The WV adventure continues indoors at these 5 spots

Cold, rainy (or snowy!) weather got you down? Never fear! There are plenty of things to do indoors in West Virginia that will test your physical abilities or challenge your mental powers. Bring the whole family to these indoor activity centers for a day of wild, wonderful fun.

1. Trampoline Parks

Try out your best flips and jumps at The Launch Pad in Westover. The trampoline park also offers games like launch hoops and dodgeball you can play while bouncing to the sky, as well as an arcade room for those who need to take a rest break from jumping. The park is preparing to debut its newest attraction: an augmented climbing wall. One of only a few in North America, the wall uses projected graphics and proprietary body tracking to create interactive games and training applications for climbers. It’s like Dance Dance Revolution, except on a vertical surface!

Charleston’s new trampoline park, Sky Zone, features a bunch of different games and challenges. Ambitious folks can tackle the fidgety sky ladder, curved wall or warrior obstacle course without fear of injury because the landing is soft (and bouncy!). There are even fitness classes like Skyfit, in which participants can burn up to 1,000 calories in this aerobic trampoline session, and programs like Glow, when the park is transformed into a jumping dance club, complete with black lights, lasers and music.

2. Activity Centers

At Planet X in Vienna, players step into the briefing room to learn about their mission as they strap on their battlesuit vest and phaser. The fun begins in the dimly lit, 1,500-square foot arena, where players battle it out amid special lighting effects, interactive intelligent devices, swirling fog and a thumping soundtrack. Watch out for the opposing players and interactive targets, and zap them before they get you! The Laserforce Laser Tag game is great for all ages and can be played in teams or individually.

Valley Worlds of Fun promises seven acres of indoor and outdoor excitement at its Fairmont facility. While outdoor activities like miniature golf are open seasonally, all indoor games and attractions are open year-round. Indoor activities include bowling, laser tag, bumper cars and archery tag, which is played like dodgeball using foam-tipped arrows. The kids will love knocker ball, a new sport that is taking the country by storm. Referred to as “bubble soccer,” users don an inflatable sphere that allows them to do flips, rolls and bounce off each other without fear of getting hurt.

3. Arcades

Starport Arcade & Pub in Morgantown has it all! From the latest arcade and pinball machines, to vintage games from the 1980s that will have you humming “Pac-Man Fever” as you chase down a Power Pellet and gobble up some ghosts. The arcade also has skill games like skee-ball, pool and darts. An afternoon of battling aliens and hunting eight-point bucks can be exhausting, so that’s where the arcade’s three (yes, three!) bars come in handy. Order up a pitcher of craft beer or a soda, and choose from a full restaurant menu with everything from burgers and wraps to salads and onion rings.

4. Escape Rooms

Escape rooms are a great way to test your puzzle-solving skills and practice teamwork to find a solution. You can pick from a variety of creative themes, including murder mysteries, time travel, contagion outbreaks, zombies and more. Games have different levels of difficulty so newbies can start with an easier challenge and build up to the tough stuff. Some escape rooms even have special challenges unique to the region, like Epic Escape Game in Fayetteville, which offers challenges that involve Mothman, the New River Gorge Bridge and the C&O Railroad in Thurmond. The West Virginia Penitentiary even has an “escape the pen” challenge!

5. Indoor sports

Need to get that blood pumping but the weather outside is frightful? Think outside the box at these two wildcard activities: indoor rock climbing and axe throwing. Head to Beckley’s Outside-In Climbing Gym to scale the 35-foot-tall wall with a variety of routes. Complete with climbing ropes and an elevated cargo net, the gym has a challenging experience for all skill levels. If you’re look for something very different, stop by Axes and Ales in Charleston for a pint of craft beer and the chance to hurl an ax into a wooden target. A projector displays the target, tells you when to throw and when to retrieve the ax from the target.

What else would you add to the list?

This post was last updated on March 17, 2022