As a kid who grew up in the 90s – between the US and Australia – I was gifted with a potpourri of ever-evolving options to celebrate a birthday with friends.
Since the 1970s, there’s been all-you-can-eat pizza places with arcades and playhouses, from Pizza Hut to Chuck-E-Cheese. In the mid-1980s, laser tag entered the arena and remains a staple internationally – often bundled in spaces with other group activities and attractions. And then there’s kart racing, ten-pin bowling, paintball – all of the birthday party locations you remember from your youth.
As we’ve grown up, those childhood experiences have clearly stuck with us. Adults-only arcade bars are now a force internationally, giving you a taste of the past, all while enjoying an alcoholic beverage in your hand. You’ve got spots like Dave and Busters in the USA, Tilt in Toronto, Canada, NQ64 in Manchester, England and Archie Brothers in Australia. Also a shout out to Netherworld in Brisbane!
While it’s no surprise that some things have stayed the same – there’s always a pinball machine that needs to be played after all – with the progression of projection mapping, VR and other gaming technologies, the experiences that have been set up for the “birthday party” have evolved with the times, too. And it just so happens that one of the homes for entertainment geared towards adults – Las Vegas – is serving as a testing ground for the next generation of adult “play”.
There is a sense of irony in this, however. In the late 90s, a push towards family-friendly activities emerged – almost all of which are now defunct. It turns out they just needed to wait for those kids to grow up. Now, almost three decades later, you have a range of experiences for a generation that long for the days when pirates swung outside Treasure Island, the volcano erupted at The Mirage, and we could shoot our friends with lasers.
Here’s a look at some of the immersive group-play experiences that are now on offer in Las Vegas, and perhaps in a city near you, where you may want to take that same group of friends you went laser-tagging with in ’99. Just now you can do it with a drink in your hand.
Electric Playhouse
We start with the newest entry on this list, Electric Playhouse at Caesar’s Palace, designed for groups of all ages, but with adults particularly in mind. It opened in July.
For the hotel, the embrace of this space comes 22 years after they closed one of the most innovative immersive family experiences the city had ever seen – Magical Empire. While it did pave way for the Coliseum that launched with the iconic residency of Celine Dion, its closure in 2002 did bring to an end that aforementioned 90s push to family-friendly, group play experiences.
Electric Playhouse is poised to pick up from where it left off, bringing a new generation of families and adults an immersive experience all built around “play”.
It’s the second location for this new concept, with the first opening in February 2020 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The venue – which is about a third of the size of their initial location (where it also operates as a music venue) – uses the latest projection mapping technology to create games they’ve developed as their own IP.
Some are purely interactive – like the floor near the bar, which you can change into different colours and themes that your movement interacts with.
But most are competitive games set in spaces where you compete – or collaborate – to get the highest scores. Some are for just one or two people at a time, but others are massive, with up to 40 people able to play – like in the section where you can essentially turn you and your friends into a real life foosball table (pictured above). You can really get a workout on that one. In the more intimate games, you might be running for a high score, or trying to collect the most water droplets (while avoiding the bombs!).
There’s even a room where they’ll do four or five course meals, where each dish creates a different world thanks to the interactive projections (that you may have also experienced at ARTE MUSEUM). You can choose from some 30 themes, and even play games on the wall, using controls on the table while you eat.
They have three rooms with the ability to serve up to 40 people – and you can even rent out the venue and have an interactive meal for up to 250 – ensuring they’ve got an experience for any event. This place has more than just birthday parties in mind, but corporate events too.
This is a concept that has impressive potential to not just liven up the Las Vegas Strip, but – as has happened in Albuquerque – change the face of birthday parties for the next generation. And thankfully for the rest of us, groups of adults aren’t just welcomed – they’re encouraged.
Electric Playhouse can be found in The Shops at Caesar’s Palace, in Las Vegas, as well as in Albuquerque. Find details at their official website HERE.
PLAY Playground
One of the more ambitious concepts we came across in Las Vegas was PLAY Playground at the Luxor. This is a playground for adults only (21+), with life-size versions of games we played as kids – alongside creations of their own.
Opening at the start of this year, the experience revolves around a series of human-sized games where you and your friends compete or collaborate for high scores. You might try and dodge swinging obstacles to hit a button, play a life size version of Operation (as seen below), move a giant board around to get balls into holes or even throw yourself on a giant target. Throughout the 1,400 square-metre “playground” are over 20 immersive, hands-on games and attractions to choose from, plus a bar with ingenious cocktails, and plenty of room to relax between games.
Basic entry includes the ability to play each game once, though “Very Important Player” passes will provide additional access.
PLAY Playground is for 21+ guests only, and exclusive to Las Vegas’ Luxor Hotel and Casino. Find more details on it HERE.
AREA15
While not “adults-only” like the last mention on our list, AREA15 is a destination of immersive experiences designed around play and discovery for you and your friends. At its heart is Meow Wolf, an immersive art installation unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
Like Electric Playhouse, Meow Wolf’s first location was in New Mexico, with their initial installation built around a music venue in Santa Fe, and funded in part by George R.R. Martin. In Las Vegas – which was their third location, after Denver – the immersive experience was built into a new complex outside the Las Vegas Strip, dubbed AREA15. The ever-expanding location is now one of America’s most visited attractions nationally, hosting not just Meow Wolf but a slew of other immersive experiences.
With Meow Wolf, the idea is to get lost in the story – built around a supermarket, “Omega Mart”, from another dimension. Hundreds of artists have been involved in bringing it to life, and you can even buy the “products” on display. You could spend a week in this place and still not see everything, it’s so vast and detailed.
Elsewhere in AREA15, you’ll find rooms with electronic music and effects (Museum Fiasco, pictured below), axe throwing (Duelling Axes), there’s arcade games in the Asylum Bar and even ziplining (Haley’s Comet). You can work together to get as many points as possible in the Laser Maze. And you can dine at a number of excellent eateries.
You can also fly through worlds with the VR experience Birdly. You literally lay down and flap your wings – and it’s not as easy at it looks. Another hands on VR gaming experience is Bot Breach, an AREA15 exclusive IP, pictured below. Here you use the controllers to shoot the bots that are breaching AREA15. It’s intuitive and very impressive, especially as you see the people next to you shoot away at their surroundings through your own headset.
Across the street from the main building you will find the Illuminarium, where a number of projected immersive experiences are featured, including Space: A Journey to the Moon & Beyond (pictured below), Wild: A Safari Experience and Lite-Brite: Worlds of Wonder. They also offer “Illuminarium After Dark” for 21+ only, with food and a bar included as part of the experience.
Collectively, all these attractions come together to make AREA15 one of the most innovative spaces in the world for experiences that are meant to be shared.
But one of the most exciting additions to come to the AREA15 world is a brand new building set to open next year – the first ever permanent Universal Studios horror attraction, dubbed Universal Horror Unleashed. Overnight, the creators of Halloween Horror Nights – an annual event at Universal Parks around the world – revealed the first footage of what we’re going to expect when the experience opens next year.
The experience will be comprised of four haunted houses – not unlike what you may experience temporarily at Universal Parks every Halloween season. But here, the permanent nature of the setting will no doubt allow the production values to go up two fold. The four themes of the houses will be: Universal Monsters (who will also have a home at the new Epic Universe in Orlando), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Scarecrow: The Reaping and Blumhouse’s The Exorcist: Believer.
There’ll also be dining options centered around the themes, as well as seasonal events, ever-changing live entertainment experiences and exclusive merchandise.
For more details on this specific experience, and to be the first to find out the 2025 opening date when it’s revealed, head to UniversalHorrorUnleashed.
For more details on AREA15, head to their official website. And details on Meow Wolf locations in Las Vegas and around the US can be found HERE.
Flight Club
Even the classic group play activities have been taken up to another level thanks to new technologies. Take Flight Club, a darts bar you’ll find at the Venetian Resort, with a number of locations around the world. Here you can enjoy a cocktail or three while you shoot darts at a board which registers every move you make.
There’s a number of games to choose from – each which uses the board in different ways – while the screen also shows instant replays as each party tries to walk away a winner. It breathes new life into the dart experience and was honestly one of the most fun experiences I had on this entire list. With some incredible cocktails to boot. Definitely one to bring your friends to.
For more details on Flight Club in Las Vegas and around the USA, head to their official website.
…and the rest
This list is far from exhaustive, as Las Vegas brings immersive experiences of all kinds, which may serve as the destination for your next party.
There’s the brand new ultra-immersive Discoshow, a variation of the adults-only variety show put on by Spiegelworld – the team behind Absinthe and Atomic Saloon. In this experience they’ve combined a disco celebration and performance with a “nightworld” featuring three cocktail bars and their restaurant, the cleverly named Diner Ross.
And then there are tried and tested adult event spaces, like Minus5 – an Ice Bar. You’ll find these guys in three locations in Las Vegas – at the Linq, Mandalay Bay and The Venetian. It’s here you get to enjoy drinks in a playfully designed freezer, with plenty of games to play, and even a playful ice sculpture to drink your shots from.
It’s fair to say that be it embracing new technologies, or simply taking inspiration from activities of the past, there’s a little bit of play for friends of all ages in Las Vegas. And there’s no shortage of innovation as they continue to surprise audiences from around the world.
The author received a tour of Electric Playhouse in Las Vegas ahead of its official opening. Other experiences were provided by each respective operator. While in Downtown Las Vegas, we stayed at Circa Resorts and Casino on Fremont Street. While on the Strip, we stayed at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
Travel and itinerary was supported by the LVCVA. Photos by the author unless otherwise credited.
