A blog about our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. With a sprinkling of nostalgia and urban exploration for good measure.
Thursday, August 05, 2021
Cue Gardens Crazy Pool at The Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre in Preston
Sunday, November 01, 2020
The Floodgate turns one
Happy birthday to The Floodgate in Digbeth.
The Floodgate in Digbeth, Birmingham opened it's doors a year ago today.
Pit-Pat table golf at The Floodgate in Digbeth, Birmingham |
It was brilliant to be the first player on the Pit-Pat table golf layout as I'm a big fan of the minigolf and pool crossover game.
You can also play on indoor baseball batting cages and a curling rink at the competitive socialising venue.
Visit The Floodgate website for more information, opening times and prices.
Check out the blog post from my visit to The Floodgate.
Friday, October 30, 2020
Opening The Floodgate
The Floodgate in Digbeth turns one this weekend.
The Floodgate in Digbeth, Birmingham officially opened it's doors a year ago this Sunday.
Pit-Pat table golf at The Floodgate in Digbeth, Birmingham |
It was nice to be the first player on the Pit-Pat table golf layout on the pre-opening night a year ago today as I'm a big fan of the minigolf and pool crossover game.
You can also play on indoor baseball batting cages and a curling rink at the social sports venue.
Visit The Floodgate website for more information, opening times and prices.
Check out the blog post from my visit to The Floodgate.
Friday, August 21, 2020
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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Thursday, January 09, 2020
Mini Golf and Billiard Golf in Puerto Colón, Tenerife
A look at the Mini Golf course and Billiard Golf tables in Puerto Colón, Tenerife.
Many thanks to my friend Philip Walsh for sending over some snaps of the Mini Golf course and Billiard Golf tables at the shopping centre in Puerto Colón, Tenerife.
It's always brilliant to see different courses from around the world.
We've seen a few different types of snooker/pool/billiard golf courses and Pit-Pat tables over the years, but the one in Puerto Colón is a new variant of table top miniature golf billiards.
Wednesday, November 06, 2019
A visit to The Floodgate in Digbeth, Birmingham
Checking out The Floodgate, a new experiential entertainment venue in Digbeth.
Last Wednesday I headed down to Birmingham to check out the new indoor entertainment venue at the Custard Factory in Digbeth.
The Floodgate is home to three activities - indoor baseball batting cages, curling and Pit-Pat table golf.
As a BIG fan of all things minigolf-related my main interest was the Pit-Pat table golf.
Pit-Pat is similar to crazy golf in that you have to play over, up, through and around different obstacles on each of the tables. The main difference though is that you use a cue rather than a club.
After checking out the baseball cages in the main bar area I walked through a corridor to find the curling rink.
The baseball batting cage |
Curling |
A little further down the corridor was a sign for Pit-Pat and then to the left was a doorway into the Pit-Pat course.
The Pit-Pat layout is split into three, with most of the tables in one large retro graffiti art covered room. The tables have been UV painted and so there's a nice glow-in-the dark look to it.
Table 12 can be found all on its own in a very cool black & white room. The mono look is a very nice contrast to the UV sections.
Tables 13 to 18 then follow, with more graffiti art on the walls and some tricky obstacles including a bridge, ramp & net, pipes and a loop-di-loop to tackle.
It was brilliant to be the first person to play the UK's first and only indoor UV Pit-Pat Table Golf course. I had five rounds at The Floodgate, scoring 47, 51, 37, 34 and 36. I was very happy with my rounds in the 30s and the 34 was very sweet as I shot four aces.
I'd previously played Pit-Pat at the UK's only previous course back in 2014. Sadly that course in Littlehampton became a lost course a couple of years ago.
As I was leaving to catch my train back home the Pit-Pat area began to fill up with more players taking to the tables.
This is a nice obstacle and hole to play into |
It was nice to see people enjoying the batting cages and curling too, along with the street food and well stocked bar.
Table 18 |
Check out The Floodgate website for more information, opening times and prices.
The Floodgate is housed in this old building built in 1938 |
Friday, November 01, 2019
The Floodgate in Digbeth opens tonight
Good luck to the team at The Floodgate in Birmingham as the venue opens today.
The new entertainment spot is home to the UK's first indoor UV Pit-Pat Table Golf course.
Pit-Pat at The Floodgate |
The 18 Pit-Pat tables are set in a graffiti art covered glow-in-the-dark area.
Visit The Floodgate website for more information, opening times and prices.
Check out my videos from my visit on Wednesday for a taste of the Pit-Pat Table Golf course.