Family Entertainment Center Analysis

 

What makes an ideal Family Entertainment Center? Well the answer is fairly simple. The Entertainment Center must cater to a large range of ages. Young children to adults must have some type of entertainment for the center to be a successful “Family” Entertainment Center. This requires a high level of Interactivity for children or they will easily become bored. For example, Chuck E. Cheese offers the ball pool. Children can dive into the pool, toss the balls around, hide in them. Also offered is an arcade. There isn’t a single who can resist an arcade machine when they have the tokens to play it. To distinguish themselves from an amusement center, Family Entertainment Centers actually offer Family Oriented events. The most commonly known event is a birthday party for children at a Family Entertainment Center.

At these entertainment centers parents are allowed to socialize with the parents of other children, while the children get to enjoy themselves in a universe that seems to have no boundaries. This can almost be compared to the playground with the open-endedness it allows for the mind of a child. The Family Entertainment Center must have a joyous feel to it. If the parents or children don’t feel welcome, or that they have stepped into a false reality then they will not stay. Family Entertainment Centers offer an escape of everyday problems which is a relief for parents. Take for example the motto to Chucky E. Cheese “Chuck E. Cheese Where a Kid can be a Kid.” This statement lets the kid know they can act actually like a kid and be free when at Chuck E. Cheese.

Another Family Entertainment Center I recently visited was Game Works. This is the equivalent of a Dave & Buster type center. I would say Game Works offers even more of a Family Entertainment Center than Chuck E. Cheese. Chuck E. Cheese mainly catered to young children but, Game Works actually caters to all ages. There is an arcade room, pool table room, bar, and restaurant. These elements all combine to make a Family Oriented place. If the parents have had a long day at work they can relax at the bar or play a couple games of pool while their child enjoys themselves at the arcade. Game Works, like Chuck E. Cheese, also offers birthday party specials. Both of these Family Entertainment Centers are found in Family Oriented Design, a mall. What better way to attract a family than to your have entertainment center located in a local where families tend to visit often?

Most Family Entertainment Centers are design oriented, meaning they were designed to allows people to go as they choose instead of following a direct path. When inside one of these centers the atmosphere always seems full of enjoyment, and this is because people of all ages are catered. If they weren’t you couldn’t call it a Family Entertainment Center. The biggest characteristics of a Family Entertainment Center, I believe, are theme and variety. In both of the centers I talked about previously both featured these characteristics. Chuck E. Cheese focuses more on theme while Game Works focuses more on Variety but, both centers contain both characteristics. In conclusion, Family Entertainment Centers are best compared to the playground because they offer a large amount of interactivity while at the same time catering to many age groups.