Attractions & Data Venue File
Trampoline park vending machines: what 7 signed parks report
A trampoline park visit is planned at 90 minutes, but the most active children spend only about 20 of them jumping; the rest is waiting time.
Desk
Dwell Time Field Desk
The Venue File series, one venue type per article, with a standard data box and the case for and against placing a machine there.
- Articles
- 17
- Sections
- 2
How the desk reports
The Field Desk writes the Venue File: one venue type at a time, from roller rinks to rage rooms. Each file covers who visits, how long they stay, when it’s busy, who signs the agreement, what share the venue expects and which machine fits.
The desk files to Attractions & Data and Sports & Recreation. Every article it publishes follows our editorial standards: every figure sourced and dated, venue-reported numbers labeled as such, a review date and a public corrections process.
Articles by the Field Desk
17 published-
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Attractions & Data Venue File
Vending machine amusement park deals: where small parks beat chains
Chain parks sell their own food. The opening for an outside machine is the independent regional park, and its calendar matters more than its turnstile count.
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Attractions & Data Venue File
Vending machine campground and RV park placements: season, power, rules
Campers stay for nights rather than minutes, a rare thing among vending venues. The catch is a short season and a building that may go cold in November.
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Attractions & Data Venue File
Vending machines at haunted houses: the seasonal placement math
A haunted attraction does a year’s business in a few weeks. Whether a machine there pays depends on how many Octobers its contract catches.
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Sports & Recreation Venue File
A vending machine at an ice rink: the math on 400,000 visitors a year
The largest venue in the marketplace is a Pennsylvania ice rink; its visitor count is the easy part, while the hockey schedule and the machine’s spot are harder.
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Attractions & Data Venue File
Vending machine laser tag and go-kart placements: work the wait between heats
Session venues sell play in short, scheduled blocks. The sales are in the minutes between those blocks, and in knowing where the next group stands.
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Attractions & Data Venue File
Vending machines at mini golf courses: the indoor and outdoor numbers
An indoor course spreads its visitors across 12 months; an outdoor course in Maine gets about 165 warm days. The placement fee runs all year either way.
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Attractions & Data Venue File
Vending machines at rage rooms and axe throwing venues, by the numbers
Short booked sessions and small crowds make smash venues a hard host. League nights at axe throwing venues make the stronger case.
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Sports & Recreation Venue File
A vending machine at a roller rink: what a 35,000-visitor rink supports
A roller rink’s own counter sets the terms: the machine that earns its spot sells something the snack bar does not, on the nights the rink is full.
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Attractions & Data Venue File
Vending machines in escape rooms: what fits the hour around the game
The hour inside the room sells nothing. The minutes before the game and after the team photo are the window a machine has to fit.
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Sports & Recreation Venue File
A vending machine in a gymnastics gym: what the parent wait is worth
The smallest venue in the marketplace is a gymnastics gym, yet gyms offer some of the longest parent waits, so the class schedule is the better guide.
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Sports & Recreation Venue File
Vending machines in climbing gyms: what to stock and where to put it
Nearly 700 U.S. climbing gyms already sell memberships, day passes and gear, so a machine earns floor space only by covering what the desk does not.
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Sports & Recreation Venue File
YMCA vending machines and city rec center bids: who decides, on what terms
A city rec center buys vending through a scored public solicitation, while a YMCA is an independent nonprofit that can decide in a single meeting.
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Sports & Recreation Venue File
Vending machines at batting cages and driving ranges: tokens, buckets, seasons
Customers at a cage or range pay a machine before they swing, a habit that sells the pitch, while the calendar decides whether the numbers work.
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Sports & Recreation Venue File
A vending machine at an indoor soccer facility: league nights and game days
Indoor soccer drew a record 6.6 million players in 2025, and a facility’s split between adult league nights and youth game days decides what its machine should sell.
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Sports & Recreation Venue File
Vending machines at pickleball facilities: the court-hour math
Indoor clubs sell court time by the hour, and courts times hours times four players gives the traffic number most pitches to a club skip.
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Sports & Recreation Venue File
Vending machines at swim schools and dance studios: the enrollment math
Lesson venues see the same families every week, half an hour at a time. The number that decides a machine is filled lesson slots, not enrollment.
