A family entertainment center (FEC) in the entertainment industry, also known as an indoor amusement park, family amusement center, family fun center, soft play, or simply fun center, is a small

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

marketed towards families with small children to teenagers, often entirely indoors. They usually cater to "sub-regional markets of larger metropolitan areas." FECs are generally small compared to full-scale amusement parks, with fewer attractions, a lower per-person per-hour cost to consumers than a traditional amusement park, and not usually major tourist attractions, but sustained by an area customer base. Many are locally owned and operated, although there are a number of chains and franchises in the field. Some, operated by

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

organizations as

children's museum Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums fea ...

s or

science museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...

s, tend to be geared toward

edutainment Educational entertainment, also referred to by the portmanteau edutainment, is media designed to education, educate through entertainment. The term has been used as early as 1933. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has inciden ...

experiences rather than simply amusement.

History

FECs are essentially a converged outgrowth of theme restaurants that increasingly developed their in-house amusement features, small-scale amusement parks needing more offerings than just a few rides and midway games, and diversifying formerly one-attraction venues (

water park A water park (also waterpark, water world, or aquapark) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming ...

skate park A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, quarter pipe ...

billiard hall A billiard hall, also known as a pool hall, snooker hall, pool room or pool parlour, is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve alcohol and often ha ...

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...

s, and so on). All four categories have moved over several decades continually toward stock, popular entertainment solutions supplied by third-party vendors. Chuck E. Cheese, opened in 1977 as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, was one of the earliest widely known examples of these in the United States.

Attractions

Most FECs have at least five common major or "anchor" attractions, to provide diverse patrons (often in large parties) at least one to two hours of entertainment, to encourage repeat visits, and to reduce time spent waiting for any given attraction. Some of the more usual attractions include (depending upon size, climate, etc.): * Amusement/thrill rides (elevated, but generally small-scale) *

Animatronics An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

displays *

Arcade games An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade ...

Ball pit A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...

* Batting cages *

Bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...

* Bumper boats *

Restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

*Food: Snack bar and

fast food Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...

(often

pizza Pizza is an Italian cuisine, Italian, specifically Neapolitan cuisine, Neapolitan, dish typically consisting of a flat base of Leavening agent, leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high t ...

) *Food: Quality family and group dining in theme restaurant * Inflatables * Kiddie rides (ground-level) *

Kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

* Laser tag *

Miniature golf Miniature golf (also known as minigolf, putt-putt, crazy golf, and by #Nomenclature, several other names) is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest ...

Movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

and

dancing Dance is an art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements or ...

Playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...

equipment and climbing structures *

Redemption game Redemption games are typically arcade games of skill that reward the player proportionally to their score in the game. The reward most often comes in the form of tickets, with more tickets being awarded for higher scores. These tickets can th ...

s and merchandiser games *

Roller skating Roller skating is the act of travelling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreation, recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on s ...

* Specialty stores (toys, comics, music, etc.) * Tube maze *

Virtual Reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

Water slide A water slide (also referred to as a flume, water chute, or hydroslide) is a type of Playground slide, slide designed for warm-weather or indoor recreational use at swimming pools or water parks. Water slides differ in their riding method and ...

The most common anchor activities are miniature golf, kart racing, arcade and redemption games, and food & beverages, according to industry specialists StoneCreek Partners. FECs rarely use custom-built attractions, because of the costs involved, and instead install off-the-shelf systems provided and maintained by industry equipment vendors. Any given FEC may lean more towards outdoor activities, arcade gaming, or passive entertainment and dining. Each may cater to different age ranges, all the time, or during certain hours, e.g., children and entire families in the daytime, and teens to young adults in the evening, with specific promotional programs to attract different market segments at different times.

Business model

FECs tend to serve "sub-regional markets", such as small cities, quadrants or boroughs of larger cities, and a large suburban area outside such a city. Their busiest times are weekend afternoons and Thursday through Saturday evenings. Because most of the attractions are essentially the same from FEC to FEC, two of the most important factors in a particular center distinguishing itself to potential customers are a highly visible location (hard to obtain because other uses for the land are often more competitive), and a consistently developed and promoted theme that appeals to the target market segments, "the fun factor in the overall decor". Parental concerns are also important. While children themselves rarely think of it, a major factor in the attractiveness of an FEC to parents is on-site safety and security, as adults may drop off older children at such an establishment to entertain themselves. An increasingly important factor for success is high-quality food and drink to attract parental spending as well as whole-family dining.

Non-traditional FECs

Various major media and entertainment brands, including

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

, United Artists/Regal and Viacom, have been attached to family entertainment centers, often much less "traditional" than local and chain FECs, with custom-built, unique attractions, usually heavily branded, and most often located in major metropolitan areas. The first such urban entertainment center (UEC) was the Universal CityWalk in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, which opened in 1993, linking several Universal properties. Including various retail outlets, restaurants, and attractions, the CityWalk created a great deal of "sustained buzz" in the retail real estate industry, which began "embracing the notion that Universal Studios, Sony, Disney, and other entertainment companies could create new anchors and entertainment programs for shopping centers". Another significant UEC was the Sony Metreon in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

(1999–2006). Some nonprofit, educational installations, such as the

Exploratorium The Exploratorium is a museum of science museum, science, technology museum, technology, and art museum, arts in San Francisco, California. Founded by physicist and educator Frank Oppenheimer in 1969, the museum was originally located in the ...

in San Francisco, also have aspects of FECs in format and atmosphere, but with activities geared toward learning and experiencing rather than simple entertainment. Some for-profit enterprises also use this model, or mix

with simpler amusement attractions.

In Canada

* Chuck E. Cheese (U.S.-owned) * Playdium *

Galaxyland Galaxyland Powered by Hasbro (formerly Galaxyland, Fantasyland) is an indoor amusement park located in the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was home to the world's tallest (14 stories) and longest indoor roller coaster, the Mi ...

West Edmonton Mall West Edmonton Mall (WEM) is a large shopping mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that is owned, managed, and operated by Triple Five Group. It is the second most visited mall in Canada, after the Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, followed by Met ...

(formerly named Fantasyland)

In Indonesia

* Fun World (Jakarta) * Trans Studio Makassar (Makassar, South Sulawesi)

In Mexico

* KidZania (Mexico City, 1999) * America's Incredible Pizza Company (Monterrey, U.S.-owned) * Chuck E. Cheese

In the United Kingdom

* The Living Rainforest * Water World, Stoke-on-Trent * Sea Life London Aquarium *

Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. One of the early main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors, which appeared in advertising in 1843. In 1883, the restricted space of ...

In the United States

The main national industry group in the U.S. is the National Association of Family Entertainment Centers (NAFEC), which is a division of the International Laser Tag Association (ILTA). Some U.S.-based companies also have venues in Canada (noted above), but this is rare due to the legal/political difficulties involved in cross-border corporations. North American FECs vary wildly in themes, size and features. Some of the larger businesses in this category have included: * Adventuredome * Adventure Landing (Jacksonville Beach, Florida, 1995) * America's Incredible Pizza Company (chain, based in Springfield, Missouri, 2002) *

Boomers! Parks Boomers Parks (stylized Boomers! until 2018) is a chain of family entertainment centers which feature indoor activities such as carousels, kiddie swings, restaurants, and video game arcades, and outdoor activities such as miniature golf, kiddie ...

(chain) * Brunswick Zone XL (defunct, bowling/pool/video game chain) * Bullwinkle's * Bowlero ** AMF Bowling ** Bowlmor Lanes ** Lucky Strike Lanes * Castle Park *Celebration Station (chain) * Chuck E. Cheese (chain, based in San Jose, California, 1977) * Club Disney (defunct) * Crayola Experience *

Dave & Buster's Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. (stylized in all caps) is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas. Each Dave & Buster's location has a full-service restaurant, full bar, and a video arcade; the latter of w ...

(Dallas, Texas, 1982) *

Discovery Zone Discovery Zone (DZ) was an American chain of entertainment facilities featuring games and elaborate indoor mazes designed for young children, including roller slides, climbing play structures, and ball pits. It also featured arcade games. A t ...

(Lenexa, Kansas, 1990) *Disney Junior Play Zone *

DisneyQuest DisneyQuest was a Retail chain, chain of indoor interactive theme parks in the United States operated by the Disney Regional Entertainment subsidiary of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The DisneyQuest pro ...

(defunct) *

Disney Springs Disney Springs is an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complex at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, near Orlando. First opened in 1975 as Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village, it has been expanded and rebra ...

(Urban Entertainment Center) * Downtown Disney (Urban Entertainment Center) *

GameWorks GameWorks is a gaming-based entertainment center with a single location . It was owned by then-owner ExWorks Capital, each venue featured a wide array of video game arcades, in addition to full-service bars and restaurants. It was originally cre ...

(Seattle, Washington, 1997) * Mr. Gatti's Pizza * Golfland Sunsplash (full waterpark and miniature golf course with FEC section, California and Arizona) * John's Incredible Pizza Company (1997) *Jeepers! (defunct) * KidZania * Legoland Discovery Center (Schaumburg, Illinois, 2008) *

Malibu Grand Prix Malibu Grand Prix (MGP) was an entertainment company that was popular during the 1970s and 1980s as a franchised miniature Indy car racing track. The typical complex included a 3000-4000 sq ft. arcade with a concession stand and a race track outsi ...

* Main Event Entertainment *Mountasia Family Fun Centers *

NASCAR Speedpark PARC Management, LLC is an operations company based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. which operates a Go-Cart Family Entertainment Center, in Sevierville, Tennessee.

(

NASCAR racing ''NASCAR Racing'' is a series of car racing video games originally developed by Papyrus Design Group in the 1990s. The series started in 1994 and ended with the release of ''NASCAR Racing 2003 Season'' in 2003. Later NASCAR games were released b ...

theme; four U.S. locations) *

Nickelodeon Universe Nickelodeon Universe is the name of two indoor amusement parks located at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota and American Dream in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with a third location under construction at the Mall of China in Chongq ...

* Peter Piper Pizza (chain) * Putt-Putt Fun Center * Regal FunScape (chain; movies, minigolf, video & "VR" games, food court, etc., depending on location) * Round1 Bowling and Amusement and Spo-Cha (chain, Japan-owned) * Scandia Amusement Park (full amusement park with FEC section, California) * Sesame Street Learn & Play * Sky Zone (chain, indoor trampoline park; locations in US and Canada) * Sony Metreon (Urban Entertainment Center, San Francisco, California, 1999–2006, Japan-owned) *Stars and Strikes Family Entertainment Center * The Game Room powered by Hasbro * Tilt Studio (chain, an offshoot of the original Tilt arcade chain) * United Skates of America (roller skating rink chain, founded 1971) * Universal CityWalk (Urban Entertainment Center) **

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and Amusement park, theme park located in Universal City, California, near Hollywood, Los Angeles. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. Its official marketin ...

(Los Angeles, California, 1993) **

Universal Orlando Resort Universal Orlando Resort, often shortened to Universal Orlando, is a theme park and entertainment resort complex located in Orlando, Florida. It is the flagship of the Universal Destinations & Experiences theme park chain. Following the succes ...

(Orlando, Florida, 1999) * uWink (2007) *Urban Air Adventure Parks (2011) * Wannado City (defunct) * ZDT's Amusement Park (full amusement park with FEC section, Texas)

In other countries

Entertainment City Entertainment City, also known as E-City (formerly PAGCOR City and Manila Bay Tourism City), is a gaming and entertainment complex under development by PAGCOR spanning an area of in Bay City, Metro Manila. It was first envisioned by PAGCOR in 2 ...

(

Manila Bay Manila Bay (; ) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the Manila, capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Philippines and ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

) * Happy City (

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

) * Round1 (

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

) * Sega Republic (

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

2009, Japan-owned but closed down) * Universal CityWalk (part of

Universal Studios Japan is a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Destinations & Experiences, Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the United States. The park is owned and operat ...

, Osaka, U.S.-owned) * Ferrari World Abu Dhabi (

) * Joypolis (

) * Dazzeland (

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

1991-1998, now closed) * SuperPark (

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

) * Timezone (

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

)

References

{{Amusement rides Indoor amusement parks Play (activity) Tourist activities Amusement arcades Entertainment Performing arts