The last month and a half have been kind of slow for Pioneer VR, the reason being is we had one of our biggest events last week. We took the last couple of weeks to focus on promoting this event which took place from August 22nd to the 25th at a bar in Holyoke called the Unicorn Inn.
The Unicorn Inn gave me and my colleagues the chance to run a pop up arcade event, with Pioneer VR providing VR experiences and the vault providing access to classic arcade machines.
The final product was pretty cool, half the bar was transformed into an arcade complete with all the classics including pac man, donkey kong, space invaders and zaxxon! These retro style games juxtaposed the futuristic virtual reality experiences provided by Pioneer VR.
Did I mention we also paired up with local breweries? We were able to get Abandoned Building as well as Scantic River Brewery involved. They made the event much more interesting by providing guests with Craft Beer Tasting.
Access to the event was allowed only to those with a ticket. This was a first for Pioneer VR for our events up to this time are free to all. The ticket was only $10 ($14 at the door) but it gave one access to all the arcade machines on free play, a Craft Beer of their choice and Pioneer VRs Virtual Experiences. Not a bad deal Id say.
The event had its pros and cons. The good news is that Pioneer VR was able to open a lot of new doors, meet a lot of new people, and obtain new opportunities. The people at Scantic River Brewery and Abandoned Building were super cool, and we also met some Holyoke locals including some folks from a new beauty salon called The Plan. It was a great learning experience as well, as we were able to see what we were all capable of.
The bad news is that money was not made. The event was fun, but a lot of work. My dad always told me that I should look for ways to earn more by working less. This was the opposite of that. Pioneer VR managed 2 VR stations for 10 hour shifts, 4 days in a row and only was able to walk away with $150. The reason was that we didn't have as much ticket sales as we needed.
Friday night was our most successful night. We packed the place and event the mayor of Holyoke had taken notice. Even so, we didn't make much on that night. This means we need to reevaluate how we run the next pop up arcade, if we even decide to do so.
Its going to take a lot of convincing to get the guys at the vault to move all those arcade machines to another event. A couple of nights ago I helped them move the games and wow its a lot of work. Those machines are HEAVY! We would need to be making some actual money if were going to move those again.
All in all I'm glad Pioneer VR was a part of the event though. As I mentioned, we opened a lot of doors and have a lot coming our way next month thanks to the event. The pop up arcade idea is cool, but there doesn't seem to be a logical way to move forward with it at this point. I'm still barnstorming ways to continue it though. I guess we will have to wait to see what the future holds and with that
See you in the Future!
-Pioneer