Rilix Coaster is a VR coaster experience in the arcade packaging. The Rilix Coaster isn’t just VR visuals though, but a complete immersive experience using haptic technology in the seat and a variable speed fan. The haptic transducer lets you feel every bump and turn while the fan creates wind which helps create a sensation of speed. These can combine to create an immersive experience and mentally tie together the visuals with a physical feeling of motion when you’re actually stationary. You can see in the reaction video below just how convincing the effect can be.
Virtual reality coasters have been around for a while, but they’re not usually in the regular arcade and instead are more of an up charge experience requiring an attendant. The Rilix Coaster VR provides a comparable or better experience that can go into any arcade environment. There are also several form factors from a small single player version to multi-player options and even one that is meant for mobile arcade use.
The newest iteration of the Rilix platform is Rilix Rush where hand tracking is replaced with physical gun blasters with haptic feedback for an incredibly immersive experience. Although the hand tracking system is very intuitive, there is something immersive about holding a physical object in your hands that responds to your actions and Rilix Rush accomplishes this next level of immersion. I had a chance to experience Rilix Rush in more of a prototype mode last year at IAAPA and I had a blast playing it and could see wanting to come back over and over again.
The standard Rilix Coaster features 12 different coaster game modes. You’ll find everything from more traditional coaster runs through a fantasy realm or water landscape to sharks, aliens, dinosaurs or even a trip to the North Pole to visit Santa. Each one keeps a coaster theme, but the environment around the track changes with many diverging into fantasy adventures as opposed to trying to mimic a traditional theme park experience. The ride can also use hand tracking to allow for some interactivity on the different games adding another level of immersion. There’s also a completely separate game cabinet called SpongeBob VR Bubble Coaster where you can interactively explore 3 different SpongeBob episodes. There’s also the possibility for new courses to be added over time.
The 12 Exclusive Rilix Coaster Games
- Fantasy World: A family-friendly ride through a colorful fantasy realm.
- Chocoland: A sweet, whimsical journey through a world of chocolate and Easter themes.
- Machinery Revolution: An adventure mission to escape a city under robot attack.
- Shark Island: A tense survival-style ride around a shark-infested island.
- North Pole: A festive and adventurous trip through Santa Claus’s domain.
- Diamond Cave: An action-packed roller coaster fly-through of a crystal cavern.
- Alien Extinction: An action ride exploring a secret underground alien lab.
- Post-Apocalyptic: A dark action and horror experience through a ruined city.
- Egyptian Guardian: An action and horror ride exploring ancient Egyptian pyramids.
- Dinosaur Land: An immersive adventure traveling through a prehistoric jungle.
- Dragon World: An intense action ride through a city under siege by dragons.
- Waterfalls: A scenic, high-speed adventure past natural water landscape
The Rilix VR Coaster offers a tremendous VR experience at a great price. Typically the more you spend on a VR system the higher quality VR experience you get, but Rilix breaks this paradigm. There are VR systems with more stunning visuals and enhanced motion simulation capabilities available, but Rilix wins the “bang for your buck” contest. When the headset goes on and the wind and haptics kick in, for those moments you are convincingly in another place and that’s all that matters. In boxing they also often talk about the “pound for pound” champion which is the best fighter regardless of weight class. The Rilix Coaster is tiny with a footprint of 46″ by 72″ and a height of 83″ and weighing only 352 pounds. It’s basically the size of an arcade cabinet.
The Rilix VR Coaster is a great VR and virtual coaster experience. What makes it special is that its arcade packaging means it could be deployed essentially anywhere from a family entertainment center to a theme park to a pizza restaurant. The addition of the blasters with the Rilix Rush makes for a new and fun interactive experience as well. The Rix VR Coaster is something that once riders try they’ll want to keep coming back to in order to try the numerous different ride
