Be the Game!
Spy Ninjas, Fallout Zones Join to Create Gamified Action Park
The YouTube megastars known as Chad Wild Clay and Vy Qwaint, a married couple with a combined 44 million followers across their social media platforms, have teamed up with FEC consultant Fallout Zones to create a “first-of-its-kind, fully gamified” theme park and family entertainment center. Called Spy Ninjas HQ, the Las Vegas facility is set to open later this summer.
The duo has been making digital content together since 2010 and want to now take their creative Spy Ninjas brand into the real world.
The 55,000-sq.-ft., all-ages adventure park will feature the largest indoor zipline in Vegas (at 115 feet) as well as trampolines, climbing walls, multi-level escape rooms, more than 100 arcade games, VR, ropes courses, ninja star and dagger throwing and other attractions.
One standout will be Ninja Tag, which they describe as “a high-tech game of team hide-and-seek inside a multi-level, ninja-style obstacle course.” The venue will also have a restaurant and bar, 20-game retro arcade and party rooms – making it a prime spot for birthday parties and other events.
When they say “all-ages,” they mean it – there’s everything from a Mini Ninja tunnel maze for the little kiddos to a fruit-smashing rage room for the “grown-up ninjas.”
The indoor park will be fully gamified and based around the popular IP that has seen Spy Ninjas with a variety of toys, ninja gadgets and figurines for sale in Target, Walmart and on Amazon. They also have a mobile app game with more than 10 million downloads.
“They’re trying to turn their digital content into retail space,” said Bryan Severance, the CEO of Fallout Zones and co-creator of Spy Ninjas HQ. “They’ve had this idea for a while now to create a park where people can experience the content they’ve brought to life on YouTube.”
Spy Ninjas HQ construction has been a feature of many recent videos on Chad Wild Clay’s channel, with millions of fans worldwide excited for the park to open. Fallout Zones anticipates about 500,000 visitors a year.
“We’re able to create an experience that’s going to be profitable and organized, and designed to be efficient regarding operations,” Severance said. “The whole park is gamified. Each one of the attractions is playable as an individual attraction.”
He explained that every “ninja” who comes into the park gets a wristband that’s used to pay for food, attractions and everything else – very similar to bigger parks like Disneyland.
The arcade will contain about 60% redemption games, the big VR attraction will be a free-roam from SpringboardVR and there will also be axe throwing.
“We’ve utilized multiple spaces in the park and maximized a lot of space,” he said, noting that the ropes course is above the trampolines, for example. “We worked a lot on the design of this park.”
“This is the first fusion of intellectual property theme park and local family entertainment,” Severance added. Because it’s a hot IP, they’ve already begun looking at major markets across the U.S. for franchising opportunities.
The “IRL Gamification” aspect is what will intrigue players the most (their demographic sweet spot aims at 12-year-olds).
When someone comes into the park, they fill out a waiver and they get an app membership. (They don’t have to, but there’s a ton of bonuses that come along with the signup.)
Players – ahem, ninjas – can earn points and follow their progress through the app, which is connected to their wristband. It’s like a game within the attractions as they attempt to traverse the 10 levels of Ninjahood. As they go through the park, each attraction has its own missions to complete.
Severance described it like an RPG video game where players can improve their strength or stealth. “There’s a lot of replayability in this park – even on just a single attraction. Everything’s very easy to play but if you want to go deeper, that’s totally available to you. It makes more repeat business … it gives them a reason to come back.
If you want to “be the game” or learn more about the unique location, visit www.spyninjashq .com and stay tuned to Instant RePlay additional information regarding an grand opening event.