Boda Borg, a huge team adventure world which has already proved popular in Sweden, will be opening at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s (URW) Ruhr Park in Bochum, Germany, in 2023. Set to open to the public in the second quarter of the year, it will enhance the venue’s existing leisure and family offer with a 2,900 square metre adventure zone.
For URW, this continues the company’s strategy of adding more experiences to its destination, therefore reaching a wider audience and driving more footfall and repeat visits.
Introducing Boda Borg
Boda Borg features 25 freely selectable “quests”, which include several levels. Each calls for visitors to work together in teams of three to five people, drawing on their skills to solve a variety of challenges. A quest features three to four connected rooms, and challenges can be physical or mental. Players progress to the next room only when they have solved the task.
The concept began in Sweden in the mid-1990s and has since spread to venues in the US, Ireland and Switzerland. With 10 venues in total, it has proved popular with a wide demographic, from children and young people to adults as well.
Constantin Wiesmann is director of leasing at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Germany. Speaking about the arrival of the attraction at Ruhr Park, he says:
“The planned first Boda Borg location in the Ruhr Park in Bochum is a novelty for Germany and exactly meets the spirit of the times: The Boda Borg ‘Quest’ concept combines the fun of games and challenges with genuine shared experiences with friends, family or work colleagues, which have gained in importance not only since the forced Corona distance. Especially the area of leisure is becoming more and more concise as a major trend in our society.
“At URW we recognised this very early on and have been attaching great importance to a high leisure and entertainment factor in our destinations for quite some time. Boda Borg sets standards worldwide with its ‘Quest’ concept and is an ideal addition to the diverse range of leisure activities at Ruhr Park.
“The decision to deliberately choose Ruhr Park for the market entry in Germany underlines the attractiveness of the location and sharpens its profile as a URW flagship destination with an optimal brand mix from the leisure, gastronomy and retail sectors.”
The right location
Florian Richter & Fredrik Elmberg, founders and managing directors of Boda Borg Germany, add:
“We are delighted to have finally found the right location in Ruhr Park for the first opening of Boda Borg in Germany. The location in the heart of the Ruhr area with an attractive catchment area and the appealing mix of leisure and shopping are ideal for us to bring the unique Boda Borg leisure experience to Germany.”
“We will create 25 spectacular quest worlds in Ruhr Park and are looking forward to many adventurous teams who want to face the different challenges of Boda Borg and this special experience between disaster and euphoria. We want to inspire the Germans with the incredible fascination of quest and are already planning many more locations in Germany.”
Ruhr Park is home to more than 160 stores, as well as leisure activities and food and beverage offerings from national and international brands. The open-air location is well connected by road and public transport.
Last year, Westfield London opened the UK’s first-ever TikTok pop-up experience. ‘TikTok For You House’, a two-storey attraction, featured four different spaces for TikTok creators to learn the tricks of the trade and capture original content.
All images courtesy of the Boda Borg Corporation, 2022
