Fans of game shows such as “Family Feud” and “The Price is Right” will get their chance at the buzzer with a new entertainment venue opening in Millvale.
Corey Deasy, the mastermind who brought ax throwing and escape rooms to the Pittsburgh region, said the new game show studio is a part of Playground Dropout, a facility that also offers ax-throwing lanes and bar-style ice curling. Deasy has collaborated with partners Matt Peyton and Jack Welsh to make the venue possible.
“I’ve been in experiential entertainment for the last 10 years,” Deasy said. “I have ax-throwing locations in Arizona, in the Phoenix area, and I was out there visiting six months ago or so. And there was a game show company out there.
“Our team went to take part in it and we had an absolute blast, and I thought, wow, this is kind of what we’re looking for to add to an all-in-one entertainment facility in Pittsburgh.”
The team did some research and found that game show studios are a growing trend across the country. They hope to attract groups for corporate events, birthday parties and other outings.
“We thought that we would potentially be the first group in Pittsburgh to open one of these. We’re really excited to offer this to the city,” Deasy said.
The concept may sound a little strange at first.
“When I tell my friends that we are opening a game show studio, they’re like, ‘what does that mean?’” Deasy reported.
The studio space has professional lighting and sound, and each booked experience will have a dedicated host for the duration. Local comedian Joe Welsh is currently filling that role.
“It has a large projector screen where questions are displayed. We have a large ‘Drop Zone,’ which is our version of ‘Plinko’ and we have a large spinning wheel,” Deasy said.
The space has a capacity of 20 to 24 people.
Each booked experience takes between an hour and an hour and 15 minutes, depending on the size of the group, according to Deasy.
“Our goal is to make sure that if it’s a larger group, everybody gets to participate and really enjoy the experience, so we’ll make sure that there’s extra time allotted for those events,” he said. “The game show host will facilitate the whole event, starting with ‘Survey Shout Out’ — it’s our version of ‘Family Feud’ — followed by ‘Wheel of Winners,’ our version of ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ and then ‘Price It,’ which is similar to ‘The Price is Right.’”
They also offer “Trivia Rush” and “Celebrity Face Mash.”
Their enjoyable experience in Arizona influenced the game, but Deasy said that they wanted the Playground Dropout studio to be even better.
“We’ve made some interesting adjustments with custom software that will power our experience,” he said. ”There are different parts of the game where the team gets to submit answers or votes on their phones and … majority rules, basically. Whatever the answer is that the majority of the team chose becomes the team’s answer.”
Groups can schedule their experiences ahead of time, but Deasy said that there could be situations where smaller groups could book day-of and be added to an existing group’s show.
It’s also a blast for all ages.
“We’re in the middle of testing right now to see how the event works with different groups of kids, so can we facilitate an event for a group of just kids or is it an area where a parent has to be there with kids of a certain age,” Deasy said.
Playground Dropout is more than just game show fun. It builds on Deasy’s popular local ax-throwing experience, Lumberjaxes, and four bar-style ice curling lanes, which will likely open for the season the day before Thanksgiving, unless weather permits them to open earlier.
For more information, visit playgrounddropout.com.
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