A few years ago, Sega Amusements broadened their horizons into social entertainment by partnering with another UK-based company by the name of 501 Entertainment, inking a deal to bring out their augmented reality-incorporating SMARTS Interactive Darts system. Now, the next fruits of that relationship are coming to the market: Interactive Mini Golf. Though not a typical arcade product per se, with Sega Amusements attached it can sit alongside them nicely, so let’s take a look at what that entails…
Interactive Mini Golf
First unveiled back at EAG 2025 in January, 501 and Sega Amusements’ new Interactive Mini Golf applies a much more interactive element to a “compact” mini-golf/putting system, much like SMARTS did. While this isn’t the smallest putting arcade game ever devised, it still saves on a lot more space than your normal mini-golf course would, by several orders of magnitude, but keeping the physical element intact.
Aside from handling multiple players across a variety of mini-video games, this design also employs RGB LEDs, and interestingly enough, a microLED dot-matrix display. While it is not indicated what it would do to protect the screen from any hard hits, that would certainly be more durable than throwing any kind of 75″ TV on there (even with glass, I doubt that’d withstand most of the abuse that the display will certainly receive – although I am curious to know what kind of testing they might have done with this already…).
This of course isn’t the first flirtation arcades have had with interactive physical golfing; even Sega in Japan previously made the Let’s Go Golf! simulator. Where it differs from that though is it simulating mini rather than professional golf seen in your Golden Tees and such (in that respect, it’s more similar to something like Putt Championship by Chicago Gaming Company, as Jdevy pointed out in the AH Discord).
The advantage it has over previous attempts and plain old mini golf is its aforementioned smaller size, as well as the heavy emphasis on newer technologies to streamline the experience. To quote from the title’s product page:
At the heart of the game is a high-quality putting green paired with a massive LED dot matrix screen that delivers immersive visuals, real-time scoring, and interactive game modes. Players aim for multiple target holes, and those with the skill to hit the raised bonus hole unlock temporary powers to get ahead – adding a competitive edge that keeps guests coming back.
It’s a dream to operate too – compact, low-maintenance, and fully digital, with none of the wear and tear of traditional courses. It’s easy to brand, customise, and scale, with seamless integration into the 501 Hub – your control centre for managing gameplay sessions, analysing performance, and fine-tuning the experience to suit your audience.
As a note to that last part, the 501 Hub software platform integration should make it a easy drop-in fit with any venue that is already operating the 501 Darts and wants its new counterpart to add to that.
Being listed on Sega Amusements’ website, they appear to be taking orders now, although I haven’t heard yet what the price is. As I recall, 501 Darts has some monthly fees associated with it, but you’ll want to talk to a distributor or SAI directly to figure those all out. What do you think of this new digital mini golf piece?
