ValoJump at Play Factore

Overview

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With its giant red slide and an endless array of brightly-colored padded pipes and tubes, Play Factore looks like a modern version of Willy Wonka’s factory, if Mr. Wonka actually cared about his visitors’ safety. At over 26,000 square feet, Play Factore is the UK’s largest family entertainment center for children 0 – 16 years old and happens to be home to the tallest and longest indoor slide in the United Kingdom. Play Factore also includes a massive network of tunnels and obstacles, a football pitch and basketball court, a toddler area, a zip line, and a blacklight-enhanced Star Wars-themed Laser Tag Arena. It’s at once a paradise for active children and a family’s perfect day out, and it has been pleasantly exhausting folks in and around Manchester, England for the better part of 11 years. 

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In July 2020, Play Factore added a new attraction that introduced a decidedly bouncy element to the physical joys kids could experience within its enormous play frame. ValoJump was not just installed, it was fully integrated into the environment, and just like that, little springy bodies could be seen flying high above “Caution Low Gravity” signs adjacent to a network of primary-colored tubes 

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For more than two years now Play Factore management and employees have witnessed first-hand the impact Valo Motion’s interactive, mixed-reality trampoline experience has had on its visitors and business. As Play Factore’s Activities Manager, it’s Lewis Loynds' job to oversee daily operations on the Play Factore floor. Loynds is paid to monitor the pulse of both Play Factore’s visitors and its employees and is therefore quite literally the best person in Manchester to speak on how ValoJump can affect a business. Loynds was joined by his boss and the company’s founder, Fawad Munir.

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"ValoJump has taken Play Factore to another level in terms of technology at a family entertainment center." – Fawad Munir

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Why ValoJump?

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The path towards the introduction of any new attraction or technology is often unique to a venue, with some commonalities sprinkled into the story. In Play Factore’s case, an older technology began to wane just as the COVID lockdown began.

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“I remembered seeing ValoJump for the first time at IAAPA, and we had kiddie go-karts that were beginning to be old hat, and then COVID happened,” said Munir. “And we looked at ValoJump, and we looked at the space and we realized we could fit in a modular attraction, and that ValoJump would take Play Factore to another level in terms of technology at a family entertainment center.”

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Munir also pointed out that adding Valo Motion into the play frame at Play Factore was “a give back to the 5 to 16 year-olds who are our biggest audience. The fact that ValoJump isn’t an additional paid attraction was a value add for our core customers—it’s not just a big play frame any longer. ValoJump is available off peak for 5-16 year olds at all times.”

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Variable pricing, peak and off-peak 

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Play Factore’s business model is organized such that profits are maximized during its busiest hours and eased to accommodate more budget-conscious families when business tends to be slower.

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We have two periods here, peak and off-peak,” begins Fawad Munir, Play Factore’s founder and CEO. “A charge, off-peak for a 5-16 year-old includes ValoJump and access to the huge play frame. Off-peak is Monday to Friday. And then we really kick in during peak time, which is school holidays and Saturdays and Sundays. During peak time, if you pay the standard fee for a 5-16 year-old, they get access to the play frame, Laser Tag, and ValoJump. We also have two additional paid activities: zipline and VR.”

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What about staffing?

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Unpredictable performance from a product also impacts staffing dramatically, as Play Factore’s go-karts did before they were replaced with ValoJump. “To operate go-karts on the weekend it was a minimum of two people, and if they’re breaking down, several more,” Munir said.

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ValoJump Vs. Go Karts: It's all about consistency

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For Play Factore, the choice to replace their kid go-karts with ValoJump came down to consistency. “The biggest issue we had with the go-karts is that they broke down on a regular basis. So the queues were inconsistent. We couldn’t plan how many people we get through in an hour. The predictability wasn’t there because the product was technologically inconsistent. And then the queues got bigger and bigger.

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We wanted to eliminate queues because people who’ve paid to come in should have the opportunity to use the attractions within the set time frame,” said Munir. “ValoJump is a very stable product. We know how long each game is. We can calculate throughput,” Munir said.

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“It’s hard to emphasize in words,” Loynds said, chiming in with his take on replacing go-karts with ValoJump. “The go-karts were so unpredictable in terms of how they operated and when they would misbehave. If a kart doesn’t work one morning, all of a sudden you extend your queue rate by two, then two and a half minutes, and so on. It was chaos especially when you take the square footage of the track into account.”

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"ValoJump is a very stable product. We know how long each game is. We can calculate throughput." – Fawad Munir

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The importance of taking something home

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One ValoJump feature that has to date flown under the industry radar is the ability to email a video of yourself while bouncing hilariously through the gamified play area. For PlayFactore, this feature has proven to be a game changer. “What ValoJump did for us is that it allowed not only kids the opportunity to be physical, but it also allows them to take something away,” Loynds said, referring to the selfie video feature. “Virtually every single customer--I’d say over 90%--email the videos of them playing to themselves,” he continued. “Now, that is a selling point. It’s a wonderful feature. Simple, but quite clever.”

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“In that regard, ValoJump has covered two objectives for us,” Munir said, adding that ValoJump’s selfie video feature has positively impacted Play Factore’s queue levels. “One, you get to take something away, and two, it’s completely reduced the queue level. No one likes to wait… we live in a generation of evidence and of proof via Instagram.”

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The WOW factor

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From the beginning, Munir was confident ValoJump would fill the gap left by the go-karts literally and figuratively. “We bought four ValoJumps initially because I wanted to fill the space we had available and because having four people in the air increases the ‘wow factor’,” Munir said.

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“The wow factor is the next stage of the evolution of a family entertainment center. Technology is taking over. Eventually, everything will run through technology. After 10 years of being open, we needed to ask ‘What is the next thing that's going to bring the customers in’ because things started to get repetitive. It’s all about changing and adapting,” said Loynds. For Play Factore, the perfect way to change and adapt while still remaining true to Play Factore’s core mission was ValoJump.

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​​“There are FOUR 55-inch screens blasting out this amazing ValoJump experience all the time. Kids can’t help but be drawn to it.” “If you’re asking about the wow factor,” said Munir, ready with an example. “We had the go-karts on the ground level. When you walk in, you can't really see them. With the trampolines, the nature of a trampoline is that it’s on a stage. It is a stage. On top of that, there are four 55-inch screens blasting out this amazing ValoJump experience all the time. Kids can’t help but be drawn to it. That makes a big difference,” said Munir. “And we’ve customized the way they fit into the aesthetic at Play Factore. That to me is the wow factor.”

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"To date, we’ve not received a single bit of negative feedback regarding ValoJump." – Fawad Munir

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What do customers say?

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Strategy and planning are all well and good but, in the end, visitors will either enjoy a product or not.

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“To date, we’ve not received a single bit of negative feedback regarding ValoJump,” he said, “ and we get negative feedback on other products all the time.”

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“Everyone wants to jump on the trampoline,” said Loynds. “Not one single customer has come to me or my team and had one negative thing to say about it.”

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From a bird’s eye perspective, Munir chalks at least part of that up to the game itself. “The ValoJump games are competitive, and as soon as you introduce a bit of a competition to a game, players want to go on more, because they’re always trying to beat their points,” said Munir. “By the time you finish the game, you're pooped.”

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Regarding technical issues

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For Play Factore, one of the most notable aspects of installing ValoJump has been on the technical side, which has been seamless and trouble-free. “From a technical standpoint, we can’t fault Valo Motion at all,” said Munir, “they are fantastic.”

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Loynds was quick to add some detail, “We've never really had any issues and when we have had a minor problem, Valo Motion has either helped us fix it or fixed it themselves almost instantly. It's very rare that we have to wait,” he said. “One of the wonderful things about ValoJump is that the hardware is very simple in terms of service. Any repair is a quick 5 minutes. Plug in, plug out.”

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"From a technical standpoint, we can’t fault Valo Motion at all. They are fantastic." – Fawad Munir

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Final takeaways

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Loynds wanted to sum up his thoughts on ValoJump after more than two years since ValoJump debuted at Play Factore. “I love the simplicity of ValoJump. It is so effective at attracting people to come play, and logistically it is so easy to manage. We've had minimal issues with it since it was launched. Technology tends to be very unpredictable, whereas ValoJump has been very predictable. It’s been brilliant in terms of technology.”

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"I love the simplicity of ValoJump. It is so effective at attracting people to come play and is so easy to manage." – Lewis Loynds

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