Magiquest at Myrtle Beach

I just got back from a week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Not my ideal vacation spot, but it was half business, so why not make the other half pleasure?!

In a shopping area called Broadway at the Beach, there was a really cool entertainment complex called Magiquest.

It’s a little tough to explain, but imagine this:

There’s a two story building decorated ala 1600’s medieval times. There’s a castle, a dungeon, a crypt, a treehouse, etc etc. You get a wand, which uses IR and RFID (or so says their patents), which communicates with objects throughout the landscape. You physical wave your wand towards an object, and the object does something. It reacts to your wand. Like for instance, a light might light up, or a a chest might automagically open. Or a video screen comes to life with a character.

You first go in the center of a stone circle, and select ala touch-screen a new quest, after waving your wand at the screen. It identifies you, asks you to pick a quest, and then you go throughout the building collecting the various things, performing different actions etc, and then eventually get rewarded with a RUNE. Once you have so many runes, you can go on Adventures which are bigger badder conquests.

Simply put, it’s awesome. I saw half kids, or maybe 60% kids, and the rest adults. Lots of fun. Not all objects in the room identify themselves as “magic” objects, and so a little experimenting produces surprising results. Regular lights, which have no obvious relation to the game, or no obvious sensors are triggered by your wand. etc

The story line is tightly integrated, and everything WORKS. Whoever designed this thing was smart. You purchase your wand, so when you leave and come back, it remembers you and your position etc.

I’ll put some pictures up a little later.