A few weeks ago, my daughter and I attended a special media preview of entertainment hub, TWO BIT CIRCUS, in Downtown L.A. Appropriately named, it’s a carefully curated, mish-mash of “old school” and modern day entertainment, flexible to the needs of the audience. The goal of the founders and team behind TWO BIT CIRCUS is to create immersive experiences on various scales that involve full participation. They wanted to bring together people in a real-life social setting in a technologically fun way. Everyone working at the venue fits right in with the theme, which is pretty cool and steampunk influenced.

Like a restaurant and bar, TWO BIT CIRCUS is family-friendly during the day, and adults-only at night. Like a circus, entertainment is big and visually spectacular. From group games to circus games to VR experiences, TWO BIT CIRCUS will be sure to please family members of all ages and all skill levels.

Here are some of the cool things you will find at TWO BIT CIRCUS:

Story Rooms (Escape Rooms)

At Two Bit Circus, we walked through their highly detailed Story Rooms. Similar to an Escape Room, these rooms are immersive adventures for 3-7 players. I’ve never participated in something like this before, but I think this would be a good place for a first! The designers and programmers behind Two Bit Circus have extensive experience in putting together pop-up and special event programming. Here, they get to create things that will stay instead of being torn down after the event! The rooms are not only creative, but also programmed to accommodate different skill levels and variations. So you definitely won’t play the same game twice! Reservations are recommended and can be booked online.

Midway

I’m pretty sure my daughter’s favorite section of the space was the Midway. These games were really cool, because they were a mix of physical and virtual play. We played interactive video games such as the balloon pop game, where the goal is to throw a colored ball at the same color balloon displayed on the screen. The wrong match will make the balloon change to the color of your ball, disrupting the game behind the game, which involves more coordination. Not all games were digital. I enjoyed some time on a classic game – Skeeball.

Arcade

The arcade section is really cool. There’s a mix of old school favorites – such as pinball machines, air hockey, Ms. Pac Man, and Street Fighter II; and also some cool machines where the programming can be changed out easily. Two Bit Circus works with game developers to test and create entertainment for their space.

Virtual Experiences at The Arena

These weren’t available for testing during our visit, but I’ve done VR experiences before and they are really cool! Now there is a venue for you to try out different games and talk with people around you about how exciting it was. I definitely want to try this out on my next visit.

Club 01: Comedy and Interactive Theater

Club 01 is a theater space open to an array of events. From stand-up performances to trivia nights, to wine tasting events, be on the look out for what’s to come.

About TWO BIT CIRCUS from the founders Brent Bushnell and Eric Gradman

The space

This is only one side of the enormous space. It’s a “you’ll have to visit to see and experience it” type of place. It’s a great meeting space for friends and families. Two Bit Circus is a new and unique entertainment venue you’ll find yourself wanting to visit again and again.

Be sure to follow my Instagram feed for more photos from our visit!

Two Bit Circus

Two Bit Circus is an experiential entertainment company building a network of micro-amusement parks. These 35k-50k square foot entertainment complexes are a new platform to showcase the future of fun and bring people together through VR, escape rooms, re-imagined arcade games, immersive theater, and other new forms of entertainment. The venues are a launchpad for new technologies and branded content and serve as an anchor tenant to drive customers and traffic to urban centers and malls. Two Bit Circus has a long history of working with brands to help tell their story through public attractions and spectacle. Some highlights include VR action sports content for the NFL, NBA, and Indy; major entertainment activations at the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and All Star Games; and even a cloud that rains tequila. The first micro-amusement park opens in Downtown LA in 2018.

Learn more at @TwoBitCircus and www.twobitcircus.com

Two Bit Circus is located at:

634 Mateo St. Los Angeles, CA 90021

Disclaimer: I was invited as a member of the media to preview this venue. All opinions are honest and 100% my own. No monetary compensation was exchanged for this post.