Virtual Reality CDA: A world of imagination

A new business in downtown Coeur d’Alene will bring its customers face-to-face with imagination.

Virtual Reality CDA offers users the chance to run through the mountains, stand underneath the Eiffel Tower, or transport themselves to the matrix using virtual reality (VR) headsets and controllers.

“Our imagination is the only limit,” owner Colton Hoffman said. “Whatever we can imagine, we can do in this virtual reality world.”

Hoffman emphasized that the VR games and experiences at his business are far more involved than headsets that accompany smartphones and video game consoles.

“What consumers can purchase right now, like Samsung [VR headsets], that doesn’t even come close to what this stuff can do,” Hoffman said.

For example, Hoffman said people who use wheelchairs can use virtual reality to experience things they can’t in their everyday lives.

“For example, I could put them in a simulation that makes them feel like they’re skydiving,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman predicted that VR will dramatically change the education and health care professions, specifically noting a program at Virtual Reality CDA called Anatomy VR.

“It literally allows you to take apart the entire human body — every muscle, every tendon, every ligament,” he said. “And, hands-on, visual learning is so much more valuable than reading out of a textbook.”

Hoffman, a 24-year-old originally from the Treasure Valley, is excited to provide exposure to this technology that people might not otherwise be able to access.

“People don’t have the space to put something like this in their homes,” Hoffman said. “I mean, how many people can dedicate a 10 by 10 [foot] space for their home?”

In the future, Hoffman said, computers could come with virtual reality headsets, and VR may see the same meteoric rise as smartphones and the internet.

“For the longest time, everyone was like, ‘Who’s going to own a computer in their house?’” he said. “Now, nobody owns a desk room anymore because we have our computers in our pockets.”

Virtual Reality CDA currently has four VR stations, complete with a headset and controllers, as well as a TV screen that projects what the user is seeing to spectators. Hoffman said this allows the experience to be completely interactive.

By this summer, Hoffman plans to open the three remaining stations with updated technology that provides increased comfort of use and visual clarity.

In addition, several “old-style” arcade games like Ms. Pacman are featured at the business, plus a pool table, which Hoffman said connects technology of the past to the future.

“These are things that are classic, but that are timeless at the same time,” he said. “They really changed the way technology grew.”

Virtual Reality CDA is located at 115 4th street, the former home of Wiggett’s Marketplace and, prior to that, the historic Roxy Theatre.

“If you think about it, a movie theater was the technology of the day,” Hoffman said, “so I’m kind of excited to bring old and new together, in a sense.”

Time slots for a station can be purchased for 30 minutes or an hour, and the cost is $15 and $25, respectively. One to four people can use a station at a given time.

Virtual Reality CDA opened on Feb. 23. It is closed on Mondays, open 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

INFORMATION: 208-292-4738 or https://www.facebook.com/virtualrealitycda/