In front of me, a sparkling silver box – elegant, elegant and with daringly defined salient vertical lines, giving it a vintage art -deco look always as light. A golden vent rests at its top, the figures on its grille appearing as extraterrestrial hieroglyphs. It is, I am asked to pretend that it is an elevator, which will take me from the third walk on the rue de Santa Monica and in the orbit of the Earth.
I intervene and I stand on an awarded number. Four windows surround me, and one is below me. These are, in reality, OLED televisions, sitting inside oval and white astronauts frames. Soon I am flooded with ambient and serene music. An air conditioner pumps in a cold breeze – in part there to compensate for the heat of the televisions, in part there to mitigate the effects of transport evil – then the simulation begins. The south of California disappears below me, and in a few moments, I slide above the earth, wrapped in stars and with twilight blue shades of the horizon of our planet.
Game Tech A Mélérel Farris plays matches at the two -bit circus at Third Street Promenade.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
As a rule, the experience of simulating a trip to space is the fabric of themed parks or NASA training facilities. This space elevator, however, lies inside a two-bit pop-up arcade, which closed its playing space of more than 40,000 square feet in the center of the city center earlier this year. In the precarious world of entertainment based on location – the last years have seen burst startups, focused on the game and focused on reality such as the Void and the immersive landscape come and come – it was prudent to suppose the worst when two bits closed.
Had its mixture of currency arcade cabinets, future technologies and Games inspired by immersive theater I joined Disneyquest, Star Trek: the experience and a host of other promising experiences still whole? No, insists that the two -bit founder, Brent Bushnell, who is confident, will increase again with a permanent space. First of all, however, a pop-up experience of several weeks on the promenade of Third Street, opening Saturday and which will currently take place until January 5, although Bushnell thinks that an extension is likely-“We will be a decision from one month to the next,” he said.
Espace Espace at the two -bit circus. (Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)
Two bits, says that Bushnell, has never been able to recover from the pandemic, for which his city center company has too deeply dug a financial hole to bounce back. “We brought a quarter of a million people there in 2019,” said Bushnell about attendance at the initial location, which Open in 2018. “It was literally millions of dollars. In 2020, we were doing 20% better than in 2019. I sometimes wonder the world in which we live. I closed $ 30 million in investments to open five others. ”
All these plans were evaporated relatively quickly. A two -bit location in Dallas, for example, opened in 2023 but closed in a few months. The two areas of the city center followed relatively suddenly in April, but Bushnell says it was clear in January that the company was going to have to regroup.
“We did not have the deep pockets of a ginormented company to browse this,” said Bushnell about closings induced by Two Bit Covid-19, for which the backlin of Bills has finally become too to bear. “It's a real opportunity to be away from that and start again.”
And more modestly. The Santa Monica of Two Bit spot, located among the cacophony of relaxed restaurants of Third Street Promenade and an oversized chess board, is 4,000 square feet, a fraction of the size of the city center. This means that two two -bit originals – digital carnival games such as a tab -pop balloon that used screens and projections, or a train racing game built less on speed but on a company synchronized with friends or foreigners – remain in stock. Like his so-called “history rooms”, including that which was inspired by the old table game operation, only here we have carried out makeshift surgery on a giant puppet, the game less on precision than silly communication.
However, it is clear that the two -bit mission persists.
The founder of two bits of Brent Bushnell circus.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
A central bar, for example, will sell a drink which he calls the “cocktail shooter”. It is essentially a shot, but the participants will then be delivered a meta-squad 3 and asked to play a game of 90 seconds using the technology of passage of the helmet, which allows digital creations to be superimposed in our real environment. Essentially, we shoot Giant, Cowboy-Hat wearing eyelashes floating around the two-bit bar. Similar games will take place outside the doors of Two Bit on the promenade, including a game inspired by fantasy in which our quest controllers will turn into virtual chopsticks and we will be sorcerers who throw balls of fire in the middle of the district of Santa Monica.
There is also space for group games, including an inspired experience in the highly participative fair. Here, the guests will meet around the cocktail tables, each player receiving his own square video game controller with large plastic arcade buttons. They will compete with other guests in stupid mini-games and idiots, some asking us to support as many buttons as possible, others more quiz. A version of this was staged in the two -bit district spot spot.
Then, finally, there are two bits for stand -up games, with accent, says Bushnell, on multiplayer titles – “Frogger”, “Rampage”, “Joust”, “Zoo Keeper”, “Marble Madness” among the many offers. The pop-up will charge $ 25 admission to the door, and this will include all the games for the day.
And the centerpiece in request will undoubtedly be the space elevator, developed by the local one immersive company. The company, founded by Chris Clavio, who previously worked for Santa Fe, immersive, based in NM, Meow wolf art collectiveGiven the device that will rest on two bits as a prototype – it is, for example, fragile, built from aforementioned televisions and cabinets. The images of the experience come largely from the collection of the NASA public domain, known as Clavio, because the ultimate objective of the space elevator is to present it to museums and schools.
Chris Clavio, founder and CEO of One World Immersive, shows his spatial elevator leave at Two Bit Circus Arcade in Third Street Promenade.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
While the floor vibrates, there is no real elevator. Such a detail, says Clavio, will be hopeful, in a future edition, but the movement on the screen is slow enough not to be physically shocking and allow a momentary feeling of disbelief. When I am inside the space, I feel a feeling of calm, rushing into the wonder of thousands of sparkling stars and the tranquility of our planet when it is seen from above. The trip lasts but four minutes, but it is welcoming, meditative limits and temporarily restorative.
“The interest of this was at the origin of showing people the majesty of the planet and how incredible earth was and not being a cheesy thrill,” said Clavio. “We want it to be an opportunity for reflection.”
Santa Monica two-bit pop-ups
He also draws from the original vanity of two bits, which merges familiar and unexpected games with heavy immersive experiences on social interaction – the Two -bit calendarFor example, includes nights in single and gift exchanges. Bushnell is also delighted to ensure that guests in an augmented reality glassware in Snap, because he notes two bits have programmed images of dinosaurs wandering in the third promenade on the street.
In the end, space will be considered a test. Perhaps for a future location of Santa Monica and to also see if two bits can draw a mixture of audience different from that of the city center.
Game Tech AT AREA FARRIS works at Two Bit Circus at Third Street Promenade.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
“When we were in downtown Los Angeles, we could have adults and we could get businesses (events), but families and tourists were a bit of a challenge,” said Bushnell. “I think the thing that is special about Santa Monica is that you could really hit it all. It is therefore an exploration for us to test the waters. ”
And, of course, to simulate the experience of visualization of these spaces of space.
