Social entertainment drives ‘digital/physical’ development phase
... The rise of social entertainment has been personified by the popularity of the hospitality-centric entertainment venues seen with Topgolf, Puttshack, FlightClub, Swingers and other brands.
However, this new phase of entertainment experience is better described as "competitive socializing" — a term first coined in the U.K. as far back as 2015 and initially defining pubs incorporating a circus entertainment vibe, or bowling and food and beverage brands. ...
The twist for the current adoption of competitive socializing is the inclusion of guests' engagement, be it the use of tracked balls and scoring seen in the new generation of crazy golf properties such as with "Lucky Putt" from Creative Works, or the use of augmented reality projection technology in the "Smarts: Interactive Darts" platform, from 501 Entertainment. ...
Escape rooms lead change
One aspect of the social entertainment explosion that has been hard to pigeonhole was that of the escape room experience. A law unto itself, the closest affiliation had been with the "scare" attraction scene, and even LARP'ing (live action role playing). ...
The market expands
Another aspect of the social entertainment scene has been the number of new players. One of those is Toca Social, the company associated with the football players' training operation, which opened its flagship social entertainment experience a few months back in The O2 in London.
What some have described as "Topgolf for football!," the facility comprises 17 football simulator booths, using tracking software and a projected screen, with players demonstrating their shooting skills through a variety of mini games, scoring points. ...
