Monster Mini Golf is a franchised chain of entertainment centers. The locations feature an indoor, 18-hole glow-in-the-dark

mini golf Miniature golf, also known as minigolf, mini-putt, crazy golf, or putt-putt, is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest number of points. It is played ...

course, video and redemption arcade games, three-dimensional animatronic props, an in-house

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

, party rooms for hosting

birthday parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

and other special events, as well as laser-tag, laser-maze, and bowling in some of the newer, larger facilities. The parent company, Monster Entertainment, LLC is headquartered in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and Las Vegas. As of January 2017 the chain has 29 locations, either open or under construction, across the United States.

History

Founders Christina and Patrick Vitagliano opened the first Monster Mini Golf in the small community of

Danielson, Connecticut Danielson is a borough in the town of Killingly in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 4,051 at the 2010 census. History Danielson was originally named "Danielsonville" for Gen. James Danielson, the builder of th ...

, on

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

weekend in 2004. By 2005, they had made the decision to franchise, and were legal to offer franchises by November of that year. Monster Mini Golf has grown organically since inception, and as of January 2017, has grown to 29 locations in the US and Canada. Before the inception of Monster Entertainment, Christina was the director of marketing for a multi-level entertainment complex in Providence, RI. Patrick was the founder of a sound/lighting/theatrical

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

that provided sound and lighting for numerous

Broadway theater Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

productions and large concert tours. After marrying in 1997, Christina opened an antique auction house in Connecticut in 1998. Within four years it became one of the largest and most reputable auction houses in the area. In 2003 Christina decided to sell the business as the grueling hours and international travel become tiresome. The concept for Monster Mini Golf was thought up on the way home from a weekend trip to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Patrick sold his production company in 2004 and the couple combined their experience and talents to launch Monster Mini Golf. It took them five months to build the course and props before opening in an space in an old

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

that had housed Christina's former auction house. Monster Mini Golf became legal to franchise in November 2005.

Locations

All locations incorporate glow-in-the-dark settings with fluorescent

golf ball A golf ball is a special ball designed to be used in the game of golf. Under the rules of golf, a golf ball has a mass no more than , has a diameter not less than , and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits. Like g ...

s and monsters. The only consistent features in each franchise are the "Enter at Your Own Risk" sign that hangs above the

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

gated entrance to the "cemetery," a hole featuring a mole hill with the cup inside the mole hill, a hole with a tricky path (hole in the middle of a hill followed by an animatronic organ player at the top of the hill), and the trademark clown statue that escorts customers out after the last hole (parody of the movie Happy Gilmore except this clown does not laugh and block the ball as it did in movie). Locations typically include two party rooms and an arcade with games such as glow-in-the-dark

air hockey Air hockey is a ''Pong''-like tabletop sport where two opposing players try to score goals against each other on a low-friction table using two hand-held discs ("mallets") and a lightweight plastic puck. The air hockey table has raised edges ...

tables, custom-made glow-in-the-dark

pool tables A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which cue sports are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables (whether for carom billiards, pool, pyramid or snooker) provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that ...

and arcade games as well as ticket redemption games such as glow

Skee Ball Skee-Ball is an arcade game and one of the first redemption games. It is played by rolling a ball up an inclined lane and over a "ball-hop" hump (resembling a ski jump) that jumps the ball into bullseye rings. The object of the game is to collect ...

KISS by Monster Mini Golf

In 2012, the company opened KISS by Monster Mini Golf in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, a facility themed around hard rock band

KISS A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

. Currently located in the

Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino The Rio is a hotel and casino near the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned by Dreamscape Companies LLC and operated by Caesars Entertainment. It includes a casino and 2,520 suites. It features a Brazilian theme based ...

, this location features the typical Monster Mini Golf fare (but heavily KISS-themed), a rock and roll themed wedding chapel called "The Love It Loud Wedding Chapel", the world's largest KISS gift shop, and a museum featuring memorabilia from the band's storied career on display. It also hosts regular appearances by KISS band members, both past and present.

Franchise

Monster Mini Golf had been nominated by franchisees for Top New Franchise on Bizzia.com in 2007. Customers have also shown their interest, based on the company’s uniqueness and creativity behind the indoor mini golf concept. Monster Mini Golf sites average 9,000 to and are typically located in

strip malls A strip mall, strip center or strip plaza is a type of shopping center common in North America where the stores are arranged in a row, with a sidewalk in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front. ...

, stand-alone buildings or other commercial spaces. 100% of all franchises are currently owner operated. As of 2017, there are currently 28 franchised locations in the US and Canada.

Monster Cable vs. Monster Mini Golf

Monster Cable brought suit against Monster Mini Golf in 2006. Noel Lee, The CEO of Monster Cable, claimed that the public would be confused by the similarity of the names Monster Cable and Monster Mini Golf. After mediation and royalty suggestions that the owners deemed to be unfair; Monster Mini Golf launched a grassroots campaign against Monster Cable on the Internet, which managed to garner nationwide attention and support. After receiving hundreds of complaints from the public, Monster Cable dropped the lawsuit and agreed to pay up to $200,000 of Monster Mini Golf's legal fees.

References

External links

* {{Official website, www.monsterminigolf.com Franchises Entertainment companies established in 2004 Miniature golf Animatronic attractions