Natick entertainment complex is a Wonderland for adults

NATICK — Anthony Valleau leapt from a narrow beam into what looked like the hold of a pirate ship Thursday afternoon.

As dramatic music played overhead and lights cleverly mimicked water below, he spun around to grab his wife’s hand, successfully pulling her to safety, just as she lost her balance to the plank jerking beneath her feet.

The couple was playing through one of 43 challenge rooms inside Level99, an entertainment complex geared toward adults that opened last week at the Natick Mall.

Using the space previously occupied by Sears, the creators behind Level99 designed a 48,000-square-foot Wonderland of food, drink, art and hands-on entertainment that would make even the Cheshire Cat’s jaw drop.

“This is, to some degree, a fulfilment of 100 different childhood fantasies,” said CEO Matt DuPlessie.

Physical challenges 

Doors of every description around every corner open into rooms without instructions.  Players have sometimes as little as a minute to figure out a room’s puzzle and solve it. Some challenges are more physical, while others are mental exercises.

A snake made of light glides across the floor of an Aztec temple while a timer ticks down, and stone-like totems scowl with glowing red eyes. In another room, players scuttle over obstacles and avoid spinning, sweeping poles, trying to hit as many lit buttons as possible. Yet another is full of suspended white lights, their soft illumination magnified by mirror-like walls, while clear domes in the ceiling funnel a unique sound to the person immediately underneath.

Mental exercises 

Laughter, cheers and shouts, from both the triumphant and the momentarily thwarted, could be heard from the rooms on Thursday. DuPlessie said he already has interest from dozens of corporations looking to use the space for team-building.

Local artists

“None of this is off the shelf,” he said, gesturing around him. “This is all custom-built for this location.”

Outside the rooms, a roughly quarter-million-dollar investment into art — largely from Massachusetts artists — is a treat, too. A pair of huge carrots creates the shadow of a rabbit on the floor, the Mona Lisa’s eyes literally follow people from her place on the wall, hot air balloons collide with lightning-infused clouds near the ceiling, and small monkeys and other creatures hang in astronaut suits by the bar.