Hey everyone, for this post, I’ll be recounting my family’s recent trip to Dave & Buster’s restaurant and virtual reality arcade at their Times Square location in the heart of New York City.
I’ve been interested in virtual reality (VR) since the early days of the Oculus Rift development kit, and always dreamed of opening my own VR arcade someday. So, when my family and I were planning our trip to New York City, I discovered that Dave & Buster’s had a VR experience based on Star Trek. As a big fan of Star Trek, this immediately became our top priority on our NYC to-do list, along with seeing a Broadway show, visiting Times Square, riding the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, eating pizza and bagels, and all the other usual tourist attractions.
Dave & Buster’s New York City
For those who don’t know, Dave & Buster’s is a large chain of combined restaurants and arcades with locations all over the country. We don’t have one in my hometown but I had been to other locations in the past and knew they had good food, drinks, and a huge arcade filled with the latest games and redemption prizes.
Their massive Times Square location opened fairly recently in 2016 and spans three floors. The third floor is dedicated to virtual reality attractions, which need more space than traditional arcade cabinets. It’s located right on 42nd Street just off Times Square so the bright lights of the theater district are visible right outside the windows.
The VR Experience – Star Trek: Dark Remnant
We booked our VR adventure in advance online to lock in our preferred time slot. When we arrived, the lobby was buzzing with families and groups of friends waiting their turn. We checked in at the desk and were issued grey Starfleet uniform shirts to wear over our clothes, which was a fun touch.
Our VR host gave us a quick briefing on the backstory and rules of the game before leading us into the simulator room. The premise is that you’re a crew member on the USS Galileo research vessel when a distress call comes in from the USS Enterprise, which has become trapped by space debris in the neutral zone. Our mission was to pilot the Galileo using the ship’s controls, battle Klingons along the way, and rescue the Enterprise.
We were assigned specific roles for our mission. I was the captain, Patty was the communications officer, John was responsible for tactical and weapons, and Jenette was the helmsman in charge of steering the ship. Once we had our virtual reality headsets and controllers on, we found ourselves suddenly transported onto the bridge of the starship Galileo. It was amazing to see and hear everything, exactly as if we were part of the movies and TV shows.
Things started calmly as we got acquainted with our stations – I could command the crew verbally to adjust power levels, check the statuses of ship systems, and so on. Everyone took turns following my orders and practicing the unique controls for their roles. But soon the klaxons started blaring as we received the distress call and were thrust into fast-paced space combat with Klingon warbirds attacking from all sides.
The team had to constantly communicate, rotate deflector shields, target weapons, steer clear of debris, and keep critical systems online. Jenette was amazing at piloting the ship gracefully between obstacles while dodging disrupter fire and photon torpedoes. At one point a Klingon actually beamed aboard our ship and John blasted him back out of the airlock! After defeating waves of enemies, we rescued the crippled Enterprise and received praise from Captain Kirk himself.
It was 30 minutes of pure sci-fi goodness – easily one of the most immersive and fun VR experiences I’ve ever had. We were all high-fiving each other by the end and the kids excitedly recounted their favorite parts on the drive back to the hotel. I’ll never forget Jenette gleefully yelling “That was SO epic!!” which brought the biggest smile to my face. We didn’t want it to end!
Other Attractions
In addition to Star Trek, Dave & Buster’s had several other cool VR setups like a Jurassic Park adventure, zombie apocalypse shooters, and VR motion platforms. The arcade section was also really impressive with rows and rows of the latest games – everything from skeeball, basketball, and carnival midway games, to the latest racing and shooting cabinet video games.
We loaded up Power Cards with credits to play various games and had a blast as a family competing for high scores and tickets. I completely dominated the Star Wars virtual pinball machine while Patty crushed it at Deal or No Deal. Afterward, we browsed the massive redemption prize section and let the kids go wild picking out Nerf guns, stuffed animals, candy, and silly toys that we probably didn’t need but couldn’t say no to. Hey, that’s what family vacations are for right?
The Verdict
All in all, we had an absolute blast at the Dave & Buster’s Times Square location. As an avid VR enthusiast, I was thoroughly impressed by the Star Trek experience – it set a new bar for what I expect from location-based VR. The interactivity, immersion, and replayability were top-notch. My inner child also just had a total joygasm with the endless arcade options.
On the downside, it was very loud inside with lots of chaotic environmental distractions. And since it was a popular tourist spot, it was pretty crowded most of the day. The food was decent but nothing to write home about – on par with most bar & grill chains. Service was also hit and miss trying to get our server’s attention.
Pricing felt appropriate considering everything that was included. They offer discounted combo packages if you plan on gaming and eating there which is the way to go.
Overall I’d highly recommend Dave & Busters Times Square, especially for anyone traveling with family or kids. Or couples wanting to stomp noobs at the latest multiplayer competitive games over some wings and beer. We’ll be going back next time we’re in the NYC area!