Virtual reality arcade The Gaming Lab opens in Fort Gratiot’s Birchwood Mall

Dads and kids looking for something to do for Father’s Day this weekend have a new option for entertainment in Fort Gratiot.

The Gaming Lab, a virtual reality arcade, opened Friday morning in the former Birchwood Mall Campus Den.

The Gaming Lab has 10 play spaces and overall has about 5,000 feet of playable space. There’s a variety of games, including racing, rock climbing, putt-putt, action-adventure roleplaying and first-person shooters.

“I’m super excited to see all the emotion,” said Fort Gratiot resident Liam Gobeyn, arcade co-owner along with Kimball Township residents Jaycee and Sam Clawson.

The arcade’s hours will be 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Prices range from 33 cents to $1 per hour, depending on how much playing time is booked, Gobeyn said.

The co-owners started working on the idea about six months ago and started working on the Birchwood Mall space in March. They had hoped to open at the beginning of June, but the arcade was a little behind schedule waiting on the last of the computers to be delivered.

Opening the arcade was an about a $60,000 investment, Gobeyn said.

With everything coming together, the co-owners decided to open on Friday and hope for a busy weekend, give people the option to come in and play for Father’s Day, he said.

One person had booked space online as of Friday morning and the arcade was hoping for a decent amount of walk-ins.

Gobeyn thinks people are excited for the arcade and he’s looking forward to getting people to come in and try VR for the first time.

“It’s an experiment with reality for sure,” he said.

People can book appointments for the The Gaming Lab on its website and can contact the arcade at (810) 479-9916 and gaminglaboratory1.0@gmail.com.

Contact Bryce Airgood at (810) 989-6202 or bairgood@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @bairgood123.