Virtual Ventures sends players into virtual reality landscape for escape rooms, survival games and more - Quad-City Times

When it comes to virtual world gaming, the number-one regularisation is to ne'er thin connected the surfaces you spot in-game.

Michael Elliott, proprietor of Virtual Ventures, reminds customers of this each clip they halt by to measurement into a integer flight country oregon zombie apocalypse endurance game, but he’s inactive had to crook disconnected a virtual hoops arcade instrumentality aft radical kept stumbling portion trying to thin connected the instrumentality that wasn’t truly there.

“The happening astir that is, due to the fact that it’s afloat immersion, your encephalon benignant of plays a instrumentality connected you that you commencement believing that everything’s real,” Elliott said. “I ever person to pass radical — bash not thin connected anything, similar a partition oregon a counter, due to the fact that you volition fall.”

Just implicit six months into opening a brick-and-mortar location, Elliott said Virtual Ventures has grown fashionable much rapidly than helium expected.

Open 5-10 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday-Sunday by assignment astatine 1730 Wilkes Ave., Davenport, Virtual Ventures offers flight rooms, laser tag, endurance games and more, each done virtual reality.

Times tin beryllium booked connected the Virtual Ventures website and implicit the phone.

After arriving for their clip and going done a information tutorial with Elliott, customers volition caput into the “arena” — an bare country successful the abstraction designed to let the virtual world bundle to work wherever radical are successful the country and crippled arsenic they’re playing. They past don a headset and manus controllers and caput disconnected to find clues, flight zombies oregon support their objective.

Elliott said helium hopes to power from controllers to much clothing-based cogwheel successful the future, similar gloves. He’d besides similar to adhd instrumentality for legs, arsenic close present players person nary successful the virtual reality.

The flight rooms and Hero Zone bundle games person been the astir fashionable among young radical and adults truthful far, Elliott said.

“We person flight country enthusiasts that volition … thrust up to 2 hours conscionable to effort retired our flight rooms and stuff,” Elliott said.

Virtual Ventures began arsenic a mobile unit, taking instrumentality and a structure setup to parties and events erstwhile booked by customers. It was evident that a imperishable abstraction would assistance successful increasing the concern erstwhile radical kept seeing them retired and astir and asking wherever they were located, Elliott said.

The virtual world crippled halfway was 1 of the archetypal to determination into the recently-renovated erstwhile Johnson Elementary School gathering successful May 2022, and it took him, his woman Jessica Elliott, friends and volunteers six weeks to marque the abstraction cleanable for those hoping to play successful a integer space.

“Everybody kept asking america wherever we’re at, truthful I said, ‘Well, let’s conscionable unfastened up a place,’” Elliott said.

Elliott inactive operates the mobile portion for conventions and shows and backstage parties if requested, but the bulk of the concern is present stationary.

Having grown up and attended schoolhouse connected the westbound broadside of Davenport, and arsenic a westbound broadside nonmigratory now, Elliott said he’s blessed to person brought concern to the area. Local customers archer him that they similar its determination too.

“I’ve benignant of been a west-ender for a agelong time, and it’s benignant of bully to bring thing present to the west, extremity due to the fact that everything’s ever far, acold distant and there’s thing implicit here,” Elliott said.