21 March 2026
Enter the world’s first active gaming facility, where you become the player! Jump, climb, problem-solve, and laugh as you and your friends navigate a series of high energy challenges. Activate has launched in London with massive success, promising dynamic game rooms featuring interactive technology that reacts in real time. It’s the perfect way to stay fit while competing in a variety of challenges from dodging lasers to shooting hoops, all with the goal of rising through the ranks and mastering your skills.
Activate was created by Adam and Megan Schmidt, owners of Canada’s most successful escape rooms. They saw that traditional escape rooms lacked replayability, so they decided to adapt the gaming concept into something guests would want to return to again and again. Today, they have over 30 locations across Canada, the U.S., and now the world!
In the UK, Activate currently has six open locations, five of which are in London. They also have a site in Newcastle, with two more coming soon to Telford and Leicester. We decided to check out their flagship UK location at The O2.
The O2 site is open seven days a week with impressive hours; on Saturdays alone, they are open from 10:00 AM until midnight! Since each location features a different mix of game rooms, you can visit multiple sites and always find new challenges. The O2 features a variety of rooms including Hoops, Hide, Mega Grid, and Mega Laser, to name just a few.
Finding the venue was easy, we simply headed into The O2 and followed the signs to the large blue Activate logo. Upon entering, you check in at the reception desk to receive a wristband. This is used to track your scores and grant entry into the game rooms during your time slot. There are lockers available to store bags and coats, which we highly recommend, as this is a very active experience! Before being let loose in the arena, you receive a helpful briefing on health, safety, and how the games work.
As you pass through the “light portal” into the gaming arena, you enter a corridor lined with various rooms and digital screens. Each door leads to a different challenge (with some duplicates to help with capacity). Before stepping inside, you must scan each player’s wristband and select your game mode and difficulty level. Some challenges even feature unlockable stages that go all the way up to Level 99!
Once inside, you’ll play through a series of challenges to achieve a high score or level up. If no one is waiting, you can restart the game automatically; however, if another group is queued outside, the smart system will prompt you to step out so they can take their turn.
To highlight some of our favorites, we first checked out Hide. It’s a simple but clever concept: a pillar sits in the middle of a square room, and periodically, an “eye” appears on one of the four walls. You have to stay out of its sight or lose a life, all while trying to hit a sequence of numbers (1–20) on the walls within a time limit. While the first few levels were easy, it quickly becomes exhausting as the eye appears much more frequently!
Another highlight was Control, where you step onto a gaming panel that requires you to run, jump, and stomp on directional arrows. Different tasks appear on the screen in front of you, requiring everyone to react quickly and accurately to succeed.
Portals was easily the most challenging activity we faced. It requires you to throw a ball into one of many holes based on which light sequence is the “odd one out.” It sounds simple, but we genuinely struggled! With all the lights looking so similar, you really have to move around and pay close attention to spot the difference.
These are just a handful of the activities available at The O2; they also have Strike, Press, Mega Grid, Mega Laser, and Hoops! Each one was incredibly fun and wore us out in entirely different ways.
Each slot lasts 60 minutes, and during our session, we experienced only minimal waits between games. If anything, we found ourselves wanting more breaks because we got tired so quickly! This experience truly tests both your physical and mental strength. Fortunately, they have water fountains and seating area within the arena if you need a moment to recover. There are also score-checking stations scattered throughout, so you can see how you’re doing and compare your team’s performance against other players and even other venues. If you have a spare moment, there’s even a photo station for some fun mementos.
Ultimately, we had a fantastic time taking this on as a team of three. It’s great that regardless of your group size, you can have plenty of fun while staying active. It’s easy to see why this concept has taken off; the replayability makes it something you could return to again and again. At just £30 per person, it is very affordable and on par with the cost of an escape room or similar London attractions.
A huge thank you to the team at Activate for collaborating with us and providing complimentary tickets in exchange for our content. All opinions expressed in this review are our own, based on our personal experience. As there are now multiple venues across London, we highly recommend checking one out next time you’re in the capital. Remember: the more you play, the more points you earn and points mean prizes!
@thrillnation Do you want to try the future of gaming? Enter the different game rooms and choose from a selection of either co-op or battle games to build points... we had so much tiring fun at @Activate Games UK! #activate #gaming #fitness #fun #london ♬ Lets Go Gaming - sofians
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