“One of my favorite things is to watch the adults, without kids, come over and see their faces light up when they get a prize,” said Pinfish Entertainment Center owner Matt Struhs. “And the little ones are a riot; they are shopping like it’s their life savings as they are redeeming their prizes. And my youngest son enjoys handing out the prizes, too.”
Located in Tavernier in the Winn Dixie shopping plaza at MM 91.2, Pinfish recently celebrated its one-year anniversary and its second consecutive year winning an award during this year’s Best of Upper Keys — Best Place to Take the Kids. Pinfish has hosted 150 private events — from birthday parties, celebrations, field trips and Christmas parties.
“We’ve had a really good welcoming from the community and are excited for how it’s gone this first year,” Struhs said.
Struhs recently retired from the Navy after 20 years of service. He and his wife, April Struhs, settled in the Keys in 2018 after he was stationed in Homestead. They have two young sons and wanted to be part of the community. They also wanted to open a business together that was a service to the community and offer something that was missing.
Pinfish covers the spectrum from entertainment, bonding and strengthening relationships while maximizing fun. And if there is a rainstorm on a holiday weekend, they will be at capacity really fast.
Struhs also worked with his dad, Mark Struhs, who has over 40 years of experience in global sales on the arcade side of the business.
“It’s been a lot of fun working together. We fused our combination of experiences together and this is the result,” he said.
He credits their staff – Grace Barrett, general manager, and Virginia Indell, assistant manager – with allowing him and his wife to be the CFOs. He adds, “It’s a fun place to work. We have open communication on what works and what doesn’t, and how can we be contagious with that fun?”
Resiliency, adeptness, never being stagnant and team cohesion are part of Struhs’s work ethic, which parlays into not only the next-level technology infused within Pinfish but also adapting to what the customers are responding to.
They recently added two more Duckpin bowling lanes, totaling six (up to six players per lane), and downsized the axe throwing to one lane. The bowling lanes are ADA and handicap accessible, and anyone can play.
While traditional bowling is a universally known game, the difference with duckpin is the 10 pins are a bit smaller, the ball is smaller and handheld versus putting your fingers through holes, and the lanes are shorter.
In addition to the artwork above the lanes and on the tables by local artist Roberto “Pasta” Pantaleo, which adds to the Keys ambience, another unique feature is the technology that adds themes and avatars to the score screens.
“This technology is bowling’s response to modernization. A way to augment traditional bowling with gamification and personalization,” Struhs said.
Some of the different theme options are Classic, Sports, Fairy Tales, Disco, Build a Monster, Bubblegum, Oceano, and Professional Bowling Association (PBA). People can even screenshot their faces and create their own avatar on the screen. If you do well and score, you will be shown as a happy character, but if you gutter the ball, well …
“We anchor a lot of our events around the bowling, and we do online reservations in addition to bowling leagues and walk-ins,” Struhs said. “We’ve had four seasons already of adult-only bowling leagues — part of a seven-week competition. Last season, we had 18 teams. It’s not really hardcore but serious enough to have fun and not intimidating. People make custom shirts and create custom high fives, and at the end, we have an awards ceremony and bowl-off.”
The arcade is also a big draw. There are a lot of options — immersive video simulators, such as “Fast and Furious” — and some arcade games have redemption tickets for prizes. Classics like Skee Ball have redemption, whereas Hoops FX, Air Hockey and Boxer Combo allow you to compete against a friend. There is even a popular photo booth.
Speaking of prizes, we cannot fail to mention the wall of plush toys, Chinese finger traps, finger puppets, Army and action figures, “Hello Kitty” merchandise, lava lamps, fun candy like Zotz and a lot more. One of the more popular big prizes are drones.
“If you just want to come in and partake in arcade games, we have added a self-serve kiosk that takes cash and credit cards. You can reload a card and save your tickets for the big prizes.” Struhs said.
Even though Struhs downsized the axe throwing section, it is still a popular activity. After a waiver, orientation, and some pointers to help you feel comfortable throwing the axe, players realize how exciting and fun it is and even relieve some stress and boost confidence.
The tap wall consists of a variety of 20 adult beverages and another feature that is the latest technology: a self-pour system. After the ID check, guests purchase a bracelet with a 40-ounce allotted, and the chip interacts with the tap. Guests can buy a 20-ounce credit after the 40-ounce has been consumed.
The charge-by-the-ounce concept is fun: You can create your own tasting. “It’s a good spread to accommodate most palates — wine, champagne, seltzer, cider beers and a variety of beer, including local options, Modelo and Stella. And what ends up happening is that it ends up becoming social, where people connect at the tap bar, as it drives conversation,” Struhs said.
Food options include delicious cheese or pepperoni flatbread pizza, a chips trio, giant pretzels on a stand with dips, and chicken bites.
Regular events are a consistent part of Pinfish’s ability to bring the fun: Wednesday, Ladies Night; Friday, Scuba Divers Discount Day; Little Minnow’s Saturday AM Bowling; and a monthly Paint & Sip with local artist Brittany Parker.
One such event is the upcoming New Year’s Eve Balloon drop, which will be at 2 p.m. on Dec. 31.
“I wanted something fun and family-friendly. … I’ve ordered a lot of balloons,” Struhs said. “We are extremely thankful and appreciative of our local customer base and are always trying to think of how to stay fresh and relevant. We are willing to adapt, we are not going to stay idle and we will remain fun.”
Pinfish is open Monday through Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m., Friday from 4 to 10 p.m., Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 9 p.m.
More information is on Instagram and Facebook @pinfishentertainment and at www.pinfishentertainment.com.
Photos by NADA JONES PHOTOGRAPHY/Contributed
