Activate Impressions — Enter the Mega-Grid

I really didn’t know much about Activate when I was approached to have a chat with Bryce Anderson, partner from Activate, about everything they have going on right now. After a quick search, I realized I had seen some of their stuff before, from videos going wild on TikTok and Instagram of some of their games. Mainly Mega-Grid. Thankfully, Activate allowed me to stop by their facility down the road from me in Atlanta, GA to get an idea of everything “Activate.”

As I entered the location nearest me, I was greeted by the smiling faces of three employees working behind the counter helping guests get checked in. As I explained who I was and what time my session was to start, they helped me get signed in and even got their manager, Jonathan, to come and show me around and play some of the games alongside me.

(The first experience I had was working alongside Manager Jonathan, after my interview with Bryce though, I actually went back again but this time with four people with me!)

The level of patience and kindness from all the staff as I asked questions about prices and setup already made the experience better than some “event centers” I’ve been to in my life, but when I actually walked into the “HUB world,” it became clear that Activate is different from anything I’d seen before.

The best way for me to explain Activate is “the closest thing to Tron we have without ever putting on a headset.” I walked into the main area I feel is a “HUB world,” with a long hallway with doors leading to every game they have. Outside each door is a touch screen showing all the games they have for that room, how to play them, and then a scanner below for the bracelet they give you at the start with your information on it.

Each game adds something different to the table. There were 11 room types to choose from with each room having 3-8 different game modes to pick. Their most popular room, and the one you’ve probably seen is Mega-Grid, which is an entire room of LED floor tiles and buttons on the wall. Your goal for the main game mode in this room is to hit all the blue lights while avoiding all red lights. It’s a fun time, here are some of the other favorites I saw during my two times visiting Activate!

– Hide was one of my favorite rooms, with Numbers being my favorite game from that room. You have a pillar in the center of the room with a giant eyeball on each wall. The wall is covered in buttons and screens above them to showcase the numbers you need to hit in the correct order while hiding from the eye that is red on the wall. With friends, this becomes a game of yelling out who’s grabbing what number and making sure you’re not hitting them before your friends.
– The Laser room was a favorite of some of my friends with their favorite game being one where you’re jumping over and crawling under lasers like you’d see in a movie like James Bond, Get Smart, etc. as you run from one side of the room to the other.
– Arena was my partner’s favorite room with Asteroid being the game we played the most. There are a ton of screens on the wall in front of you with rubber balls partially filled with water on a slanted table in front of you. The goal is to blow up the asteroids by hitting the screen with the rubber ball. As you move up levels, you have to hit each screen more, more asteroids show up, and at the higher level we got to, you have to avoid hitting satellites.

These games are all a lot of fun by yourself, but with friends, they become a wild time of everyone running past each other, throwing things by other’s heads, and somethings running over people. During our 70 minute sessions, nobody got hurt even though we were going ALL OUT to get high scores and beat levels.

Each game had levels 1-10 with you only being able to play a level if you beat the one before. Each time you beat a level for the first time you get five-stars added to your Rank. Your Rank adds every game you’ve played and each time you move up a rank, you actually get physical prizes at the end of your session. For example, after my first session, I ranked from 1-3 and got a keychain with a QR code with my gamertag information attached from Activate after Rank 2 and then an Activate water bottle after Rank 3. I would assume that most first timers will at least get Rank 2 and that keychain, which actually makes logging in next time easier since they’ll scan the QR code and you can avoid the check in stations.

There’s no wonder Activate is growing so quickly. It’s combining exercise with video games in a unique, fun, and price effective way. The friends I took on my second trip all agreed they would love to start doing trips every other week. We all felt like we had worked out by about 30 minutes into our 70 minute session and by the end, we all were pretty worn out. Thankfully, we ended our session getting a free picture taken at their photo station which has a giant green screen and filters based on the games we’ve played emailed straight to our email attached to the username we used.

With 13 locations in the USA, 13 in Canada, and more popping up every month, Activate is a wonderful way to combine video games with healthy movement and group communication and fun. I really enjoyed playing games with Manager Jonathan as well as with an entire group. Great for date nights, group hangs, and parties (which they also have a giant room for in the back.) Check Playactivate.com to find a location closest to you!

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