Bella Vistan at helm of virtual-reality arcade
ROGERS — A visitor entering Virtual Game World & Event Center sees a scene reminiscent of the cantina in “Star Wars,” mixed with a European cafe and an old-school video arcade.
In one corner, there’s table seating and along one wall a LED illuminated bar. Nearby, there are separate seating areas with plush couches dedicated to various hyper-realistic simulation games including big game hunting, archery and Formula One racing.
Deeper in, there are gleaming white, egg-shaped pods that shift and move as game players inside, decked out with virtual reality headsets, battle aliens while zooming through an offworld landscape or choose to float above the Earth in high orbit.
Those wanting to stretch their nonvirtual muscles can play a round of golf on one of 70 real-life golf courses — including Saw Grass and several designed by Jack Nicklaus — on a simulator with a curved screen 26 feet long and 9 feet tall that takes up nearly an entire wall.
And Bella Vista resident Juergen Lottman presides over the complex at 115 N. Dixieland Road. Lottman — who opened Virtual Game World & Event Center with 10 employees in August — contends it’s the only virtual reality arcade in the region, if not the state. He is the sole owner of the business and has no outside investors.
His interest started when he took his first swing on a virtual golf simulator. The experience was so realistic Lottman began doing research on virtual reality applications for entertainment and the Oculus headset which are featured in the arcade’s virtual reality pods.
The pods allow users to experience 92 virtual-reality movie clips, some are interactive and allow the user to mesh with the scenario using a headset and a joy stick. Lottman said he plans on adding new clips every month or two, so users will always have something new to try out.
“This is rapidly developing technology,” Lottman said. “It’s really going to take off.”
Facebook spent $2 billion in 2014 to buy Oculus VR, then a startup that makes virtual reality gear. Facebook recently opened a lab in California to, in part, experiment with virtual reality technology. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO and founder, has said virtual reality will be the leading social media platform in the future.
“When you put it on, you enter a completely immersive computer-generated environment, like a game or a movie scene or a place far away,” Zuckerberg said of the Oculus Rift headset in a statement when the acquisition was announced. “The incredible thing about the technology is that you feel like you’re actually present in another place with other people. People who try it say it’s different from anything they’ve ever experienced in their lives.”
After obtaining a sixstate distribution contract for several virtual reality devices and games, Lottman set on the idea to open the arcade, which also doubles as a showroom of sorts for the gear.
He also wanted more than simply a place to play games, so he added a bistro with a European flair. Customers can choose from pizzas, desserts and a full menu of German fare from chef Renate Enssle, including schnitzel, sauerbraten, homemade pretzels and desserts. Virtual Game World & Event Center also offers a selection of beer and wine, all in a space large enough to host birthday parties, weddings or team-building functions.
This isn’t Lottman’s first go at a business venture. He has a varied resume including playing with country artist John Anderson and teaching percussion at the University of Arkansas in the 1990s. He operated a wine import company, and still runs J.L. Sound and Lighting Production and has vacation properties on the Buffalo River.
He came to Northwest Arkansas from Germany to visit several times in the 1980s and settled in Bella Vista in 1988.
“It was just my backpack and me,” Lottman explains.
He said he always is looking for the next new thing in his life and virtual reality is it.
“I can’t wait to see where it goes in the next five years,” he said.