Maus aus Chocolat, Phantasialand

An indoor dark ride with mice, chocolate and … 86 Barco F22 projectors!

Ever heard of ‘Dragons Wild Shooting’, ‘Kingdom Quest’, ‘Huntik’, ‘ ‘Desperados’ or ‘Justice League: Aliens Invasion 3D’? You may have, if you love visiting amusement or theme parks, as these are the names of some of the world’s most exciting dark rides. Alterface Projects, the creative and technical brain behind these fun attractions, has been creating Interactive Cinemas and Interactive Dark Rides featuring 2D and 3D content projected onto large screens, physical targets, interactive video mapping, etc. since 2001. One of its most recent attractions, ‘Maus aus Chocolat’, features no fewer than 86 of Barco’s F22 projectors!

Maus aus Chocolat!
Installed at Phantasialand (Germany) in 2011, ‘Maus aus Chocolat’ is a full-media, 3D interactive dark ride with, of course, mice in the main role! Theme park visitors step into what looks like a peaceful patisserie only to discover that the place has been invaded by a horde of mischievous and greedy mice – which they have to gun down quickly. The feedback is raving. As Theme Park Review wrote: “What a blast! Armed with your chocolate blaster and 3D glasses, you are transported around 8 stages to shoot as many rodents as you can. The 3D was quite good with objects thrown at you and some effects appearing to float in front you."

A fully immersive ride
“We want our dark ride experiences to be as immersive as possible,” says Benoit Cornet, CEO & Founder of Alterface projects. “For this project we opted for high-definition 3D scenes filled with details, both small and big. We chose Barco because it was the only manufacturer to provide the vivid, crisp image and brightness quality that we needed in the price range we had. The R&D effort of Barco allows it to be one step ahead of its competitors and meet our very specific needs.” Featuring up to 3,300 ANSI lumens, the Barco F22 projectors indeed ensure unmatched image quality and performance, while their reliability makes them perfect for 24/7 operation. Lightweight and compact as they are, the projectors can easily be installed in motion simulators without extra mounting hardware. And as there's no need to disassemble the projector, lamp replacements for the F22 are really easy too. The networked configuration allows users to configure and manage the projectors remotely, via the built-in web page.