Hero Zone: Where Social VR Meets Real-World Revenue -
Sandbox VR opens its first New York City venue at 777 Seventh Avenue in Times Square in late October 2026. The company counts it as its 100th location.
The venue sits between West 50th and West 51st streets. The VR Collective covered its 10-year lease in July.
JLG Ventures, a New York group that invests in and operates hospitality and entertainment brands, lists the venue in its portfolio. Its portfolio also includes the New York brands Raku and Double Chicken Please.
“Times Square is where the world comes together, so it is the perfect home for the most social VR experience in the world,” said Carolyne Chan, co-owner of JLG Ventures. She said the group plans “more locations across New York City.”
Steve Zhao, Sandbox VR’s founder and chief executive, said reaching the 100th location “shows how far Sandbox VR has come and where we want to go next.”
Sandbox VR says it welcomes more than 150,000 guests a month and has sold more than 6 million tickets.
The venue has six private VR rooms. Each holds a group of up to six players, who wear headsets, haptic vests and motion sensors. Up to 36 players can be in play at once.
Two party rooms and a bar sit beside the VR rooms. The venue opens at 10 a.m. daily and closes at midnight, or 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
The venue runs 12 experiences, led by Deadwood Origins, the fourth game in Sandbox VR’s zombie series. Stranger Things: Catalyst and Squid Game Virtuals come from Sandbox VR’s work with Netflix.
Sandbox VR lists Times Square tickets from $57, on weekdays and weekends. Five Midtown and West Side attractions list these adult general admission prices on their own sites, read on 19 October 2026:
Sandbox VR lists the two party rooms and the bar for birthdays, celebrations and corporate events.
“I also think it’s gonna be a corporate event gold mine for them considering the density of employment in midtown Manhattan,” said Bob Cooney, a VR consultant and executive director of LEXRA, the trade association for location-based XR, who began his career operating immersive location-based entertainment in 1989. Cooney publishes The VR Collective.
Sandbox VR lists the same $57 starting price at Times Square on weekdays and weekends. Sandbox VR’s $57 Times Square ticket sits $11 to $23 above the five Midtown attractions’ lowest adult tickets listed above.
Where is Sandbox VR’s Times Square venue? At 777 Seventh Avenue, between West 50th and West 51st streets in Manhattan.
When does Sandbox VR Times Square open? In late October 2026.
How much does a ticket cost at the Times Square VR venue? Sandbox VR lists tickets from $57 on weekdays and weekends.
Who is behind Sandbox VR’s Times Square VR venue? JLG Ventures, a New York hospitality and entertainment group co-owned by Carolyne Chan, lists the venue in its portfolio.
