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Son’s mobility challenge sparks idea for new Kelowna arcade
Standing on a grid of colourful lights in Kelowna and suddenly you find yourself in the middle of a real workout.
Linda Ismail just opened Action Grid. It’s part arcade and part workout, and she started it when she realized that games could give her son something he wasn’t getting in physical therapy.
Ismail’s four-year-old son has had challenges with mobility and the way he processes his environment. His physical therapist suggested putting lights on the ground to help him track the ground while he moves, and Ismail took it a step further.
“He needs to look at the ground to walk better. And that’s not something that we were achieving with physical therapy. It’s not something we could force. So it’s how it started, but it quickly turned into what else we could do with it,” Ismail told iNFOnews.ca.
It became her new business when she found a manufacturer that makes huge light based games.
Action Grid has four games. The first is a grid of lights where players have to run around hitting certain tiles and avoiding others. There are two target games, one where you throw a ball and the other where you shoot an Airsoft rifle at targets. In the last game, players have to run around and hit a series of buttons before the time runs out.
Ismail hit start on the touchscreen to get the grid game going. Immediately, the tiles lit up and she was off. Hustling around the board she hit the blue tiles while dodging the red ones.
“If I did this, I would be in such good shape. If I did it every day, because time passes by. Like, you just keep playing, you don’t even realize. I’m already panting,” she said.
Each game has different modes for different ways to play with each set up.
“You can choose your game modes but they just get faster and they get harder,” Ismail said. “It’s not just a gaming facility, but it’s more of a movement-based facility. Any person, any age, any ability, they have to be able to move.”
She said these games fit into a larger trend of people who are looking for new ways to get some exercise and young adults who are looking for something to do outside of going to the bar and spending money on night life.
“It’s a good way to motivate you to move because it’s moving with intent,” she said. “When you’re on the treadmill and you’re just walking or running, I don’t know about you, but I get bored. So we put on music, we put on podcasts, we watch shows on our tablet or any way to motivate us to forget that we are on the treadmill panting away.”
The games are made by a manufacturer in China and there are other places like Action Grid, but Ismail said it’s unlike other arcades in Kelowna.
“I don’t doubt that they’ve been around a while, but there’s nothing like this in Kelowna,” Ismail said.
Prior to opening up Action Grid she was staying home and raising three kids. The hardest part for her has been juggling opening a business with parenting, as well as getting the word out.
“It’s coordinating our schedules and it’s making it work between meetings with the contractors. It’s been a scheduling challenge, but other than that, it’s been pretty smooth,” she said.
She said it has been fun testing the games with her friends and family.
“We’ve invited neighbours, kids, all ages, adults. We’ve pretty much had everyone come through,” Ismail said. “People have this misconception that a gaming facility is strictly for kids, but we had a group of adults come through and they’re actually surprised.”
For more information about Action Grid, check out their website here.
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