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Entertainment Social Arena #6 - Social Sports Explosion - Part 2
This second report looks at the rapid growth of “Sportainment,” blending active, immersive, and gamified experiences across venues worldwide. Innovations include AR-enhanced virtual sports, interactive projection walls, and hybrid venues combining traditional sports with digital technology, such as golf simulators, trampoline parks, and social darts. The sector is expanding with chains like Five Iron Golf and Flight Club integrating hospitality and gamification, while new concepts like “Phygital” environments and eSports-driven facilities gain prominence. This trend signals a shift toward highly interactive, social, and health-conscious entertainment offerings, creating significant opportunities in sports tech, experiential venues, and hospitality integrations.
This is the Entertainment Social Arena, issue Number 6, social Sports Explosion, part 2, by Kevin Williams, continuing the coverage of sport aimment growing in the social entertainment landscape and we look at the investment made in social venues employing more active entertainment and simulation. While the more traditional active entertainment environment is popular, interest has grown in the fidgetal environment, marrying projection and interactive object tracking to created gamified sports experiences. An example of this popularity is seen with Legend Heroes Sports, an indoor virtual sports entertainment venue employing augmented reality sports technology, over 13 different sports games available across the sites, with multiple venues in Korea and Japan, digital sports and activities that are starting to be considered for the new generation of sportainment venues in the West. New Chain Sparks has opened a second facility in Ghent, belgium, offering 50 different attractions ranging from zergaming to sports simulation and active entertainment. Embracing the sportainment branding to sports simulation and active entertainment. Embracing the Sportainment branding to promote healthy and fun activities. The company has also looked to the future and included XR technology in their mix. This includes running a Hado Arena at their site. The Melep AR Player vs Player esports activity offers a highly physical workout and generates a strong audience appeal.
Speaker 1:In North America, established entertainment chains have embraced an active entertainment element such as Peter Piper Play Parks, installed across 24 of the Peter Piper Pizza FEC chain of over 120 venues. Another CEC entertainment brand, chuck E Cheese venues. Another CEC entertainment brand. Chuck E Cheese has started to roll out a companion Active Zone rebranded Superhero Playgrounds Alongside experimenting with a larger indoor active play experience with a test standalone concept, chuck E Cheese Adventure World planned to open in Arlington, texas, for November. An example of the embracing of active entertainment witnessed from other chains. This reapplication of the brand comes as CEC rolls out 11 of their new Chucks Arcade basking during a full-blown nostalgia boom, especially among Gen Z, a generation too young to remember the original arcade boom but are embracing the nostalgia rush. A coming EAS feature will look at the ascendance of retro arcade openings in the social entertainment scene.
Speaker 1:We recently saw installed at the Light in Huddersfield, uk, a new interactive projection ball-tacked enclosure system called Interactive X-Wall. The system offering ball-kicking bays against the large projection display. The system offering ball-kicking bays against the large projection display, the player's ball interacting with the game on the screen. This offering the latest interactive ball screen system in the market, alongside Neo Experience and PlayMind. Highly physical interactive entertainment sits alongside the sportainment buzz. All these systems employ interactive projection wall and floor systems.
Speaker 1:Interactive virtual environments with tracking to play sports games have become a key component in the growth of sports entertainment. Away from Batting Cages 2.0, we have also seen sports simulation entertainment SSE systems dropped into unique experiences. Examples include the launch of Jump Shot Live, a basketball concept that has a highly gamified experience supported by a high level of hospitality, to be rolled out in its own chain of facilities. Interactive hoops played within Jumpshot court suites supported by LED displays and kiosk ordering. At the same time, we have seen trampoline and jumping experiences gamified with interactive projection systems. Playo has launched their Jumping game, available in three variants, including their Playo Court, supporting up to 12 players competing on a trampoline installation with a central screen showing the game action. The Playo Tower, based on the Sweeper Trampoline Tower system. And the Playo Mini, a Mini Tramps Trampolines version for facilities of all sizes, all systems supported by a library of six game titles. Playo announcing that they have partnered with Fun Spot in the USA to distribute their platforms as part of their trampoline and fun park business.
Speaker 1:Extreme Active Entertainment offering a strong activity are also seen from developer ValoMotion. Along with their ValoClimbing and ValoJump experiences, the company has ventured into immersive enclosure systems with their Valo Arena. This comes as many active entertainment venues look to include more SSE-related entertainment in their mix, the hope being that new audiences can be attracted. Offering normal trampoline and active play for younger audience in the day and in the evening, offering social entertainment for older patrons after dark. Active entertainment chains work on growing their chain operation, as seen with altitude, a 100-chain indoor fun operator says it is now targeting new markets in Minnesota, indiana, nevada, missouri and Colorado for the rest of 2025, planning to open 12 to 15 parks annually. These interactive projection enclosures in the SSE scene are personified by the explosion in golf simulation. Again, training simulator systems have been redefined for entertainment and hospitality application.
Speaker 1:What were colloquially referred to as golf sim and golf lounges have gathered momentum in the current competitive entertainment landscape. South Korea has seen a mushrooming of investment into what they have dubbed golf bars, a format that can trace its roots to the Japanese market around 2010, and the appearance of simulator golf bay lounges in this territory, now established internationally. The golf sim scene, comprising the ball tracking technology married to projection screen and virtual golf course representation, upscaled systems now including touchscreen selection and ordering processing. The manufacturers of this simulator technology, seeming to also lead the way in the rollout of golf bar venues, as seen with the South Korean GolfZone chain, a vast operation of golf simulation lounges based on their two-vision golf simulation technology StrikeZone deployed in consumer, commercial and entertainment applications for golf lovers.
Speaker 1:Golf lounge venues offering a growing hospitality component have gathered momentum in North America, with chains such as Five Iron Golf. Part of a 34-chain of venues that originally offered golf simulation bays supported with cocktail and shareable menu, the operation hopes to grow its presence, pivoting into mixed entertainment, rolling out an expanded version of their venues that will include duckpin bowling and amusement. The first example of this opening at the Plaza Coral Gables in Miami, florida, a 29,500 square foot location acting as a flagship for the brand, comprising 12 golf simulator bays powered by Trackman technology, along with 12 bowling lanes and versatile indoor-outdoor spaces that showcase Five Iron's signature fusion of golf performance, entertainment and hospitality. Another massive golf sim lounge operation comes from Topgolf, currently still part of Callaway Golf. The Topgolf Swing Suite venue covers over 100 venues. Employing the Trackman simulation technology, they offer hospitality-infused sim bays. Another large chain of golf lounges is represented by North American business X-Golf, with some 139 sites with an active franchise role out of their golf lounge operation.
Speaker 1:While Europe has chains like RUFF with some 16 indoor golf lounges also offering Trackman-powered simulator bays, smash Swing have developed unique multiplayer environments for golf players to play against a giant projection screen rather than individual bays. The indoor range will be featuring a big screen, 100 feet long and 30 feet high, hitting from 40 feet away and 30 feet high, hitting from 40 feet away. The operation recently announced securing a deal with legendary video game developer ATARI to develop two new games based on their iconic properties Asteroids and Centipede. This licensing deal with Atari negotiated by agent Beanstalk. The concept is planned to be rolled out in Canada, new York and Europe. The concept is planned to be rolled out in Canada, new York and Europe, the first of its kind in the States, by bringing a 12-player indoor range to the Beyond Golf Chico project. Construction of the 10,000-square-foot facility planned to start in 2026,. Moving to the individual sportainment elements, and only a matter of months since the internationalion darts at Gandia, valencia, this championship for the sport saw over 1,200 players in four days competing across soft-tip and steel-tip formats.
Speaker 1:The popularity of darts is strong and it has found a home in hospitality through both the tournament and social approaches, as well as with the inclusion of gamification, to increase its social appeal. Darts has found a strong home in the new wave of competitive socializing Chains like Flight Club, one of the first to define the popularity of gamified competition. Owners, state of Play, announced their 13th North American venue of the 27-facility chain, located in Addison, marking the brand's second location in Texas. The venue branded as offering Signature Social Darts, it features 12 private and semi-private playing areas known as Oches, and spans 8,000 square feet, planned to open in 2026. The concept launched in the UK in 2015. To date, over 7 million people have experienced flight club and over 500 million darts have been thrown.
Speaker 1:The popularity of the game of darts in a hospitality environment is proven. The addition of automated scoring, ordering and a social environment with F&B has added to its appeal. Automated dart systems have been common in the amusement sector and we have also seen soft-nose darts with dedicated tournament systems, such as the Japanese Darts Live system from Sega Japan, along with the European Dartsie platforms. Other success stories from the application of adding gamification to the darts experience is 501 Fun, with both their interactive scoring variant and their full AR projection mapped dart systems. The company has seen international sales across 700 venues ranging from Dave Buster's to Gravity Max, chalking up recently 501 million throws, while Lasertronic, building on the success of their axe-throwing AR system, created their Crazy Darts platform Facilities in the hospitality sector.
Speaker 1:Investing in adding gamification through darts also includes the bar and public house scene, pivoting to a more social entertainment environment. It was revealed that Heineken UK-owned Pubco Star Pubs would be investing £120,000 into a darts entertainment installation across their chain of 2,400 hostelries. The chain planning to install the 500 Fosters-sponsored Darts Zone, which will comprise conventional steel-tipped darts boards and promotion at venues. Though the operation is looking at expanding its entertainment presence linked to sponsorship deals through their brands. We are witnessing sports bars remodelling to embrace the popularity of competitive socialising, adding an entertainment component Such as Ludo, about to open a new Cardiff Wales facility under the Ludo Sports and Live Lounge brand. This third in the operations chain will include giant wall screens for watch parties, along with the extensive F&B, but this flagship site will be the first in the chain to include interactive darts and basketball.
Speaker 1:The growth of sports entertainment directly into the hospitality sector, away from standalone sites, will become a defining aspect in the growth of the sector, expanding the sports application with interactive, immersive environments. We have shooting game applications such as the Simway Sports hunting digital shooting training platform, who has ventured into competitive socialising with their Wild West shooting experience for multiple players, along with their clay-shot social entertainment clay pigeon shooting platform that has been incorporated in the spinners and level one venue chains, as seen with the golf, soccer and baseball experiences. The shooting systems build off the experience in creating accurate digital simulation training platforms that pivot into entertainment. Another such example of the sports and shooting training developer migrating into commercial entertainment we have Lasershot, the platform used in the point-blank chain of venues in Manchester, liverpool and Newcastle. One of the gathering competitive socialising venues built around a shooting experience is Clay's, having announced the opening of their second London Clay Pigeons shooting experience for groups supported by high-end cocktails and a shareable menu, along with the French virtual shooting venue, pan, offering their interpretation of the classic sports shooting experience Sportainment racing onwards into other sports, such as seen with sim racing in the racing simulator scene, as seen with the success of F1, arcade and other eSports, sim racing lounges.
Speaker 1:And away from the simulation, we have the go-karting marriage to the hospitality scene, as seen through the likes of Andretti's and K1 Racing. Other aspects of racing involved in a social entertainment setting are expected to appear in the coming months, with virtual horse racing and other popular sports married to gamification. This is proving a vibrant and expanding aspect of social entertainment and we look forward to reporting the next innovations.
