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Sandbox VR opens a Melbourne venue on Bourke Street on 14 September 2026, in the city’s Central Business District. It is the company’s second Australian site. Bao Phung, who owns the Gold Coast venue, owns this one too.
“Melbourne has always embraced innovation and new experiences, making it a natural home for Sandbox VR and the next chapter of our Australian growth,” said Phung, whose title in the announcement is owner of Sandbox VR Melbourne and Gold Coast.
The venue has a bar, a party room and four private rooms. Each private room takes a group of up to six guests, so the venue can run 24 people at the same time.
Guests wear headsets and haptic vests and are tracked by motion sensors. Players see each other inside the experience and can physically interact. Each group gets a personalised highlight video afterwards.
The venue opens with two titles. Stranger Things: Catalyst was made with Netflix. Age of Dinosaurs was made with the Natural History Museum of London. The VR Collective reported on Age of Dinosaurs in October 2025.
Sandbox VR is running a 25% presale discount on Melbourne bookings through 13 September.
Sandbox VR runs corporate-owned venues alongside a franchise programme. The VR Collective reported in February 2026 that the company had locked in an Italian expansion through a franchise deal.
The Gold Coast venue was the company’s 50th location when it opened in 2024. The VR Collective reported in August 2026 on a Sandbox VR fitted into a former CVS drugstore in Winston-Salem.
The release puts Sandbox VR at more than 90 locations across five continents and 12 countries, built since the company launched in 2016. It reports nearly 150,000 players a month and more than 6 million lifetime tickets sold, and says it recently passed $300M in lifetime sales.
The company has raised over $138 million. The release names Andreessen Horowitz, Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Gobi Partners and Craft among its backers.
For franchisees, Phung now owns two Sandbox VR venues under the franchise programme. He opened the Gold Coast site in 2024, and Melbourne opens on 14 September 2026. For operators competing in Melbourne’s Central Business District, the venue arrives with four private rooms and a 24-guest ceiling. It opens with two licensed titles, one of them from Netflix.
When does the Melbourne Sandbox VR open? 14 September 2026, on Bourke Street in Melbourne’s Central Business District. A 25% presale discount runs on bookings through 13 September.
How many people can play at once in the Melbourne VR venue franchise? Four private rooms take groups of up to six each, so 24 guests can play at the same time.
Who owns the Melbourne venue? Bao Phung, whose title in the announcement is owner of Sandbox VR Melbourne and Gold Coast. The Gold Coast site is the company’s first Australian location.
What can guests play there? Stranger Things: Catalyst, made with Netflix, and Age of Dinosaurs, made with the Natural History Museum of London.
How big is Sandbox VR now? The release puts it at more than 90 locations across five continents and 12 countries since 2016, nearly 150,000 players a month, more than 6 million lifetime tickets and $300M in lifetime sales.
