Chaos Karts provides fun fuelled activity for all ages

Chaos Karts is situated right in the centre of Manchester, on Lower Byrom Street and just a few minutes walk from Deansgate-Castlefield tram stop.

The venue is home to Manchester's augmented reality karting experience, which sees racers zooming around the venue and collecting coins as they go.

It's not your average go-karting experience, with more than just speed counting for wins and the aim being to gain as many gems and power-ups as possible.

The track also isn't a fixed feature and an augmented track is projected onto the floor around players and changes with each course with extra fun features added each race.

We went down and tried it out to let our readers know whether it's worth a trip.

Players get six races lasting three minutes each and the course changes themes from deserts to spaceships to urban city maps the experience remains entertaining throughout, and doesn't begin to get repetitive like with classic karting tracks.

As you travel through the different dimensions in the races, you can collect power-ups which give you different temporary abilities, such as the bomb which slows down whichever opponent you hit with it or the speed boost to, as you can guess, speed boost you.

Throughout the races players gain points for collecting gems, targeting opponents with power-ups and overall lap time.

After all six races are finished your points are totalled and the person with the most points wins. 

Some of the top (and bottom) titles given to our group (Image: Newsquest)

Upon exiting the experience there is a leaderboard to show you how you averaged and who was the best in which areas.

As for how enjoyable the experience was, it was definitely very fun, with the adrenaline pumping feeling of racing through the area full speed ahead combining with a bit of nostalgia from childhood video games making it a great activity.

It's also something I would say all ages can enjoy, and some of the Google reviews state that people have hosted their children's birthday parties there and enjoyed it. 

However, my only qualm would be the value for money.

We went on a Tuesday evening at 7pm and sessions at that time are priced at £25pp but they range from £23pp up to £35pp.

With the time we were there having included reading and signing a waiver, a safety briefing, and a brief introduction to the game as well as the six three-minute races, we were in and out in 40 minutes.

For something which is fairly expensive, especially if visiting with a number of children, I personally would prefer a little more substantial time.

That being said, during the safety briefing we were warned not to deliberately crash the karts as this causes damage to them and they cost £30,000 each- so part of me understands that they have to cover the cost of insuring such pricey equipment somehow. 

We did also all end up with some dirty hands from the rubber on the steering wheels.

Our dirt hands after the experience (Image: Newsquest)

Overall it was a really fun experience which I would say could easily be enjoyed with kids, a work party, a couple's night out or even just something to do when bored.

Just keep in mind the price and time if you go though, to avoid over expectations. 

And a few safety points to note: don't wear any heals or platformed shoes, tie back any long hair and don't wear any overly loose-fitting clothing.

Also don't show up after a drink or two, because drinking and driving isn't the kind of chaos anybody wants!