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September 2, 2024
WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Central Wisconsin is getting in on virtual reality gaming with the opening of its first-ever VR arcade.
Edge VR celebrated its grand opening earlier this summer, featuring eight virtual reality stations, a race car simulator game, a gaming lounge with eight Xbox stations and a party room (with glow-in-the-dark painted walls).
Co-owner Tom Vetrone said he and his wife, Ruth, opened the arcade – located at 3540 Plover Road – much more for the community’s sake than their own.
“It’s not about the finances,” Vetrone said of their motivation. “It’s not about my love for gaming even, really – even though it is super fun, and I really enjoy it. It’s more just to bring something super positive to the area.”
With virtual reality video games – as opposed to more traditional console- or PC-based gaming – Vetrone said digital representations of players are placed into a game’s virtual environment by wearing headsets enabling 360-degree vision, and interacting via physical movement (such as ducking and jumping, depending on the game) and holding a highly responsive, motion-reactive game controller in each hand.
“Most people – especially, age 25 to 30 on up – think, ‘oh, (virtual gaming) is for kids – that’s for teenagers,’” he said. “They don’t realize how fun and immersive it is as an adult. This is for anybody of any age or physical ability. This can be played sitting down, this can be played standing up – it’s a really inclusive opportunity for people to come and be able to be part of this.”
The Wisconsin Rapids arcade, Vetrone said, is an independently owned licensed location of the original Edge VR based in Green Bay.
From hypothetical to virtual
Vetrone said he’d been harboring the idea of opening a virtual reality arcade since he first experienced VR gaming in 2020.
It would take him a second round of playing at the end of 2023 in an arcade in Tennessee, he said, for him to get serious about opening his own arcade.
“I just thought, this is something that most people have probably never experienced,” he said. “I was playing a (virtual) game with my grandson – I could see him, and we were going back and forth in the game. It was such a neat environment to be able to interact with each other like that.”
Much of his inspiration to open an arcade, Vetrone said, came from the lack of local entertainment to enjoy with his grandchildren when they visit Wisconsin Rapids each summer.
“We would have to travel to (Wisconsin) Dells, Appleton, Green Bay or wherever to do some kind of a family fun activity,” he said. “I thought, ‘well, I’m dead center in the State of Wisconsin – what better (place) to have a nice, clean, family-friendly environment where parents can bring their kids or parents can come with their families.’”
Vetrone said in early 2024 his research led him to discover Green Bay’s Edge VR, eventually leading to an independently owned licensed location agreement and much-appreciated assistance.
“The Green Bay location – those guys have been a humongous help,” he said. “I wouldn’t be where I’m at – especially with the tech side (of the business) – if it weren’t for those guys.”
With the support of Edge VR’s founders, Vetrone said he and Ruth began the process of equipping the arcade with some of the very best equipment the industry has to offer.
“The headsets that we chose to go with at our location are state of the art,” he said.
Vetrone said the technology has vastly improved and has overcome most of the disorientation or dizziness players could have experienced with past editions of the hardware.
“With the quality of equipment that we have – because the resolution is better – we don’t get that (discomfort) as frequently as some of the older VR headsets,” he said. “There’s not as much of that lag time, and you don’t get that ‘screen door’ effect – where it literally looks like you’re looking through a screen door, you can see all the little squares and it gets really pixelated. Because of the better resolution, there’s very, very little chance of that happening.”
Vetrone said the effort and consideration he and Ruth have put into the arcade – including hiring skilled, equally considerate staff who likewise embrace the positive spirit of the venture – has led to many entertained patrons so far, including visitors from nearby cities.
“Everybody who’s come has absolutely loved it and enjoyed it,” he said, “and we’ve had a lot of people come back.”
One of the biggest challenges in bringing this dream to reality, Vetrone said, has been trying to explain the virtual gaming experience to the uninitiated.
“If it’s something you’ve never done before, it’s definitely worth trying at least once,” he said. “You’re always welcome to come give it a five-minute demo and see if it’s something that you might like. And if it’s not, we’ve got the race car simulator, and we’ve got other options of things to do and spend time with your family or your friends.”
Game plan
Edge VR’s Xbox room, Vetrone said, gives players a comfortable setting for extended gaming sessions – whether playing by themselves or in a multiplayer fashion with up to eight gamers sharing the experience.
To fuel some of those marathon gaming sessions, he said, gamers can purchase Portesi pizzas and cheese fries, chips, candy and a variety of soft drinks.
But the main attraction for the arcade, Vetrone said, is the virtual reality gaming – which is available for walk-in play or sessions booked over the phone or via the website (edgevrarcade.com/book-wi-rapids).
Edge VR, he said, has more than 100 virtual games to choose from – many with multiplayer capabilities – with several proving most popular.
Through Edge VR’s licensing deal, Vetrone said, the arcade’s game library is updated at least every other day, whether with new games being added or current games being refreshed and improved.
Games are limited appropriately for younger players, he said, and parents can monitor what their children are playing – often with entertaining results for the spectators.
“All of our (VR) stations have a TV connected,” he said. “Anybody in the building can see what that player is seeing in the goggles. (Parents) can sit there and see what the kid’s seeing in real-time and laugh at them as they’re making goofy gestures.”
Play on
Vetrone said his and Ruth’s goal is for Edge VR to be highly social – a trait not often associated with traditional video games.
“Typically, normal console gaming is done secluded – where this (arcade) brings people together,” he said. “Yes, with the newer (consoles) you can talk online with a headset and a microphone, but it’s just not the same effect as actually being next to each other, interacting in real-time and seeing what you’re doing.”
From friends and family members to couples on a date, to companies renting out the party room, Vetrone said Edge VR makes for plenty of positive interaction, bonding and team building.
This social encouragement, he said, has been especially well embodied in the Edge Fun Club events held for gamers aged 10 to 14.
“Parents are able to drop their kids off at 7:30 in the morning and pick them up at 5 in the afternoon,” he said “It was a whole day of virtual reality, Xbox, racing simulator and (Nintendo) Switch. (Edge VR staff) played different board games with them, they even played games outside in the parking lot and they got pizza and soda.”
During their first Edge Fun Club, 11 kids participated – “that was just amazing.”
“They loved it and they all can’t wait to come back,” he said.
Vetrone said the communal arcade setting is necessary for virtual reality gaming, not necessarily because it’s too expensive for individual ownership, but due to the cost of owning multiple units and the space needed to play.
Each of Edge VR’s stations is eight square feet, he said, to accommodate for all the physical activity.
“Most of the games will have you moving around somehow, whether it’s your arms or your whole body spinning around,” he said. “Even with the mini golf you’re moving around and putting. You can get your heart rate up, especially if you’re playing some of the sports games. We have a boxing game and – oh, boy – that’ll really get you sweating.”
To share the fun with as many people as possible, Vetrone said Edge VR continues to engage with the Wisconsin Rapids community, including taking part in a block party and carefully sharing some of its augmented reality gaming with individuals from Opportunity Development Centers, Inc. – a relationship he said he intends to build.
“Cognitively challenged people might be able to interact and really feel like they’re in those (virtual) environments,” he said of the potential benefits. “We can have them in water seeing dolphins swim by, or do a tour into Africa and have them looking into the jungles.”
Vetrone said the car show Edge VR hosted at the end of August will become an annual tradition and help continue to introduce the technology to new people.
He also said he’s working to host a monthly arcade visit for youth from the local Boys and Girls Club.
As exciting and novel as virtual reality may be to the uninitiated, Vetrone said, he doesn’t consider the technology to be a quick-passing gimmick.
“I definitely think it’s something that’s going to be around for a long time,” he said.
Vetrone said Edge VR’s Green Bay location has – with the exception of the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic – seen strong support for more than seven years.
He also said Edge VR is opening another location in Appleton soon, further reinforcing his confidence in the industry.
Heading into their first fall and winter as owners, Vetrone said he and Ruth anticipate the arcade will be a popular way for people to relieve their cabin fever.
Whether one is a first-time player or a seasoned, virtual veteran, Vetrone said he and his staff are “vigilant on keeping up with the current fun games” – and maintaining that positively entertaining “edge” for years to come.
