Workers are putting the finishing artistic touches on West Hartford's Level99, the 43,000-square-foot social gaming venue taking shape on the second floor of The Corbin Collection at 1427 New Britain Avenue, as the company says it will open later this fall after construction delays pushed back an original 2025 target. Thirty-two pieces of original artwork from 25 selected artists are going up throughout the space, transforming the arena's hallways and challenge rooms before the first players arrive.
The venue, also covered by we-ha.com, will accommodate up to 600 players across more than 50 real-world interactive physical and mental challenges and mini-games. Teams of two to six players will work through 44 challenge rooms and six head-to-head duels, according to the outlet's reporting. An adjoining 250-seat restaurant and bar, Two Roads Kitchen and Tap, built through a partnership with Connecticut-based Two Roads Brewing, will serve both gamers and guests who aren't participating in Level99's challenges, with a menu of Detroit-style pizza, wagyu burgers, handcrafted cocktails and local craft beer on tap.
Level99's opening timeline has shifted from an expected 2025 opening to late 2026. The venue was originally expected to open in West Hartford in 2025, according to ctinsider.com, before construction delays pushed the opening to late 2026, as reported by Yahoo News.
Artists Bring Dragons, Leopards and a Fabric Fried Egg to Life
West Hartford News, the publication reporting on the artwork installation, detailed a roster of pieces now going up inside the venue. Artist Blind Fox is creating a 3D mural of a leopard leaping through a wall toward swallows. Woskerski is contributing two works: a giant fried-egg piece made of fabric and hung from wooden pegs on a clothesline, and a second artwork featuring a cut-out word that folds down to form another word, such as “good” becoming “luck.”
Sophy Tuttle created a mural based on the Draco constellation, depicting a dragon rendered with stars and UV-reactive elements that will change color when the venue's UV lights are switched on. Artist ill.des contributed an abstract geometric depiction of local Connecticut flora, including mountain laurel and bluebell bellflower. Five of the selected artists are from Connecticut.
The full artist roster for the West Hartford location includes Thomas Turner, Ernesto Maranje, Blind Fox, Woskerski, Jonathan Conway, Went Paint, Kevin Bauccio, Arcy, Micaela Levesque, Michael Rice, Ernest D'Elia, Dan Leo, Ally Caitlin J., Adam O'Day, Brian Lewis, Matt Moore, Miss Birdy, Naomi Haverland, Jerel Dye, Sophy Tuttle, Tiffany Chin, ill.des, Pneuhaus, Michaela Devon Kary and New England Prop Makers.
A Scavenger Hunt Hidden in the Walls
Beyond the murals themselves, Level99 is building an interactive layer into its artwork through Hunt Art, an art scavenger hunt woven into the venue. Players identify hidden objects called glyphs at kiosks scattered throughout the space to earn stars and climb the Level99 leaderboard. The company describes Hunt Art more broadly as a scavenger-hunt-style maze of eccentric, humorous artworks, according to level99.com.
Level99 is set to open Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. and on weekends at 10 a.m., staying open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and until 10 p.m. on other nights.
About 100 Jobs and a Company With Theme-Park Roots
Level99 has planned roughly 100 local jobs spanning entertainment and food-and-beverage roles, with hourly pay ranging from $18.50 to $25 depending on the position and applicant experience, according to hartfordbusiness.com. The company is led by CEO and founder Matt DuPlessie, who attended MIT and Harvard Business School and worked for Disney and Universal Studios before forming 5 Wits, a company that preceded his founding of Massachusetts-based production company Box Fort, now part of Level99. Level99 is headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, and is backed by Act III Holdings, led by Panera founder Ron Shaich, who also serves as chairman and lead investor of Cava.
The company has four other locations in Natick, Providence, Tysons Corner and Disney Springs, and plans to open additional venues in Paramus, New Jersey; Raleigh, North Carolina; and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, in 2027. West Hartford had to change its zoning to allow the specific use, and the Town Council approved changes to the building's signage in August, according to ctinsider.com's reporting.
