It’s been a long time in the making, but the doors to Trafford’s Nerf Action Xperience are finally open and we were among the first inside.
The ‘family-friendly’ experience is the first in the UK and is in fact the only one in Europe.
As the name suggests, everything is based around the popular Nerf brand and once inside there’s a whole host of activities to get involved with.
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The 35,000 sq ft venue features a variety of Nerf experiences and visitors can pick and choose what to do as they make their way around.
There’s a dedicated active play zone with seven different sports-inspired games where guests can play against each other or themselves.
Upstairs is the Training Ground, where you get to hone your target skills on various games, including firing at plastic balls that are being held up by air jets being blasted underneath them.
The real hit for us though were the two battlegrounds where you go head-to-head in two teams decided by the staff.
These are inside two dedicated rooms, Chaos City, a post-apocalyptic urban city blaster adventure; and Mission X, a cargo bay of a marooned spaceship blaster arena.
Children and adults can join in and, if like me, you end up being the lone parent in the room, don’t expect the kids to go easy on you. I was shot in the head multiple times and my son’s friend, who was supposedly on my team, shot me on the tongue.
Lesson learned not to run around with your mouth open. None of it actually hurts though. That’s the beauty of Nerf isn’t it, the foam bullets do no damage – and you get given goggles to protect your eyes and can even take them home with you.
My 12-year-old and his friends loved every minute of it. I think they thought they were playing a real life game of Fortnite as they blasted their opponents. “I loved having the power,” one of them told me.
If you’d rather steer clear of the bullets, you can watch from a viewing balcony above and there’ll soon be windows to see inside one of the battlegrounds too.
The venue, inside Trafford Palazzo, is being run by Manchester-based Rocafella Leisure and licensed by leading toy and game company Hasbro, so of course there’s a retail store in there as well, selling hundreds of products as well as bespoke Nerf AX merchandise.
There’s also an on-site Archie’s selling its popular burgers and milkshake, including an exclusive Nerf AX Shake featuring bubblegum Millions, bubblegum sauce, whipped cream, bubblegum sherbet and raspberry sherbet.
And there are other references to the popular children’s toy, including a giant ‘chandelier’ consisting of bright pink Nerf blasters which hangs in the centre of the restaurant.
Some finishing touches are still being made to the Nerf Action Xperience. A fifth zone is still being completed, some extra equipment is being added and some tweaks to the technology, such as extra screens and lighting.
You get an hour inside the centre, which seemed a decent amount of time to try everything out.
Thankfully we didn’t have to queue for long to get to anything. Whether it will stay like that when it’s full capacity remains to be seen, but the extra zone and equipment will help with that – and there are plenty of staff on hand to keep things running smoothly.
It’s already proving a massive hit since Friday’s opening though. We really did have a blast.
Nerf Action Xperience is opening on Friday evenings and at weekends before extending its opening hours next month and eventually opening fully over seven days a week from October half term.
Guests need to be a minimum of age five to play. It’s recommended children under eight are accompanied by a paying adult. Ages 12 and under need an adult inside the venue at all times. Adults can play too.
Ticket prices start at £20 – inclusive of protective goggles – and can be bought online. Birthday parties can also be booked at the venue, with party food from Archie’s. Prices start from £26 per person.