Supercube | A Real-Life Mario Kart Experience
A real-life Mario Kart experience? Yes! Sounds crazy right? Driving karts in a big room surrounded by AR-projected visuals just triggered my inner Mario and I definitely wanted to give this a try. It's not really a Mario Kart game or it doesn't have something in common with the franchise itself but it's the same concept. I was SUPER excited to go visit this experience and I'm pleased to tell you all about it!
Super What?
“Supercube has rewritten the rules of karting by infusing it with modern tech & crazy gameplay. Imagine driving with superpowers through an interactive virtual world, projected all around you in 360 degrees. It’s like being inside your favorite video game, but with the added adrenaline rush of being behind the wheel of a real electric go-kart.”
Yahoo! Enter The AR World!
First things first: Finding the entrance of Supercube is a bit of a tricky part and it’s not “Super” clear where in Flanders Expo Supercube is exactly located. So make sure you know where to find the entrance before heading there. But when you successfully find it, you are just a few steps away from entering the phenomenal world of AR (Augmented Reality) and finding your inner Mario. When entering the venue you will see a huge “Black Box” in the middle of the hall which is Supercube’s lobby. Next to the lobby, you will see karts fly by in an amazing colorfull AR world projected on the walls and floor.
When entering the lobby you will have to confirm your presence and next you will be briefed about the power-ups and different tracks Supercube has to offer you, more about this later. But that’s not the only thing you can do in the “Black Box”, it’s also the place to be for pre-game fuel or a post-victory feast. On the screen in the lobby, you will see how much time is left before your session starts and it’s visually displayed how many beverages you can have before it’s time to race. Really cool idea to display it that way!
Let's-a-go! It’s Racing Time!
When you're heading to the pit lane you will notice your username projected on the ground, how cool is that!? You can choose your personal username and group name when you finish your booking and register your teammates. When you continue following your username you will arrive at your personal Super Kart. Hop on your ride and enjoy this adventure because it has a lot of cool stuff in store for us! The whole cube (Hall) will be covered with spectacular visuals, projected by an insane projection system that gives you 360 degrees of immersive fun. But that’s not the only spectacular thing. There’s also a tracking system that knows where every single kart is located at all times. This allows for exciting interactions between karts and virtual elements such as power-ups and obstacles I mentioned earlier. Here some more info on them: there are 4 power-ups you can collect by driving over these boxes projected on the ground. These 4 boxes can contain either a speed boost, a bomb, a laser gun or a protective shield.
The most important thing of all are the “Super Karts”, equipped with in-house electronics that give the game total control over the behavior of your drive. The kart will for example suddenly brake when you drive on a virtual obstacle or get hit by an opponent, or accelerate when you drive over a speed boost. Don’t worry to crash into your opponent, the collision management system keeps you safe and secure at all times! So no need to hold back and believe me, I tried!
There's a screen placed on the steering wheel that will guide you through the adventure and will display all necessary gaming information you will need. Thanks to the buttons, the steering wheel will convert into a controller. You can use the buttons to activate power-ups, to interact with other players, interact with parts of the virtual environment or to put the kart in reverse. The creators also added an interactive audio system so you can discuss tactics and plan out your next moves with your team!
We Have A Winner!
Supercube is just phenomenal and extraordinary! I really enjoyed my time spent in the cube and I have to say it’s also super addictive. For €39 per ticket per player, you will have 2 sessions of approximately 15 minutes of pure fun. Thank you Supercube for creating this experience I will never forget and I hope to see more of this in the future.
This augmented reality experience is located at Flanders Expo in Ghent and will be there till the end of May. So if all of this also triggered your inner Mario and you want to test this by yourself, then you should really check on your friends to get this experience booked before it’s gone!
