Flight Club, the social darts bar that boasts a venue in Bristol, is turning ten years old and is celebrating by launching a huge competition with the chance to win a prize that money can’t buy.
A decade since the very first Flight Club opened in London’s Shoreditch, it’s calling on its fans in Bristol to help design its next new game. The winner will see their game rolled out across venues worldwide and will also win a dream VIP trip for themselves and three friends to their choice of either Sydney, Chicago, London or Dublin, with a night out at the local Flight Club where they will be one of the first to play the new game in real life.
Flight Club boasts 24 venues worldwide, all of which will feature the winning game design. Project ‘Game 7’ as it is being called, is said to be the first in a year of treats to come from Flight Club in 2025 as the fairground-inspired bar kicks off its ‘FC10: 10 Years of Joy’, a year-long celebration of ten years since the Flight Club team introduced ‘Social Darts’ to the world.
There are currently six games in Flight Club’s collection, from ‘Demolition’, where you aim to demolish your tower by scoring anywhere on the board, to ‘Snakes and Ladders’ – like the board game, but the dart is your dice. The most recent game to emerge from Flight Club’s in-house game design studio is Donkey Derby, a game in which players aim to hit their donkey’s number to move forward. Now Flight Club is turning to its community of followers to shape the next hit game.
Those keen to scoop the top prize can submit their entries here, and there’s no need for any game design experience – just a fun idea for a game that groups of friends can enjoy together. Your entry should include the game title and a few short sentences outlining the aim of the game. Think, how do I play? How do I score? And how do I win?
Ben Morris, digital director at Flight Club, says: “We’re so excited to kick Game 7 off. From the very beginning, we set out to bring groups of friends together and create unforgettable experiences.
“When Flight Club was in development ten years ago, we enlisted more than 200 people to throw one million test darts to help us perfect the Social Darts experience. Now we want to join forces with the fans we’ve amassed over the last decade to create something that they can all enjoy together.
“This isn’t just about designing a game; it’s about celebrating the incredible community that has made Flight Club what it is today. We can’t wait to see the entries that come in and ultimately bring one of them to life, knowing it was born from the passion and creativity of our guests.”
The past ten years
Flight Club’s story began in a Devon pub when childhood friends Steve Moore and Paul Barham saw a group of people going wild over a game of darts. This wasn’t like traditional darts, though, it was described as being ‘fun, fast and exciting’. It was a light-bulb moment. This sparked a vision – to reimagine the traditional pub game for a new generation.
They wanted to turn it into something where friends, family and colleagues could get together for a spectacular experience, combining friendly competition with delicious food and cocktails in a vibrant fairground-inspired bar setting. The first Flight Club launched in London’s Shoreditch in 2015 and, fast forward a decade, Flight Club has become a ‘global phenomenon’, with 24 locations worldwide and counting.
You can visit the Bristol venue on Corn Street, open 11.30am until late.
Read more about the rise of experiential bars in Bristol and how they’re changing nights out here.