Escape from reality

Kelowna is humming with new businesses that have harnessed technology to solve any number of serious problems, but one of the city’s newest additions is using new tech purely for entertainment.

Kelowna Escape Games takes the latest in virtual reality and makes it available to the mainstream, letting customers rent play time in state-of-the-art VR setups.

Its four rooms are painted black, with padded mats covering the floors and HTC Vive headsets hanging from the ceiling.

Slip on a headset and load up a game, and the simple surroundings fade away, plunging you into a zombie-infested sewer, a besieged castle, high atop a skyscraper, or dozens of other scenarios.

The two controllers you hold in your hands become guns, flashlights, dodgeballs, or a bow and arrow.

The games are fairly simple, but you will likely find yourself ducking as lasers shoot past you, jumping with fright as zombies appear at your back, or clinging shakily to the edge of a high tower.

Of course, any friends with you in the room will mostly just see someone in a giant pair of goggles flailing wildly around, swiping at unseen foes.

When Escape Games opened in Calgary in 2016, it was the first place in Western Canada renting virtual reality gear along with a fully equipped space to use it in. The Kelowna location is the company’s first expansion.

Owner Jimmy Tan says he believes they are at the forefront of the next wave of public gaming.

Decades ago, gamers would gather in arcades to play their favourite titles together. More recently, internet cafes have become the new communal gaming spaces.

Tan says VR is the next evolution in that trend.

Each of the four office-sized VR rooms at Escape Games is dedicated to a single player. However, multiple players can enter and play the same game. Players can also talk to one another through the headset, making it a surprisingly communal experience.

“The best part of VR is watching your friends flail around,” Tan says.

The technology is still cost prohibitive, so most people won’t be able to use it unless they visit a rental place.

“It’s going to cost at least $5,000 to have a normal setup. Then you need to have a dedicated space that’s at least 100 square feet,” he says. “Not many people will be able to afford that.”

For more information, visit Escape Games online.