This year Astrid asked for a “tech birthday party”. We looked at virtual reality and other options, but most of them seemed inappropriate for a group of 9-year-olds. We were very excited when we found Activate in Coquitlam.
Activate is hard to describe, it’s all lights and chaos and sensory-overloaded fun. Inside the building there are a bunch of themed rooms that offer 1-minute mini games with a lot of screens, lights, lasers, sensors, and buttons. There were at least 10 different rooms each offering a few different games and increasing difficulty levels. The kids favourites were GRID, MEGA-GRID, LASERS, HIDE, and CONTROL.
The kids had a blast. After 60 minutes they were very sweaty, hungry, and tired. I wouldn’t recommend going with kids younger than 8, as most of the games require a fair bit of physical dexterity and coordination, and are primarily designed for adults. But it was cool that each game had 10 difficulty levels and the kids could usually beat the 1st and 2nd levels after a few tries.
There isn’t much of an orientation when you arrive – you get wristbands and are sent to some computer terminals to log in – which was a challenge when each kids parents signed the wavers and we didn’t know all of their email addresses. Once we we got everyone’s accounts loaded, we wandered into a very dark back area and were ready to roll.
It’s overwhelming at first, but most of the interfaces are intuitive and easy to figure out. The rooms are designed to quickly move groups through the games, so there was never much waiting around – just long enough to scan the wrist bands, see a very brief explainer on the game, and then enter the room to play.
Emily and I spent the hour coaching the kids and keeping them hydrated, but I’d love to go back and try out some of the games myself.
Activate is located next to the Ikea in Coquitlam (and in other cities around the world). Sadly, it’s not very accessible by public transit, but relatively easy to drive to. We borrowed a car and a minivan from Modo and loaded all the girls into the back. I thought it was noisy inside of Activate, but 6 girls in a minivan was another level of loud.
Canadian Veggie 