Hit These Fun Zones for Something Different

If your goal for 2024—or any time—is to try new things and ramp up the fun factor, we’ve got you. Here are some outside-the-box activities for days when you’re craving a little adventure, whether that means indulging your inner speed demon, losing yourself in a virtual reality simulation, solving a mystery, climbing to new heights or letting your most destructive urges run wild.

Swing Into Action

Looking to up your golf game, even when it’s windy, rainy, snowy or scorching hot? Do it with a simulator at ParCiti. The new facility opened last fall on Columbia Pike, offering state-of-the-art simulators in private bays that work for any playing level. The simulators include dual high-speed cameras to capture swing details and Ball Optix technology to read ball spin. Also available: golf club fitting and repair, private and semiprivate lessons, junior academy classes, summer programs and a putting green. Plus, there’s bar seating to celebrate birdies with a beer or cocktail, and snacks such as empanadas, wings and nachos. Rent a spot for $65/hour. Not into golf? Baseball, soccer, hockey and other sports challenges coming soon. // 3102 Columbia Pike, Arlington (Columbia Pike) 

Survive an Art Attack

Cracking codes can make a real mess in the Art Attack adventure at Bond’s Escape Room. Solve low-difficulty puzzles, escape-room-style, to make your way through three rooms, including the main splatter room. There, you can channel your inner Jackson Pollock while grooving to tunes and flinging—or carefully applying, if you prefer—paint. The paint is washable, but goggles, shower caps, booties and splatter suits are provided for added protection. Two to six people can participate at a time. Tickets cost $42 per person. // 2800 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 910, Arlington (Clarendon)

Drive Fast

Zoom around indoor go-kart tracks at K1 Speed (formerly Autobahn), an indoor speedway with new locations in Manassas and Sterling. Kids 48 inches or taller can get behind the wheel of a specially designed junior kart that tops out at 25 mph and is outfitted with seat belts, roll bars and automatic shutoff in case of emergency. Drivers can race against the clock and one another, getting detailed printouts of their lap times after the race. K1 Speed also has Adult Karts for drivers 58 inches or taller that go up to 45 mph. A 12-lap session is $28.95 per person. Check the website for karting costs and specials. //8300 Sudley Road, Manassas (inside Manassas Mall); 45448 East Severn Way, Suite #150, Sterling

Be the Hero in Your Own Action Movie

Groups of up to six people can don headsets and sensors to take on forces of evil at Sandbox VR, a full-body virtual reality entertainment experience at The Boro in Tysons. Using motion-tracking tech to capture movement and a custom haptic system to simulate touch, participants will feel like they’re in another—possibly more thrilling—world. Choose from eight options, including Squid Game and Star Trek Discovery, to experience in one of four private rooms. Tickets cost $50-$60 per person. // 1656 Silver Hill Drive, Tysons

Game the System

The creators of the Tough Mudder race and boot camp offer a new—and decidedly less dirty—approach to location-based entertainment with Immersive Gamebox. Tucked inside Ballston Quarter, this deluxe gaming venue offers an array of social adventures in interactive smart rooms. You and up to five of your closest friends, family members or coworkers can come together to tackle games ranging from the family-friendly Paw Patrol (suitable for ages 3 and up) or Ghostbusters (8 and up) to a Squid Game option for those 16 and older. Grab a visor-like headset and get competing. Games last 30-120 minutes. Tickets for the hourlong option range from $29.99 for ages 5-11 to $49.99 for 21 and up, which includes two drinks. // 4238 Wilson Blvd., Unit 2233, Arlington (Ballston)

Climb the Walls

The folks at Movement, a Best of Arlington-winning indoor rock climbing facility in Crystal City, don’t want you to feel stir crazy this winter. In fact, you’re likely to feel just the opposite when you’re navigating any of the gym’s hundreds of climbing routes spread across 35,000 square feet, with some walls as high as 40 feet. First-timers can book a free tour of the facility or sign up for an intro to rope climbing class or an intro to bouldering class (think rock climbing, but horizontally, rather than vertically). Or, go all in and book a one-hour climbing session with an experienced instructor and up to three other climbers. The minimum age is 5 years old, and the cost is $40 per person. // 1235 S. Clark St., Arlington, VA (National Landing) 

Hoot for the Hoyas

Starting next month, Georgetown University’s Division I baseball team will play a majority of this season’s home games at Capital One Park in Tysons. This will be the inaugural season for the stadium, which features major league-quality synthetic turf, a natural pitching mound and professional lighting. Catch a game—and maybe a ball—from one of the park’s 300 fixed seats or 350 bleacher seats along the third base line. While you’re in the neighborhood, grab a bite and a beer at Starr Hill Biergarten, which anchors The Perch sky park atop Capital One Hall.

Rage Against the Machine

Need a cathartic stress-reliever? Kraken is a one-stop shop for releasing all the feels. Participants 13 and up can suit up in protective gear and gather in the rage room ($29.99 for 30 minutes) to take out their frustrations, aggressions or plain old excitement on a tub full of smash-ables using baseball bats, hammers and clubs. Ax throwing—literally hurling a real ax at a target—is another option for visitors 13 and up. A one-hour public session is $29.99, while a 90-minute private event with a dedicated coach starts at $40.99. Kraken is also home to an indoor roller rink, so if you feel beckoned by the ’80s, lace up some skates. A two-hour skating session costs $8-$12, depending on the time of day. Last but not least, try pickleball—the sport that is, well, all the rage. // 840 E St. NW, Washington, D.C.

Heighten Your Senses

Catch Dopamine Land, a pop-up multi-sensory experience that combines, media, technology and play through Feb. 11. Each of its 11 rooms has a different theme designed to appeal to the senses and release dopamine, the so-called “feel good” hormone. Duke it out to high-energy sound and lights in the Pillow Fight Room. Or find your zen in Euphoria Grove, a tranquil space for instilling a sense of calm through nature. The experience, which takes 45-60 minutes to complete, starts and ends in the Bubble Bar, where you can dive into a ball pit and visit the Aromatherapy Oxygen Bar. Tickets range from $20.50 for children ages 2-15 to $27.50 for anyone 16 and older. The whole space is family-friendly. // 5333 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Washington, D.C.

Get Fired Up 

They create the raw ceramic pieces and you make them your own at Clay Café Studios. It’s an easy three-step process: choose your piece, paint it to your liking and then pick it up later, after it’s been glazed and fired. Paintable objects include seasonal items, plates, mugs and figurines. There are also small-group summer camps for kids 6 and up ($345 per session) and birthday party packages. Costs vary at this family-owned-and-operated studio, based on the size of the pottery piece you choose. // 101 N. Maple Ave., Falls Church