On the side of the water in the Old Port of Old Montreal, you’ll find a series of connected metal shipping containers. Inside those containers lie the key to the survival of humanity. A cure for a virus which has infected countless people. The game lets locals and tourists alike try to solve the puzzle and find a cure.
The Virus Game is part of “Peur Depot” which means “depot of fear.”
How to Save Humanity (aka How the Game is Played)
Get a small group together (even a couple is fine) and put a bracelet onto each hand. You enter the game through a small door that almost looks like you are going into a furnace. Follow the tunnel into different areas. At some points, you’ll have to find a cure for the virus. To do so, you must place your bracelets on a pair of lights which will glow. Make sure you only touch your own colours though. If you have three or more people in your group, you will really feel like you’re playing twister up against the wall.
At the end, you get a picture of you, scored out of your wits to take home as a souvenir (you also get a code to access your photo online). You also get a score for how well you did in curing the virus (by touching the coloured lights at various points), so you can compete with your friends.
Notes of Interest
As each level gets more intense, there are some points to take note of:
- There are loud noises
- There is some crawling to do
- One of the virus sections sprays some water on you
- The game takes advantage of your fear of the dark, insects, and so on
By the Numbers
I recently attended a media event where the owner of The Virus Game gave a short talk about it. He said that last summer, 60,000 people tried to find the cure for the virus by going through the game, with 80% of customers claiming to be satisfied. Now, they took everyone’s advice and expanded the game (making it longer) and made changes to get the satisfaction rate even higher this year.
Is it worth it?
There are a lot of activities in the Old Port in Old Montreal these days and the Virus Game is one of them. The entire game takes about 17 minutes to play. If you’re looking for a scary distraction, check it out!
The virus game is open Tuesday to Sunday, 1pm to 11pm until Halloween.
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