Photo | Chris Winroth, courtesy of Level99
Level99 in Natick
February 20, 2025
Natick’s Level99 planning Disney World location as part of expansion
Photo | Courtesy of Level99
Natick's Level99 has plans for expansion, including new locations in Connecticut, Virginia, and Florida.
Level99, a Natick-based operator of entertainment venues featuring a variety of rooms with physical and mental interactive challenges, is planning on opening at least three additional locations, including one at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
The company’s first location opened in the Natick Mall in 2021, with Level99 later opening at Rhode Island’s Providence Place mall in January 2024. It now has plans to open several more locations, including venues at Tysons Corner Center mall in Tysons, Virginia and The Corbin Collection in West Hartford, Connecticut this year, according to a Level99 press release issued Wednesday. The company did not include a timeframe for the opening of the Disney World location.
Level99 venues include dozens of rooms featuring a variety of physical or mental challenges, using RFID bracelets to track player’s scores and progress. Most rooms offer little clue what's in store for players until they enter, requiring them to figure out how to complete the task on the fly. Each room generally takes between one and four minutes to complete.
In addition to challenge rooms, the venue offers arena duels, which pit one player against another, as well as an art hunt, which rewards patrons with points for finding specific pieces of artwork in the venue. Level99 locations have a full kitchen and bar, featuring craft beer and cocktails.
The company is owned by Act III Holdings, a Miami-based investment firm operated by Ron Shaich, the founder of Panera Bread and co-founder of Au Bon Pain. Level99 was founded by Matthew DuPlessie, a Harvard Business School graduate who previously launched 5 Wits, a Foxborough-based venue which also involved interactive challenges that were similar to escape rooms.
“We are defining the category and setting the standard for out-of-home, interactive entertainment,” DuPlessie said in the press release. “After spending two decades in the location-based entertainment industry, it became clear there was consumer demand for a concept like this – a real unmet need. Our vision is to make ‘challenge rooms’ a mainstream concept, and the opportunity to open at a marquee location like Disney Springs is the next step in our plans to expand the LEVEL99 brand nationally.”
Level99 said it was chosen by Disney after the $200-billion global media and entertainment firm did a comprehensive review of the location-based entertainment industry. It will be located at Disney Springs West Side, a large shopping and entertainment plaza which is about a seven-mile drive from the original Magic Kingdom park.
“We see immense potential in what the LEVEL99 team has built and are excited to bring the future of interactive entertainment and social gaming into the mainstream,” Shaich said in the press release. “When Matt shared his vision for LEVEL99 with me seven years ago, I saw that this business had the potential to define a new category with enormous opportunity for growth on a national scale, making it an ideal investment for Act III.”
The Disney location will be Level99’s largest to date, featuring over 60 challenge rooms and duels in 45,000 square feet across two floors. The venue will be capable of hosting over 1,000 guests at a time and will employ over 100 people.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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