What counts as a physical game here
A physical game at Cube Challenges is a room with a clock, a goal and a reason to move: cross a floor you are not allowed to touch, climb to a point before time expires, get through a web of ropes or beams without contact. Ten of the thirty rooms are in the Physical category.
Your team of two to six plays them together, shares one score, and picks one of three difficulty levels at every door.
None of it is an exercise class and none of it requires special athletic ability. The rooms ask for movement, timing and a plan, and a missed attempt can be replayed by scanning back in.
The ten Physical rooms
- Cardio: cross the room on climbing handles without touching the red floor, and clear the horizontal bar before time runs out.
- Golden Gate Bridge: a crossing that needs the whole team working together, and a plan, to reach the far end in time.
- Gym Tonic: strength, stamina and speed.
- Knock Out: be smart and quick to avoid the knockout.
- Laser Maze: through a web of laser beams without tripping one and setting off the alarm.
- Lava Land: stay off the lava using the rocks and objects in the room while connecting the paths on the screen.
- Red Ropes Area: through the black ropes without touching a red one, as fast as you can. A wrong move costs the team.
- Restricted Area: cross the floor without touching the restricted zones, or the alarm triggers and the challenge is lost.
- Road to Olympus: cross the path and climb to the top of Olympus before time expires.
- Speed Barrels: a running challenge. If you have never found your limit by running, this room finds it.
Kids from 7, adults at any level
The difficulty levels are what let a child and an adult play the same room. A seven-year-old takes Cardio at level one; the parent on the same team takes it at level three, and both clears go on the one score. Players must be 7 or older, under-13s play with an adult on the team, and anyone under 18 needs a waiver signed by a parent or guardian.
For anyone who would rather stay off the climbing, the other twenty rooms are Brain and Skills: memory, maths, aim and timing. Most teams mix all three categories in a session.
Playing the Physical rooms as a team
A Physical room is rarely one person's job. In Cardio or Road to Olympus one player makes the attempt while the others watch the clock, call the next hold and spot the route; in Golden Gate Bridge the crossing only works if the team moves together. Switch roles between rooms so the climber of one room is the caller of the next.
Difficulty is a tool, not a dare. Take a room at level one to learn how it works, then come back at level two or three once the team has a plan, because a harder level cleared is worth more than a new room cleared. If an attempt fails, the useful question is what to change for the next one: the start, the order, or who goes first. Then scan back in.
What to wear
Comfortable clothes you can move in, and running shoes. The Physical rooms involve climbing, balancing and moving quickly, so athletic wear makes them easier. Watch the briefing video before you come: it covers the rules and the safety guidelines.
Prices and booking
$32.99 per person for 60 minutes or $38.99 for 90, the same price every day of the week, covering all thirty rooms. Book a session by choosing a date and a time. 3185 Unity Dr, Unit 1, Mississauga, ON L5L 4L5; Monday to Thursday 4pm to 10pm, Friday 4pm to midnight, Saturday 10am to midnight, Sunday 10am to 10pm.