Cherry Hill’s Activate Gaming transforms childhood games into immersive arenas

Cherry Hill is home to a new gaming space that takes childhood playground games and drops them into padded LED-laden arenas.

Activate Gaming is a 14,000-square-foot immersive gaming complex opening Nov. 21, where groups can tackle Mission Impossible-esque laser gauntlets and scatter from giant digital eyes in an amped-up game of hide-and-seek (Squid Game, anyone?).

“We don’t have an age bracket or a specific demographic,” general manager Tahai Exum said. “We want to encourage everyone to come, where a lot of this is just the childhood games that we used to play out in the cul-de-sac or in our backyards with our friends after school.”

Activate will be transforming the site of a former Rite Aid, a wider trend among landlords to revitalize dormant spaces. As longtime tenants of large retail spaces start to leave these facilities, a new crop of immersive retail experiences is taking them over, including a massive entertainment center in the Moorestown Mall, Cherry Hill Mall getting a Dick’s House of Sport, and Center City’s Fashion District considering experiential retail offerings after the success of Puttshack and F1 Arcade nearby.

Walking into the complex, about a mile down the road from the Cherry Hill Mall, players are equipped with a wristband that activates the game rooms and tracks their scores. Rack up enough points and rewards like Croc accessories, portable speakers, and exclusive apparel are up for grabs.

Players are ushered into a sprawling, cushion-floored hall with 13 stalls of different games of their choosing. Each round of a game is one to three minutes long, which allows a fresh set of new players to get in.

From there, players can choose to get back in line and scan their wristband for another round, or try the other games on offer. Think of an arcade with loads of games, but instead of playing with a controller, players are part of the game themselves.

Shooting hoops, playing hide-and-seek, and the all-time childhood classic “the floor is lava” are heightened in these rooms with interactive prompts, trivia, and thumping techno music.

For instance, Activate trades the couch cushions and ottomans from traditional “floor is lava” for an LED tile-lined floor that illuminates squares for players to take refuge on. With each new round, players race to the next pressure-triggered tile to win.

Basketball gets turned into a trivia game where contestants are prompted with questions like “Where is the most densely populated island found?” and shoot a basketball into the correctly labeled hoop. This time the answer is “Haiti,” Exum said, referring to the Haitian island of Ilet a Brouee.

In the laser gauntlet room, staffers Robert Cole from Philadelphia and Justyn Diaz from Pennsauken roll like ninjas below the lasers as a smoke machine wafts clouds throughout the room to illuminate the lasers into view. The staffers — even Cole, who previously worked at Dave & Buster’s — have never had employee training like this before.

The games that guests play are the same ones staffers play every week.

“I don’t know anywhere you can go and get paid to play games,” Exum said. “Our staff are playing these games ahead of launch, and when we’re open, to better explain and suggest games to guests, but also to provide feedback on the gaming experience.”

Activate Gaming is open to everyone ages 6 and up, and yes, Exum said, adults are encouraged to join the fun. Adults must be present at the gaming facility for the entire gaming session for children ages 6 to 13.

Pricing starts at $24.99 per person for a 60-minute session and $29.99 for 90-minute sessions on weekdays, or $34.99 per person for 60 minutes and $39.99 for 90 minutes on weekends, which should be booked online in advance. Walk-ins are welcome but are subject to availability as time slots get reserved.

For birthday parties and group visits, the price drops to $19.99 per person with a minimum of 10 guests.

There are no limits to how many games you can play in your allotted sessions, so make sure to arrive early so you don’t eat up any valuable gaming time.

No food or drink is served on the premises, and usually only drinks can be brought inside the lobby or private rooms. But during birthday parties, bringing in party food and birthday cakes can be arranged.

Cherry Hill’s Activate Gaming is opening on Friday, Nov. 21, with an all-day free gaming event. They are running a limited-time offer of 50% off opening tickets when customers sign up for their newsletter.

Follow Activate for updates at playactivate.com/new-jersey-cherry-hill or on Instagram and Facebook.