Hero Zone, creators of immersive VR experiences, has shared insights from a recent installation at Bray Bowl in Ireland.
This beloved family entertainment centre (FEC), which is located on the seafront in Ireland’s oldest seaside town, was established by the Quinn family in 1997. Today, the attraction features 12 bowling lanes, laser tag, and two arcades (an extensive ticket redemption arcade and a videogame arcade) on the ground floor. The first floor offers pool and snooker tables, together with a cafe and pizzeria.
Bray Bowl’s success is largely due to its ongoing improvements and technological advances. The bowling lanes were completely renovated in 2022, with the addition of cutting-edge string bowling equipment. Earlier this year, the firm launched Hero Zone as its first VR experience.
Affordability & efficiency
On attending IAAPA Expo Europe 2022 in London, managing director of Bray Bowl Fintan “Boz” Quinn was struck by the large number of virtual reality activities on offer and decided to explore the options for a new experience at the FEC.
He comments: “We were looking at the likes of Vex Solutions and Hologate and they’re just mad expensive for what you’re getting compared to Hero Zone.”
Along with its affordability, Quinn discovered that the operational components of Hero Zone were more efficient, and the experience required fewer attendants to get players set up and into a game. “With Hero Zone, you don’t have to put on any heavy VR equipment,” he explains. “It’s just a case of controllers, headset, and you immerse yourself in the virtual world.”
The game’s potential to attract repeat visits was also a key factor for Bray Bowl. Quinn comments: “With Hero Zone the replayability is what it’s all about, it’s much better than the competitors. And it is considerably less expensive.”
Broad audience demographic
Whilst it would cost more to bring the VR experience to Bray Bowl than the attraction’s usual ticket redemption games, the company recognised the potential of the experience and committed to the platform. “We decided to just buy the Hero Zone Arena outright, the software, the arena, everything, and then pay for the annual license to get the updates and new games,” Quinn shares.
Bray Bowl has positioned Hero Zone VR as part of its premium offering. “We’re charging the same for Hero Zone as we would for a game of bowling, and we do combo deals between the two of them and it seems to work a treat,” says Quinn. “VR is even more popular now since we started doing the bowling and the Hero Zone combo.”
The VR experience is attracting a wide range of players, Quinn notes “We have a lot of language schools in Bray where students from around Italy, Spain and France come over here to study English for a couple of weeks. They’re secondary school students, anywhere from 13 to 17, and they enjoy it.”
Hero Zone is also proving popular with the attraction’s core family audience. “You’ll see mom and dad, the kids giving Hero Zone VR a go, having a bit of fun,” explains Quinn. “and the options help, like you can have Dead Ahead [a zombie shooter title] with or without gore, which is great for families.”
Immersive experience
The Hero Zone VR experience begins with players joining The Hangout virtual game room before a game begins.
Quinn explains: “We say each Hero Zone game is a 15-minute experience because the 5 minutes in the Hangout is a big part of it. The first player is going into the Hangout while the others are getting suited up and we’re looking at them [on the monitor] and it just looks funny seeing somebody in the virtual world. We don’t know what they’re looking at and then they’re picking up a beer bottle and throwing it on the ground, they’re throwing a basketball at the hoop, and that’s funny.
“In the Hero Zone VR Arena all of a sudden you’ve got the VR headset on and you get to use the controllers for the first time and figure them out, and then you’re immersed into the action as well and that’s important because you’re going straight into a game. So that’s great fun.”
Bray Bowl has found that a selection of titles from the Hero Zone games catalogue are particularly popular.
Quinn reveals: “Hero Zone’s Dead Ahead zombie game is the most popular. Zombie
apocalypse always seems to be very appealing to most people. With Hero Zone’s Quantum Arena you can play two on two or a free-for-all all against each other, which makes it very popular.” The VR laser tag experience is a successful addition to the venue’s regular laser tag offer.
The FEC has also seen growing interest in Hero Zone’s newest game, Cook’d Up. Quinn says: “It’s great fun with up to six people in the Hero Zone VR Arena playing Cook’d Up. It’s good fun, a bit of carnage in the kitchen.”
Quinn notes that staff customer service is vital for an excellent experience. He reflects: “It’s very helpful and important that you have staff members who are good attendants that will really take part in the game and help out the customers and immerse themselves in the game.”
In Dead Ahead, he has found that attendants need to “enthusiastically tell the players they’ve got to rebuild the barricade or the zombies come out. It’s good fun.”
Quinn concludes: “Hero Zone VR has taken off and is doing quite well so far and I think it’s definitely the future of our industry.”
Earlier this year, Hero Zone launched two exclusive game titles for the Hero Zone VR platform: Cook’d Up! and Escape Quest: Espionage Express.
