Small Lanes, Big Impact

Reclaiming Prime Real Estate with High-Engagement Social Play

Owner of Planet Novak & The Novak Network

As I prepare to hit the pavement for the first leg of the Novak Roadshow, I’ve been thinking a lot about the “real estate” inside our facilities. Every square foot has to earn its keep. We all have that one attraction that perhaps was the “star of the show” five years ago but is now seeing its numbers plateau. For this month’s column, I reached out to someone who recently made a bold move to reclaim some prime real estate: Chris Camp, owner of Fun Fore All Family Fun Park.

Chris and his team recently hit the one-year mark with a brand-new mini-bowling installation. I wanted to pick his brain on the reality of this attraction – not from a manufacturer’s brochure, but from an operator’s P&L.

The Big Swap: From Screen-Time to Social Play

One of the toughest decisions an operator can make is when to pull a major attraction. At Fun Fore All, they decided to remove a dark ride to make room for something new. “We were looking for a new attraction to help drive business during our winter season,” Chris told me. “We needed something family-friendly, but we didn’t have the indoor space to fit full-length bowling lanes.”

This is a classic space-utilization story. While the media-based dark ride served them well for years, the switch to mini-bowling allowed them to offer a highly social, physical and multi-generational experience in a footprint that couldn’t accommodate traditional bowling infrastructure. The result? “Exceeded expectations!” Chris shared. “We weren’t sure how it would be received, but it helped increase our off-season revenue more than we projected.”

The “Adult” Attraction Secret

One of the most interesting takeaways from our conversation was the “synergy” factor. We often look at an attraction’s ROI based purely on swiping cards, but Chris noticed a significant shift in his demographic reach.

“The biggest boost has been group events,” Chris noted. “It helped us draw in more corporate groups because it is seen as an ‘adult’ attraction, but it also helped increase our birthday party sales because kids can play as well.”

This is a crucial operational insight: an attraction that bridges the gap between a 6-year-old’s birthday and a 40-year-old’s corporate team-building session is worth its weight in gold. It increases your dwell time and drives secondary spending at the snack bar or lounge because people are staying for the event, not just the game.

Logistics and Maintenance

As operators, our first fear with any mechanical attraction is the “down-time” headache. Chris’ experience over the last 12 months has been surprisingly smooth. “It’s general maintenance like any other attraction. As long as you keep up with the recommendations, there isn’t really much to it.”

When it comes to pricing, Chris took an agile approach. They started with a “per-game” model purchased at the front counter. However, they didn’t stop there. “We eventually included it in our time passes during the summer, and that helped as well,” Chris said. This flexibility – testing a pricing model and then adjusting it to fit seasonal traffic – is exactly how you maximize an attraction’s potential.

The “Experience” Surprise: Beyond the Hardware

Perhaps the most tactical advice Chris shared was about the environment surrounding the lanes. He didn’t just install the hardware and call it a day; he invested heavily in lighting and AV equipment.

“That has been a great addition,” he said. “Corporate groups have used the projection screens for presentations, and we use them for advertising for the groups as well.” By adding the AV layer, Chris turned a “bowling lane” into a “multi-purpose event space,” significantly increasing the value of that square footage.

Final Advice

I asked Chris what he’d tell an operator sitting on 1,500 square feet of underutilized space right now. His advice was simple: Do your homework.

“Talk to current operators and visit their locations to see what they are doing,” Chris advised. “We debated for a while on what we wanted to do and finally agreed to go with our layout. There are a lot of options out there – pick what is right for you.”

As I start the Novak Roadshow this month, this is exactly my mission. I want to see these layouts and hear these stories firsthand so I can bring them back to you. Huge thanks to Chris Camp for opening up his playbook. If you’ve been holding onto an attraction that has run its course, maybe it’s time to think small to win big.

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Clint Novak is the co-owner of Planet Novak and the founder of Novak Amusement Solutions and the Novak Network. He provides a bridge between high-level strategy and boots-on-the-ground reality for FEC operators. Visit him online at www.novakamusementsolutions.com or email [email protected].