It’s game on at halle place
MANCHESTER Arndale’s food quarter is set for a shake-up with new ‘experience-based activities’ brought into the mix.
Halle Place opened in 2018 at a cost of £11m, but the development has been slow to fill with food and drink tenants. Now the founder of Tough Mudder is planning to open an immersive digital gaming experience in one of the vacant units, signalling a shift in direction for the development.
Currently known as Electronic
Theatre but due to undergo a rebrand before it opens, the attraction will open in the unit next to burger bar Archie’s, subject to planning permission.
The experience is made up of interactive digital rooms called LightBoxes, which combine projection mapping, touch screen, motion tracking and surround sound technologies to create a 360-degree gaming experience.
The first Electronic Theatre was opened last year on London’s Southbank by Tough Mudder founder
Will Dean and his business partner David Spindler.
They say on their website: “We built something that allows you to step into a game not just play it on a screen. We designed it to be for anyone and everyone: groups of friends, workmates and families, really any group that wants to be social and have fun together.”
At the London site, challenges include Alien Aptitude Test, an arcade-style game in which players are put through their paces by extraterrestrials who have invaded Earth, and Rescue the Royals, in which teams must work together to save their captured queen.
Ping pong, pool and games bar Roxy Ball Room will open a second Manchester site at the centre next month, taking over the former Birdcage nightclub unit.
It is hoped the new gaming experience will signify a turnaround in fortunes for Halle Place. Its first opening, prosecco bar Fizz by Frizzenti, shut after only five months, but has since been replaced by coffee shop Kiosk. Tapas Revolution and Yakitori had also been due to open restaurants but pulled out.
We designed it to be for anyone... any group that wants to be social and have fun together Electronic Theatre