Carroll Gardens’ newest bar will get you wasted — by space pirates!
Brooklyn’s only virtual reality arcade, VR Bar, is leaving its quiet Park Slope digs for a more rowdy strip of Smith Street, where the owner is hoping to attract bar-hopping 20-somethings to sample his library of reality-bending titles, including the first-person shooter Space Pirate Training and a hands-on version of the iPhone hit Fruit Ninja.
But the $3,000 brain-melting tech won’t be available to any bleary-eyed rummy fresh off the street — would-be patrons will have to demonstrate at least a modicum of sobriety before the purveyor of virtual fantasies will hands over the keys.
“In general, if you’re too drunk too to drive, you’re too drunk to do VR,” said VR Bar owner Kishore Doddi.
Gamers and thrill-seekers will find VR Bar open for business at its new 261 Smith St. location between Douglass and Degraw streets on March 1, where Doddi will give patrons the opportunity to sample his Vive headsets and revolving list of titles at a rate of $10 for 10 minutes of play.
Doddi hasn’t set the new space up yet, but visitors should expect an open, no-frills interior, which is all the better for waving around virtual swords and assault rifles, he said.
“We’re going to keep it pretty sparse,” said Doddi.
Doddi’s been shopping around for a larger space ever since he moved into a temporary hole-in-the-wall Union Street location in the Slope last year.
His new spot isn’t much larger, but was available on a month-to-month contract, allowing Doddi to continue his search for a more permanent location, he said.
Doddi is excited to bring the novelty of high-quality virtual reality to a new location and clientele, but says he’ll always remember his old Park Slope clientele fondly for helping turn his a risky venture in an untried market into ongoing success.
“We were very happy with how everything worked out — it was better than we expected,” he said. “We hope to return to Park Slope someday and hope that some of them will come out to Smith Street.”
Game like it’s 1992 and you’re the “Lawnmower Man” at VR Bar [261 Smith St. between Douglass and Degraw streets in Carroll Gardens, (909) 547–4673, www.vrbar.nyc]. Open March 1.
