What You Need to Know About Family Entertainment Center Insurance
Family entertainment centers are rarely one-size-fits-all businesses. Your facility might combine bowling and laser tag, mini golf and an arcade, or go-karts, food service, and several other attractions under one roof.
Your insurance shouldn't treat those operations like a generic business.
Leavitt Recreation & Hospitality works with family entertainment centers to understand their attractions, operations, employees, property, and liability exposures and help build insurance protection around the business they operate.
Insurance Built for Family Entertainment Centers
Every family entertainment center is different. A single facility can combine active attractions, specialized equipment, customer traffic, employees, food or beverage service, and indoor or outdoor operations.
That complexity matters when you're choosing insurance.
Rather than looking only at the building or the business name, it's important to consider the attractions you operate, how customers interact with them, the equipment your business depends on, and where your greatest liability exposures may exist.
That's why working with an insurance professional familiar with family entertainment centers can make a difference.
What Types of Family Entertainment Centers Do We Insure?
Family fun centers can encompass a wide variety of attractions and operations. Leavitt Recreation & Hospitality works with businesses including:
- Trampoline parks
- Obstacle courses
- Bowling alleys and bowling centers
- Ice skating rinks
- Roller skating rinks
- Miniature golf facilities
- Batting cages
- Go-kart facilities
- Outdoor driving ranges
- Ride simulators
- Escape rooms
- Indoor laser tag
- Arcades
Have more than one attraction? That's common for a family entertainment center, and your insurance program should be reviewed in the context of your complete operation.
What Insurance Does a Family Entertainment Center Need?
There isn't one insurance policy that's right for every family entertainment center. The appropriate coverage depends on your facility, attractions, equipment, employees, vehicles and other characteristics of the business.
Foundational coverages for many family entertainment centers include general liability, commercial property, commercial auto and workers' compensation.
General Liability Insurance
When customers come onto your property to participate in activities, liability is an important consideration.
General liability insurance can help protect your business when a customer or guest is injured or when your business operations cause certain property or product damage.
For a family entertainment center, the important question isn't simply whether you have liability insurance. It's whether your insurance program appropriately reflects the activities taking place at your facility.
Commercial Property Insurance
Family entertainment centers can depend on far more than a building.
Specialized equipment may be central to your ability to operate. That can include bowling pinsetters, go-karts, pitching machines and other equipment. Commercial property insurance can help cover property losses, and equipment breakdown coverage may also be important for businesses that rely on specialized equipment.
Understanding what needs to be protected is an important part of reviewing your property insurance.
Workers' Compensation
Family entertainment center employees may perform a variety of jobs across your operation. Workers' compensation insurance can help with covered medical expenses, lost wages and rehabilitation costs when an employee is injured.
Commercial Auto Insurance
If vehicles are part of your day-to-day business operations, commercial auto may also be part of your insurance program.
Commercial auto insurance can include liability and physical damage coverage for vehicles used in your business.
Insurance Considerations for Different FEC Attractions
One of the biggest challenges in insuring a family entertainment center is that different attractions can create different exposures.
A bowling center doesn't operate exactly like a laser tag arena. A mini golf course doesn't operate exactly like a trampoline park.
And many FECs combine several of them.
Here's why the details of your operation matter.
Laser Tag Insurance
A laser tag operation brings together participant activity, customer movement and specialized equipment. It may also operate as one attraction within a much larger family entertainment center.
When reviewing insurance for a laser tag business, consider the complete operation:
- Is laser tag indoors or outdoors?
- Is it the primary attraction or part of a larger FEC?
- What other attractions are at the facility?
- What property and specialized equipment does the operation depend on?
- How do employees supervise or interact with participants?
The answers help an insurance professional understand the operation rather than viewing it as a generic entertainment business.
Adding laser tag to an existing FEC? It's a good time to review your insurance program and make sure your insurer understands the change in operations.
Bowling Center Insurance
Today's bowling center may be far more than a set of lanes.
A facility might combine bowling with an arcade, laser tag, parties, food service or other entertainment. That makes it important for an insurance review to consider the entire business rather than only the bowling operation.
Potential areas to discuss include:
- Customer and guest liability
- Building and business property
- Bowling equipment and machinery
- Employee exposures
- Additional attractions
- Other operations conducted at the facility
When multiple attractions operate in the same facility, making sure your insurance professional understands the complete operation becomes especially important.
Mini Golf Insurance
Miniature golf facilities can operate indoors, outdoors, or as part of a larger entertainment center.
Insurance considerations should reflect the facility itself as well as customer activity and the other attractions operated alongside mini golf.
Risk management is important too.
Mini Golf Risk Management Tips
Practical precautions include:
- Look for trip-and-fall hazards such as uneven walkway joints, sidewalk cracks and loose railings.
- Make stairs easy to identify and use no-slip surfaces where appropriate.
- Clearly post safety rules.
- Use directional signage to help customers navigate the course.
- Regularly inspect golf clubs for signs of damage.
Good insurance and good risk management work together. Understanding where injuries and property losses could occur gives operators an opportunity to address risks before they become incidents.
Go-Kart Insurance
Go-kart facilities combine customer participation, equipment, employees and track operations. They may operate independently or as one attraction within a larger family entertainment center.
When discussing go-kart insurance, make sure your insurance professional understands the actual facility, equipment, operating procedures and other attractions connected to the business.
Go-Kart Risk Management Tips
Key safety practices include:
- Train employees to identify whether a go-kart is safe to use.
- Maintain sufficient employee coverage across the track.
- Dedicate an employee to the ignition cutoff box.
- Give track employees a way to communicate if an emergency or issue occurs.
- Clearly display safety rules.
Insurance for Trampoline Parks
Trampoline parks can present a challenging insurance placement.
Leavitt Recreation & Hospitality is familiar with trampoline park coverage and has developed programs and identified carriers for placing these risks.
Every trampoline park and family entertainment center is different. Your insurance should account for your facility, attractions and the way your business operates.
Working with an insurance broker experienced with family entertainment centers can help you identify risks, review coverage needs and build an insurance program around your operation.
Talk with Leavitt Recreation & Hospitality about trampoline park insurance.
Arcade and Other Entertainment Center Insurance
Arcades may operate as standalone businesses or as one component of a larger family entertainment center.
If your arcade is combined with bowling, laser tag, mini golf, go-karts or another attraction, make sure the entire operation is represented accurately during the insurance process.
A strong insurance review should start with a simple question:
What actually happens at your facility?
From there, your insurance professional can better understand the property, employees, customers, attractions and equipment that make your business unique.
Have Multiple Attractions? Your Insurance Should Reflect the Whole FEC
This is where family entertainment center insurance can become particularly complex.
Imagine two businesses:
FEC #1: Bowling + arcade
FEC #2: Bowling + laser tag + go-karts + mini golf
Both could call themselves family entertainment centers, but their operations are clearly different.
That's why your insurance conversation shouldn't stop with:
"I own a family fun center."
Instead, your insurance professional should understand the activities taking place throughout your operation.
When reviewing your insurance, be prepared to discuss:
- Every attraction at the facility
- Indoor and outdoor operations
- Major equipment
- Number and roles of employees
- Company-owned vehicles, where applicable
- Recent or planned changes to the operation
- Any new attractions you're considering adding
Changing your attractions? Review your insurance, too.
Adding laser tag, go-karts, mini golf or another activity changes your business. Don't assume that an existing insurance program automatically reflects a new operation.
Family Entertainment Center Liability and Risk Management
Insurance helps protect your business financially, but managing risk is another part of protecting a successful FEC.
Family entertainment centers should regularly look at the places where customers interact with the property, employees, equipment and attractions.
That might mean identifying issues such as:
- Walking surfaces and potential trip hazards
- Condition of customer-use equipment
- Safety and directional signage
- Employee training
- Attraction supervision
- Communication during an incident or emergency
- Procedures for inspecting equipment
Effective risk management isn't just about checking boxes. It helps you understand where something could go wrong and gives your business an opportunity to address the issue before someone gets hurt or property is damaged.
How Much Does Family Entertainment Center Insurance Cost?
There isn't a single price for family entertainment center insurance because no two operations are exactly alike.
Factors that can influence your premium include:
- Business location
- Claims history
- Size of the operation
- Whether the facility operates indoors, outdoors, or both
- Number of employees
- Deductible selected
The attractions you operate also give your insurance professional important context about your business.
For example, a small indoor entertainment facility doesn't look the same operationally as a multi-attraction FEC with bowling, go-karts and laser tag.
The best way to understand potential insurance costs is to provide an accurate picture of your business and request a quote based on your actual operation.
Request a Family Entertainment Center Insurance Quote
Why Work with Leavitt Recreation & Hospitality?
Specialized businesses deserve an insurance conversation that goes beyond a generic commercial policy.
Leavitt Recreation & Hospitality has experience insuring family entertainment centers, including challenging risks such as trampoline parks.
Our goal is to understand:
- What attractions do you operate?
- Where are your most significant risks?
- What makes your facility different?
- How can your insurance program be tailored to your business?
Whether you're operating a single-attraction business or a family entertainment center with bowling, laser tag, mini golf, go-karts, trampolines, arcades or a combination of attractions, we'll take the time to understand your operation and help you evaluate your insurance options.
Protect the Business You've Worked Hard to Build
Your family entertainment center doesn't look exactly like anyone else's.
Your insurance shouldn't be treated that way either.
Whether your operation includes bowling, laser tag, mini golf, go-karts, trampolines, arcades, skating or several attractions together, start with an insurance team that takes the time to understand how your business works.
Talk with Leavitt Recreation & Hospitality about your family entertainment center insurance.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What insurance does a laser tag business need?
The appropriate insurance depends on the laser tag operation and its broader business. Important details to discuss with an insurance professional include whether the attraction is indoors or outdoors, whether it is standalone or part of a larger FEC, the equipment involved, and what other attractions operate at the facility.
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Can one insurance program cover an FEC with several different attractions?
A family entertainment center may combine several attractions, but the appropriate policy structure and available coverage depend on the specific business and insurer. Make sure your insurance professional has an accurate description of every attraction and operation at the facility.
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What should I do if I'm adding a new attraction to my family entertainment center?
Contact your insurance professional and explain what's changing before assuming your current insurance appropriately addresses the new operation.
Give them enough detail to understand what you're adding, how it will operate and how it changes the overall business.
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How much does family entertainment center insurance cost?
Earlier, we mentioned that no two family fun center insurance policies look alike. The same can be said for your premium. While we can’t give a precise estimate, we can tell you what factors can influence your premiums:
- Your business’s location
- Claims history
- Size of your operation
- Whether your business is indoors, outdoors, or a combination of the two
- Number of employees
- Your chosen deductible
That said, it is possible to ensure you pay the best price for your premium. One of the best ways to keep your premiums low is by practicing proper risk management procedures. The lower the risk of an accident happening at your business, the less risk you pose to an insurer.
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What does family entertainment center insurance cover?
Coverage varies according to the business and policy. Core coverage areas for family entertainment center insurance often include general liability, commercial property, commercial auto and workers' compensation.
Your specific insurance program should be based on your actual operations and needs.
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Who needs family entertainment center insurance?
Businesses operating games, devices and attractions for public amusement may fall within the family entertainment center category. That includes operations ranging from bowling alleys, miniature golf and go-karts to skating rinks, escape rooms, laser tag, arcades and trampoline parks.
If you're unsure whether your operation fits, discuss your complete list of attractions and activities with an insurance professional.
