MILWAUKEE — Halloween looks different this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice all of your favorite scary activities during spooky season.
In Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood, there is a place re-imaging how we experience haunted houses.
"Here everything is virtual, so we can have a hundred different monsters attack you and its not a person maybe spreading the disease because they live in a computer," Ryan Spiering, the owner of RSVR Milwaukee said.
36 seconds of me being scared in a haunted house 😱
— James Groh (@JamesGroh_) September 28, 2020
Rather than going to an in-person haunted house this October, RSVR in Milwaukee is giving people 3⃣ different ~virtual reality~ haunted house experiences to choose from for just $10.
They are actually scary too, seriously... pic.twitter.com/1KhcY4MVvX
RSVR Milwaukee is a virtual reality experience center. It's part gaming center and part professional development area for companies looking to use VR for business purposes.
Every Friday and Saturday for four hours, RSVR Milwaukee is letting customers come in to play scary video games. RSVR offers three different games people can play with various levels of scary-ness.
Scary Video Games at RSVR Ranked in Ascending Order from Least Scary to Nightmare Fuel:
- Ghost Town Mine Ride & Shootin' Gallery
- Arizona Sunshine
- The Brookhaven Experiment
"These are 16 foot giant monstrosities that are really terrifying and it's one of the most nightmare inducing games we have here at RSVR," Spiering said about The Brookhaven Experiment.
It's simply a way to salvage a bit of normalcy during a global pandemic. For Spiering, it's near and dear to his heart because Halloween is one of his favorite holidays.
"We wanted to find a way that we could do it to make it just as enjoyable and thrilling as going to a haunted house but a little bit safer," Spiering said.
This is an alternative for those who want to skip the crowds and lines to avoid possibly catching the coronavirus.
Inside RSVR there are three different consoles people can use. Only three people will be allowed inside at a time. They have 20 minutes to play the game before they have to switch. The others will wait in the 'graveyard' or back patio where scary movies will be played, drinks will be offered, and a live stream of those playing the scary games will be displayed.
In between players, the equipment and surfaces will be rubbed down. Also, the equipment will be treated by UV light for maximum cleaning effect.
It costs $10 for a 20-minute session. You sign up for a two-hour session from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays only. Spiering suggests you buy tickets beforehand because only 18 people can be in the vicinity at a time.
Since customers only have 20 minutes, Spiering has picked games that start fast and give scares early and often. These are not complicated to learn or play.
You can buy tickets and find out more info on the RSVR website.
