13 August 2024
After planning and construction delays, crews are busy transforming a former rental sporting event space in Harrisburg into a family entertainment center.
The owners of Air Madness establish the Union Social, which offers bowling, axe throwing, arcade games and a restaurant in the attached premises.
“We’re probably targeting October 1 as an opening date,” said Josh Anderson, the ownership group’s finance and investment director.
“For a while we had hoped to be able to open some time ago, but as with any type of construction project, things take a little longer than planned, you run into problems that need to be fixed, you have to change plans, modify plans, and all of that just takes time.”
The owners announced plans for the additional features in March 2023. The name “Union Social” came later and reflects the company’s location in a blue-collar industrial area, Anderson said.
The centerpiece of Union Social will be the bowling alley. Brunswick will arrive later this month and begin installing 12 full-length bowling lanes. In addition to automatic scoring, the bowling alley’s computer system will offer a variety of other games in addition to the regular 10-frame games.
Music and interactive lights above the bowling area will create a great atmosphere. The wall behind the pinsetters will be covered with projection screens showing sporting events or “any kind of event on TV,” Anderson said.
There will be automatic bumper guards that families can use based on the points system, allowing them to order food or drinks at a restaurant even when there is no waiter nearby.
Bowling is available by the hour.
For axe throwing, there will be six lanes where points will be counted automatically. Instead of a board with a painted target, Union Social’s lanes will be equipped with projectors that will show the target on the wood.
This area of Union Social will include a few pool tables and yard games in an indoor patio with porch lighting. “The Yard” can be rented for private parties.
The arcade area closest to the doors to Air Madness will feature about 50 games, all card-activated, Anderson said.
“One nice feature of the company we work with is that you can load money onto the card and then use it as a credit card in the room,” Anderson said. For example, if parents are bowling at Union Social and kids are playing on the trampolines at Air Madness, the kids can use the card at the concession stand without having to come over and ask their parents for money, he said.
About half of the games award points that can be redeemed for prizes.
Union Social and Air Madness will likely offer packages that combine Jump Time with arcade credits. “It’ll be a good cross-sell between the two,” he said.
The new entertainment center’s restaurant will offer “upscale bar food, burgers, shareable items such as fried pickle chips, nachos, chicken strips, flatbread pizza, pretzels and dessert options,” Anderson said.
It is open from lunchtime and a late-night menu is available after the kitchen closes.
There will be seating at booths, tables and around the bar, with room for about 70 guests, Anderson said.
Union Social will include a reserved corporate area on a mezzanine level overlooking the gaming area. It will accommodate approximately 70 people and will have its own bathroom.
There are also two party rooms on this floor, each of which can accommodate around 20 people. Air Madness has nine party rooms.
In addition to the sports fields, the building also housed laser tag, escape rooms and Conquer Gaming. All of those facilities are gone, except for the video game room, whose game consoles and PCs have moved to Air Madness. The trampoline park opened in 2017 along Cliff Avenue in north Harrisburg.
