Micro-amusement park Two Bit Circus readies for its Dallas debut - The Dallas Morning News

The newest summation to Dallas’ Shops astatine Park Lane isn’t the mean carnival.

Two Bit Circus bills itself arsenic a micro-amusement parkland filled with virtual world and arcade games and interactive communicative rooms. The radical down the conception took The Dallas Morning News connected a backstage circuit this week of the 35,000-square-foot abstraction connected the buying center’s 2nd level arsenic it prepares to unfastened to the nationalist connected Friday.

“Everybody needs a small amusive successful their life,” said Kim Schaefer, president of Two Bit Circus. “That’s what we truly strive for astatine Two Bit Circus, is to bring radical unneurotic elbow-to-elbow to travel and play, to socialize and to person a large time.”

Guests are instantly greeted with a ample motion that reads “MIDWAY,” a not-so-subtle invited to the amusement parkland that awaits. There are integer games that replicate what an existent carnival would have, mostly multiplayer ones that marque guests enactment progressive during the experience.

Games enactment the Midway astatine Two Bit Circus astatine The Shops astatine Park Lane successful Dallas.(Brandon Wade / Special Contributor)

It’s a exemplary focused connected “smashing the integer and the physical,” said main exertion serviceman Eric Gradman. He said astir games were developed in-house, but immoderate were curated.

“We privation radical staring each different successful the oculus and having a bully time,” Gradman said. “You’re not staring astatine radical done a screen. We had 2 years of that.”

It’s the second amusement venue for Two Bit Circus, which started successful Los Angeles successful 2018. The past fewer years person allowed the Two Bit Circus squad to measure “what works and what doesn’t work,” erstwhile they were reasoning astir the Dallas location, said Andy Levey, selling manager for Two Bit Circus.

“What we recovered is that Midway is beauteous overmuch 1 of the champion attractions, the highest satisfactory and highest revenue-generating conscionable due to the fact that of the travel and the fun, unsocial carnival games,” Levey said.

Dallas is simply a long-established investigating crushed for amusement concepts, with aboriginal pioneers specified arsenic Dave and Buster’s and Main Event getting their starts locally.

One of Gradman’s favourite parts of Two Bit Circus is the communicative rooms. Think of an flight room, but the puzzle to lick is simply a multiplayer crippled oregon adjacent a surgical operation.

Dr. Botcher’s communicative country astatine Two Bit Circus- 1 of respective themed rooms successful which players enactment unneurotic to implicit puzzles to triumph the game.(Brandon Wade / Special Contributor)

“Escape rooms tin scare radical to death,” Gradman said. “In these rooms, we’re trying to marque you laughter arsenic hard arsenic possible.”

For example, successful “Doctor Botcher’s Minute Medical School,” 4 to six players tin poke astir an operating array with a diligent for a hospital-themed experience. Story rooms outgo $20 a player.

There are besides virtual world multiplayer games wherever guests tin enactment connected a headset and usage handheld controllers to play games against 1 another. Virtual world games scope from $8 to $18.

A single-gamer paper costs $35 a person, which patrons tin usage toward immoderate of the communicative rooms and thing other successful the arcade, including nutrient and beverage. The nutrient is akin to its Los Angeles location, with tons of “state fair” benignant choices, including immoderate with a Texas footwear to them.

Those 21 and implicit tin caput to the afloat bar, which serves immoderate Texas brews. There are 12 beers connected draught and 7 location cocktails astatine the bar. There’s besides a drink-making robot. Cabanas are disposable for sporting events, enactment outings oregon different backstage events.

Two Bit Circus has respective investors from Texas, including Dallas-based Topgolf’s erstwhile enforcement president Erik Anderson and Austin’s Capital Factory.

The Shops astatine Park Lane determination has 45 employees and is looking to capable 20 much positions. The company, with 125 employees successful total, is excited to marque its people successful Dallas.

“You don’t person to beryllium a gamer,” Schaefer said. “It’s truly astir coming to person a bully time.”