FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
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We’re keeping our prices as low as we can for both the arcade and escape rooms.
We provide the best value for money in New Zealand.
VR sessions costs $29 per headset per hour.
We have lots of seating and screens so that everyone in your group can see what’s going on, so you don’t necessarily need a headset for everyone. If you’re just after a quick go to see what all the fuss is about, a 30 minutes session costs only $19.
Our prices are per headset, per half hour or hour, regardless of age (we don’t have any pricing as such for children).
Our pricing may change for School Holidays, and discounts are available for groups and parties . We also have a full venue price (where you hire all of the heaedstses and simulators) which is ideal for Birthday parties, team building, or work functions.
If you require any assistance in working out what pricing is best for you and your group, please don’t hesitate to give us a call, or stop on in to the arcade during our opening ours and one of our friendly staff will be only too happy to assist you.
Virtual and Retro offers a diverse range of VR experiences, including over 50 games which you can select from within the VR environment.
We also have a selection of over 30 virtual escape rooms and multiplayer games that our staff can set up for you.
Have a look at our website to see some of the things we offer.
Virtual and Retro is located at 208 Havelock St, just opposite the Ashburton public library. We are on the 1st floor.
We are open on Friday evening and all day on Saturday and Sunday.
We are also open on weekdays during school holidays.
Please see our opening hours at the bottom of the website.
If you want to book a group for any other time please get in touch.
Yes, Virtual and Retro is an ideal place for group events, parties, and challenges. They offer special deals for group bookings, ensuring an immersive and entertaining experience for everyone.
Virtual and Retro stands out as Canterbury’s only VR venue, serving people from Christchurch to Timaru.
With its diverse range of VR scenarios there’s something for everyone, from historical adventures to futuristic challenges.
For our standard VR offering we have an environment where you can choose to play as many (or as few) of the games and experiences we have to offer, and this is controlled by you in the headset.
For the escape rooms we have to select the game for you (and once its starts we cant change it to another Escape room).
Yes, absolutely we do gift vouchers in any denomination. For Gift Vouchers, please don’t hesitate to look at our website (and click the “Book Now” button), give us a call, or stop on in to the arcade during our opening ours and one of our friendly staff will be only too happy to assist you.
Yes, we accept credits cards and have PayWave available.
Yes you can, but we cant always guarantee you a space, particularly if you are a group or family , as sometimes (especially school Holiday periods, we get really busy).
Booking is best so we can make sure you are not hurried (this is especially important for the Escape rooms).
For Parties and social events yes, but we do keep the food and drink away from the headsets and computers. We do have a range of snacks and drinks available for purchase.
We have a number of games where you can play together, some of the ones we recommend are
- Beat Saber
- World of Diving
- Gorilla Tag – but this is an online environment so more than just the local people
- Quivr
- Loco Dojo
- Arizona Sunshine
- Private Property
Plus we have Escape Room experiences which are all multiplayer (from 1 to 8 players) – depending on the Escape room chosen.
Our Escape rooms can cater from 1 player up to 8 players (for large groups we recommend splitting to groups of 3/4 players each), but we recommend no more than 6 people in one escape room. We can run escape room for 2-3 groups simultaneously, with up to 10 people overall.
Yes, at Virtual and Retro we have a number of escape rooms that can be played by a single person
- Dream Hackers
- Alice
- Chernobyl
- Survival
- Sanctum
- House of Fear
- House of Fear : Cursed Souls
- Christmas
If you like Zombies, and Ghosts and creepy monsters we sure do, we recommend (depending on age) our Escape rooms
- House of Fear – an escape room
- House of fear : Cursed Souls – an escape room
- Sanctum – an escape room
Or if you want to explore, or shoot the Zombies / Monsters
- Arizona Sunshine
- Five nights at Freddy’s : Help Wanted
- Zombie Riot
- Reiko’s Fragments
We recommend everyone starts with an experience as it helps to show the beauty of Virtual Reality
Our favourites are
- TheBlu. – an awesome underwater experience, where you are part of the action (but dont have to do anything)
- Earthlight : Spacewalk – Explore the international Space Station like an astronaut
- Everest VR – Climb Mt Everest and learn a little about the area and the mountain.
- Google Earth VR – Explore the world in VR
But there are others available, (and we are adding more all the time) so please feel free to contact us to understand all of the experiences we offer.
We do hire new staff from time to time, if you’re interested please feel free to chat to one of our staff in the arcade.
In the arcade we use HTC Vive Pro and Vive Pro 2 Headsets.
The HTC Vive Pro 2 offer 2448 × 2448 pixels per eye (4896 x 2448 pixels combined) with field of view of up to 120 degrees.
Yes if you are playing a shooting game we have gun mounts for the Vive controllers, we also have rackets for tennis games or guns for shooters. These need to be booked in advance.
We recommend children should be at least 8 years old. One of the biggest issues are head size and hand size. Some times physically smaller children can’t easily get the headset to fit, or that they cant grip the controllers as well.
However, we have had younger children who have coped well in VR. Simple games like Fruit Ninja work well for younger children, although they may need someone to start the game for them.
If you have any concerns, we are more than happy for you to come into the arcade and see if the VR headsets and controllers fit and can be operated by your children comfortably.
We are located on the 1st floor, and access from the street is through two flights of stairs. Unfortunately there is no elevator in the building.
We are pleased to announce that Virtual & Retro has joined the Hāpai Access Card scheme as part of our ongoing commitment to providing an excellent customer experience for disabled people visiting. For more information, see the webpage for Virtual & Retro on the Hāpai Access Card website.
We are mid way between Christchurch and Timaru, about an hour drive from either of them.
You’ll find ample free parking nearby (West st car park) and multiple food venues if you want to grab something to eat after your time in VR.
You are welcome to spend more than 1 hour – Christchurch visitors often stay for 2-3 hours!
We have two large-screen racing simulators.
We also sell geek-related items, from Magic the Gathering packs, through Dungeons & Dragons, to game accessories and board games. Our prices are very competitive.
We host various Magic the Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons and board games groups.
We run MTG prerelease events for Ashburton and the surrounding areas.
If you are looking for a space for a geeky activity please get in touch!