I walked into TRICKD in Surfers Paradise looking down on it a little. Sorry, TRICKD.
I’d assumed optical-illusion photo tricks and a light show. I’d also searched Facebook beforehand and found nobody recommending it, which made me think it was a place built for staged photos and not much else. It wasn’t. I was inside for two hours, it cost me $32, and I thought that was good value.
TRICKD is an illusion attraction on Orchid Avenue, backed by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! World Entertainment. It opened on 16 March 2026, so it’s still pretty new!
The giant power point and the other photo spots
One wall is a giant double power point, the Australian kind with the earth pin at the bottom. Someone put a hand on one of the switches for scale and it barely covered it.
There are a lot of places like this, spots built for a photo. My guess about staged pictures was right as far as it went. There’s plenty to pose with, and it only turned out to be half of what’s inside. The venue doesn’t allow professional camera gear or tripods, so it’s all phone shots.
Another wall is a bed of red pins that holds the shape of whoever leans into it. In my photo someone has pushed in with both arms raised, and the outline sits there in the pins, head and shoulders and all.
The games are what kept me there
The screen said “Roll the ball to start the game!” and there was a ball, a big grey one, sitting in a cradle in front of it. The game is Downhill Legend: Arcardio Adventure, and the ball is the controller. A little girl in my photo is looking up at the screen with a hand on it, waiting for something to happen. On the next screen along, a run was already going, with 57 m on the counter.
The same game exists as a free phone app from SisyFox GmbH, a studio that also makes an arcade console it calls the largest gaming controller in the world. On the phone it’s just a game. With a ball you can put both hands on, it feels different.
Round the corner there are three coloured hexagon pads on the floor, blue, orange and green, each with a round pod on top and a screen on the wall in front. It’s built for more than one person at a time. I’m not going to say how it works.
There are several games in total and a few of them are properly good. They turned a quick look into two hours.
I’m keeping the rest to myself
A lot of what’s in there I hadn’t seen anywhere else, and knowing what’s behind each door would take the fun out of it. So here is only what the venue itself says. There are three zones: Dr. Enigma’s Laboratory, where the rules start to wobble, the Anomaly Zone, which plays tricks with sound and touch, and the Paradox Glitch Zone, a mixed-reality finale full of light and digital effects. Taste illusions are part of it too, sold through a vending cafe inside.
Go in without reading too much. That’s the advice I’d give.
A Sunday on the Gold Coast that worked
I put the day together like this. 9:00 at the HOTA markets, which I think are the best market on the Gold Coast. 11:00 at TRICKD. Out at 1:00, then food and drinks around Surfers, then home for a nap.
The HOTA Farmers and Artisan Markets run every Sunday from 6 am to 11:30 am at 135 Bundall Road, so a 9:00 arrival gives you a couple of hours before the stalls wrap up and you head to Orchid Avenue.
Would I go back
Yes. It beat what I expected, and I’ve only been once, so this is one visit’s worth of opinion.
It’s indoors and air-conditioned, which helps on a wet day or in a Gold Coast summer. If you’re planning around a school break, Queensland’s spring holidays run until 5 October 2026 and the summer break starts on 12 December, all on our QLD school holidays 2026 page. For other Queensland days out, there’s Bim’bimba Park in Pimpama for a big playground and the Jim Henson Exhibition in Brisbane. We also keep a list of Sunday and night markets and more indoor play options for when the weather turns.
TRICKD is on Level 1, 4 Orchid Avenue, Surfers Paradise QLD 4217, and the entrance is on Orchid Avenue between 7-Eleven and Yankees Pub. It’s open every day from 9 am to 10 pm, with last entry at 9 pm. Tickets start at $25.90 and I paid $32. Kids aged 3 and under go free, and children 12 or under need an adult with them. The venue says most people take 45 to 90 minutes. It’s a walk-through with no seating and no strobe lights, and outside food and drink aren’t allowed. Every room is wheelchair accessible except the Zero Gravity room. Paid parking is at the nearby Bruce Bishop car park. Tickets are sold through Fever, and since sessions can sell out, book ahead instead of turning up at the box office.