With no fewer than two openings in 2023, Prison Island is a new kind of action game that has arrived on the local indoor entertainment scene like a shot in the arm. Its game mechanics – not unlike those of a famous French game show set in a fort – have already won over nearly 35,000 players in Brussels, Belgium and abroad. Although this Swedish concept has been a hit in major cities around the world for several years now, until now it has been absent from Brussels. This anomaly has been corrected thanks to the flair of Francesco Lovasio, a recognised player in this sector in the Belgian capital.
An innovative concept
Locked up in an unwelcoming abandoned prison, the participants in this adventure game have to visit 32 cells, each of which presents them with a physical, intellectual or technical challenge. It’s a well-balanced mix of fun that allows each member of the team – between 3 and 5 players – “to bring out their best qualities”. Here, as so often elsewhere, success is based on the values of reflection, collaboration and team spirit. So it’s hardly surprising that this form of entertainment attracts families, groups of friends and work colleagues alike. Another strong point of Prison Island is the quality of the settings, which make “the world of each cell unique and particularly immersive”. Adventure fans can now get down to business.
A game dynamic that builds loyalty
Unlike Escape games, the aim of Prison Island is not to find your way out and escape. No, here the idea is to collect points by solving the riddles in each cell, ideally as quickly as possible to hit the jackpot. It’s a principle that builds loyalty because it encourages competitors to try several times to improve their score. As a result, it’s not uncommon to see “people coming back with their families, after having discovered the game during a team-building event or an outing with friends”. This competitive dimension reached its peak last November with the organisation of a world cup bringing together teams from 9 different countries.
“Setting up in the town centre, and more particularly on the pedestrian precinct, was a gamble that paid off.”
An excellent tool for revitalising neighbourhoods
The two Prison Islands in Brussels are located in Anderlecht, within the Brussels Indoor Games Centre, and in the city centre on boulevard Anspach. While the synergy between the former and the Westland Shopping Centre is obvious, the choice of the latter was far from obvious. But in the end, the gamble of moving into the pedestrianised area quickly paid off, because as Fransesco notes on a daily basis, “people are gradually enjoying rediscovering this area, which they had somewhat shunned after it was developed”. Diversifying the offer, revitalising the district, these types of entertainment also have the advantage of promoting employment for young people in Brussels, as shown by the average age of Franceso’s employees, who are barely 23!
