Level Up for Dozens of Unique Challenges at Providence’s Newest Interactive Entertainment Center
Level99 has taken over the 40,000 square foot space formerly occupied by JC Penny at the Providence Place Mall.
Courtesy of Level99
Level99, the new entertainment complex at the Providence Place Mall, has more than 50 mental and physical challenges, plus an unexpected element that will keep you coming back even when you’re not in the mood to have your mind twisted or your body contorted: great food.
Courtesy of Level99
Scattered over 40,000 square feet in the space formerly occupied by JC Penney, Level99 resembles a small village organized into broad avenues and side alleys. Most activities are housed in standalone structures, although a few — like an arena where guests have to dodge giant swinging axes — are in full public view. Some incorporate elements of obstacle courses and require navigation by jumping, swinging on ropes, or gripping handrails; others are all brainpower, with collaboration among two to six teammates required to operate the machinery on an imagined submarine, for example. One-on-one “duels” are also part of the mix.
Courtesy of Bob Curley
“Some challenges are mental or logical, others are very physical,” says Level99 founder and CEO Matt DuPlessie, whose opened the first Level99 at the Natick Mall in Massachusetts in 2021, and previously developed the Five Wits escape rooms at Patriot Place in Foxborough. “Especially post pandemic, when a big percentage of our day is spent looking at a screen, this is a chance to play real games with real people,” he said. “The challenges are digitally enabled, but technology isn’t the focus — the focus is on the guest.”
Each challenge is designed to take 1-4 minutes. Every player’s score is digitally tracked, and guests can return to individual challenges again and again — during a current or future visit — to try to max out their score. “You can return to pick up games where you left off,” says DuPlessie.
Passes are sold in 2 hour, 4 hour, or all-day blocks; DuPlessie estimates that completing them all would take 30 hours, so there’s plenty of incentive for repeat visits. New challenges also are occasionally rotated in to keep the experience fresh.
“To be competitive, we need to offer experiences you can’t get at home,” DuPlessie says. “This is where you come to be the hero in your own story.”
Courtesy of Level99
What’s also fresh is the food being served at Level99’s Night Shift Kitchen and Tap, which features a rotating selection of 30 local beers on draft and a menu of modern comfort food.
Courtesy of Bob Curley
At first glance, the menu resembles what you’d expect from a food court at a typical indoor entertainment center — burgers, pizza, fries, popcorn. But everything here is made from scratch, says Ryan Shocklee, Level99’s vice president of food and beverage. The fries, for example, are hand-cut. The popcorn — on the menu as an item that can be easily carried around from challenge to challenge — are topped with maple almond glaze or brown butter and a three-cheese mix. Burgers are made with Wagyu beef, and the pizza is an authentic rendition of Detroit-style, right down to the crispy, cheesy, caramelized edges.
Add a big, stylish bar and dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the redbrick buildings of Smith Hill and The Valley, and you’ve got a drink and dining destination rivaling any casual-to-crafty restaurant in the city. “We want the food to be able to stand on its own, not just an add-on amenity,” Shocklee says. That challenge has already been met; at Level99, the rest are up to you.
Learn more at level99.com.
Courtesy of Bob Curley
