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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2019
FACE OFF: Reporter Kevin Duggan (left) and Deputy Editor Colin Mixson (right, crouching) faced off in
a dodge ball battle to the digital death. Photo by Caroline Ourso NEXT LEVEL
Virtual reality arcade expands
into massive new Dumbo space
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Talk about an expansion
pack!
A Brooklyn virtual reality
arcade has moved
into a massive new venue
in Dumbo, giving twice as
many players the chance to
jack into cyberspace as before.
The newest integration of
VR Bar on Jay Street boasts
12 virtual reality stations
and one upcoming virtual
arena, which will give up to
four people a chance to duke
it out in challenges that will
have them questioning reality,
according to its founder.
“It’s a much more immersive
experience,” said
Kishore Doddi.
Doddi’s emporium offers
30 different games and experiences
for beginner, intermediate,
and advanced skill
levels, including stepping
into the vivid world of a Van
Gogh painting or demolishing
your friends in a game of
digital dodge ball.
The entrepreneur debuted
the arcade in Carroll
Gardens with three stations
in early 2017, before moving
to a prior Dumbo location
next door to his current spot
about a year ago.
The new 5,000 square-foot
space is more than twice the
size of its previous Dumbo
location, where Doddi offers
virtual reality experiences
at a rate of $14 for 15 minutes
— although the game
master offers a much needed
two-minute tutorial free of
charge.
In the interest of journalism,
this reporter leapt at
Doddi’s offer to try his virtual
reality games fi rsthand,
and the arcade owner suggested
a nice drawing game
to help me get acquainted
with the weird world of cyberspace.
That’s when Brooklyn
Paper Deputy Editor Colin
Mixson, who was on hand
with crack freelance photographer
Caroline Ourso,
insisted Doddi jack me
into the most intense experience
available, likely
part of some maniacal bid
to scramble my brain, or
possibly to obtain good
shots for the article. The
next thing I know, I’m
standing 20 stories above
the ground, peering into
the abyss atop a wooden
plank jutting pirate shipstyle
from the side of a skyscraper!
Who makes these
games!?
Doddi says I’m free to
leap off the plank if I so
choose, and, for some crazy
reason, I take the fateful step
into thin air — and literally
fall over — as the simulated
plummet tricks my brain,
and my body follows suit.
Fortunately, Doddi is
there to catch me, as the
cackles of my editor echo
from somewhere beyond my
bulbous VR visor.
Seeking vengeance, I
challenge Mixson to a game
of virtual dodgeball — and
I’m immediately bested —
as my editor, leaning on his
past experience from covering
the arcade’s Cobble Hill
debut, trounces me 5–0.
But I’m a fast learner
— the memory of Mixson’s
shouts of dispair as I dominate
him 5–1 will keep me
warm during my next winter
stakeout.
Doddi’s fun zone doesn’t
end with video games, and
the entrepreneur is in the
process of obtaining a full
liquor license for his adult
customers.
But he doesn’t want patrons
to get too tipsy before
they plug his video games
directly into their brain.
“If you’re too drunk to
drive, you’re too drunk to do
VR,” he said. “We’ll be extra
cognizant of that.”
About half of his patrons
are between eight and 13
years old so the actual bar
at VR Bar will suit parents
who want to have a drink,
while their kids frolic in
cyberspace, according to
Doddi.
WHERE CULTURE
TICKETS FROM
KINGSTHEATRE.COM
1027 FLATBUSH AVENUE
BROOKLYN, NY 11226
IS KING
/KINGSTHEATRE.COM