Games people play

The arcade features a range of VR games

Readers of a certain vintage will remember gaming arcades the way they used to be before the turn of this millennium. It was one of the early signs of this country's economic liberalisation. People would walk into ‘video game parlours' where there would be rows of consoles with single-player games like Tetris. Later, once technology allowed for it, the consoles were replaced with computer desktops where kids would lock horns over multi-player games like Counterstrike.

A still from Creed - Rise to Glory

Now, it's the 21st century, the age of virtual reality. That's the sort of gaming experience available at Forever Land, a space that opened up in Lower Parel six months before the pandemic hit. It then shut down, only for operations to start once again this August after restrictions were eased. The place is designed in a family-friendly manner. "If you think about gaming arcades back in the day, they were dark places," says Sushil Sanghvi, who is the co-founder along with Prashant Jain and Pratik Murarka. But their venue is a colourful space, he shares, adding that even his mother has had a gala time there.

Sushil Sanghvi

There are 10 consoles with 15 different games that include Creed - Rise to Glory, a boxing series that's a multi-player endeavour like Counterstrike. It's similar to Mortal Kombat, the difference being that here you and your opponent are boxers in a ring. Also, you wear headsets. We are well and truly in the digital age, after all. That's how far we have come since the days of the earliest gaming arcades. The future seems to be here.

Till: November 30
Log on to: insider.in
Cost: Rs 599