Happy 2025! Starting today, admission to Prodigy will be the same on Wednesdays staying at $15 flat, but for Thursdays through Sundays, admission will now be $20 per admission. In the interest of transparency, allow me to explain exactly why I’m making this change in full detail… and yes, I’ve included graphs.
I don’t think it’s a secret that prices of most everything have risen substantially over the past few years and believe me, changing my own price is only contributing to the problem and I apologize heavily for that. Fortunately, I don’t have to purchase massive inventory or mostly items that have been consistently increasing in price. I feel very bad for local retail shops and local restaurants. Building supplies have increased, but I built the new course in 2023 and it’s all paid for. I also build most everything here so I tend to keep labor overhead as low as possible. I’m fortunate to be able to do all of this.
The two biggest reasons for this new admission price are rent and insurances. Allow me to present to you 2 graphs that show how things have changed over the years on the backend for Prodigy.
RENT
Eastworks has been the best landlord for which a minigolf course could ask! I was offered an amazing intro rate to get me started and during the small business lockdowns in 2020, they couldn’t have offered more assistance and made rent much easier for me, so I thank them deeply for all of that. Prodigy wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for all that help. But as they say, it’s time to pay the piper.
INSURANCE
These figures include liability insurance as well as worker’s compensation insurance; both of which I am required to have and with certain policy features that may drive these increases, but regardless, premiums rarely stop increasing if your business is successful so it’s a bit bitter sweet; just like incredibly sour candy.
OTHER EXPENSES
I want to give a shout out to swiping fees, cans of soft drinks, payroll taxes and neon golf pencils for their slight increases, but utilities overall haven’t changed much (though, I did switch to all LED lighting a couple years ago and that made a huge difference) and since 2021, retro video game prices have fallen a little so that’s nice as well for the few acquiring games that I’m missing. Even though drinks have increased over time, I do not plan on changing those prices; they've been the same since opening in 2018; dollar waters, 2 dollar sodas. I also want to mention once again that none of this expense data includes the new Event Center or tournaments at all; only Prodigy and the minigolf course.
I can’t lie… I’m nervous about increasing the price and have put it off for quite some time. I want to make sure people are getting their admission’s worth and that’s why I will be personally designing and building some new very cool, unique features for the room in 2025. I know this increase will turn some people off and I completely understand. I just hope you come back at some point to see the new changes and see if it’s then worth it to you. I can promise you that I will always keep the place clean, organized and make sure everything that we offer works well.
In the next coming days, I will be announcing all the new features to Prodigy in 2025! As a little tease, the Vertical Labyrinth is getting a sibling of sorts. The future looks bright! Stay tooned…
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