Belgian ride design company BoldMove has presented new versions of their Smash & Reload ride. The interactive dark ride was previously presented with very minimal physical decorations, mostly focusing on the interactive screens. New concepts show the ride with a possible Marsipulami or Dalton-theme.
Smash & Reload is a concept for an interactive dark ride with a very small footprint. It consists of a circle with interactive screens in the centre. The cars will turn towards the screens, allowing riders to shoot at targets on the screen. Between each scene, the cars will turn to face the outside of the ring to ‘reload’ and prepare for the next scene. “All vehicles will be fully synchronized in a smooth choreographic movement, which means they simultaneously turn and stop at each screen during loading and smashing. This creates more excitement during the ride for all players and optimizes the experience, avoiding sound pollution between the vehicles,” says BoldMove’s CEO Benoit Cornet.
BoldMove recently released a press release that shows new concepts of the ride in two different themes, containing comic-book IP: the Daltons and Marsupilami, both published by Dupuis. In contradiction to the previous presentations, the new versions contain more physical scenery, creating a very different atmosphere for the ride, while the essence of the interactive ride remains.
Riders of Marsu’s Incredible Supply Chase are taken to the exotic Palombian forest, home of the cute Marsupilami family. What starts out as simply collecting food for the young Marsus that are left in the nest, becomes complicated when they encounter a bunch of funny creatures that should not be disturbed.
The Dalton’s Big Escape revolves around the Dalton-brothers from the Lucky Luke-comics. The Daltons have managed to escape from prison again, with the help of their mother. Unfortunately, Lucky Luke is away, so it is up to the riders and deputy dog Rantanplan to arrest them and send them back in prison. According to BoldMove’s press release, the “means at their disposal to capture them are not at all traditional and will be a pleasant change from the traditional ‘gun’, with some very unexpected encounters.”
Previous presentations of the ride mostly revolved around the ‘Too Mush’-theme that was developed by BoldMove and its partner Polymorph. The first installation of Smash & Reload is scheduled to open next year in Le Pal (Dompierre Sur Besbre, France).
“We keep developing and diversifying the Smash & Reload range so each venue obtains a unique configuration with different visitor experiences,” says Cornet in the press-release, indicating that we could expect even more versions and themes of Smash & Reload in the future.
