We Went to MrBeast's Gift Heist Experience to See What That Guy's Whole Deal Is

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• Popular Youtuber MrBeast has taken his prolific gift-giving to the next level

• For three days, the MrBeast team has opened up an experience in downtown NYC that's giving away prizes and money to fans of all ages

• The event is done partnership with Shopify, who has factored heavily in several past MrBeast videos

What does it take to take part in one of popular YouTuber MrBeast's elaborate challenges? It's all about being in the right place at the right time. And it turns out that, for three days, the right place is Lower Manhattan, only a few blocks away from that deli where Harry & Sally got lunch that one time. Who knew?

Well, this writer knew. Because when you're on the "gifting news"beat like we are here at BestProducts, you can't avoid the guy whose become the top-earning digital creator through videos full of elaborate stunts and equally elaborate giveaways. I've talked about how his "birthday giveaway" went awry, and dove deep into why it's actually totally okay that he gave people free houses (this was, in fact, a controversy online for a bit).

So when I heard MrBeast and Shopify were rolling into my neck of the woods for what was described as a "heist" experience, and nobody was leaving empty-handed, I had to see what it was all about.

I only knew two things before I got down there.

One was that MrBeast was doing the event at Shopify's space on 131 Greene Street in Manhattan. The content creator and the commerce platform have had a fruitful partnership of late, with Shopify sponsoring MrBeast's Antarctic mountain climb in "I Survived 50 Hours In Antarctica" (and getting "Shopify Mountain" named for them in exchange) and even allowed fans to purchase pieces of the set from his "Ages 1-100 Fight for $500,000" video.

The other was that the folks behind this experience were remaining extremely tight-lipped as to what this experience was, what (if any) gifts would be given, and anything else that wasn't simply "It's a heist."

So I prepared myself for a heist.

Mostly by just watching Heat a couple of times.

It holds up.

But though I arrived unattached to anything I was not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if I felt the heat around the corner, I was relieved to discover that MrBeast's "heist" was far more family-friendly and far less felonious than I had prepped for.

Shopify's space has been reimagined into an elaborate vault-like setting full of memorabilia from various MrBeast videos over the years (from his recreation of Netflix's Squid Game to turf from the Ages 1-100 Fight video). Groups of fans are brought in a few at a time to complete "heist" tasks that, without spoiling the games, are definitely more Legends of the Hidden Temple than Dog Day Afternoon.

But of course, it wouldn't be a true MrBeast experience without money and gifts. One lucky member of each group had a shot at finding a special "diamond" hidden amongst foam blocks that would net them a hearty $100 at the end of the experience. Which, coincidentally, is the amount MrBeast himself was making off of his channel back when he only had 637 subscribers. And is also more than I ever made off of that Youtube channel that houses all of my old, bad student films.

But that doesn't mean everybody else leaves empty-handed. In fact, everybody who strolls through the experience walks away with a specially branded drawstring bag filled with a baseball hat and bars of MrBeast's own Feastables chocolate.

The event is running from Thursday, October 26 through Saturday October, 28 at 131 Greene Street in Manhattan, though RSVPs for all of the time slots have been filled up. But if you can get down there, the "score" from this heist is fairly fun, and at least as of this writing, will not get you hunted down by Al Pacino's Lieutenant Vincent Hanna and chased across the tarmac of Los Angeles International Airport. We will update this story should that change.

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