Bluffton ninja gym opening soon has escape rooms, mechanical shark and more family fun
Is it a classroom or is it laser tag? There’s a new business in Bluffton trying to prove it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
Smart Company Kids Zone opens Friday in Berkeley Place near the Cinemark theater.
The family fun center and ninja gym is offering an array of activities designed to appeal to both children and adults, but the theme underlying each is financial literacy.
Sounds like an odd mix, right?
General manager Kristen Sulak said even she was skeptical until she saw it start to come together.
“My first thought was, ‘No way. You can’t convince me you’re going to get a kid to learn and have a good time,” she said.
But then she started seeing the connections, some that are subtle and others that are, in her words, bold and “right in your face.”
When kids are having fun, Sulak explained, they don’t realize how much knowledge they are absorbing.
“Our goal is to have fun, but our core value is to educate,” she said. “Your money will make you money. ... It’s disturbing that we don’t teach kids that.”
Chrissy Pope of Ridgeland, a 3rd-grade teacher at River Ridge Academy in Bluffton, toured the Zone before its formal opening and said she can’t wait for her school to have field trips there.
“Oh my gosh, what an amazing concept,” she said, to learn about such an important part of American finances in an entertaining way.
Games to play
The first floor houses the more structured educational components. There’s a “fun factory” where kids will learn fun facts about businesses. (Did you know Coke is the second-most commonly used word in the world? The only word used more is OK.) Youngsters can play video games about the stock market and participate a real-time stock market game.
The second floor moves the fun to the foreground, but the financial theme is impossible to miss. It’s bears versus bulls in the state-of-the-art laser tag arena, where up to 16 participants can choose from more than 30 scenarios to play.
There’s also a mechanical shark, a mirror maze and a game called “time freak” in which players face off in a race to see who can tap the most buttons as they light up.
To appeal to a multigenerational community, the Zone has an electronic bocce ball court that keeps score automatically. A bar nearby will serve beverages, including beer and wine, and appetizers.
“I can picture us having leagues here,” Sulak said. “What a fun element to have kids and have older people being able to have one place to come have fun.”
Escape rooms
The Smart Company Kids Zone has two custom escape rooms, and, you probably guessed it: Both have a connection to the stock market. In one, the challenge is to look through a spooky attic for stock certificates your grandmother left you in her will. The other is set on a subway car, and the goal is to get to the stock market to make a trade before it closes.
Ninja course
The Zone’s centerpiece is a certified “American Ninja Warrior” course. It has four lanes for different skill levels, and classes will be offered for kids and adults to learn the obstacles.
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In March, the course will host a regional competition that will serve as a qualifier for those who want to appear on the hit television show.
HitTrax
The third floor of facility isn’t ready to open, but by April 1 will contain electronic batting cages for HitTrax baseball and softball. “Our goal is to be the premier destination if you like baseball or softball,” Sulak said.
Community
There are also rooms for parties, and the Zone will offer field trips for schoolchildren and homeschoolers, plus financial-related classes for adults.
“We are not going to be a day care,” Sulak said. “We want this to be a family event. Even if that means the kids come go on ninja and Mom and Dad have a glass of wine out on the balcony.”
If you go
What: Smart Company Kids Zone
Where: 108 Buckwalter Parkway in Bluffton (in Berkeley Place near Cinemark theater)
Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday
Cost: Varies depending on the activity. Laser tag and the mirror maze are $13.99 each; 45-minutes on the ninja course is $18.99; escape room is $32; one-hour lane rental for bocce is $45. Packages are available to combine activities.
Phone: 843-836-3701
Website: sckzone.com
Facebook: facebook.com/sckzone
Note: A temperature check and masks are required
