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NATIC – After a year at home, Boston residents are ready to venture out, and the opening of Level99 is set to give them the complete sensory adventure they’ve been craving.
The 48,000 square foot venue holds 43 rooms where 450 minds and bodies are met with custom-built challenges, and fueled by a 92-seat Night Shift Brewing Taproom with a scratch kitchen from the culinary team behind Branch Line, Shy Bird and Eastern Standard, plus a 140-seat Night Shift Brewing Beer Hall.
“It’s two individually elevated concepts under one roof,” said Level99 CEO Matt DuPlessie, an MIT and Harvard Business School-trained Disney engineer whose Norwood-based production company, Box Fort, designed the Level99 experience.
As grown-ups explore the space together, they’ll encounter a series of physical, mental, communication and skill-based challenges. They’ll swing on ropes over a floor of LED lava, run across a moving plank to board a pirate ship and navigate down a museum corridor filled with laser beams to steal a jewel.
100 different challenges spanning dozens of themes offer constant variety, constant surprise and an adventure behind every door.
“One minute you’re in an Aztec temple and the next minute you’re spinning around inside a giant combination lock,” said DuPlessie. “It puts you in the present moment with your friends and gives you a story to tell.”
Across the public spectacle of the player-versus-player arena games, 60 Night Shift Brewing taps will pour a range of more than 20 flavorful craft lagers, IPAs, stouts and sours.
“Level99 chose Night Shift as its brewer because we share the same relentless pursuit of quality,” said Night Shift Brewing Co-Founder Michael Oxton. “Everyone involved in this collaboration is working to ‘craft better’ in their own way.”
And the food?
“This is not the kind of menu you’d expect alongside an entertainment complex,” said Chopped Champion and James Beard Award-nominated Chef Nemo Bolin of Little Branch Hospitality. “We’ve put together a menu with savory, aromatic lamb meatballs, rich, sticky coffee stout short rib, caramelized miso roasted salmon, a juicy, decadent house burger and a crispy, craveable Detroit-style pizza with a focaccia-like crust.”
The idea for Level99 began as a dream.
“I dreamt it one night, five years ago,” said DuPlessie. I said, ‘This is good, let’s build it.’”
From there, DuPlessie’s team of engineers and programmers put more than 2,000 challenge concepts onto 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper, whittled them down to hundreds of prototypes and spent the last three years building and testing them.
As the vision came together, DuPlessie approached a well-known name in the restaurant world: Panera Bread Founder and longtime CEO Ron Shaich. Shaich’s investment vehicle, Act III Holdings, helps companies mature into nationally dominant brands, and works with public companies as they evolve using founder-friendly capital and deep experience in hospitality and growth.
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“This is the first startup for Act III,” said Shaich. “What makes Level99 so compelling is the stand-alone strength of each individual element of the concept. You can come for the challenges, and stay for the food and beverage. Or you can come for the food and beverage, and stay for the challenges.”
Beyond active adults and craft beer foodies, Shaich sees a third audience for Level99: the business executive. “You can take your senior team to the function and private rooms for a meeting, then go play for an hour. It’s exactly where I would have taken the management team over at Panera Bread,” he said.
When Level99 leased the Natick Mall space formerly occupied by Sears, there was so much room, the company decided to build a full office complex for its company headquarters.
“Level99 Natick is the flagship location,” said DuPlessie. “We’re taking three businesses at the top of their game, putting them together to build something new and seeing what happens.”
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Level99 is a spacious new entertainment venue with interactive challenges, craft beer bars and a scratch kitchen for a complete sensory adventure. To book a reservation, visit http://www.level99.com.
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In full transparency, above was a press release submitted to SOURCE media via its business wire service.
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