Ghost Hunt for Points, Starting at Austin's Driskill Hotel
Downtown Austin's ghost stories played as a phone game, with trivia and photo challenges at each stop and points for your team.
Nobody walks you through this one. The Let's Roam app does, leading your group around downtown Austin's haunted landmarks and setting a trivia question or a photo challenge at each stop. Answers and photos earn points, and teams compete for a spot on the hunt's leaderboard.
Each player picks a role in the app with challenges of its own. Up to four players can share one phone; the app tells you when to pass it to whoever's turn it is. The operator teases two questions the hunt answers along the way: what happened to the governor's nephew, and why the Driskill Hotel's ghosts are down in the dumps.
Booking gets you a voucher for the app. Log in with Facebook, Google or a text message, tap 3rd Party Vouchers, enter your order number, then pick the Austin ghost hunt and add your players. One booking covers up to ten people, priced per person.
A Spooky Ghost Hunt in AustinSelf-guided ghost hunt on the Let's Roam app through downtown Austin, starting at 604 Brazos Street. Up to 10 per booking; all sales are final.www.viator.comThe Paramount, the Capitol and a Mansion Fence
The operator's Austin page names the landmarks: the Driskill Bar, the Paramount Theatre, the William Sydney Porter Museum (the O. Henry Museum on East Fifth Street), the Governor's Mansion, the Texas Capitol, the Old Travis County Jailhouse and Central Presbyterian Church. The listing itself pins three of them: the Capitol, the Paramount and Central Presbyterian.
Read the operator's notes and most of these stops happen from outside: outside the Paramount, tracing the Governor's Mansion's fence, circling the Porter museum, outside the Capitol. The operator puts the walk at 1.61 miles and says it stays clear of graveyards and dark alleys.
Two Questions the Hunt Promises to Answer
The hunt is built around stories, and the operator leads with two: what happened to the governor's nephew, and why the Driskill's ghosts are down in the dumps. Neither the listing nor the operator's page prints the answers. You get them on the route.
The Driskill at 604 Brazos is a Romanesque-style hotel completed in 1886 by cattleman Jesse Driskill, and its bar is where the operator tells teams to gather. The Governor's Mansion and the O. Henry Museum are among the other stops the operator names.
Your Phone Runs the Whole Thing
Every clue, question and photo prompt comes through the app. Charge your phone fully before you start; the listing also suggests a power bank if you need one. The photos your team takes come back as digital copies, which the listing counts in the price, and help runs by phone, email or chat while you play.
The listing calls this a self-guided private tour you can start at any time and play at your own pace.
Weather, Kids and a Stop That Might Be Closed
The listing puts the hunt at two hours; the operator's page says an hour and a half. The listing does not cancel for bad weather, and all sales are final, with no refund for a cancellation. Check the forecast and dress for it.
The listing asks for at least a moderate level of fitness. It also marks the route as wheelchair and stroller accessible. The operator's help center says all of its hunts are designed to be done in a wheelchair, and that if construction or other changes get in the way, you can skip that question or location. Kids are welcome: the operator has a Youngster character for them and suggests a ticket per child, drawing the line at over 5 in one answer and over 6 in another.
One 2021 reviewer found many of the places closed and could not go inside to look for things the hunt pointed to; the operator replied that the app has a feedback option for problems at a specific stop.
Start at the Driskill Hotel, 604 Brazos Street. The map pin marks the Texas State Capitol, one of the three stops the listing pins. Open the app on the sidewalk outside the hotel and let the first clue set your direction.