What is Strange House, the magic venue Nick Kokonas is building with Nate Staniforth?

Strange House is an immersive venue Nick Kokonas is developing with magician Nate Staniforth, where small groups move from room to room like a Disney haunted house ride and meet close-up illusions, with no stage and no magician on show. Kokonas says the team found 90,000 square feet beneath Wall Street in Manhattan and spent six months negotiating the letter of intent. He set a floor of $20 million in gross revenue at a ticket of around $120.

• The project began after Kokonas cold-emailed Staniforth about a flaw in his lottery trick and got a call back within minutes.
• Staniforth later sent a full proposal with QR-code videos of scale-model rooms.
• Kokonas names Elan Lee of Exploding Kittens among the team he is assembling and says the builders of Taylor Swift's stage would build one room.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on My First Million (2026-10-26). Read the whole episode summary →

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