Feature: Sparkx Ghent
- Dirk Vandereyken
- Aug 15
- 12 min read
One of our favorite entertainment complexes in the world is undoubtedly the incredibly cool Area 15, where everything is designed to feel futuristic. There’s even an entire ‘ supermarket’ full of hidden passageways and rooms where visitors are fully immersed in a story about extraterrestrials visiting Earth – modeled, of course, on Area 51, the military desert zone where a UFO (excuse me, a UAP) is said to have once crashed. For a long time we thought there was nothing else like that experience, but when we walk into the brand-new Sparkx Ghent and immediately spot Wingsuit – the equivalent of ‘ Birdly’ at Area 15 – we realize something special is happening here. Granted, Sparkx is all about sportainment without an overarching theme – a missed opportunity, in our view – but it’s hard not to get excited about everything we get to experience here in a single day.
The Sparkx building - © LifeBytes Magazine
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Sportainment
Relatively soon after Sparkx Hasselt came Sparkx Ghent – a pace that suggests there are plans to expand even further – and with it, the city has gained one of the largest sportainment parks in Europe. The term ‘ sportainment park’ fits perfectly: a hybrid leisure or theme park that combines sports and entertainment in an immersive concept. The 50 (!) different sports you can try here are paired with competitive elements (like scoreboards, time tracking, and of course determining winners and losers), big screens, and computer-generated visuals.
A key feature is the wristband you put on just before entering, which not only stores your name but also keeps track of your performance.
Location & Interior
Sparkx Ghent is located on Kortrijksesteenweg, close to Ghent’s KBC tower, and therefore also near IKEA and Flanders Expo. It seems like an ideal location, though there’s a small downside: the bus from Ghent stops on one side of the highway where there’s no pedestrian crossing, forcing you to take a detour to get across. Anyone wanting to play it safe will quickly notice that the 500 meters shown on Google Maps isn’t accurate; it’s closer to a kilometer. A pity, though certainly not a deal-breaker, and on the way back the bus stop is nearby (though the reverse is true if you’re heading toward Zwijnaarde). There’s plenty of parking for those arriving by car, and for anyone without one – or for whom that extra kilometer is too much – we have a simple word: Bolt.
Inside, there’s an impressive 4,800 square meters of space spread over two floors. A heads-up: although inclusivity is one of the core principles here, and there’s plenty to enjoy for those less sporty or with disabilities, there isn’t an obvious elevator, and you appear to need to use stairs. That’s because visitors with mobility issues are personally assisted by staff and can use a lift not immediately visible to customers. While you do have to ask for help, staff members are everywhere – a bonus given the sheer number of sport games on offer.
Wandering around before deciding what to try is worth it on your first visit: there’s an enormous amount to do, and because the different sports aren’t marked by signposts, there’s something new to discover around every corner. Every sport looks great too, though – as we mentioned – there’s no unifying theme to tie everything together visually… although we can imagine that people who dislike ‘ themed décor’ would rather keep the focus on the sports themselves. For our part, we wouldn’t have minded if the rooms and hallways looked like a spaceship, a jungle, a fantasy village, or even a completely different world. That would likely draw even more guests, but it might also raise the very reasonable ticket prices – and besides, it’s not really what Sparkx is about or what makes the complex so enjoyable. That, of course, is…
The Sports
Fifty sports is a lot – and it is – but we initially missed the fact that there’s also (or will be) 600 square meters of outdoor sports, including karting. The list is quite long (deep breath): airtrack, augmented games, baseball, basketball, basketball shootout, biathlon, boccia (a type of pétanque), boxing, cliff jump, climbing, cricket+, ping pong, racqaloon, rowing, wheelchair racing, ‘ Sparkx cage’ (hockey), trampolining, soccer, cycling, wingsuit, softball, curling, dancing, darts, Formula 1 and GT racing, golf, hado, horse racing, ice hockey, clay pigeon shooting, running, motorcycling, paragliding, padel, ping pong, shooting, ziplining, rowing, skiing, tennis… all given a fresh twist.
A few examples? In one of the augmented games, we pick a scenario and the walls come to life. With a few balls, we have to hit the projections to earn points, but when we choose zombies, the four of us decide to get creative – each with a ball in both hands, walking around hitting the undead creatures charging toward us.
For the basketball shootout, we play two-on-two (with this journalist usually on the losing team). Boccia clearly shows whose turn it is and analyzes after each throw how far the ball is from the white target ball. In boxing, I struggle to adjust to the concept (hit as hard as possible without being hit back, against a kind of moving punching bag while watching a computer image of your opponent), so I end up weaving and moving as if facing a real opponent – a result of all my fight training. That means I don’t always score high, but I do consistently outperform my virtual rival.
For the cliff jump, there are three heights. The instructor first lets you jump from the lowest onto a giant airbag, and if your technique is safe enough, you’re allowed to go higher (literally). In the climbing area, difficulty increases the further right you go, and there’s a separate wall for small children to practice on. Thanks to the harness, falling is impossible, and our instructor keeps a watchful eye from start to finish.
Wheelchair racing turns out to be a surprise hit with our 7- and 8-year-olds, and the mechanical horses (which require constant pulling on the neck) are just as competitive as they are fun. The two trampolines let you play against each other and choose a game together – in one, you have to jump onto red buttons on various devices to stop an alien creature; in another, you catch basketballs and dunk them into a (sometimes moving) hoop.
Archery takes place in multiple lanes, with a digital scoreboard tracking your points for hitting the bullseye. In soccer, the color around the square where a ball is shot tells you into which other square you should kick it. The upstairs zipline has a kind of net running through the course, and even tennis is extra safe thanks to the use of a soft ball.
It’s all tremendous fun, motivating, and – we can’t stress this enough – incredibly varied. But what should parents or grandparents who bring their kids here do if they don’t want to (or can’t) join in the games themselves?
Food & Relaxation
Those who think they can’t participate physically will be glad to know that games like boccia do allow you to join in, and almost everything is accessible at a very easy level, with the option to increase difficulty. There’s also a bar that serves genuinely tasty food – and the best part is that almost everything is super healthy, which is essential for this concept (and should be in everyday life too). The ‘ Eeetwel’ menu offers both cold dishes like veggie ‘ sweetchick salad,’ ‘ sunny chicken quesadilla,’ and ‘ tuna blaze ciabatta,’ as well as hot dishes like ‘ Punjabi chicken’ and ‘ Patong beef.’
We opt for a well-seasoned ‘ Mexicali bowl’ that really reminds us of the namesake Mexican restaurant we’ve reviewed before, and a flavorful ‘ Buckaroo chicken wrap.’ Using chicken thighs keeps the meat juicy and tender, while the sweet potato in the wrap is a much healthier choice than regular potatoes (lower glycemic index). Naturally, juices, smoothies, and ‘ power lifters’ (with whey protein) are also available.
Only the red meat (always unhealthy) and a few desserts with a bit of sugar (though made with wholemeal flour) feel slightly out of place on a ‘ healthy’ menu – but they’re there because some visitors insisted on having them. If the red meat were replaced with a vegan alternative and the sugar with Zùcsu – a Belgian sugar substitute that behaves exactly like the real thing – the menu could be considered fully ‘ wellness-friendly.’ Even so, Sparkx is already doing far better than most similar restaurants in entertainment complexes, where we too often find mechanically separated meat, sugar bombs, and fried junk food.
For anyone wanting to relax without food or drink nearby, there’s a fully equipped lounge upstairs… with massage chairs! Needless to say, we’ll be spending plenty of time there during longer visits. Let’s just say this won’t be our last trip to Sparkx: we’ll cut a weekly fitness day and add a couple of Sparkx days instead. Replacing the gym entirely might be tough, but this is just so much more fun, right?
Interview: Mathieu Renier for Sparkx
Shortly after opening day in July, we sat down with Mathieu Renier – together with his family and co-management team the driving force behind Sparkx – for an in-depth interview.
LifeBytes Magazine: Sparkx is a relatively new concept in Belgium. There are places that go in this direction – like at Docks in Brussels – but this looks and feels different. When did you decide, ‘ This is what we’re going to do’ ? Where did that decision come from?
Mathieu: I’m 38, married, and father of three daughters. I like to mention that because they’re part of the reason this park exists. I built Sparkx with my wife and three fantastic partners.
I spent 14 years at Decathlon – a great employer, with values like vitality, sincerity, responsibility, and generosity. We’ve carried some of that over: at Sparkx our values are ‘ open,’ ‘ driven,’ and ‘ connecting.’
At Decathlon I started ‘ on the floor’ as a department manager, became store and regional director, commercial director, and then moved to France. In my last two years I worked on the 2030 vision: where does Decathlon want to be by then? That took me all over the world: South and North America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, parts of Africa, and Europe.
And that’s where you saw these kinds of simulators?
Yes. I came across simulators and sports I’d never seen before – or didn’t even know existed. That intrigued me. The idea ‘ what if we brought all of this under one roof?’ stuck in my mind. I mentioned it at the time, but nothing happened. About three months before COVID, I had four personal learning moments that brought the idea back into sharp focus.
What were those four moments?
First, my daughters, who at the time were four and five years old, needed to choose a sport. If you choose ‘ wrong’ or want to switch, you run into waiting lists, full clubs, or your child feels performance pressure. I wanted them to be able to try lots of things without immediately committing to a traditional lesson structure.
The second was when my oldest wanted to have her birthday party at a well-known hamburger chain. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but I had just been working at Decathlon on the vision ‘ become your partner for health.’ That felt contradictory.
The third moment revolved around intergenerational sports: I was playing badminton in the yard with my daughter, and after five minutes I was done – the shuttlecock kept hitting the ground, and there was no real game. So playing sports across generations isn’t always straightforward.
The fourth had to do with my wife, Roxanne: eleven years ago, during the birth of our daughter, she became very ill due to an autoimmune problem. Thankfully, she’s fully recovered now, but her balance organ was permanently damaged. Traditional sports aren’t possible or are very difficult for her. That frustrated me: playing tennis, skiing, cycling together – that wasn’t possible anymore.
Those four moments, combined with what I had seen during my career, made something click: a theme-park-like place where you can experience sports at a very accessible level. I pitched it at Decathlon. They weren’t against it – something along the lines of ‘ maybe we’ll look at that in about five years’ – but I didn’t want to wait another five years. The momentum would be gone, and in other parts of the world, it already existed: in South Korea, Japan, the US, Singapore… Not just ‘ proof of concept,’ but a reality.
So what’s the difference Sparkx makes?
In many countries, such a concept leans more toward evening entertainment and food & beverage. We ‘ Europeanized’ it: more sports, less F&B, and a clear health focus. People are welcome to enjoy a beer or a glass of wine – but we don’t promote it. You won’t find a beer tap at the top of our menu.
In terms of food, we use whole grains where possible (even in muffins) and less refined sugar; but we’re not paternalistic. At customer request, we added things like popcorn and chocolate cake. Fries don’t match our logo or story, but we still listen. Our purpose is: ‘ We want to support the well-being of all generations.’ Our mission: ‘ By bringing people into sports together through fun and innovative experiences.’
The location in Ghent is strong – between Basic-Fit, IKEA, and Gent Expo. But with the bus you have to take a detour; a little bridge or crossing would be handy.
The site definitely works. Improving accessibility is always desirable, but we focus on what we can control ourselves: providing a quality sports experience.
How do you choose the games and attractions?
With a lot of ‘ feet in the clay.’ Together with our brand manager, Michiel Van Schaik, we travel at least twice a year. We visit suppliers and test new things. Three years ago we were working with about 60 suppliers and could choose from around 180 attractions. That market is booming. In the meantime, we’ve also started building things ourselves that we were missing. We have three tracks: the parks themselves; a digital layer (you scan in, everything is connected, you get your Sparkx DNA back – coordination, energy, etc.); and R&D for our own attractions.
This Sparkx DNA – what exactly does it do?
After scanning in, you get feedback on your performance. Your Sparkx DNA grows when you train and shrinks if, for example, you don’t come for four weeks. Everything is stored in the cloud: through our website you can review your results. World-changing? No. Useful and motivating? Absolutely.
And those self-developed attractions?
Two examples: a ping pong simulator with an instrumented table that maps the balls and their trajectories. Hit the zones correctly and you score points. And a basketball shootout with a real hoop that registers every score – arcade in look, but sporty in feel.These are under our IP and will be applied in our future franchise model.
How do you keep the park fresh?
We measure daily via scans which attractions are popular. If something doesn’t work, we move or replace it. We also do a refurbish every two years: strong attractions from newer parks are rolled out to parks that could use an extra boost.
We aim for 80% proven offerings and 20% innovation. That means that sometimes something will break down or not work immediately. We accept that – otherwise you can’t call yourself an innovative park.
When did the parks open?
Hasselt opened in May 2023. Ghent started test runs with family and friends in June, but the official opening is today. We’re proud of how recognizable it feels: the big blue sports wall and about 50 sports under one roof – but Ghent got extra decoration and 16 new sports.
What can visitors expect in terms of prices?
We sell tickets for 1, 2, or 4 hours, day tickets, and subscriptions. [Sparkx runs a lot of promotions, and prices vary a bit, but generally range from €14.95 to €16.95 for one hour; €23.95 to €28.95 for two hours; €33.95 to €38.95 for four hours; and €39.95 to €46.95 for a full day – ed.]
Is there expansion coming?
We want to grow. There are concrete plans for Belgium, France, and the Netherlands, but everything depends on the permit process. We only talk about locations when they’re certain. We’re grateful for the support from cities like Hasselt and Ghent. Franchise? There’s a lot of interest, but we want to learn and refine for another 2–3 years with partners who have already proven they can handle such a process.
Where do you want to be in ten years?
We aim high and we say it out loud: in 15–20 years, about 250 parks – 50 owned by us and 200 through franchise. If we don’t hit that, we still want to be the first mover in Europe to take a large part of the market. If it doesn’t work everywhere? Then we’ll close what doesn’t work and keep building. Ambitious, but we’re going for it.
Is it easy to find investors?
There’s interest. The future will show who we move forward with. We still have a lot to learn and are looking for strong partners who want to take things to the next level with us.
How long did the Hasselt process take – from idea to opening?
We founded the company in November 2021 and opened in May 2023: 1 year and 7 months. Intense, yes. My Decathlon background helped enormously: I learned a lot, built a network, and had 4–5 former colleagues join in. The right people are crucial – then you can move fast.
And how’s your own work-life balance?
[laughs] We’re not a shining example there. We sleep too little, exercise too little. My wife is right to say I need to be home more sometimes. Our goal around well-being applies to us too – we’re still working on that balance.
Thank you, Mathieu.
My pleasure. And above all: have fun at Sparkx.
More info: www.sparkx.com
Text: Dirk Vandereyken & Hans De Ryck
Photos: Dirk Vandereyken & Alhana Vandereyken
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