This spring marks the start of some new experiences in the city, including Sandbox VR, a full-body virtual reality venue set to open in Philadelphia this month.
The concept comes from LOL Entertainment, who some may recognize as owning the popular Museum of Illusions which opened in Old City in 2022. LOL’s CEO Rob Cooper hails from Philly and still lives locally, but his company’s reach expands past regional borders into other US cities like Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Scottsdale.
“LOL is really all about creating the most sustainable platform for investing and operating location-based entertainment in North America—and we’ve been having a lot of fun with it,” says Cooper. The company’s last five years have been about expanding the MOI around the country, but more recently, LOL has also connected with creative founders of other experience-based companies.
“It’s kind of a small world when it comes to location-based entertainment, at least on the mid-size or small format that we specialize in. And so over time, we’ve been meeting and greeting and just connecting with a number of different founders or concepts,” Cooper continues. “We came across three new concepts—two of which are going to be in Philadelphia this year.”
Those dual concepts, Sandbox VR and the team-based adventure venue Time Mission, will open to the public in 2025, but Sandbox is up first with operations set to begin on Friday, April 18.
“There’s definitely a trend in the industry gravitating towards social gaming, and what we were looking for is something novel. Obviously, you want to do that in a communal environment,” says Cooper. “It’s really about that shared experience: Taking photos, having those memories, having a laugh, those types of things. And also learning something as you go through it. But the common denominator is the social ability where you’re actually engaging and experiencing something together as opposed to just doing it.”
Sandbox VR (1712 Walnut St.) specifically offers state-of-the-art virtual reality activities for groups of up to six people. As a release notes, while there, groups put on VR headsets and wear motion sensors that capture their full body movements, letting them see and physically interact with each other as they “battle in a shared virtual world.” This patented technology provides a realism that’s not possible with home VR or other location-based platforms – aka guests’ own bodies act as their game controllers as they step into these virtual worlds.
“We’re really looking for those next attractions that are one of a kind, or that are untested in the market but are offering a really interesting experience. Sandbox introduces what they call a 3D motion capture technology. You can high-five avatars, you can push them, and you can really engage with people as you normally would, ” Cooper explains. “I just really think Philadelphia is going to be excited about it.”
Guests can choose from nine different VR experiences created by Sandbox’s in-house team of video game industry veterans, including ‘Rebel Moon: The Descent’, ‘Deadwood PHOBIA’, ‘Deadwood Valley’, ‘Seekers of the Shard: Dragonfire’, ‘Amber Sky 2088’, ‘Deadwood Mansion’, ‘Unbond Fighting League’, and more kid-friendly games like the popular ‘Squid Game Virtuals’ and ‘Curse of Davy Jones.’
Time Mission on the other hand (opening this summer at 1534 Chestnut St.) has teams embark on a time-travel journey, racing through 25+ unique portals across the past, present, and future, all while collecting points and battling the clock.
“Time Mission is redefining what we know as entertainment. So in the past, you have your escape rooms, where you get locked in for 60 minutes and you work your way through it mentally to get out with a group of adults. Normally it’s not really here for kids. With this, we’ve got 25 to 30 mission rooms or portals in Philadelphia. Time Mission is all about traveling through time, there’s a theme to it, and it’s a bit more of a choose your own adventure [element.]”
Both Sandbox VR and Time Mission are set to see a lot of growth as well. As a release notes, the LOL Entertainment partnership comes on the heels of Sandbox’s recent announcement that the company saw 60% growth in franchise deals in Q2 and plans to open 280 new franchise locations in the next four years.
Cooper cites partnerships with the other creative CEOs (Sandbox’s Steve Zhao and Time Mission’s Pieter Martens), as well as other localized immersive leaders (of spots like Puttshack, Beat the Bomb and the upcoming F1 Arcade) as kindred spirits in the new space for group technology entertainment—specifically in Philadelphia.
“One of the reasons we wanted to go downtown, it hits a demographic that’s very large. So you can have kids or grandparents and everyone in between. In the case of Philadelphia and just the explosion of entertainment, there’s been wonderful location-based [spots] that have popped up and they continue too,” says Cooper.
“There’s nightlife [downtown], but there hasn’t been a lot of entertainment. So this gives us a really unique opportunity amongst all of the founders and owners of these concepts to set up an entertainment district. And that’s what you’re seeing happen in Rittenhouse, down Walnut and down Chestnut. You’re going to have probably five to eight options to choose from soon.”
Tickets are now on sale online, and to mark the grand opening, Sandbox VR Philadelphia is offering a limited-time presale discount of 30% off, (valid through April 17), with promo code OPEN30. Guests who pre-book by April 17, also get entered to win a free year of Sandbox VR. Starting April 18, prices will increase to the standard rate of $55-$65 per person.
“Philly’s just been incredible to us. And it feels like everyone is very interested there for family entertainment and this type of entertainment,” Cooper finishes. “It’s a next-level experience— and I think people are going to recognize that.”
To learn more information and to purchase tickets, visit sandboxvr.com
