Hot shot: World's first shooting range bar opens in Brussels city centre

A new entertainment venue in Brussels offers visitors the chance to step into a modern shooting gallery, without leaving the city or picking up a real weapon.

Shooters, a themed bar and interactive gaming space in Rue Antoine Dansaert, combines airsoft replica firearms with digital target games, aiming to recreate the nostalgic feel of fairground shooting booths, albeit in a high tech setting.

It also claims to be a world and Belgian-first, according to Julien Vandenitte and Romain Félix (pictured above), childhood friends who created the concept out of a shared love of games and party experiences. “Our inspiration is nostalgia. When you grow up, games aren’t a part of your life anymore. We wanted to bring that back into the daily life of adults.”

They were also inspired by classic Belgian fairs and arcade culture, as well as modern action movies. “It’s a bit of a James Bond meets John Wick vibe,” add Vandenitte and Félix, referring to the venue’s modern interior and slightly eccentric atmosphere.

The shooting range’s set-up allows players to fire small pellets at a protected screen, where impacts are detected and translated into a videogame style scoring. The guns used are identical replicas of models used by police and military for training. “We didn’t want lasers or cameras, we wanted simple ballistic, a bullet going out of a gun and detection,” say the founders, whose previous experience includes the axe-throwing WoodCutter activity and escape games Bomb Squad and Enygma.

Developing the new technology for Shooters took three years and cost close to €1 million. The projectile leaves the gun at around 110 metres per second and is detected through plastic film and software, allowing players to shoot at realistic targets such as ducks, cards or bottles displayed on a screen.

The focus is not on combat scenarios but on precision games that remain accessible and light hearted. “We made a conscious choice of not having any human forms. We’re not trying to introduce destructive themes. The focus is really on precision shooting,” Vandenitte and Félix told The Bulletin.

Game developer Ton, whose studio Rocket Vulture built the software, said the experience required a different approach from traditional gaming. “Most people who come here aren’t really gamers,” he said. “A large part of the experience is outside of the game like handling the guns and learning to shoot.”

The space itself was designed by architect Dimitri Goloubev, part of the Brussels based studio Attends Regarde, who described the interior concept as a blend of film inspiration and Renaissance style aesthetics. “The main concept was to design the cave of a villain, fond of arts and literature,” said Goloubev, pointing to stained glass and vintage statues.

One of the most challenging parts was building the shooting lanes, which required custom woodwork and careful integration of technology, he said. “Such an entertainment space didn’t exist beforehand, so we had to start from scratch and think about all the risks and challenges.”

Shooters attracts a wide array of visitors, from families on weekend afternoons to groups of friends and couples later in the evening. It also offers team building sessions. “On Sundays we see a lot of families. On Saturday night, it’s many dates, a lot of Tinder dates,” said Vandenitte and Félix.

On the refreshment front, it offers classic cocktails under the heading ‘Aim. Shake. Serve,’ alongside local beers, a selection of wine and appetisers.

As for the future, they hope to expand the concept with new games, tournaments and potential licensing abroad. “Now that we have the tech, we can build any games and upload them immediately.”

Photos: (main image) ©Shooters; other images ©Emil Verhulst