Page 28 - #185 October 2023

Flight Club
Boston, US

Reaching the Next Level

Designed to enhance the definition of fun, State of Play Hospitality is a highly
innovative creator and operator of technology enabled experiential leisure concepts.
Here, RLI sits down with the company CEO Toby Harris to learn more about what it
offers visitors, what makes the group stand out in the competitive socialising market
and what the future holds.

tate of Play Hospitality (State of Play) was founded eleven years premium gaming environment drawing on the aesthetics of ping pong
ago as a creator and operator of premium social entertainment whilst retaining the playfulness long associated with the brand.”
Sconcepts. Its initial concept, Bounce, first opened in Farringdon, Discussing the development pipeline, Harris explains that they have a
London with additional sites launching in London, including its most recent number of Flight Club sites in the US that are well advanced legally which
launch at Battersea Power Station and Chicago in 2015 and 2016 respectively. will open in 2024 and 2025. Meanwhile, they are looking to secure a central
Since then, the business has gone on to create and launch Hijingo in London site for their second Hijingo venue along with signing their first
London and roll out Flight Club in North America under licence. The international deal for the concept, which would ideally be in the US.
business also co-founded Puttshack which it subsequently spun out of “We are currently looking seriously at Continental Europe, where we are
the group in 2019. In total, the company operates eleven sites across seeking JV partners and also Canada, where we are likely to operate venues
its concepts. Seven of these are positioned across North America (six ourselves. The Middle East is also a target market over the next three years
Flight Club locations and one Acebounce) and four are in London (three where we look to partner with a local operator,” Harris remarks.
Bounce locations and one Hijingo). As a creator of best-in-class tech enabled social entertainment
“Over the summer we opened our sixth Flight Club in Denver, concepts, innovation is embedded in their DNA and for them, technology
Colorado and our third Bounce in the iconic Battersea Power Station in is the key to enhancing gameplay in all three of their concepts and they
London,” explains Toby Harris, CEO of State of Play Hospitality. “Given are constantly looking to improve the quality of the user experience and
the seven-year gap since the last Bounce opening, the intention was to scalability of the operating platforms.
relaunch the brand with Battersea and we are delighted with the result. As the conversation with Toby moves onto the ‘concept experience’
The design has more than delivered on the brief to create a fun, fresh, and how the business interacts with its customers, he explains that first

Hijingo
Shoreditch, UK

Bounce
Farringdon, UK