The Rec Room is a Canadian chain of entertainment restaurants owned by

Cineplex Entertainment Cineplex Inc. (formerly Cineplex Entertainment and Cineplex Galaxy) is a Canadian operator of movie theater and family entertainment centers, headquartered in Toronto. It is the largest cinema chain in Canada; as of 2019, it operated 165 loc ...

. It first opened in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

in 2016 and its locations feature entertainment and recreational attractions such as an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

driving simulator Driving simulators are used for entertainment as well as in training of driver's education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses. They are also used for research purposes in the area of human factors and medical rese ...

s; recreational games such as

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

, and

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

; as well as restaurants and bars, and an

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

with a cinema-style screen, which can be used for concerts and other live events.

History

In January 2015,

announced the establishment of The Rec Room as a brand-new concept, with initial locations set for

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Deerfoot City Deerfoot City is an outdoor shopping centre located in northeast Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It opened in 1981 as Deerfoot Outlet Mall, just east of Deerfoot Trail (Highway 2) on 64th Avenue NE. The 1.1 million square foot shopping centre, owned by ...

South Edmonton Common South Edmonton Common is of Canada's largest retail power centres, and when it will be completely developed, it will spread over and contain some of retail space, making it one of the largest open-air retail developments in North America. The ...

, and

Roundhouse Park Roundhouse Park is a park in the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is in the former Railway Lands. It features the John Street Roundhouse, a preserved locomotive roundhouse that houses the Toronto Railway Museum, Steam Whistle Bre ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Cineplex CEO Ellis Jacob explained that the chain was meant to help the company diversify beyond its core

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ** Filmmaking, the process of making a film * Movie theate ...

business in the wake of the growing

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

industry. The first location opened in South Edmonton Common in September 2016. A second location at Roundhouse Park opened in June 2017, along with a second Edmonton location at

West Edmonton Mall West Edmonton Mall (WEM) is a large shopping mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that is owned, managed, and operated by Triple Five Group. It is the second most visited mall in Canada, after the Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, followed by Met ...

. Cineplex aimed to open 10-15 locations of The Rec Room nationally, ranging in size from 30,000 to 50,000 square feet. The company subsequently announced and opened other locations, including Masonville Place in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Square One Shopping Centre Square One Shopping Centre, or simply Square One, is a Canadian shopping mall located in Mississauga, Ontario. It is the largest shopping centre in Ontario and the second largest shopping centre in Canada, after West Edmonton Mall. It has over ...

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

(replacing parts of the former

Target Canada Target Canada Co. was a short-lived Canadian subsidiary of the Target Corporation, the eighth-largest retailer in the United States. Formerly headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, the subsidiary formed with the acquisition of Zellers store lea ...

store),

Avalon Mall The Avalon Mall is a Canadian shopping mall located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador on Kenmount Road. With over , two floors, and 142 stores, it is the largest shopping mall in Newfoundland and Labrador. The mall opened on November 1, 19 ...

in St. Johns, Seasons of Tuxedo in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, and

Brentwood Town Centre The Amazing Brentwood (previously Brentwood Town Centre and also referred to as Brentwood Mall) is a shopping mall in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the Brentwood Park area of North Burnaby, at the intersection of Willingdon ...

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

. In May 2019, Cineplex announced a second

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

-area location on

Granville Street Granville Street is a major street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and part of Highway 99. Granville Street is most often associated with the Granville Entertainment District and the Granville Mall. This street also cuts through resid ...

which would feature a rooftop patio. Originally slated to open in 2021, it was delayed to November 2024 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In September 2019, Cineplex announced plans to open their first Quebec location at Royalmount in

Mount Royal Mount Royal (, ) is a mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The city's name is derived from the mountain's name. The mountain is part of the Monteregian Hills situated between the Laurentian M ...

, which is slated to open in fall 2024. The Toronto location features The Void virtual reality attraction. In July 2018, Cineplex announced that it would become the exclusive Canadian franchisee of The Void and add additional locations (such as the Mississauga and West Edmonton Mall locations).

Locations

* Alberta ** Deerfoot,

** South Edmonton,

, Edmonton * British Columbia **

, **

Granville Entertainment District The Granville Entertainment District is a neighbourhood in Downtown Vancouver known for its vast assortment of bars, danceclubs, restaurants, nightlife, and urban adult oriented shops and entertainment. The entertainment district centred on a se ...

* Manitoba ** Seasons of Tuxedo,

* Newfoundland and Labrador **

, St. John's * Ontario ** Masonville,

** Park Place,

Barrie Barrie is a city in Central Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay. Although it is physically in the county, Barrie is politically independent. The city is part ...

* Quebec ** Royalmount,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rec Room Cineplex Entertainment Restaurants established in 2016 Entertainment companies of Canada Amusement arcades Regional restaurant chains in Canada 2016 establishments in Alberta Restaurants in Alberta Restaurants in Manitoba Restaurants in British Columbia Restaurants in Newfoundland and Labrador Restaurants in Toronto Restaurants in Ontario

History

Locations

See also

References