What is a Family Entertainment Center?

Every industry has its own specific jargon and terminology, and the amusement industry is no exception. You’ve probably been to one at least once in your life, but maybe you’ve never heard the term family entertainment center. Family entertainment centers (FEC) strives to maximize family fun and provide new and diverse activities for everyone to enjoy. FECs include an incredible wide range of entertainment options including climbing walls, arcade games, mini golf, free fall rides, ropes courses, laser tag, and more. With the classic FEC fun and games as well as new developments in the entertainment equipment industry, family entertainment centers are better than ever before.

What is an FEC?

Aside from being a fun and exciting way for you and your family to spend the day together, a family entertainment center is a small scale amusement park marketed toward families with small children or teenagers. The wide range of games and activities provide entertainment for all ages and leave every member of the family with a fun and thrilling experience. Mini golf, arcade games, and thrill rides are some of the most popular activities found throughout the FEC industry.

Family entertainment centers, sometimes called family fun centers, have been around for decades. The first family fun centers gained popularity in the early 1970’s as arcades and miniature golf facilities, and quickly spread across the nation. As time went on, these facilities continued to expand and gain more activities, games, and new innovations. Today, nearly every FEC still includes arcades and mini golf courses however many new FEC activities have entered the scene. As the industry continues to grow, FEC games and equipment will continue to become more inclusive and diverse.

Family Entertainment Center Equipment

Today, we see a variety of new equipment that has since been added to the list of FEC essentials. Go karts, laser tag, thrilling free fall rides, and climbing walls are just some of more common FEC activities and rides. With these newly incorporated standards, family entertainment centers are even more exciting and cater to a greater range of customers.

Thrill rides are the ultimate modern additions to the classic family fun center and represent the future of the family entertainment industry. There is a lot of thrill ride equipment that can be incorporated into an FEC facility and many of them range from small scale to ultimate elevated entertainment. Incorporating the QUICKjump Free Fall Device into an FEC creates a thrilling free fall drop ride for customers to test their limits and take their family fun to an exciting new level.

A zip line is a thrilling element to add into family fun centers and can be incorporated into indoor and outdoor facilities. By using state of the art zip line equipment such as the zipSTOP Zip Line Brake and Head Rush’s high tech zip line trolleys, you can create a fun zip line that has automatic brake reset and engages automatically so riders don’t have to brake.

Many FECs love the addition of a climbing wall to give their family fun center a well-rounded experience for the whole family. Climbing walls with the TRUBLUE Auto Belay provide exciting, reliable family fun and offer great exercise, too. Climbing can be added in the form of a few climbing wall segments or a larger climbing wall with many climbing lanes.