A number that can be beaten
Speed, strength, reaction or precision. This audience repeats when there is a comparable result, and comes back tomorrow when the ranking is cumulative.
Sports Festivals
Sports festivals
A sports festival crowd wants to take part, not attend
We build the participative side of sports festivals: physical challenges with scoreboards, simulators, skill circuits, competitive inflatables and warm-up zones, with monitors and equipment for intensive use.
A sports festival gathers an audience with one distinguishing characteristic: they want to do, not watch. That simplifies designing the entertainment considerably, because nobody has to be persuaded to take part, but it demands that what is offered measures up: an audience that runs half marathons is not satisfied by a fairground game.
What works is challenges with a measurable result. Shot speed, strength, reaction time, precision, endurance. Anything returning a comparable number hooks this audience immediately, and more so with a scoreboard showing the day's best. They repeat, bring a friend to beat, and come back tomorrow if the ranking is cumulative.
The second block is team formats and fun challenges: bumper balls, sumo, human table football, circuits with competitive inflatables. They work particularly well with companions and younger crowds, and they balance the programme so not everything depends on individual physical performance.
Logistics for these events have a particular feature: they are usually outdoors, on grass, asphalt or sand, with very early schedules. We work with equipment suited to each surface, with anchoring or ballast as appropriate, and with builds that finish before the crowd arrives, because at a sports festival people turn up far earlier than expected.
- 30 sper measured challenge
- +150participations per hour
- 24 hquote turnaround
- 100%outdoor-rated equipment
Something for companions too
Bumper balls, sumo or human table football balance the programme so not everything depends on individual physical performance.
Built before anyone arrives
At a sports festival the crowd turns up far earlier than expected. We close the build with margin so nothing is still going up when the gates open.
How we set it up
Tell us about the event
Discipline, venue, surface, estimated attendance and schedule, including the real arrival time.
We design the challenges
Which tests fit the discipline, how many participations per hour and how the scoreboard runs.
We adapt to the surface
Grass, asphalt or sand: anchoring or ballast as appropriate, plus venue documentation.
We operate and classify
Monitors at every point, a cumulative scoreboard and a prize ceremony at the end of the day.
Formats and ideas that work
- Shot-speed challenge with a radar and a daily ranking
- Strength or endurance test with a visible scoreboard
- Timed team skill circuit
- Bumper balls and sumo for companions
- Sports simulators with a cumulative classification
- Warm-up zone with reflex games
- Human table football with ten-minute matches
- Prize presentation for the festival's best score
The best moment is not the race itself
A sports festival has two golden slots for the activity zone, and neither coincides with the main competition. The first is before: the crowd arrives early, is nervous and has an hour or two to fill. The second is after the finish line, when participants are done, euphoric and waiting for their people.
Building the zone around those two slots rather than the race time changes performance entirely. During the event the zone will be nearly empty, which is fine; before and after is when all the participations concentrate, and that is when you want full staffing and every activity open.
Frequently asked questions
Does the equipment work on grass or sand?
Yes, we select by surface. On natural grass some equipment cannot be anchored and is ballasted; on sand some elements simply do not work. Tell us the surface and we propose only what holds.
Do the challenges record results?
Digital ones do: they store every participation with time and score, which supports a daily or weekend ranking and a prize for the festival's best.
Can you build very early?
Yes, and we recommend it. At sports events the crowd arrives earlier than planned, so we close the build with margin so nothing is still going up as people start coming in.
How many people does a challenge zone serve?
With five or six points and thirty-second tests, over one hundred and fifty participations an hour. We calculate it against your attendance to size units and staff.
Do you work with sports sponsors?
Yes. We brand the challenges with the sponsor's identity and build contact capture tied to the ranking, which in this context is very well received.