get active

Immersive, live-action gaming venue powers up The Woodlands

Immerse yourself in a full-body video at Activate.

Dodge lasers in Activate's new Woodlands location.

Photo courtesy of Activate

How can you combine the thrill of physical activity with the joy of video gaming away from the glare of Houston’s angry sun? The answer is Activate, an immersive live-action group gaming experience that will get the blood pumping.

Activate opened their first Houston area location in Katy last November, and now they are adding one in The Woodlands that will celebrate its grand opening on August 18. Both locations offer the same wide range of gaming rooms.

“Our mission is to fuse technology, movement, and strategy to create a unique, interactive gaming experience,” said Activate partner Bryce Anderson during the Katy opening. “We want guests to bring their closest friends, family, or co-workers and leave with a feeling of achievement, ready to come back for more.”

The goal of Activate is to put people inside a game using a mixture of augmented reality and traditional button mechanics. Even something as simple as a classic basketball hoop is updated with shifting sensors and color indicators to give players additional challenges.

Other rooms involve stealth missions where players move around the area searching for the appropriate targets while avoiding cameras that track their movements. Anyone who has played Metal Gear Solid will feel instantly at home dodging enemy sightlines to achieve a goal.

Activate hosts 2-5 players at a time for a total of 75 minutes of activity. Groups cycle through the rooms in order to keep the games moving along and to allow Activate to host multiple groups at the same time.

The activity is physically intense. Expect to be moving and dodging a lot as you try to figure out puzzles. Similar to the Immersive Gearbox gaming center in The Woodlands Mall, Activate treats your body like it’s the controller. That means a great deal of spacial awareness, especially in some of the laser-based games where getting a single finger in a beam is enough to deduct points.

Houston's intense summer heat makes sustained outdoor activity difficult. Activate’s increasing presence in the area is a welcome way to experience physical games within air conditioned comfort.

For tickets and more information, visit the Activate website.

a beautiful mind

Houston Health Museum's new exhibit shines a light on dyslexia

Sarah Sudhoff created "The Reading Brain" in honor of her son.

Photo by Rose Tylinski

"The Reading Brain" replicates neuron activity in a dyslexic brian while reading

No, "The Reading Brain" isn't the title of a B-horror film from the 1960s. It's a brand new installation at the Houston Health Museum that explores dyslexia.

The piece was created by Houston-based artist Sarah Sudhoff, in partnership with Dr. Guinevere Eden, Director of the Center for the Study of Learning at Georgetown University. Hanging from the ceiling of the Health Museum, it uses light-up colored circles to represent the frontal lobe activity of a dyslexic person while reading. MRI scans of dyslexic brains formed the foundation of the light activity. Sudhoff's own son has dyslexia, and she had to adapt her homeschooling of him to account for his neurodivergence. As much as 20 percent of the American population is dyslexic.

"The Reading Brain" grew out of a similar exhibit at the DoSeum in San Antonio. "Beautiful Minds: Dyslexia and the Creative Advantage" challenged visitors to see dyslexia not as a learning disability but as simply a different way some human brains work. The exhibit featured videos, stories, and art work by dyslexic individuals that show how they succeed and create, as well as a selection of brain puzzles used to teach dyslexic people.

“Even though your brain works differently, it still lights up and is beautiful to watch, a wonderful machine you have. It just means you have to navigate and pivot a little differently,” Sudhoff said.

Sudhoff's innovative bridge between science and art is a permanent part of the Health Museum's MindWorks exhibit. Like "The Reading Brain," MindWorks maps out thinking processes through light and hands-on activities. The exhibit will close on January 5, meaning visitors have a very short time to see Sudhoff's piece.

The Health Museum is a hidden gem in Museum District located a block away from the Children's Museum. It houses a variety of exhibits about the human body, such as a giant plastic colon that kids love to run through. Since opening in 1969, the museum has helped Houstonians and visitors from around the world learn about the way the body works as well well as public health protocols. As the only Smithsonian Affiliate Museum in the Houston Museum District, it has a high educational pedigree despite it's colorful and often whimsical offerings.

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