Chuck E. Cheese’s Tests Oculus Rift Virtual Ticket-Grabbing Experience

(Bob Reck)

I’m afraid of costumed mascots and have suppressed most of my childhood memories of visits to Chuck E. Cheese’s, but apparently the restaurant/gaming zone/adult fighting ring has a booth where kids stand and grab tickets as they fly by. Sounds fun, but what if you could eliminate the booth and the flying pieces of paper, simplifying the game? What if the Ticket Blaster went virtual?

That’s what the Other House of Mouse is testing in some markets, according to Gamespot. “Our challenge is to deliver an experience not available at home, and there is no doubt virtual reality does just that,” the company president explained in a statement. Wait, though…isn’t it a lot cheaper to buy the Oculus Rift than to buy a giant light-up ticket-blasting booth? That means that, by definition, the virtual reality experience is something that kids are more likely to experience at home, especially in the future.

Here’s a real Ticket Blaster in action, to give you some idea of what the virtual version might involve. Mostly lots of grabbing.

The Virtual Ticket Blaster will be available to partygoers for six-week test runs in Dallas, then in San Diego and Orlando. Plan your parties accordingly.

Why stop there? Personally, I would like to see a casino introduce a virtual cash-grabbing experience using virtual reality.

Oculus Rift coming to Chuck E. Cheese’s [Gamespot]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist