Stinger Report - 31/05/2021

TSR Newsletter | May 31, 2021

Silver Advertiser

-- The Stinger Report: Service Message --

The Global Digital Out-Of-Home Entertainment (DOE) Sector covered in The Stinger Report .

Wishing all our subscribers, famlies, loved ones, (and those serving) stay safe and well.

Kevin Williams

Publisher, The Stinger Report (TSR)

Social Entertainment Goes Golfing

Part 2 | # 1072

Report Skinny

In The Stinger Report #1072 – This issue covers in detail:

1. [TRENDING NEWS] Continuing the exclusive review of the impact that mini-golf’s new-found popularity is having on the international social entertainment scene, with revenues exceeding $1billion.

2. [TRENDING NEWS] Some of the perfusion of the UK’s new social entertainment mini-golf offerings are covered, such as Swingers, Junkyard Golf Club, and Urban Putt. But also, not forgetting the US interest in the growth of social mini-golf, with venues chains such as Putters and Gutters and Urban Putt.

3. [BREAKING NEWS] This feature also reveals developments in the new investment in concepts which support the retail space, with details of BOXPARK’s million Dollar new concept by Zachary Pulman Design Studio.

4. [BREAKING NEWS] The feature also lifts the lid on the unique social media app that could blast mini-golf into a new stratosphere of popularity, with the deployment of the first “Live Play’ golfing game apps – ‘OneShot Golf’ is exclusively revealed in this report.

….and much, much more!

To read the full Stinger Report, register for your subscription here.

- The Stinger Report, published by KWP and its director, Kevin Williams, is the leading interactive Out-of-Home Entertainment news-and-views resource, covering the immersive frontier and beyond.

Main Report

In this second part of our far-reaching coverage of the explosion of interest in mini-golf, we look at those looking to profit from its renewed popularity. This second section looks beyond just the gamification, but also the branding being applied to the latest venues springing up, and also looks at a surprise technological application that is offering mini-golf a new opportunity as a smart app.

- Modernized Mini-golf

In an informative feature for InsideHook, quoted by Front Office Sports, it was stated that more than 130 million people play mini-golf each year, and annual revenue across the industry has grown to exceed $1billion. This is a market that will be supercharged by the adoption of new immersive play to the proven formula. The growth in popularity of new independent mini-golf locations had gained momentum long before the market entered lockdown, and this need has been driven by a new modern approach to deploying the venerable pastime.

Not all new Social Entertainment mini-golf operations emerging are depending on tracked ball technology, but some are looking at a strong mix of food and beverage components (especially a strong cocktail atmosphere), to get the ball rolling.

One of the other UK-inspired new Social Entertainment mini-golf concepts is Swingers. Developed by the Institute of Competitive Socialising, this concept was initially rolled out as a pop-up installation, mixing food, cocktail bars and a swinging atmosphere with a fun interpretation of indoor mini-golf. The first test facility was opened in London, expanding to two permanent sites. The operation announced, in 2021, the raising of some $20m (from Cain International) and, with this, started a concerted effort to expand. In June 2020, Swingers unveiled their first US location at Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., in the two-floor, 20,000-sq. ft. space, which had formerly been occupied by Buffalo Billiards. The operation is another with an aggressive rollout plan to cement this version of mini-golf fun.

The UK has become a fertile medium for the new innovation in Social Entertainment employing mini-golf and several other brands have thrown their balls onto the green. Junkyard Golf Club, also emanating from the UK, has already opened some five locations offering its brand aesthetic and fun interpretation of mini-golf, supported by cocktails and attractions. The company is looking to widen its coverage soon. We have also seen Social Entertainment venues such as Lane7 offer their own offering of a mini-golf mix to their venues, currently with seven sites located in the country. The UK has seen numerous mini-golf deployments finding homes in retail mall settings in many cases. Treetop Adventure Golf is one such example, with four locations in the territory. The latest iteration is opening in the Birmingham shopping area of The Bullring. This venue offers an 18-hole course with a tropical theme, and even includes themed cocktails and food supported by the Rainforest Roast Café.

Example of the innovative layouts for some courses [Lane7]

Another chain which has added a strong mini-golf element to its brand is Flip Out – the UK’s leading trampoline and adventure park operator. The company has started to trial the concept across its 27 locations. One of the first examples seen is the brand’s new 30,000-sq.ft. Croydon, South London location, incorporating the operation’s themed mini-golf arena. This facility is placed inside the Centrale shopping mall in the town. This placement of mall and retail locations is a factor in the growth of interest in Social Entertainment.

Other examples of this approach have been devised to be incorporated into the BOXPARK property. The facility, called ‘Pop Golf’, has been developed by Zachary Pulman Design Studio (the developers behind the new mini-golf concept at Topgolf). ‘Pop Golf’ proposes to be a music-first social experience for crazy golfers, embracing a 1980s retro styling, amongst a cocktails and golfing narrative. BOXPARK is seeing the addition of a social entertainment mix as essential to establishing the chain.

Conceptual rendering of the new Pop-Golf design [BOXPARK]

But it is not just the UK that has embraced the social mix of mini-golf. Other locations which include a dedicated mini-golf component in development include the opening of the second Putters and Gutters – the indoor and outdoor entertainment section, scheduled for a 2022 opening in Texas, covers some 14,150-sq. ft. This mixed entertainment offering includes a rink, 20-lane bowling attraction, along with amusement and F&B, as well as the signature 18-hole mini-golf (‘Putt-Putt Golf’) of the brand. Meanwhile, another operation, Urban Putt, has two locations open. In Denver, the company’s 9,000-sq. ft. venue is in the renovated Old Spaghetti Factory in the historic Denver City Cable Railway Building. The venue was renovated at the cost of $5m and features a moody steampunk atmosphere.

The injecting of an updated interpretation of the mini-golf format into a retail space was personified by the installation of not one, but two golf attractions at American Dream. The first is ‘Out of This World: Blacklight Mini Golf’, an 18-hole course employing the latest blacklight effects, along with a unique course design incorporating 3D sculptures that glow with vibrant colors, and murals that “pop”. Though not including a F&B element, the installation brings a new entertainment to the retail space. But this is one of two mini-golf courses at the provocative retail and entertainment complex. Second is ‘Angry Birds: Mini Golf’ – again an 18-hole course comprising models based on the popular IP, aimed at a younger family audience. This is a great example how the recent trend in the popular game is parachuted into retail to rejuvenate attendance.

It is important that the reader understands that this is just a selection of new openings in the mini-golf scene. There is a numerous, and growing, selection of venues incorporating this activity (we apologise to those we have missed). Along with FECs and retail units, several Social Entertainment venues have rolled out a golfing element into their entertainment mix. One notable example comes from Punch Bowl Social, who included their ‘Putt Club’ (“links and drinks”) putting green style activity to their roster at selected venues. This is in direct competition with the already-mentioned new standalone mini-golf placements such as Puttshack, hoping to parachute the mini-golf offering in support of existing entertainment elements. The UK bowling entertainment chain, Hollywood Bowl, also announced its intentions to roll out its family focused mini-golf brand, ‘Puttstars’, with three venues scheduled to open.

Along with retrofitting the existing mini-golf indoor venues already in the marke, operations such as Creative Works, Amusement Construction and Art Attack support the refurbishment of this space. And for those operators looking to modernize their experience for the more sophisticated audience, there are platforms such as ‘Mini Golf App’. The developers have created a great free-to-download app that supports mini-golf courses, promoting activities, and collecting the players’ scores as they progress the course, linked into rewards. This is the addition of a simple smartphone app to gamify an already existing attraction – an element of the smart app revolution being forced onto the attractions sector.

Even the amusement sector has realized the importance of this traditional game experience. Italian operation Mondo Giochi has been selling its ‘Putt Master Pro’ – 12-hole playing surface, synthetic grass putting greens, in amusement deployable trays. Taking the concept one step further, the operation has created the ‘Putt Master ADV’ – a coin-operated, fully autonomous, mini-golf putting game building on the previous design. The company is developing a number of variants to suit the needs of the operator – allowing European amusement venues to capitalize in the game’s popularity.

Mini-golf turned into a coin-op experience [Mondo Giochi]

Innovation of a proven popular formula seems to single out the re-emergence of mini-golf, and the application in the amusement scene has seen the appearance of a brand-new concept that builds on the popular theme, with the latest technology. Minigolf.io is a start-up that has launched an innovative mini-golf amusement platform that uses an original dynamic floor system to take the golfing experience to a new level. The guests are able to play on an ever-changing mini-golf gameboard, with the layout of the space changing based on selectable 18 course designs, courses that the player can activate through a smart app (including a create-your-own course feature). Breaking into the amusement scene with this new self-contained system, the company will be showing this for the first time at the Amusement Expo in June.

- Attack of the Robots!

Speaking of modernizing the mini-golf experience, along with retrofitting of existing courses and the embracing of Social Entertainment, there is a brand-new third option. Readers of The Stinger Report will be familiar with our coverage of the UFO game machine phenomenon in Japan. One aspect of that is the “Online Skill-Crane Game” – originated by Netch and its ‘Netcatcher Netch’, this has actual physical UFO machines connected to “Live-Play” websites played remotely through a robotic interface, with the prizes won dispatched to the players. It is an online game service that has been emulated by CyberStep (‘Crane Game Toreba’), ‘SEGA Catcher Online’ (now rebranded ‘GOTON!’), and ‘TAITO Online Crane’, to name but a few.

Just as we look into the use of “Live-Play” in a new direction, it was announced that amusement operator Round1, with chains in Japan and North America, was adding its name to the list of online skill crane systems with the launch of a new Japanese service, ‘Round1 Online Crane Game’. Following the mould of the other services, this sees an online live playing of the controlled machines, and the opportunity to win a variety of prizes with items delivered to the lucky players. And just as we go to the wire with this special feature, another “Live-Play” game portal is revealed, this time from LAI Games Singapore studio, with the launch of ‘Arcade Online’ (full coverage in future features). But alongside this aspect, the business is seeing interest in another opportunity. We are about to see “Live-Play” enter a new phenomenon – just now hitting the mini-golf scene.

It was revealed that 54e Dev Studios, a game app developer with a long pedigree of previous work, has released its latest game app. Called ‘OneShot Golf’, the system specially creates mini-golf courses being played by a horde of some 50 online controlled putting robots, located in a warehouse. Players collect scores in game tokens for their successful games. The player, after downloading the “freemium” app to their smartphone or device, then plays various courses using the purchased tokens. The “Live-Play” (or what the developers are dubbing “Connected Reality” (CR)) video feed are interspersed with employees in the warehouse, holding up signs for the camera, encouraging online players and giving tips. The same employees maintain the fully autonomous putting robots, retrieving balls and resetting games.

Warehouse set-up of online min-golf robots [Regina Leader-Post]

This latest interpretation of “Live-Play” is positioning for great success from a Western play-base. Players purchase the tokens, but also able to win real prizes in the form of gift cards, depending on their prowess on the course. With only 15 employees manning the robots, since starting the service, 54e Dev Studios had closed, in December, a seed round of investment of $1.7m (led by Conexus Venture Capital), and is looking to expand, hoping to add another 40 robots to the warehouse setup – with plans for more. The developers are looking at other real-world amusements that could receive the “Live-Play” treatment. Expect to see RC-racing, Redemption and Pinball fall under the sights of the robots!

n conclusion, regarding mini-golf in general, the opportunities for this trend seem to be on the rise, split into three market opportunities. The first is the re-emergence of interest in mini-golf, and the retrofitting of outdated and tired indoor courses with the latest platforms. The second brings the embracing of social media and promotion into what Creative Works dubbed, in a recent panel session with Stinger publisher KWP (during EAG Online), the “Clicks, Bricks-n-Mortar” entertainment business. The social media elements are building on that virality. And thirdly, the new explosion in Social Entertainment, with new blood attached to an F&B mix, adding mini-golf as the new audience attractor.