Floating orbs, interactive lotus flowers. This is a marijuana dispensary like no other.
Sitting in the shadow of the Las Vegas strip at CES 2019, where everything is bigger and brighter, Planet 13 is on a mission to overhaul the recreational marijuana experience.
The company has a 15,000 square-foot showroom that offers more than 70 strains of cannabis from over 50 retail vendors. Planet 13 says that's just the beginning.
Its building has another 100,000 square feet waiting for the next phase. Plans are already underway to open a smoking lounge and nightclub: a 24/7 sensory marijuana experience that only Vegas could dream up.
Recreational marijuana became legal in Nevada in January 2017. It didn't take long for the pot industry to step up its game.
Planet 13 has an open, airy lobby that includes an interactive, pressure-sensitive floor with images that morph as you walk across it.
During last week's CES 2019, Planet 13 drew the tech crowd by hosting a VR festival at the dispensary. Here, a man lost in his own world plays popular VR game Chicken and Waffles.
You get started at Planet 13 by signing in at one of the Apple iPad stations. Meanwhile, you await a personalized "budtender" assistant who will walk you through the shopping experience.
Two VR festival attendees play a virtual reality version of the classic Atari game Pong, first released in 1972.
The dispensary showroom floor is currently more than 15,000 square feet. The building spans 112,000 square feet and the company plans to add a smoking lounge, nightclub and other recreational and shopping facilities.
Some of the marijuana flowers on display at Planet 13.
This color wheel helps customers navigate the varied strains of marijuana available. You start by choosing from broader qualities like "Effect" or "Aroma" and eventually more specific flavors and taste profiles that suit what's right for you.
The wheel then points buyers to specific strains of marijuana that are best for the qualities they want.
Floating above the showroom floor, five color-changing orb drones fly in choreographed formations.
You shop the products at Planet 13 via an iPad menu mounted at the end of each display case.
Modern marijuana isn't all smoked. These are peppermint, blood orange and chamomile herbal teas infused with cannabidiol, better known as CBD, a cannabis compound that doesn't make people feel "stoned."
Here is Evergreen Organix's THC cookie of the month. THC,or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive compound in marijuana.
Two Roots is the world's first de-alcoholized craft beer that's been infused with cannabis.
A panel of virtual reality industry experts discuss location-based VR entertainment.
One of the budtenders in red -- there to assist shoppers -- helps a customer navigate the hundreds of choices at Planet 13.
A virtual DJ projected onto a mesh screen spins music at the end of the hall.
Lining the roof are 13 LED lotus flowers that stand 15 feet high -- interactive art that can be controlled by Planet 13 visitors.
The red-shirted budtenders assist customers through the dispensary's products.