Surprise! One of this year's more delightful video games is an interactive escape room
LOS ANGELES — Coin Crew Games was created with a love for play in physical, real-world spaces. Since the beginning, the local firm had a mission: to prove those boxy arcade games never went out of style.
Video games to the Coin Crew team meant virtual worlds that were silly, borderline absurd, heavily social and, hopefully, wildly addictive. All of it was designed to nod to an anything-goes era of gaming when the medium was new and a premium was placed on wackiness. Games from Coin Crew needn't make sense. How about competitive bowling amid spaceships and cowboys? Sure. And their desired audience? "Small children" and "drunk adults," according to the "Battle Bowling" pitch.
As if it wasn't clear, there was no big theme of "universal morality," says Coin Crew co-leader Wyatt Bushnell. Adds partner Mike Mohammed Salyh, "I think having a lighthearted tone can break down barriers."
Ah, so there is a thesis behind the Coin Crew childishness: Games, Bushnell and Salyh believe, are for everyone.
But if "Battle Bowling" and prior arcade game "Hot Wheels: King of the Road" were both crazily
