Little Lion Entertainment announces acquisition of The Ents Inc.

Little Lion Entertainment, a leading immersive attractions company, has acquired The Ents Inc., the creator of Games Arenas and Chaos Karts. The firm has also said that more acquisitions and brand-new, never-before-seen-before games are on the horizon.

With millions of visitors to its experiences and more than 300 employees in the leisure sector, Little Lion Entertainment is already a leading provider of immersive attractions in the UK. It is renowned for delivering excellent visitor experiences, cutting-edge attractions with international recognition, and steady annual growth. Its goal is to become a global leisure and entertainment leader.

It is the company behind two highly successful Crystal Maze LIVE Experience flagships in the UK and a Crystal Maze LIVE Experience franchise in the Middle East. Now, backed by a strong management team, a solid financial track record, award-winning products, and high customer satisfaction, Little Lion Entertainment is expanding into new markets with new products.

Given that The Ents Inc. has been leading the new field of live video-game attractions—as evidenced by the successful launches of Chaos Karts in Manchester in September 2023 and a Dubai franchise in March 2024—Little Lion’s recent acquisition of The Ents Inc./Games Arenas represents yet another noteworthy milestone. Little Lion is about to reveal its second live video game attraction, which will be a world first.

Building on success

This new wave of highly successful and scalable low Cap Ex/low Op Ex venues, both domestically and internationally, will push the limits of what people can anticipate from today’s entertainment.

“If a Games Arena is the console, then Chaos Karts and each further Game will be the cartridge that goes into it,” says Tom Lionetti-Maguire, CEO of Little Lion Entertainment. “I say cartridge because I instinctively think of the N64 that defined the gaming of my childhood. And like any console, whilst the initial outlay is large, games can be developed for much less; which means endless content and infinite repeatability.

“So, when you compare that to spending 100s millions on a theme park extension, 10s of millions on a rollercoaster or even millions on a stand-alone attraction, we really feel this is the future of entertainment.

“Our second game is an action puzzle adventure in partnership with one of the most famous IPs in the known universe- it is seriously going to knock people’s socks off!”

In addition, Little Lion is about to introduce The Crystal Maze Mini, a brand-new, smaller version of The Crystal Maze LIVE Experience designed for the international market. This will be more compactly packed, more economically and sustainably constructed, and retain all of the gamification, theatricality, and overall product quality of the original, which will celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2025.

“We’re constantly striving to refresh The Crystal Maze in all its forms,” says Matt Stubbs, head of creative at Little Lion Entertainment. “Games, Zones, The Dome, Narrative, Maze Masters. I wanted something else, something more, an evolution of all those elements. Everything.

“The Crystal Maze Mini will do just that. By designing this sparkling new version, we have pushed the boundaries of tangible interactivity, irreverence, theatre, and sheer joy! We’ve created a world where teams will explore new fully immersive zones and challenge themselves with new two-player games before battling it out in a never-before-seen Crystal Dome. I’m confident that The Crystal Maze Mini is ready for the world stage.”

More acquisitions to come

As demonstrated by the Ents Inc. acquisition, Little Lion Entertainment has already grown by using its current infrastructure to absorb the new company’s operations. It is actively searching for new purchases of this type, including wet-led or competitive socialising concepts or a non-competitive operator, to offer further options and synergy.

“There are clear and obvious similarities that link immersive experiences and competitive socialising, fundamentally how they bring people together and how they bring people joy,” adds Neil Dolan, managing director of Little Lion Entertainment. 

“Little Lion Entertainment has been at the forefront of the experience revolution since its inception and is now midway through a record-breaking year for the company. The success of The Ents Inc. acquisition highlights the strength of our business, and we are working to understand where further opportunities lie to deliver further growth. As such, we are proactively evaluating the available opportunities to further bolster our portfolio of brands.”