As Stonestown Galleria continues to solidify its renewed place as a Gen Z entertainment and food destination, a new arcade is set to open there that emphasizes physical activity and live, high-tech, interactive gaming experiences.
The arcade company is called Activate, and they now have over 40 locations around the country and counting, as the SF Business Times reports. Their arcades are not like traditional arcades, with stand-up console games and such, but each game is like a room to itself, for duo- or team-based play, for two to five people at a time.
The frenetic video below will give you a sense of it, but locations feature 16 different types of game rooms with multiple games available in each, including one where you have to dart across light-up squares on the floor without stepping on a dark one — kind of like "The Floor Is Lava" — and one where you have to crawl and jump through a laser obstacle course.
Players can choose to stay in one room, or try them all, each game can have its difficulty level custom-set, and each game lasts a high-intensity three minutes.
"Enter the game where you become the player in the world's first active gaming facility," the Activate website says. "Jump, climb, problem-solve and laugh, as you and your friends move between challenges. Each dynamic game room has interactive technology that reacts in real time, ensuring an adrenaline-filled adventure."
Per the Business Times, Activate is already building out its 8,000-square-foot space at Stonestown, and it plans to open by mid- to late May.
"Bringing our immersive, tech-powered gameplay to the heart of the Bay Area makes perfect sense," said Adam Schmidt, co-founder and CEO of Activate, in a news release. "We’re excited to be part of the city’s next wave of interactive entertainment."
Later this year, Activate is opening another Bay Area location in a former Pier 1 Imports store in Dublin.
Activate joins Round 1, the Japanese arcade-and-pizza concept that opened in the former Nordstrom basement in November. And a smaller interactive VR gaming venue, Immersive Gamebox, opened at Stonestown two years ago.