First Smash & Reload interactive dark ride to be installed at Le PAL

Brussels and Montreal, 17 May 2022 - BoldMove Nation and Triotech announce that French theme park Le PAL has selected Smash & Reload as their first interactive media-based dark ride. With more than 1000 animals and 31 attractions, Le PAL is the only park in the country to combine a theme park with a zoo, placing itself in the top 5 in France. Every year the park invests a large portion of its turnover to secure their position as most visited leisure site in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. With the installation of Triotech and BoldMove's media-based dark ride, the park is extending and diversifying its offering with a weather-proof indoor attraction for all ages.

Arnaud Bennet, President of Le PAL, explains their choice: "It was time to replace our aging 4D-cinema with an attraction to position us for the future and offer something totally different to our guests. We started scouting the market and it became rapidly clear that the solution offered by BoldMove and Triotech is the most suitable for an all-family and immersive experience. It blends advanced technologies and a gameplay into an enjoyable attraction for young and old, making it very inclusive. The story is built around fun mushrooms and mixes a lof of humor and a subtle sustainability message that perfectly adheres to our vision. Our relationship with the team behind Smash & Reload go way back so we are very confident we will create an amazing attraction together!"

Smash & Reload is based on a dynamic global industry cooperation, bringing a strong industry expertise together in a unique media-based attraction. The concept design by BoldMove's CEO & Founder Benoit Cornet is a synthesis of 20 years dark ride development and visitor experience analysis. It brings the dark ride to its very essence with a strong focus on family fun through a well-balanced mix of interactivity, storytelling and IP use. The IP license TooMush is produced by the French graphic studio Polymorph, and will be declined and adapted to Smash & Reload in a co-development between BoldMove and Polymorph. The ride system and interactivity are produced by Triotech, market leader in interactive attractions. Ernest Yale, Triotech CEO and Founder, states "the collaboration with BoldMove brings the strength of both organizations together for the benefit of the clients, and ultimately the park guests who will be wooed by an amazing interactive and immersive experience."

Bruno Cambon, Le PAL's Operations Director, explains how the ride will fit into the park: "A deciding factor for our choice was the very high throughput of over 400 persons per hour across five vehicles, which allows us to spread visitors and reduce waiting times during busy days. Many visitors will be encouraged to return and improve their game so they can move up their position in the high score ranking. Another key element for us was that the ride has been designed to fit the space we have available in the building, which means no major construction work. The entire attraction is a turnkey project that will be delivered by the BoldMove and Triotech teams. BoldMove will also take care of the creative and experience design so the queue line and building façade will gear up visitors towards the experience. We are very charmed by the universal and nice IP with intuitive interactive system: simply push the button to 'reload' and pull the trigger to 'smash' the mushrooms."

Thanks to an impressive sound system and interactive technology, players will enjoy a thrilling experience from start to end. From their rotatable vehicle they hit a button on one side to load the pointing device and then turn to play the game, an action repeated across five scenes during the four minute ride. Guests accomplish the noble mission of saving the village from an attack of crazy mushrooms that were transformed by industrial pollution. Aim and smash them back into their original cute format so they can return to their peaceful and wonderful forest!

About Smash & Reload
​Smash & Reload is a family of media-based interactive dark rides, combining a fun and easy gameplay with smart ride system on a compact footprint. It can stand alone or be integrated in a themed park area, and perfectly combines with other attractions. This next-generation high-energy dark ride is future-proof due to its advanced and proven technology with upgradeable media content. The easy gameplay ensures an interactive all-family experience with a choice of different IPs and theming, up to a fully customizable format. With its amazing visitor capacity Smash & Reload offers the best price to throughput ratio across the industry with high repeatability, and weather-proof for all-year round operations. The centralized projection system keeps the entire attraction compact and maintenancy savvy, without compromising on fun.

About Triotech
​Triotech is the creator of award winning immersive and interactive media-based attractions for the entertainment market. With more than 425 installations in over 65 countries across all continents, over 135 million guests have lived a Triotech experience over the last decade. Triotech creates attractions such as Interactive Dark Rides and theaters, 4D Theaters, VR attractions, Flying Theaters, Walkthroughs and Dark Coasters. Triotech offers integrated turnkey solutions for digital attractions including content developed in its own studios in Montreal, Canada and in Rennes, France. Founded in 1999, Triotech is a privately held company with over 200 employees deployed in Canada, Europe, the USA, and Asia.

About BoldMove Nation
​Together with a strong network of expert partners, BoldMove Nation creates Happier Worlds for leisure, tourist and retail venues. Media-based attractions are based on proven technologies and fun gameplay around compelling stories for immersive visitor experiences. With the customer interest at heart, the BoldMove Nation team offers turnkey creative and experience design services from master planning to implementation, with a broad choice of IPs and theming. Besides experience design for dark rides, media attractions and indoor parks (FEC), BoldMove offers the double-action Smash & Reload dark ride family, WaterSlider VR and Hybrid AR Quest. Established in 2021, the team is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium and headed by interactive dark ride veteran Benoit Cornet.

About Le PAL
​This family business created 40 years ago is located in the heart of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It is a place for discovery as well as entertainment. Certified Sustainable Tourism, it is also committed to public education and biodiversity conservation with its numerous educational programs and the Le PAL NATURE FOUNDATION. Its immersive accommodations in the heart of the African savannah, Les Lodges du PAL and Le Savana RESERVE, make the park a tourist destination and allow it to attract an ever-growing clientele, including foreigners looking for an authentic change of scenery. Over the years, Le PAL has built its success on a dynamic investment policy that has led it to invest nearly 30% of its turnover in new products each year.

Images Courtesy of Le PAL © 2022