Live, Laugh, Loft Social in Stockport

Loft Social - a new competitive socialising venue - is open in Stockport town centre.

We spotted this new sign for the venue today

Loft Social is home to indoor archery, curling, deck shuffle and pétanque, and can be found on the 3rd Floor of The Courts (above Sports Direct near the market place).

Playing Pétanque.

We're big fans of Pétanque so it's interesting to know there's a place to play in Stockport.

Find out more.

Check out Loft Social's Facebook Page for more information.

Related blog posts:

• Loft Social
• Stockport
• Petanque
• Competitive Socialising

Loft Social in Stockport

There's a new competitive socialising venue in Stockport town centre.

Loft Social is home to indoor Archery, Curling, Deck Shuffle and Pétanque.

Loft Social can be found on the 3rd Floor of The Courts (above Sports Direct near the market place).

Find out more.

Check out Loft Social's Facebook Page for more information.

Playing Pétanque.

We're big fans of Pétanque so it's interesting to know there's a place to play in Stockport.

Related blog posts:

• Stockport
• Petanque
• Competitive Socialising

Games and fun at the King Pins Arndale Summer Mixer

Attending the King Pins Arndale Summer Mixer event in Manchester.

I attended the King Pins Arndale Summer Mixer business networking event at King Pins in the Manchester Arndale Centre yesterday for an evening of competitive fun and games.

King Pins Arndale recently celebrated the venue's first birthday and I've previously been there to play the minigolf course on my Crazy World of Minigolf Tour (in October last year in a match-up versus my fellow minigolf adventurer Tom Loftus from the USA), and Emily and I have swung by for drinks and a bite to eat there too.

The indoor Mini Golf course at King Pins

This time I got to play Tenpin Bowling, Ice-Free Curling and Tech Darts - what a triathlon!

I hadn't had a game of tenpin bowling for ages, and while I only got one strike I did hit quite a few nines and spares.

One of the two Ice-Free Curling rinks

I'd never played Ice-Free Curling before and I really enjoyed it.

Ice-Free Curling gets the thumbs-up from me

King Pins has two curling sheets in their rink! Playing in two teams the match got very competitive, with plenty of strategy and tactics brought into play.

A well placed stone

Curling is similar to boules/petanque in the scoring and gameplay - another one of those games that is easy to pick up and play, but very tricky to master!

There was plenty of drama and action in our curling match-up!

We finished the evening with the Tech Darts where we were able to play a range of different games, as well as games of 201 and 501, with the tech taking care of the scoring for us. It was a reminder for me to get my dartboard up at home as I haven't played for quite a while and my 'arrers were pretty rusty!

King Pins is a nicely set-up space with plenty of room to enjoy the games with your group, without knocking into or overlapping with others. While me and the other attendees of the event were playing there were lots of other groups, couples and families visiting the venue for a game or two.

Ten needed...

...double 5 got

As well as the tenpin bowling, tech darts and ice-free curling King Pins Arndale also offers a packed arcade in the basement, shuffleboard (and bank shot shuffleboard and tech shuffle), a batting cage, duck pin bowling, wild west shooting, and karaoke booths!

I'm looking forward to playing more Ice-Free Curling in the future

The darts area has three tech dart boards and plenty of space around the oche

If you haven't yet been, I recommend a visit to King Pins for yourself. Even if you're not playing any games it's a chilled out spot to get a drink and relax for a while during a shopping trip at the Arndale.

As well as the Arndale Centre venue in Manchester, you can find King Pins locations at the Trafford Palazzo in Manchester and Bristol. The new Glasgow King Pins opens later this month, with the Leeds location opening in August, and a Belfast King Pins opening soon!

I'm still yet to have a go on the Hungry Hungry Hippos arcade game - it looks very cool

Check out the King Pins website for more information.

Many thanks to the team at King Pins for organising the free Summer Mixer event. It's always nice to get out and about, meet new people, and network. And it's a real bonus if the venue is as fun as King Pins!

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.