Melbourne – September 15, 2026 -- Sandbox VR is opening a new virtual reality venue on Bourke Street in Melbourne's Central Business District, its second Australian location after the Gold Coast site. Guests can get 25% off through September 13 via presale booking on the company's website.
The Melbourne venue includes a bar, a party room and four private rooms where groups of up to six people wear headsets, haptic vests and motion sensors for full-body immersion. The system lets players see and physically interact with each other during sessions, and each group receives a personalized highlight video afterward to share the experience.
Bao Phung expands his franchise from the Gold Coast to Melbourne
Bao Phung, owner of Sandbox VR Melbourne and Gold Coast, said Melbourne's reputation for food, coffee culture, arts and nightlife made it a natural next step after the Gold Coast venue's success. He said the format offers friends, families and corporate groups an active alternative to a typical night out.
Sandbox VR has sold 6 million tickets across 90-plus venues since 2016
Founded in 2016, Sandbox VR now operates more than 90 locations across five continents and 12 countries through a mix of corporate-owned sites and franchises. The company has logged over 6 million lifetime ticket sales and $300 million in lifetime sales, drawing nearly 150,000 players monthly worldwide.
Content includes licensed experiences such as Stranger Things: Catalyst, developed with Netflix, and Age of Dinosaurs, created in partnership with the Natural History Museum of London. The company reports over 250,000 five-star reviews from guests globally and counts Andreessen Horowitz, Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Gobi Partners, Craft and Stanford University among its backers, along with individual investors including Kevin Durant, Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry.