October has officially entered the chat, and Melbourne is about to become a very busy place for anyone who likes their weekends packed with video games, gothic ballet, Halloween chaos and approximately 700 things happening at once.
From the return of PAX Aus and Melbourne International Games Week to Dracula taking over Her Majesty’s Theatre and Luna Park getting a terrifying makeover, there is no shortage of things to do across Melbourne this month.
Whether you’re looking for your next big gaming event, something a little spooky, or simply an excuse to get out of the house, here are some of the things worth adding to your October calendar.
PAX Aus
9-11 October 2026 | Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre
PAX Aus is back, and if you’re part of Melbourne’s gaming, cosplay and pop culture community, you probably already know that October basically belongs to PAX.
Running from 9-11 October at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, PAX Aus brings together games, developers, publishers, tabletop, esports, cosplay, panels, merch and a frankly dangerous number of things you will suddenly decide you need to buy.
Whether you’re there to play upcoming games, check out indie developers, compete in a tournament, attend panels, show off a cosplay or simply wander the expo hall and absorb the chaos, PAX Aus is one of the biggest dates on Melbourne’s gaming calendar.
And yes, comfortable shoes are still the real MVP.
Melbourne International Games Week Film Program
5-10 October 2026 | ACMI
Melbourne International Games Week is going beyond the controller this October with a film program celebrating the surprisingly complicated relationship between video games and cinema.
Running from 5-10 October, the program brings together classic game adaptations, documentaries about video game development and special guests for a celebration of the stories, people and history behind the games we love.
It’s a chance to revisit iconic titles from a different perspective while diving into the creative process behind video game development.
Because apparently we needed another reason to spend an entire week thinking about video games.
Community Games Library
2-8 October 2026 | ACMI
Physical media girlies, this one is for you.
As part of Melbourne International Games Week, ACMI is hosting a free Community Games Library where visitors can donate a physical game and take home someone else’s in return.
Bring along a disc, cartridge, CD or another physical game format, add it to the shelves and choose a title donated by another visitor.
But there’s an extra little twist: before you let your game go, you can fill out a memory card sharing what it meant to you. That could be a memory of the first time you played it, a favourite moment, or even a tip for whoever picks it up next.
Inspired by the street library model, the project is all about celebrating physical games as more than just objects. For a lot of us, games were birthday presents, schoolyard conversation starters, family memories or the reason someone spent an entire lunch break explaining a particularly complicated boss fight.
So if you have an old game sitting on your shelf gathering dust, October might be the perfect time to give it another life.
Swap a game. Share a story.
Game in the Groove
10 October 2026 | Melbourne
If your ideal gaming event involves playing indie games while listening to PlayStation breakbeats and drinking at a bar, Game in the Groove might be your kind of night.
Also part of Melbourne International Games Week, Game in the Groove brings together local indie developers and Swinburne University students for an evening of playable demos, retro gaming and music.
There’ll be retro gaming stations, a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament and DJs spinning everything from future funk and jungle to UK garage, lo-fi beats and grooving house.
It’s basically a gaming night with the energy of a tiny underground club.
The event is 18+, although kids can attend with a guardian until 9pm.
Dracula Ballet
Now until 25 October 2026 | Her Majesty’s Theatre
If your October aesthetic is less “gaming convention” and more “beautifully choreographed gothic horror”, we have good news for you.
Her Majesty's Theatre is currently home to Dracula, BIG Live’s cinematic ballet adaptation of Bram Stoker’s gothic classic.
Fresh from sold-out seasons in London’s West End and the US, the production returns to Melbourne with a story of forbidden love, immortality and sacrifice, brought to life through dramatic choreography, haunting music and elaborate production design.
Choreographed by Joel Burke, the production features a score led by Emmy Award-winning composer Jason Fernandez, alongside music from composers including Claude Debussy, Franz Liszt, Camille Saint-Saëns and Modest Mussorgsky.
Basically, if you’ve ever wanted your Halloween plans to involve vampires, dramatic costumes and an extremely beautiful theatre production, this one has your name all over it.
Dracula runs until 25 October 2026.
Luna Dark
22 October-1 November 2026 | Luna Park Melbourne
Halloween is coming to St Kilda, and Luna Park is once again getting a little… cursed.
Luna Park Melbourne returns with Luna Dark, transforming the iconic amusement park into Melbourne’s Halloween playground from 22 October through to 1 November.
The concept is simple: tame by day, terrifying by night.
Across six terrifying night sessions and four youngster-friendly days, Luna Dark will feature haunted attractions, unlimited rides in the dark, live entertainment and plenty of ghosts and ghouls roaming the park.
Night sessions run from 6pm until midnight, bringing scare attractions, live entertainment and roaming characters to the park after dark.
If you like your Halloween with a side of rollercoasters, this is probably about as Melbourne as it gets.
Melbourne in October is basically one giant side quest
October is shaping up to be a particularly stacked month for Melbourne’s pop culture calendar. You can spend one weekend surrounded by games and cosplay at PAX Aus, another watching Dracula stalk across a theatre stage, then finish the month screaming your way through Luna Park.
And honestly? We support the itinerary.
So grab your calendar, pick your poison and start making plans. October isn’t going to wait for you
