Minigolf at Leopoldpark in Blankenberge, Belgium

A visit to Leopoldpark in Blankenberge, Belgium.

Emily visited three courses and a new country on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour when she went to Blankenberge, Belgium back in 2016

What a sight for minigolf fans

The seaside resort is home to a Minigolf course, a Crazy Golf and a Snookergolf layout. The three 18-hole courses at Leopoldpark became the 710th, 711th and 712th visited on the tour.

Since 2006 Emily and I have visited 1,045 miniature golf courses around the UK and overseas on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. As well as playing minigolf in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Jersey and the Isle of Man we’ve travelled to minigolf courses in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Spain (Lanzarote and Majorca), Sweden and the USA.

The Minigolf course (left) and Crazy Golf course (right) at Leopoldpark

Photos of the Minigolf course at Leopoldpark, Blankenberge.

Photos of the Crazy Golf course at Leopoldpark, Blankenberge.

Photos of the Snookergolf Billiards course at Leopoldpark, Blankenberge.

We've got some great old postcards from Blankenberge that show the miniature golf courses which used to be at Leopoldpark. It's great to know there are still courses on the same spot today.

The whole place looks marvelously bright and colourful.

The Petanque terrain at Leopoldpark in Blankenberge

Visit the Leopoldpark website for more information.

Bagatelle at the Hyndburn Heritage Museum in Accrington

Spotting a Bagatelle display at the Hyndburn Heritage Museum in the Accrington Arndale.

We spotted this Bagatelle table on display in the window of the Hyndburn Heritage Museum while walking through the Accrington Arndale.

It's a pretty rare game and not really played much anymore. Most tables are to be found in Chester.

Playing Bagatelle

We've played Bagatelle once before, at the Union Vaults pub in Chester back in 2016.

One of our favourite pub games is Bar Billiards and the rules of that game can appear complicated to a newcomer. Bagatelle is no different in that respect. However, while the cue, table and green baize ball games may also appear to be similar in appearance, looks can be deceiving. 

Visit the Hyndburn Heritage & Community Group website for more information.

Cue Gardens Crazy Pool at The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre in Preston

The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre in Preston is now home to a new Crazy Pool course.

A new Crazy Pool layout has opened at The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre in Preston, Lancashire.

As the name suggests, Crazy Pool is a cross between crazy golf and pool, with wacky obstacles traversed by a ball 'potted' by the player using a cue.

The Crazy Pool course at The Flower Bowl is a 9-hole setup.

Check out The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre's website for more information.

The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre is also home to a Secret Garden Crazy Golf course.

We haven't managed to make it to the centre on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour yet, but are looking forward to playing some games there.

Crazy cue games

We've seen a fair few variations and hybrids of minigolf, pool, snooker & billiards games on our travels.

These have included Crazy Golf Pool and Pit-Pat, as well as some Crazy Golf obstacles that have been created using old pool and snooker tables.

Crazy Pool at Roxy Ball Room in Manchester

The new Roxy Ball Room at Withy Grove in Manchester will be home to a Crazy Pool layout.

Work is underway to create a new Roxy Ball Room venue at next to the Arndale Centre at Withy Grove in Manchester. One of the new games to play there will be Crazy Pool.

Crazy Pool is also available at the Roxy Ball Room on Hanover Street in Liverpool. As a fan of minigolf and billiard hybrid games I was intrigued to see what it would like as I've played a few on my Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

You can see a preview of the Crazy Pool at Roxy Ball Room in Liverpool on Roxy Ball Room's Facebook Page.

Taking a peak in the windows at the new Withy Grove location we saw a number of the Crazy Pool tables taking shape. They looked really good.

It'll be interesting to see what the cues and balls are like and what other obstacles will appear on the tables.

Visit the Roxy Ball Room website for details of their eleven venues and the games on offer.

Check out my blog post "Crazy Snooker Pool Billiards Golf and Pit-Pat" for a look at some of the stranger miniature golf and cue-sports crossover games we've played on our travels.

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Crazy Pool

A look at minigolf and billiard hybrid games.

We've seen a fair few variations and hybrids of minigolf, pool, snooker & billiards games on our travels. These have included Crazy Golf Pool and Pit-Pat, as well as some Crazy Golf obstacles that have been created using old pool and snooker tables.

We visited Skegness in 2011 and there was a sign for Crazy Pool on the promenade. It shared the sign for The Original Crazy Golf but there wasn't a trace of any tables when we were there.

A sign for Crazy Pool in Skegness, Lincolnshire back in 2011

Roxy Ball Room in Liverpool's Hanover Street will be home to a Crazy Pool game when it reopens later this month. It'll be an 8-table layout and I'm intrigued to see what the set-up is.

I first saw the game of Pit-Pat (obstacle billiards) in Vienna, Austria back in 2010 - it's like minigolf but played with cues.

You can find official Pit-Pat courses indoors at The Floodgate in Digbeth, Birmingham (where it's called Pit-Pat Table Golf) and outdoors at Watermouth Family Theme Park and Castle in Devon (where it is known as Crazy Snooker).

The only other full-size outdoor Pit-Pat layout in the UK was in Littlehampton. Sadly it became a lost course in 2017.

A selection of the minigolf and cue-sport crossovers we've seen on our travels

Related blog posts:
- Crazy Snooker Pool Billiards Golf and Pit-Pat
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - courses we've visited to date

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Crazy Pool at Roxy Ball Room in Liverpool

Liverpool's Roxy Ball Room venue on Hanover Street has received a makeover and is reopening on the 27th August.

One of the new games to play at Roxy Ball Room on Hanover Street will be Crazy Pool.

The team at Roxy Ball Room has described it as mash up of minigolf and pool.

It'll be interesting to see what the game is like and if it's Pit-Pat, or another variant on billiards and miniature golf.

Check out the Roxy Ball Room website for details of their eleven venues and the games on offer.

The Roxy Ball Room venue at Rainford Square in Liverpool is home to a crazy golf course. We're yet to play there on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

We have played minigolf at Boar Lane in Leeds and Deansgate in Manchester.

The new Withy Grove Roxy Ball Room in Manchester will also be home to a minigolf course.

Check out my blog post "Crazy Snooker Pool Billiards Golf and Pit-Pat" for a look at some of the stranger miniature golf and cue-sports crossover games we've played on our travels.

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Pool minigolf hole at Puttshack

A pool-themed hole at Puttshack super tech mini golf at White City.

Mini Golf pool at Puttshack

While playing Puttshack mini golf in London we spotted a cool pool-themed hole on the Sapphire course.

We didn't get to play the Sapphire course this time

How would you play the hole?

We've seen quite a few snooker / pool / billiards crossover holes on our travels.

Crazy Snooker Pool Billiards Golf and Pit-Pat

A look at some of the stranger miniature golf and cue-sports crossover games we've played.

On our travels we've seen quite a few variations of hybrid minigolf / golf / pool / snooker / billiards games including Crazy Golf Pool and Pit-Pat, as well as some Crazy Golf obstacles that have used pool and snooker tables.

In October last year we played Crazy Golf Pool at Krazy Golf Lydney in the Forest of Dean

I first saw the game of Pit-Pat (obstacle billiards) in Vienna, Austria in 2010 - it's like Crazy Golf but played with cues

The 7th hole of the Golf Apocalypse course in London back in 2012 used a snooker table

Hole 5 of the Plonk Golf course set-up at Efes Snooker Hall in Dalston, London in 2015 involved a pool table

Emily spotted the Snooker Golf course in Blankenberge, Belgium in 2017

There's a new indoor Pit-Pat venue opening at The Floodgate in Digbeth, Birmingham this year.

The Floodgate is about to open

A new indoor activity entertainment centre is opening in Digbeth, Birmingham.

The Floodgate social sports and games bar is opening soon in Digbeth and will offer people the chance to play the game of Pit-Pat.

Pit-Pat is similar to minigolf, but is played on elevated tables where you use cues to play the ball, rather than putters.

Playing the only other Pit-Pat course to have previously been in the UK

The Floodgate opens at The Custard Factory in Digbeth, Birmingham on Friday 1st November.

The Pit-Pat layout at The Floodgate will be the UK's first indoor Pit-Pat and the only playable course. Until a few years ago the UK's first and only other Pit-Pat layout was on the seafront at Western Putting on Banjo Road in Littlehampton.

The now sadly closed Western Putting in Littlehampton was home to a Pit-Pat layout, Crazy Golf and a grass Putting course

A view of the UK's first Pit-Pat course

Here's me scoring a two in a crazy way!

Emily scoring a two.

Shooting through a hoop.

I first saw the game of Pit-Pat aka Hindernis Billard while on a minigolfing trip to Austria in March 2010.

Pit-Pat Hindernis Billard at the Askoe Wien Wasserpark in Austria

Pit-Pat Hindernis Billard at the Askoe Wien Wasserpark in Austria

Pit-Pat Hindernis Billard at the Askoe Wien Wasserpark in Austria

As well as Pit-Pat the indoor competitive socialising venue will feature a curling rink and baseball batting cages.

We're looking forward to a Crazy World of Minigolf Tour visit to The Floodgate.

Visit The Floodgate website for more information, opening times and prices.

Check out my other Pit-Pat related blog posts.

Golfer's Putter Pool

While perusing the charity shops in Felixstowe at the weekend Emily spotted this brilliant looking golf/pool crossover game - Golfer's Putter Pool! At three quid it was a must buy.

Golfer's Putter Pool

We've been collecting miniature golf items since 2006 and hadn't seen this particular game before.

The game was made in the year 2000

We have however seen a few variations of hybrid minigolf/golf/pool/snooker/billiards games including Crazy Golf Pool and Pit-Pat, as well as some Crazy Golf obstacles that have used pool and snooker tables.

In October we played Crazy Golf Pool at Krazy Golf Lydney in the Forest of Dean

I first saw the game of Pit-Pat (obstacle billiards) in Vienna, Austria - it's like Crazy Golf but played with cues

The 7th hole of the Golf Apocalypse course in London used a snooker table

Hole 5 of the Plonk Golf course at Efes Snooker Hall in Dalston, London involved a pool table

Emily spotted the Snooker Golf course in Blankenberge, Belgium

Betway, sponsors of the UK Snooker Championship, have also created a version of Crazy Snooker. Check out the Putterfingers blog to see more.