Aside from a sign and some carnival-style light bulbs, the exterior of the self-styled “micro-amusement park” doesn’t seem all that remarkable. It’s a brick-faced building, a few blocks from a Blue Bottle Coffee, and across the street from a popular LA filming location that’s popped up in everything from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to Agent Carter. But stepping inside the park itself is like being whisked away into another world. There’s a video arcade, a steampunk carnival midway, and a section devoted to virtual reality experiences. There are escape rooms, a robot bartender, and a dinner club for interactive game shows and theatre productions. It’s a dizzying array of options; a tech-infused entertainment utopia wrapped in a circus-meets-Ready Player One aesthetic.

But to see it as simply a collection of games is missing the point entirely. Two Bit Circus is trying to create something bigger: a living, breathing world that’s tied together through communal gameplay, secret quests, and live actors, where guests may show up to play an arcade cabinet, but could soon find themselves pulled into a real-life story that will allow them to uncover the hidden mysteries of the park’s (alleged) past.

The Two Bit Circus micro-amusement park isn’t just an arcade. It’s one giant adventure game.