Commentary

Competitive socializing marches on: How far can it go?

The competitive socializing revolution feeds off the explosion of interest in the digital/physical entertainment trend that has enlivened mini golf, darts and bowling.

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December 12, 2022 by Kevin Williams

The competitive socializing scene that has taken hold in London in a big way continues to expand. A movement that taps traditional amusement games, posing new opportunities for an amusement sector still trying to find its footing in the post pandemic era.

In the financial hub of London's Canary Wharf, a social entertainment facility opened that hopes to revolutionize the social entertainment scene by employing the redemption amusement that has been available for decades.

Fairgame, a 20,000-square-foot facility in the Fisherman's Walk area of the wharf, comprises a mixture of bar and cocktail, scratch kitchen menu and fairground inspired amusement redemption.

Game element critical

The game element of the facility is powered by a state-of-the-art RFID wristband payment system, with the facility operating a £13 ($15.96) per-player fee, with wristbands offering nine games on the amusements active for a duration of 75 minutes.

The games available include interpretations of popular fairground experiences, ranging from a shooting gallery, skeeball, whack-a-mole and ball throwing experiences. The games offer an atmosphere of entertainment for up to five and 10 players — and have been specially developed to continue the theme of the venue.

The gamification of the competitive element is supported by both smart cards and RFID wristbands that track players' scores, which are then represented on a leader board display. The cards and bands top up at terminals.

The facility offers a high-level of hospitality with beers on tap, as well as an extensive cocktail menu, and is supported by its own mascot, appropriately named "Bear Goggles" — available as winnable merch. This is the first deployment of the brand and it hopes to establish itself in a crowded market of entertainment spaces with a strong hospitality component.

The Fairgame site also supports its own food hall, with guests able to pick from a menu of popular dishes, keeping the theme going. All this is supported by the extensive bar and cocktail element.

Other venues on board

The social entertainment approach to fairground/carnival activities has also been seen in other venues that have sprung up in London. Most notably, the utilizing of the whole top deck of a parking structure to create Roof East — London's largest "adult playground," covering some 30,000 square feet, the space is populated with rooftop bars and food stalls, along with batting cages, ping pong, cornhole, bowling and carnival game stalls. However, its outdoor nature sees this venue open from April to October each year.

This Canary Wharf location was proving popular with a new competitive socializing concept, already seeing the opening of an Electric Shuffleboard venue close by.

At the same time as the opening of the Fairgame venue, the Clays' venue announced it will be opening a second site at the Isle of Dogs London Borough location. This area is becoming a cultural hub, with some 300 shops, cafés and bars — and the city office workers and local residents will be seeing, opening in December, its latest social entertainment venue. Clays is a sports shooting hospitality space, with cocktails, with this December opening being the first of its wider rollout.

Also in London, and a short tube ride from Canary Wharf and Fairgame, the pub chain BrewDog opened its latest central London pub. The venue is a record holder, being one of the largest U.K. bars open in the capital, and is also the first in a new model of chain pubs and bars from the company that fully embraces social entertainment on top of the chain's normal hospitality.

With the opening of BrewDog Waterloo, the company launched a venue comprising a multi-floor installation covering some 27,000 square feet, along with numerous bars in this space and including six lanes of duckpin bowling (string bowling), along with ping pong tables — even including a 10-foot spiral slide next to party rooms and a recording studio. The venue is also supported by a scratch kitchen menu offering a wide selection of sharable offerings and a beer selection of some 60 draft beer taps, supported by cocktails.

BrewDog, having moved from brewing beer, now retails beer and spirit sales, bars, hostel and hotels, and a chain of pubs, all under the brand — opening venues in the U.K. and the U.S. The company has taken a firm grip on incorporating social entertainment to its venues, with other sites seeing the inclusion of shuffleboard, pool tables or amusement pieces.

Responding to social change

The company is embracing the new social landscape, especially with the changed working habits of the local business force, and the changes in how people want to socialize, with support of group social outings. The inclusion of entertainment in pubs and bars in the U.K. had been muted of late, fixated on AWP gaming machines, but this monopoly seems ripe for being broken, as social entertainment is being seen to be deployed as seen on the Four Quarters chains and VR arcade bars.

These venues are the cornerstone of the competitive socializing revolution feeding off the explosion of interest in the digital/physical entertainment trend that has enlivened mini golf, darts and bowling.

Leading the charge in the U.K. to supply these needs is the distributor Home Leisure Direct.

Amusement trade takes note

The first sign of others in the amusement trade waking up to the opportunity include the rolling out of a range of "adult venue appointed amusement" from Sega Amusement International, following its welcoming to the line of the 501 Entertainment range of social entertainment platforms.

The BlackRock group, meanwhile, recently invested some $150 million into the hospitality fueled mini-golf chain, Puttshack, towards its plans for a major U.S. rollout. Currently only operating six venues (four in the U.K,, two in the U.S.), the operations will see the new fund define plans for over 30 facilities in the coming years.

The operation, originated by the same creators of the TopGolf concept, has developed a mini-golf experience aimed at social entertainment, with a mix of cocktail and food in support of the competitive social element, empowered with trackball technology and digital scoring. The next eight U.S. venues are scheduled for 2023.

How long will it take before the rest of the amusement trade realizes the competitive socializing opportunity?

(Editor's note: Extracts from this blog are from recent coverage in The Stinger Report, published by Spider Entertainment and its director, Kevin Williams, the leading interactive out-of-home entertainment news service covering the immersive frontier and beyond.)

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About Kevin Williams

Along with advisory positions with other entrants into the market he is founder and publisher of the Stinger Report, “a-must-read” e-zine for those working or investing in the amusement, attractions and entertainment industry. He is a prolific writer and provides regular news columns for main trade publications. He also travels the globe as a keynote speaker, moderator and panelist at numerous industry conferences and events. Author of “The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities,” the only book on this aspect of the market, with the second edition scheduled for a 2023 release.

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