Bond at DUMBO’s Beat the Bomb

Brainstorming your next corporate team icebreaker, school outing, or a one-of-a-kind birthday party? Ready to put on hazmats suits, dodge lasers, and try to avoid the world’s biggest Paint Bomb? Look no further than Beat The Bomb (@beatthebomb) located at 247 Water Street. Beat The Bomb is the neighborhood’s hippest, most Instagrammable, live-action experience–a paint bomb escape room with an 80s video-game-themed twist!

Beat The Bomb is unique for its fully immersive arcade design. “BTB brings to life all of those classic 80s videos games that you loved as a kid,” explains General Manager, Corinne Hagans. Certainly, entering the venue is comparable to stepping onto the dashed line of a PacMan maze: colorful strobe lights flash across the lobby; retro numerals rank top BTB point-earners on a blinking scoreboard.

“Beat The Bomb” is perhaps most unique for its engaging multiplayer mode. In more traditional escape rooms, it is all-too easy to sit back and simply watch while savvy clue-decoding group members take charge. Passive participation, however, is not an option at Beat The Bomb. “Our CEO Alex Patterson set out to encourage teamwork on a different level,” says Corinne. “At Beat The Bomb there are no clues, no locks, no puzzles to solve. Our games are team challenges requiring communication, coordination, listening, and turn-taking. Your team will not earn Bomb Time if everyone does not help. If you are not working together, you may as well be working against each other!"

Beat The Bomb’s emphasis on collaboration is part of what makes the experience a perfect employee bonding session. “Nowadays, team bonding is a huge part of corporate culture,” Corinne explains. “You might have a group of people that work together but do not really know each other. They may never see each other in the office or might only communicate via Slack. Beat The Bomb is a great way to learn about one another’s personalities and have fun!”

From the Dumbo-based offices of Etsy, WeWork, and Chase Bank, to local charities such as ProjectArt, to even the Brooklyn Nets, Beat The Bomb is being quickly recognized as a great way to encourage corporate teamwork. In fact, the company is hosting the 2019 Corporate Paint Blast Challenge (running through Sept 30), and Airbnb currently sits at first place. The experience has also been featured on news outlets such as the Today Show, Thrillist, Tastemade Travel, and Cheddar, and is ranked #3 for Fun and Games in Brooklyn by Trip Advisor.

Shielding one another from a speeding stream of paint definitely sounds like an effective way to befriend coworkers. Those who fail to disarm the bomb in time face paint cannon consequences. In addition to the white Hazmat suits, BTB players also wear masks with face shields in the Bomb Room. “We’ve got you covered,” jokes a BTB “Bomb Tech” i.e., staff-member. Then, in the Bomb Room, teams line up against a wall, squeeze their eyes shut and brace themselves for a corn-based water (“washable!” and “earth-friendly!”) paint blast. The five percent of teams who Beat The Bomb successfully may also choose to get doused by the watercolor cannons regardless. Afterall, “Why would you come all this way and not get splattered with paint?” asks Corinne.

Beat The Bomb is thrilled with its DUMBO success thus far and hopes to expand to other major US cities soon. “We love it so much here, truly at the intersection of Brooklyn and Manhattan” Corinne enthuses. “We want to be a part of and grow with the Dumbo community, and use our success here as the basis to expand to 3 more locations around the country in 2020.” In the meantime, if you are lucky enough to be near BTB’s founding location in DUMBO, put down your Nintendo console for a second. Grab your friends, coworkers, spouse, students, or kids (ages eight and up!); head down the street, and step into the world of a live-action video game at Beat The Bomb!