Get digitized this June at Sandbox VR, an unparalleled, fully immersive, virtual reality gaming experience coming to St. Pete. While Sandbox VR doesn’t open until June 27, they are accepting advanced bookings. Book your experience before midnight on June 26 using promotional code “OPEN25”, and you’ll receive 25% off.. You can book your experience here. Prices vary between $40-$60 per player depending on peak times, and sessions last 40-45 minutes. Sandbox VR is located at 2228 Central Ave., St. Pete.

Operating across seven countries in over 45 locations, Sandbox VR is the “premium destination for location-based virtual reality games”, and they are rapidly expanding. Sandbox VR’s press release states, “This socially immersive gaming experience combines full-body motion capture and high-quality haptics to provide unprecedented realism and complete immersion that’s not possible with home VR systems or other location-based VR venues.”

“feels like stepping into another world, slipping into totally different skin”

Forget gaming online, forget sitting on the couch—this experience is one to do with friends and family, and it can be quite physical. Break a sweat navigating Deadwood Mansion, unloading clips on the zombie hoard (or running in terror), play high-stakes life-or-death scenarios in Squid Game Virtuals, or battle a variety of creatures while smashing through the high seas in the Curse of Davy Jones, to tease just a few of the virtual games.

So, what does it feel like to get digitized into a virtual reality game? Manager of Sandbox VR St. Pete states, “It feels like stepping into another world, slipping into a totally different skin. Once we boot up the game and players look down at their own hands, something that doesn’t match their own, they really immerse themselves in this experience.”

While immersed in the virtual experience, the system records a trailer of your gameplay, combining real images of the players in the haptic gear and headset with their in-game virtual recording. The trailer is included with the cost of the experience and emailed to each player.

“Florida is, by far, the most frequent request we receive for our next Sandbox VR location. We knew we had to find the right partner and the right location to kick off our presence in The Sunshine State,” said Steve Zhao, Founder and CEO of Sandbox VR. “We knew we met our match in Amit Ahluwalia, President of Solis Entertainment LLC & Solis Group of Industries when he mirrored our passion for world-class immersive entertainment and presented the ideal location in St. Petersburg. We are thrilled to work with him on our Florida debut and give the Tampa Bay community the opportunity to experience a whole new reality.”

List of virtual gaming experiences:

• Squid Game Virtuals
• The newest and most immersive experience yet! Created in partnership with Netflix, Squid Game Virtuals allows you to be fully immersed in the action of the most-watched Netflix show of all time.
• Seekers of the Shard: Dragonfire
• The newest Sandbox VR experience; featuring multiple storylines! Journey through a world of fantasy and explore a ruined fortress, an underground river, a haunted tomb and the dragon’s tower as you become Seekers of the Shard.
• Deadwood Valley
• The newest and most immersive experience yet! Engage in an adrenaline-pumping thrill-ride through a town overrun by zombies. YOU decide how the story ends. Your squad could stop the zombie menace forever – or die trying!
• Deadwood Mansion
• Do you have what it takes to survive a zombie apocalypse? Work with your team to protect Deadwood Mansion from a terrifying horde of undead. The experience that started it all, and still brings the screams today.
• Curse of Davy Jones
• Battle on the high seas against a variety of supernatural creatures and hunt for the long-lost treasure of Davy Jones.
• Amber Sky 2088
• Become heroic Androids equipped with futuristic weapons and soar through the clouds on a space elevator while defending Earth from an alien invasion.
• Star Trek: Discovery
• Built in partnership with CBS Interactive, Star Trek: Discovery Away Mission fully immerses you in the world of Star Trek like never before. Become a Starfleet Officer and beam down with your friends to explore alien worlds.
• UFL: Unbound Fighting League
• Transform into a futuristic gladiator and compete against your friends in thrilling duels in a breathtaking arena beyond the limits of reality.