BC Business
Winnipeg-based Activate is about to open its first B.C. location in Coquitlam
I’ve worked quite a few jobs in various industries (childcare, retail, office administration, house painting, one time someone paid me to sit there while she put gory makeup on me and took photos for what I hope was her professional portfolio) but none of them have involved a lot of team-building outside the workplace. For me, that’s a good thing: while I’m sure my colleagues would say that I am a pleasure to work with, I am self-aware enough to admit that I am terrible to play with. I get way too into games and make everyone around me miserable. It’s a personal flaw I should probably work on, and Activate, soon to open in Coquitlam, might be the place to do it.
The “active gaming facility” is a massive, magical arena of games that incorporate technology and physical movement—think of it like a real-life video game (or video-game-like real life). “Activate is an immersive gaming facility that caters to a very broad customer base,” says vice president of operations Sébastien Piché. He adds that participants come in all shapes and sizes, including family, friends, colleagues and coworkers. The available games require various levels of physical and mental skills—think “floor is lava”-style games that involve avoiding stepping on red squares, quick-reaction challenges and glow-in-the-dark basketball. “You jump, climb, do some problem-solving— you really customize your experience based on the people here you’re here with,” says Piché.
Activate will open at 1090 Lougheed Hwy soon (likely in the next couple of weeks, says Piché—they’re waiting on a few last inspections to be completed, probably because the inspector is having too much fun dodging neon lasers). He explains that the highway-adjacent, accessible location was very attractive to Winnipeg-based Activate, which has 57 locations worldwide. This is in part due to its proximity to other businesses, so the gaming facility can get in on some B2B action. “There are a lot of game levels that require puzzle-solving, so it’s good for team-building exercises—you have to work together,” Piché points out.
Yes, this active gaming company, with locations in 11 countries including Austria, Switzerland and Denmark, is based in Winnipeg. “We produce everything in-house—all of our manufacturing of our parts, all the tiles that you see, the buttons that you touch—they’re all made internally at our facility in Winnipeg,” Piché affirms.
Activate consists of 12 different gaming rooms and 15 different games with over 500 levels combined. Participants get an RFID wristband that can track their progress and is probably very satisfying to rip off in rage when your HR manager beats you at hide-and-seek (just daydreaming). The wristband computes your scores, which translate to points, which can be redeemed for Activate swag, says Piché.
Of course, it’s not about the swag.
It’s about winning.
I mean, it’s about building collaboration skills, enriching relationships and having fun.
Activate will open in early 2024 in Coquitlam—see playactivate.com for updates.