13.

Accessibility & safety

Is The Dunny wheelchair accessible?

The Dunny at Perth CBD is wheelchair accessible and takes one wheelchair per session; a few puzzles may be harder to reach. The Dunny at Manly is not wheelchair accessible.

Does The Dunny use smoke or haze?

No. The Dunny has no smoke effects, so it is suitable for people with asthma or respiratory conditions. It does use controlled lighting, which may include darkness and flashing lights.

On the day

What should we wear to The Dunny? Can we dress up?

Wear closed footwear. Costumes are encouraged: come as Steve Irwin, an outback ringer or an international backpacker, as long as your shoes are closed. There are bonus points for the best Aussie accent.

Can I take my phone into The Dunny?

No. Phones, smartwatches, cameras and other recording devices stay outside, and free lockers are provided for valuables. Your gamesmaster takes the team photo afterwards.

Locations

Where can I play The Dunny?

The Dunny plays at two Escape This venues: Escape This Manly, 2B The Corso, Manly NSW 2095 (Sydney), and Escape This Perth CBD, The Basement, 712–720 Hay Street Mall, Perth WA 6000.

Is The Dunny the same in Sydney and Perth?

Yes, it is the same story, set, 60-minute time limit and 7/10 difficulty at both venues. Only the house rules differ. Manly takes 2–6 players, recommends ages 9+, is not wheelchair accessible and charges one price every day. Perth CBD takes 2–8 players, has a minimum age of 13, is wheelchair accessible and is cheaper Monday to Thursday.

Compare the venues →

Is there an escape room in Manly?

Yes. Escape This Manly at 2B The Corso is Manly’s escape room venue. It runs The Dunny alongside Entombed and Magic School, a short walk from Manly Wharf and Manly Beach.

Has The Dunny at Manly been renovated?

Yes. Huge Axeman’s Manly outhouse got a full rebuild when Escape This refurbished every room at Escape This Manly in the summer of 2025. The Dunny had already been on The Corso in the venue’s Room Eight days, before Escape This bought it in 2022, and the new set was made in-house like the Perth one.

Where is the escape room on Hay Street Mall in Perth?

Escape This Perth CBD is in The Basement, 712–720 Hay Street Mall, Perth. It runs The Dunny alongside rooms such as Hitman, High Noon, Bank Heist and Lost Tomb, a short walk from Perth Underground and Elizabeth Quay stations.

Leaderboard & records

How do I get on The Dunny leaderboard?

Escape The Dunny as fast as you can. Teams are ranked by the time taken to escape, and ties go to the team that used fewer clues. Team photos appear only where the group consented to online display.

Escape This: the studio & factory

Has The Dunny won any awards?

Not as a room of its own: The Dunny’s honours come through its maker. Escape This was named Escape Room Operator of the Year for 2025 and 2026, and Best Immersive Experience Provider 2026, by APAC Insider, and is a 2026 finalist in the WA Tourism Awards and the Smart50 Awards. Room prizes such as Best of Morty belong to other Escape This rooms, not to The Dunny.

Who makes The Dunny?

The Dunny is an Escape This production. Escape This is Australia’s largest escape room operator, and runs its own escape room design studio and escape room factory in Australia. It has venues in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, has hosted more than 500,000 players and has earned 17,902 five-star reviews.

What is the largest escape room company in Australia?

Escape This is Australia’s largest escape room operator, with venues in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. It also runs its own escape room design studio and escape room factory in Australia, and it produces The Dunny.

Where is the Escape This escape room factory?

The Escape This head office and escape room factory is at 21 River Road, Bayswater, Perth WA 6053. Australia’s largest escape room operator designs and builds its rooms there, including The Dunny, before installing them in venues around the country.

Who designs and builds Escape This escape rooms?

Escape This’s own in-house team designs and builds its rooms: escape room designers, script writers, puzzle planners, set builders, scenic artists and a props team, working from its design studio and escape room factory in Perth. The same team made The Dunny.

Are Escape This escape rooms franchised or bought in?

No. Escape This builds every experience in-house at its own production facility in Perth, not through a franchise or licensing model. It controls the story, gameplay, physical sets and technology of each room, The Dunny included.

Who founded Escape This?

Escape This was founded in Perth in 2020 by Bernie and Daniel Janes. It has since grown into Australia’s largest escape room operator, with its own escape room design studio and escape room factory, more than 500,000 players hosted and rooms like The Dunny.

How many escape rooms does Escape This have?

Escape This runs 48 escape rooms across 5 venues in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, with Brisbane and the Gold Coast coming soon. Its Perth CBD venue on Hay Street Mall, one of the two homes of The Dunny, is the largest escape room venue in the Southern Hemisphere.

What new escape rooms is Escape This building?

The Escape This factory currently has Accused, President’s Bunker, Aladdin, Wonderland, Area 51, Super Soldier and Dragon’s Dungeon in production, plus sequels to The Wizard’s Chamber and Buried Alive — built by the same team that made The Dunny.

Huge Axeman’s Diary

What is Huge Axeman’s Diary?

Huge Axeman’s Diary is a comic, made-up journal on The Dunny’s website, written by Escape This in the voice of Huge Axeman, the room’s fictional outback celebrity. He writes about his beloved dunny, his house tour and the tourists who get stuck, and each entry sits beside real facts about playing The Dunny in Manly or Perth.

Read Huge Axeman’s Diary →

Is Huge Axeman a real person?

No. Huge Axeman is a fictional parody character Escape This created for The Dunny, and his diary is fiction. It stays inside his own invented world, the dunny, the house tour, the outback and his axe, and describes no real person, celebrity or event. His axe Bev, his dog Smoko and Kev the tour guide exist only in the diary.

Are the dates in Huge Axeman’s Diary real?

Two are. The Manly entry dated 20 July 2022 is the day The Dunny’s Escape This booking records at Manly begin, the year Escape This took over the venue, and the Perth entry dated 18 August 2023 is the day The Dunny opened at Escape This Perth CBD. Everything else is dated for the story; the facts beside each entry are kept current.

How often is there a new Huge Axeman diary entry?

Roughly monthly. New entries in Huge Axeman’s Diary go up on their dates through 2027, each covering a different part of a visit to The Dunny, from booking and ages to phones and the leaderboard, so the Axeman usually has something fresh to say about himself.

60 minutes of daylight left

Nature’s calling. Will you answer?

Book The Dunny in Sydney or Perth. Every booking is private to your group.

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