Most guides on how to start a trampoline park are written by the companies that sell the trampolines, the foam pits or the franchise. They’re good on the build. They go quiet on the part that decides whether the park makes money: how many jumpers you can sell per hour, how full those hours are, and how fast a family of five gets from the car park to the court on a Saturday.
Whether you’re researching how to open a trampoline park from scratch or weighing an indoor trampoline park business as a franchise, this guide covers both halves. The build: space, standards, franchise or independent, the business plan. And the operation: the session math, the revenue mix, and the systems you need in place before opening day. We build venue software for trampoline parks and other entertainment venues, so the second half is our daily work; we don’t sell trampolines or franchises.
How to Start a Trampoline Park: The Short Version
1. Decide franchise or independent.
2. Find a building of at least 18,000 sq ft with an 18 ft clear ceiling (most parks run 25,000–35,000 sq ft).
3. Build the business plan around session math: capacity × sessions × fill rate × price.
4. Design courts to the ASTM F2970 standard and secure permits and insurance.
5. Put booking, waivers for every jumper (including minors) and POS on one system before opening day.
Step 1: Franchise or Independent?
This decision shapes every step after it, so make it first. A franchise sells you a playbook: a proven court layout, site-selection criteria, negotiated equipment pricing and a brand families recognize. Independent parks keep full creative control and avoid royalties, but carry every design and operating decision alone.
The franchisors in this category publish enough to show the scale of the commitment:
| Brand | What It Publishes |
|---|---|
| Altitude Trampoline Park | $2.045M average unit volume, 24.6% EBITDA, 9.1% average cost of goods (2026 FDD, USA) |
| Big Air | $500,000 liquid capital to start; parks with revenue over $3M a year |
| Launch Entertainment | $3,517,213–$6,501,900 initial investment (FDD Item 7), in a larger multi-attraction format |
| Sky Zone | Minimum $500,000 cash to apply; 130+ owner groups across 320+ markets |
These are the franchisors’ own figures, published to sell franchises. Before deciding, request the Franchise Disclosure Document from each brand you’re considering and read Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (earnings). We compared these and other brands in detail in our family entertainment center franchise guide.
Step 2: Find the Right Building
Space is the first hard constraint, and the ceiling is the one people miss. Here’s what suppliers publish, citing guidance from the trampoline industry association (IATP):
| Requirement | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum building size | 18,000 sq ft | Soft Play & Launch (IATP) |
| Typical park size | 25,000–35,000 sq ft | Soft Play |
| Share of floor that is trampoline court | 45–50% | Soft Play |
| Minimum clear ceiling | 17 ft (Soft Play) or 18 ft (Launch) | Both citing IATP |
| Launch’s own parks | From 35,000 sq ft | Launch |
Beyond size, look for column spacing wide enough for continuous courts, parking for peak Saturdays, and zoning that allows commercial recreation. Remember the other half of the floor: check-in and waiver stations, a party room or two, a café, restrooms and a viewing area for parents. That’s where much of the revenue and most of the congestion happen.
Step 3: The Session Math That Decides Profit
Every trampoline park sells the same thing: time on the court, in sessions. Before you sign a lease, run this calculation. It’s the most important number in your business plan, and the one supplier guides rarely spell out.
Daily jump revenue = capacity per session × sessions per day × average fill rate × average ticket price
Here’s an illustrative example. The inputs are assumptions to show how the math works, not industry standards; your court designer sets your real capacity and your market sets your price:
| Input | Example Value | Where Your Real Number Comes From |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity per session | 100 jumpers | Court design and your safety rules under ASTM F2970 |
| Sessions per day | 10 (hourly) | Opening hours |
| Average fill rate | 35% | Weekday lows and weekend peaks, averaged |
| Average ticket | $15 | Soft Play’s example pricing: $10 for one hour, $15 for two |
| Daily jump revenue | $5,250 | 100 × 10 × 0.35 × $15 |
For scale, compare it with a real number. Altitude’s published average unit volume of $2.045 million works out to about $5,600 a day over 365 days, but that is total revenue: jumping, parties, food and socks combined. The example above is jump tickets only, so don’t read it as a benchmark. A park doing $5,250 a day from jumping alone would sit well above that average once parties and food are added on top; most parks get there with a lower jump figure plus a strong party and café business.
What the math does show reliably is where the leverage sits: fill rate. In the example, moving average fill from 35% to 45% adds about $1,500 a day without adding a single trampoline, which is why weekday demand matters more than court size.
That’s why the parks that succeed obsess over weekday fill: school groups, toddler sessions, fitness classes, memberships and off-peak pricing. We cover the tactics in our guide to engaging parents at a trampoline park.
Step 4: Write the Trampoline Park Business Plan
A trampoline park business plan is what lenders and investors read, and it’s where the session math becomes a forecast. Keep it to these sections:
- Market analysis. Families with children within a realistic drive time, and every competitor for their Saturday: other trampoline parks, FECs, bowling, cinemas.
- Concept and layout. Which attractions, how much court, how many party rooms, and why they fit your building.
- Revenue model. Jump sessions, birthday parties, memberships, group bookings, grip socks, food and beverage. Parties and food matter more than first-time owners expect: Big Air reports F&B sales approaching $500,000 at its locations in 2022.
- Startup budget. Lease or purchase, buildout, trampolines and attractions, technology, pre-opening staffing and marketing, plus working capital for the ramp-up months.
- Operating forecast. Session math by weekday and weekend, staffing by hour, and a 12-month cash-flow statement.
- Funding. Soft Play notes that SBA loans can reach $5 million, and microloans averaging $13,000 (up to $50,000) can close smaller gaps.
For a broader view of the market your plan sits in, our family entertainment center market statistics compare every published market-size estimate.
Step 5: Standards, Permits and Insurance
The reference standard for commercial trampoline courts in the US is ASTM F2970, the Standard Practice for Design, Manufacture, Installation, Operation, Maintenance, Inspection and Major Modification of Trampoline Courts. It applies to commercial or institutional trampoline courts built for amusement, entertainment or recreation. Your court supplier should design to it, and your operating procedures should follow it.
On top of that you’ll need local zoning approval, building and occupancy permits, fire-code sign-off, and in many states an amusement-device inspection or registration. Liability insurance is essential and is typically one of the larger fixed costs; get quotes from insurers who specialize in trampoline parks early, because their requirements (staffing ratios, waiver process, court rules) will shape your operation.
Step 6: Set Up Operations Before Opening Day
This is where many new parks struggle. The courts are finished, the grand opening is booked, and the front desk becomes the bottleneck. Four systems need to be in place and working together before the first session:
- Online booking by session, selling against live capacity, so the website, the front desk and any kiosk can never oversell the 2 pm Saturday slot.
- Digital waivers for every jumper, including minors signed by a parent or guardian, collected before arrival so families don’t queue at a clipboard.
- Session control at the court: wristbands, color-coded or RFID, that show each jumper’s session time so court monitors can see at a glance who should be on the court.
- A POS for everything else: walk-ins, grip socks, food, parties and memberships.
The test that separates good setups from painful ones: do these four share one guest record? If a family books online, signs waivers at home and buys pizza at the counter, check-in should take seconds, not a re-typing of every child’s name. Choose your software before you finalize the front-desk layout, because it determines how many stations and staff you need. Our comparison of the best trampoline park software covers the main platforms.
Where BMI Leisure Fits
Disclosure: this is our platform, so read this section as the vendor speaking. BMI Leisure’s software runs trampoline parks and other entertainment venues at more than 300 locations worldwide, built over 25 years. For trampoline parks:
- Guests book, sign waivers and pay online before they arrive.
- The platform controls every session to prevent overbooking and keep you within venue capacity.
- Wristbands show each guest’s session time and grant access.
- Upgrades like grip socks sell at the same POS as parties and food.
If you’re planning a park, we’re happy to walk through your session math with you, whichever software you end up choosing.
Planning a Trampoline Park?
Bring your building plans and your session math. We’ll show you how booking, waivers for every jumper, session wristbands and POS work together on opening day, and how many front-desk stations your layout really needs.
Talk to Our TeamFrequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to start a trampoline park?
It depends on size and whether you franchise. Franchisors publish their thresholds rather than a single price: Sky Zone asks applicants for a minimum of $500,000 in cash, Big Air requires $500,000 in liquid capital, and Launch Entertainment, a larger multi-attraction format built around trampolines, lists an initial investment of $3,517,213 to $6,501,900 in its FDD. The biggest lines for an independent park are the building lease and buildout, the trampoline courts and attractions, and working capital to cover the months before the park reaches steady attendance.
How much space do you need for a trampoline park?
Suppliers citing IATP guidance put the minimum at 18,000 square feet. Soft Play says typical parks run 25,000 to 35,000 square feet, with 45 to 50 percent of the floor as trampoline court, and a ceiling of at least 17 feet measured to the lowest obstruction; Launch Entertainment cites a minimum ceiling of 18 feet and builds its own parks from 35,000 square feet. Treat 18 feet as the safer planning figure and confirm with your court designer.
Are trampoline parks profitable?
The ones that fill their sessions are. Altitude Trampoline Park publishes a $2.045 million average unit volume with 24.6% EBITDA and 9.1% average cost of goods from its 2026 FDD, and Big Air advertises parks with revenue over $3 million a year. These are franchisors’ own figures, published to sell franchises. Profit depends on session fill rate on weekdays, party volume, and keeping staffing and waiver check-in efficient at peak times.
Should I open a trampoline park franchise or an independent park?
A franchise buys a proven layout, supplier pricing, site criteria and brand recognition, in exchange for a fee and ongoing royalties. An independent park keeps full control and the royalty, but you carry every design and operating decision yourself. First-time operators in markets with brand-aware families often benefit from a franchise; operators with experience or a strong local concept often do well independent. Request FDDs from several brands before deciding, and treat any figures here as research, not financial advice.
What software does a trampoline park need?
At minimum: online booking by session with live capacity, digital waivers that handle minors signed by a parent or guardian, a POS for walk-ins, socks, food and parties, and a way to show each jumper’s session time, usually color-coded or RFID wristbands. The key test is whether they share one guest record, so a family that books online, signs waivers at home and buys pizza at the counter checks in without anyone re-entering names. Choose it before opening, because it shapes your front-desk layout and staffing.
Sources
- Soft Play — Guide to Starting a Trampoline Park (IATP guidance of at least 18,000 sq ft; ceiling of at least 17 ft to the lowest obstruction; typical parks of 25,000–35,000 sq ft with 45–50% trampoline court; example pricing of $10 for one hour and $15 for two; SBA loans up to $5 million; microloans averaging $13,000, up to $50,000). softplay.com — verified September 24, 2026.
- Launch Entertainment — How to Open a Trampoline Park (IATP minimum of 18,000 sq ft with ceilings of at least 18 ft; Launch parks start at 35,000 sq ft). launchfamilyentertainment.com — verified September 24, 2026.
- ASTM International — F2970 Standard Practice for Design, Manufacture, Installation, Operation, Maintenance, Inspection and Major Modification of Trampoline Courts (scope: commercial or institutional trampoline courts for amusement, entertainment or recreation). astm.org — verified September 24, 2026.
- Franchisor figures — Altitude Trampoline Park (2026 FDD: $2.045M AUV, 24.6% EBITDA, 9.1% COGS), Big Air ($500,000 liquid capital; parks over $3M revenue; F&B approaching $500K in 2022), Launch Entertainment (FDD Item 7 $3,517,213–$6,501,900) and Sky Zone (minimum $500,000 cash; 130+ owner groups; 320+ markets), from each company’s franchise page, verified September 17–23, 2026, as documented in our family entertainment center franchise guide.
- BMI Leisure — trampoline park industry page (online booking, waivers and payment; session control preventing overbooking within capacity; session-time wristbands; socks upgrades) and waiver software guide (one waiver per participant, including minors signed by guardians). bmileisure.com — verified September 24, 2026.
The session-math example uses illustrative assumptions, not industry standards; your capacity must come from your court design and safety rules, and your pricing from your market. Franchisor figures are each company’s own published claims, not earnings representations. This guide is general information, not legal, financial or engineering advice: confirm building requirements with your court designer and local authorities, and review each brand’s current FDD with a franchise attorney. BMI Leisure is the publisher of this guide and sells venue management software to trampoline parks, disclosed in the section above. Last updated: September 24, 2026.
