The world's first ever soccer-themed visitor attraction, Soccer Circus, has selected Medialon Manager show control for its winning new enterprise. Housed within a multi-activity visitor center at Xscape in Glasgow, Scotland, it is a unique concept providing an interactive experience based around soccer. The developers have invested in excess of six years and £5 million in R&D for the new attraction.

Soccer Circus was developed by former football manager and international footballer Kevin Keegan, Scottish entrepreneur Peter Barr, project director Clive Mockford, and principal engineers David Birchall and Alistair Harrison. “The project has been very thoroughly researched, and we believe we have a soccer-based attraction that is second only to the thrill of taking part in a professional match,” says Keegan.

Soccer Circus is centered on football skill games intended to allow everyone to play. Visitors are guided through a series of interactive and fully automated “matches” that use real footballs. The Soccer Circus experience begins when a team of up to four visitors is registered on a central database system and issued a non-contact game access card used by the team captain to identify the team as they travel through the attraction and play the games.

Visitors enter the “Training Academy” where three games develop and test basic football skills ranging from dribbling the ball to tight control and pinpoint passing. A projected scoreboard shows dynamically changing game data such as the score, time remaining, and the player and team names combined with video footage. Custom game music is mixed with an interactive audio commentary reflecting each player’s performance. A light show runs synchronous to the game to create a totally immersive player experience.

Once all of the team members have played the game then the individual and team scores are recorded in the central database. One of the Training Academy games, “Pass and Receive,” includes an automated video capture system. Each player’s performance is recorded to a Windows Media video file and referenced to the central database. After completing all three Training Academy games, the team is shown a projected video presentation of each member playing the games with an assessment of the player’s performance from the coach.

The second half of the attraction is a team game, “Powerplay.” The team moves forward through an atmospheric tunnel where an audio and lighting show simulates the experience of walking up the players’ tunnel and out onto the pitch of a professional football stadium. Housed in a totally immersive, theatre-like arena, the team is presented with a number of life-sized player targets that retract below ground when struck. A full lighting show synchronized to the game music adds to the atmosphere of the event.

After completing Powerplay a projected video presentation replays the game action recorded by two cameras in an automated video-capture system with commentary from the coach.

Finally, each member of the team is given a souvenir scorecard. The team’s position in the Soccer Circus leagues can be viewed on one of a number of TFT screens located in the café bar area. Players can retrieve their video clips and scores through the Soccer Circus web site.