The new Fashion Fair location brings full-body virtual reality to groups of up to six, extending Sandbox VR’s franchised venue model into California’s Central Valley.
Sandbox VR has opened its first Fresno, California location at the Fashion Fair shopping mall, adding a two-room venue designed for group-based virtual reality gameplay. The site allows groups of up to six guests to use headsets, haptic vests and motion sensors during shared experiences. The opening extends the company’s location-based entertainment model into California’s Central Valley, where franchise owners Talwinder Singh and Parampreet Pannu are operating the venue.
The Fresno site is part of Sandbox VR’s wider network of more than 80 venues operating through corporate-owned and franchise locations. The company says it attracts nearly 150,000 guests each month and has sold more than five million tickets worldwide. Its proposition centres on social participation, with players able to see and physically interact with one another rather than experiencing virtual reality individually.
Guests at Fashion Fair can select from ten immersive experiences, including Stranger Things: Catalyst, Rebel Moon: The Descent, Deadwood PHOBIA, Deadwood Valley, Deadwood Mansion, Squid Game Virtuals, Seekers of the Shard: Dragonfire, Curse of Davy Jones, Amber Sky 2088 and UFL: Unbound Fighting League. Sandbox VR also provides personalised highlight videos after sessions, giving visitors a record of their gameplay that can be shared beyond the venue.
The company is continuing to broaden its content mix beyond action-focused experiences. Age of Dinosaurs, created in partnership with London’s Natural History Museum and dinosaur specialists, is scheduled for launch in spring and is intended to extend the platform’s appeal to family audiences. That content strategy places equal emphasis on proprietary technology and repeatable storytelling, allowing each venue to offer a changing entertainment programme rather than a single attraction.
Sandbox VR’s Fresno expansion illustrates how location-based virtual reality is being positioned as a group outing within an established retail and entertainment setting. The company’s full-body platform, original productions and licensed titles give franchise venues a consistent operating framework while allowing local sites to reach nearby audiences. For Fashion Fair, the addition provides another experiential use for mall space; for Sandbox VR, it adds a Central Valley foothold to an expanding network.
