A high tech game of red-light green-light, pattern memorization and exploding asteroids tricks you into getting in a workout at Activate Games in Roseville.

“It’s been a lot of fun these first couple of weeks having people come through and get so excited about having a new concept in the area,” general manager Blake Telshaw said.

The concept originated in Canada and features game spaces that are minimally decorated but futuristic, with scannable radio-frequency identification wristbands that allow players access to nine different game spaces. The wristbands also track “Star reward” points and can even open a personal locker for important items like bags, wallets and phones.

Videos of the facilities posted on Tik Tok by both Activate Games and visitors have views ranging from 50,000 to 33 million views, with the game “Mega Grid” attracting the most attention.

“Whatever you want is the experience you can get,” Team lead Cory Iisakka said.

The nine games reinvent childhood schoolyard games, taking simple concepts like color matching and elevating them with touchscreens and interactive technology. Other games feel like something out of a spy movie, in which the player is tasked to crawl under laser beams and shoot at moving targets.

“Definitely do some research on the games before you come in,” player Tyler Carlson from Elk River said Thursday.

Whether people are looking to work as a team or compete against one another, games can be set accordingly in cooperation or competitive modes.

Each game also comes with its own variation of minigames to diversify play in each room. The nine unique games vary from challenging players through intense physical activity to mental strategy and problem solving.

“There’s always a different game or different room that appeals to people,” Telshaw said.

Activate Games in Roseville is a new active gaming facility that opened July 23, 2024, reinventing classic games from childhood like The Floor is Lava, and Red Light Green Light. (Courtesy of Activate Games)

Games like “Hide,” in which a player and partner race around a room hitting buttons in a numbered sequence, are physically involved. Telshaw said some people have used the facility to replace their gym memberships.

“It’s a really cool, fun way to work some exercise into your routine,” Iisakka said.

The game experience costs $29.99 per person, and booking must be made for two people, even if a person wants a solo play experience. Discounted deals run for groups of 10 or more. Prizes like merchandise and gift cards can also be redeemed using a player’s Star rewards. The space can also be rented out to host events like birthday parties and celebrations.

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“We’re geared towards friends and families that want to play,” Telshaw said.

There’s also bragging rights at stake: Players are automatically added to a leaderboard and every month the top five scorers qualify for an end of year tournament. The winner gets a cash prize and their name on a trophy.

Active Games Roseville opened July 23 and celebrated Thursday with Roseville Mayor Dan Roe cutting a ceremonial ribbon with the staff and team.

“I could see how groups could have a lot of fun here,” Roe said.

Activate Games

Activate Games in Roseville is a new active gaming facility that opened July 23, 2024. (Courtesy of Activate Games)

What: Interactive, live-action gaming facility.
Where: 1955 County Road B2 W., Roseville
Hours: 9:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 9:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Info: To learn more or book an experience, visit playactivate.com/roseville.

By MATTHEW BROWN and AMY BETH HANSON, Associated Press

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump headed to Montana for a Friday night rally in hopes of ousting the state’s Democratic senator, but his plane first had to divert to an airport on the other side of the Rocky Mountains because of a mechanical issue, according to airport staff.

Trump’s plane was en route to Bozeman, Montana, when it was diverted Friday afternoon to Billings, 142 miles to the east, according to Jenny Mockel, administrative assistant at Billings Logan International Airport. Mockel said the former president was continuing to Bozeman via private jet.

Trump’s campaign posted a video of him upon landing in which he said he was glad to be in Montana but did not mention anything about the landing.

The former president came to Montana hoping to remedy some unfinished business from 2018, when he campaigned repeatedly in Big Sky Country in a failed bid to oust incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.

Tester has tried to convince voters he’s aligned with Trump on many issues, mirroring his successful strategy from six years ago. While that worked in a non-presidential election year, it faces a more critical test this fall with Tester’s opponent, former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, trying to link the three-term incumbent to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Harris has benefitted nationally from a burst of enthusiasm among core Democratic constituencies, who coalesced quickly around her after President Joe Biden withdrew from the campaign last month. She’s drawn big crowds in swing states, touring this week with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her choice to be her vice presidential nominee.

Trump’s only rally this week, meanwhile, will be in a state he won by 16 percentage points four years ago rather than a November battleground. Facing new pressure in the race from a candidate with surging enthusiasm, Trump on Thursday called questions about his lack of swing state stops “stupid.”

“I don’t have to go there because I’m leading those states,” he said. “I’m going because I want to help senators and congressmen get elected.”

He will add on fundraising stops in Wyoming and Colorado.

Trump could be decisive in Montana’s Senate race

Friday’s rally at Montana State University, which is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. Mountain time, is expected to draw thousands of GOP supporters. Yet the former president’s bigger impact could be simply having his name above Sheehy’s on the ballot in November, said University of Montana political analyst Rob Saldin.

“There is a segment of the electorate that will turn out when Trump is on the ticket,” Saldin said. And that could benefit Sheehy, a Trump supporter and newcomer to politics who made a fortune off an aerial firefighting business.

Republicans have been on a roll in Montana for more than a decade and now hold every statewide office except for Tester’s.

Tester won each of his previous Senate contests by a narrow margin, casting himself as a plainspoken farmer who builds personal connections with people in Montana and is willing to break with his party on issues that matter to them. He’s also become a prolific fundraiser.

The race has drawn national attention with Democrats clinging to a razor-thin majority in the Senate and defending far more seats than the GOP this year. Tester is considered among the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents.

For him to win, large numbers of Trump supporters would have to vote a split ticket and get behind the Democratic senator.

Trump’s drive to oust Tester traces back to the lawmaker’s work in 2018 as chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Tester revealed past misconduct by Trump’s personal physician, Ronny Jackson, that sank Jackson’s nomination to lead the Veterans Affairs Department

Then-President Trump took the matter personally and came to Montana four times to campaign for Republican Matt Rosendale, who was then the state auditor. Rosendale lost by 3 percentage points.

Tester has positioned himself apart from national Democrats

Before Trump’s latest visit, Tester has sought to insulate himself against charges that he’s part of the Democratic establishment by rolling out the names of Republicans who support him, including former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot. His campaign highlighted more than 20 pieces of legislation, many dealing with veterans’ issues, that Tester sponsored and Trump signed.

Tester also was the sole Democratic delegate from Montana to withhold a vote backing Harris as the party’s presidential candidate in the wake of Biden’s withdrawal. And when the Democratic National Convention takes place later this month in Chicago, Tester will be back in Montana “farming and meeting face to face with Montanans,” campaign spokesperson Harry Child said.

The last time Tester attended the Democratic National Convention was in 2008. That’s also the last time a Democratic presidential candidate came anywhere near winning Montana, with President Barack Obama losing by just over 2 percentage points.

A similar situation is developing in Ohio, where three-term Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown faces a tough race in a state expected to vote for Trump.

Harris visited Ohio when the two were Senate colleagues to raise money for Brown’s 2018 campaign, but Brown has said he has no plans to campaign with her this year. Like Tester, Brown has highlighted legislation he worked on that Trump signed into law.

Friday’s rally takes place in Gallatin County, which Tester has become increasingly reliant on over the course of his political career.

He lost the county in his first Senate race, in 2006, but his support has since grown. A substantial margin of victory in Gallatin in 2018 helped push him ahead of Rosendale.

Republican Don Seifert, a former Gallatin County commissioner, said he voted for Tester that year and plans to do so again this year.

Seifert backed Trump in 2016 and said he has continued to support other Republicans, including Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and Sen. Steve Daines.

“Montanans tend to vote for the person over the party,” Seifert said. “For the state of Montana, Jon is the one that can do what we need.”

But Sheehy says Tester has lost touch with his home state and fallen into step with Democrats in Washington. The Republican said in a message this week to supporters that Tester was “responsible for the rise of Kamala Harris” because he served as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2015 to 2017, when she was elected to the Senate from California.

Tester has outraised Sheehy by more than three-to-one in campaign donations reported to the Federal Election Commission. However, outside groups supporting Sheehy have helped the Republican make up much of that gap. Spending in the race is on track to exceed $200 million as advertisements from the two sides saturate Montana’s airwaves.

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Associated Press reporter Julie Smyth contributed from Columbus, Ohio.

By MATTHEW PERRONE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health regulators on Friday declined to approve the psychedelic drug MDMA as a therapy for PTSD, a major setback for groups seeking a breakthrough decision in favor of using mind-altering substances to treat serious mental health conditions.

Drugmaker Lykos Therapeutics said the FDA notified the company that its drug “could not be approved based on data submitted to date,” and requested an additional late-stage study. Such studies generally takes several years and millions of dollars to conduct. The company said it plans to ask the agency to reconsider.

Lykos and other psychedelic companies had hoped that MDMA would be approved and pave the way for other hallucinogenic drugs to enter the medical mainstream. If the FDA had granted the request, MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly, would have become the first illegal psychedelic to become a federally approved medicine.

The FDA’s decision was expected after a panel of government advisors voted overwhelmingly against the drug’s use for post-traumatic stress disorder in June. The negative vote came after an all-day meeting in which experts scrutinized Lykos’ study data, research methods and possible risks of the drug, including heart problems, injury and abuse.

FDA said Friday the MDMA application had “significant limitations” that “prevent the agency from concluding that the drug is safe and effective for the proposed indication.” The agency said it will continue encouraging “innovation for psychedelic treatments and other therapies to address these medical needs.”

Lykos said the issues FDA raised in what’s called a complete response letter echoed the concerns during the June meeting.

“The FDA request for another study is deeply disappointing,” Lykos CEO Amy Emerson said Friday in a statement. “Our heart breaks for the millions of military veterans, first responders, victims of sexual and domestic abuse and countless others suffering from PTSD who may now face more years without access to new treatment options.”

Lykos is essentially a corporate spinoff of the nation’s leading psychedelic advocacy group, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS, which funded the initial studies of MDMA by raising millions of dollars from wealthy backers.

The group has been a pioneer in researching the medical use of psychedelics, which major pharmaceutical companies have been unwilling to fund. Two small studies submitted to the FDA suggested combining MDMA with talk therapy led to significant easing of PTSD symptoms.

Antidepressants are now the only FDA-approved drugs for PTSD, which is closely linked to depression, anxiety and suicidal thinking and is more prevalent among women and veterans.

In recent years, MDMA research has been widely publicized by combat veterans, who say the lack of treatments options for the condition has contributed to higher rates of suicide among military personnel. Last month, veterans supporting psychedelic therapy rallied on Capitol Hill in support of the drug. And more than 80 House and Senate lawmakers have signed letters to the FDA in recent weeks urging MDMA’s approval.

But FDA’s review brought new scrutiny to the research. The vast majority of patients in Lykos’ studies correctly guessed whether they had received MDMA or a dummy pill, making it “nearly impossible” to maintain the “blinding” which is considered essential for medical research, according to FDA internal staffers.

In recent months, separate allegations of misconduct have emerged, including that some researchers involved in the studies coached patients to suppress negative results or inflate positive ones.

Despite the setback, many experts say other psychedelics may fare better before the agency.

MDMA is the first in a series of psychedelics that are expected to be reviewed by the FDA in coming years as part of a resurgence of interesting into their therapeutic potential.

The idea of using psychedelics to enhance psychotherapy is not new. A handful of therapists in California used MDMA during the 1970s and 1980s — when it was still legal — to facilitate couples therapy sessions. MAPS was founded in 1986 to oppose a federal decision placing MDMA in the same ultra-restrictive drug category as heroin, LSD and other illegal psychedelics.

MAPS’ studies of MDMA began more than a decade ago. Since then, dozens of small, startup drugmakers have entered the field, studying other substances like psilocybin and LSD for conditions including depression, addiction and anxiety. Those studies are generally larger and more rigorous than the MDMA studies submitted to the FDA.

Two drug developers, Compass Pathways and Usona Institute, are conducting late-stage studies of psilocybin — the active ingredient in magic mushrooms — for severe depression.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.