A Myrtle Beach entertainment venue is a modern twist on the arcade, with immersive virtual reality experiences for all ages.

Interactive Experience Unleashed, located at 7621 N. Kings Highway, features a variety of reality-altering technology to immerse players into the virtual world.

Richard Thai, the manager at IEU, describes the company as a one-of-a-kind gaming experience, powered by technology that blends augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR).

  • Augmented reality — combines computer-generated images on a screen with the real life objects or scene that viewers are surrounded by.

  • Virtual reality — an artificial environment which is experienced through sensory stimuli (such as sights and sounds) provided by a computer and in which one’s actions partially determine what happens in the environment

  • Mixed reality — combines parts of both AR and VR, using real-world and digital elements, allowing them to interact. 

The Vex Play area offers Pico 4 VR headsets that are considered to be the “Ferrari” of VR headsets, according to Thai. Vex players will select their game and experience MR with their headsets in the play area.

“Four people can go in or we usually see one kid playing with two other kids they don’t know, but they all see each other playing [in the game],” Thai said.

The game “Granny’s Alien Invasion” has players take on the character of animated ‘grannys’ that use a handheld vacuum to defend fresh-baked cake from alien invaders. “Jump a Cheese” follows the same objective, but with astronaut mice that protect their cheese planet from bugs. “Buckshot Bonanza” takes on a western cowboy plot.

“You get to compete against each other, shoot against each other, zipline all around and it has different upgrades for your guns as you walk around, but they’re just animals that you put on your gun,” he said.

In the Valo-Arena, the technology offers AR that is similar to an XBox Kinect or Wii Sports type of technology. The players walk into the room and onto a tiled floor that is displayed on a large screen. Then, players use their feet to make selections with the tiles.

“Ground Fall” offers a virtual ‘floor-is-lava’ game where players will see the tiles crumble on the screen and run to safe in-tact tiles. Another option follows a ‘red-light, green-light’ objective, but players are immersed in a bank heist.

Each game lasts about five to eight minutes, depending on the players’ skills.

“Because we are a time-based system, it depends on how you want to use your time in each area,” Thai said. “We always say the four-hour is more bang for your buck.”

The four-hour admission price recently dropped to $29.99 and one-hour play costs $18.99. In addition to high-tech video games, a kids playground offers ballpits, slides, tunnels and more. A four-hour playground card costs $14.99 and includes grip socks required for the playground.

The Firebird Cafe offers pizza, hot dogs, popcorn and more for players that need to rest and refuel.

There are four party rooms for those interested in hosting a birthday celebration. The employees are also able to program the avatars in the games with a birthday hat to symbolize the occasion in the virtual world.

IEU also features the world’s first MR and animatronics experience: The Curse of Calypso. The guided experience takes players through a world of unknown where they meet the famous pirate Blackbeard, find the skull of Calypso and “escape the Netherworld.”

IEU has more planned in 2026, including annual membership deals, virtual reality golf, and additional party rooms.