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Activate Southlake has games for everyone at every level.

Featured Article

Get in the game!

Activate Southlake turns interactive play into adventure, challenge and a totally awesome experience

Article by Sally Crocker

Photography by Activate - Dallas-Fort Worth (Southlake)

Originally published in Southlake City Lifestyle

Activate. To set in motion. To move, change, become active. Activate Southlake is a new way to play. To Activate, you enter the game where you become a player in the world’s first active gaming facility. You jump, climb, problem-solve and enjoy a great time 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. The operative word here is fun.

This new active gaming experience is popping up across the U.S. and Canada for parties, groups, families and friends to test their skills and enjoy a great time together.

Activate Games opened in Southlake in April, and since then, this recreational trend has taken off with the local community.

At Activate, you’ll find a selection of interactive, light-up game rooms designed to test your physical and mental agility. There are portals to explore; a reimagined game of hide-and-seek; a technicolor basketball court; dip-and-dodge laser fun; and a neon-lit rock wall where each button represents a rock hold and every level increases in difficulty as you travel across the room and complete different challenges along the way. A super grid light-up floor tile game tests your hand- and footwork and your ability to multi-task as you move in time to lighting challenges. And there are other fun options to explore.

You start by selecting a room, picking a game, choosing your adventure and level of difficulty, and opening the door to your challenge. Then you go for it until the time runs out. Each room features a variety of high-tech games that last about one to three minutes each.

Southlake general manager Jackson Worley explains that Activate encompasses a lot of things.

“It’s a movie theater, laser tag, escape room, arcade and a different a spin on various games and activities,” he says.

“Some people use Activate as a workout because, although it’s all meant to be enjoyed at your own pace, you can really break a sweat playing the games if you’re going for a cardio experience,” Worley says. “The best thing to do is come experience it for yourself and check out all that you can do.”

Two of the most popular attractions, he says, are Grid and Megagrid, a room full of different 12x12-inch tiles. You step on them to activate, then play games to make it back to the safe zone.

“Our staff are available to help people understand the games and to cheer them on. When you sign on for a room, you’re provided the rules and an auditory walkthrough that shows you how to play the game. We offer help along the way so our can guests maximize their experience,” Worley adds.

The laser game, he says, can make you feel like a secret agent as you dodge the light beams. He notes that hoops are also quite popular, especially among basketball enthusiasts.

“There is 100% nothing else like this. When people go out looking for fun, this is such a unique experience,” he says. “It’s exhilarating from the moment you walk in, like teleporting to a different dimension.”

As you enter Activate, a hallway brings you into a hub with foam flooring, lights everywhere and the feeling that you might be in a spaceship, or maybe you’ve entered into an arcade game like Pac-Man, Worley says.

“It’s hard to imagine – you just have to experience it for yourself,” he adds.

Each decision you make gives you the ability to create your own custom, action-packed game pursuit. Activate provides the space, and you color in the rest.

As you play, an electronic wristband tracks your activities and achievements, helping you climb the leaderboards to different levels of rewards. Prizes can include T-shirts, keychains, water bottles, basketballs, sweatshirts, hats and a $250 gift card for a return visit. The more you play, the more discounts you can earn. The “best of the best” even have a chance to compete in Activate’s annual tournament each January, where cash prizes of $500, $1,000 and $1,500 are awarded.

Activate is located at 2717 E. Southlake Blvd., near Highway 114.

Visit https://playactivate.com/ for more information.

The operative word here is fun!