nuvelo.
For soft play & family entertainment

Sessions and parties,
without the Saturday scramble.

Most booking tools are built for restaurant tables and bent to fit a play centre. nuvelo isn't. Timed sessions that count children, age-band pricing, and birthday parties with add-ons — the way soft play actually works. Deposits land straight in your own Stripe, Square or SumUp.

Per-head booking platforms take a slice of every child and every party. On a busy weekend that adds up fast. nuvelo is one flat monthly price — £29 to £99 — no fee per child, no cut of your parties, ever.

No sign-up · resets every night · from £29/venue
Sound familiar?

A restaurant "table for 4" doesn't know what a play session is

You don't seat diners at tables — you run timed sessions with a hard limit on children, price by age, and live and die by the Saturday birthday diary. Generic tools oversell your busiest slot, can't tell an adult from a toddler on the count, and treat a party like any other booking.

So the party diary ends up in a paper book or a spreadsheet, deposits get chased by hand, and one double-booked party ruins a Saturday. nuvelo was built for exactly this.

Built for the way you run

Sessions that count children,
not covers

Timed sessions, real capacity

Set your session times and how many children each holds. When it's full, it's full — no oversold 10am on a wet Saturday, and the count is children, not heads.

Age-band pricing

Under-1s free, walkers one price, over-5s another — up to four age bands plus accompanying adults. Parents pick who's coming and the total is right every time.

Ask before they arrive

Add your own questions to a booking — a child's age, an allergy, a socks-required nudge — and the answer's on the ticket when they walk in.

Or book by the table

Prefer walk-in-and-play with a table held for an hour, café-style? Run soft play on tables instead of timed sessions — your call, per venue.

Waitlist for full sessions

Sold out? Parents join the waitlist online. When a spot frees, one tap texts them "space just opened" and books them in.

Deposits, your account

Take a deposit or full payment on the session, straight into your own Stripe, Square or SumUp. Unpaid holds release themselves after a window you set.

Digital waivers

Put your own waiver wording in Settings; parents tick-and-sign during booking, or scan a QR at the door. Stored against each guest and valid for as long as you choose, so a returning family doesn't re-sign — and the desk flags anyone who hasn't.

Memberships

Sell visit-based or unlimited memberships through your own payment account. Members book their sessions at £0, capacity still counts, and renewal reminders go out automatically.

Party balances, collected

Take a deposit up front and let nuvelo chase the balance for you — an automatic pay link a set number of days before the party, one reminder if it's unpaid, and an at-a-glance flag on the desk for who still owes.

The Saturday moneymaker

Birthday parties that book
and pay themselves

Real party packages

Build each package the way you sell it: a base price that includes so many children, a per-extra-child rate, a cap, a duration and the days and times it runs.

Add-ons that upsell for you

Party food, a party host, an extra half-hour, a cake — offer add-ons on the booking page and they land priced on the total, no phone call needed.

Private hire or shared

Exclusive parties close the whole session so no one else books it; a shared party only takes up its own children's spaces in the session, so the rest stays open for normal bookings. One switch per package.

Deposit taken on booking

Every party takes its deposit up front to your own account, so a Saturday slot is never held for someone who won't turn up.

Reminders cut no-shows

An automatic day-before text and email nudges the parent to confirm — or cancel in time so you can rebook the slot.

One diary, no double-books

Every party, session and add-on in one view. No paper book, no clashing bookings, no "I thought that slot was free".

While the little ones play

The café earns its keep too

Order & pay from the table

Put a QR on each table — parents order a coffee and a snack, tip and pay from their phone while the kids play. No app, no queue at the till.

Tabs the table can split

Open a tab, add drinks and snacks through the day, then hand over a pay link the group splits at the end. A kitchen screen shows your staff what's still to make.

Never a cut of your sales

Every payment and tip lands in your own account. Unlike the QR order-and-pay apps that take a cut of every bill, we don't take 1–2.5% of your sales — just the flat monthly fee.

Regulars remembered, loyalty built in. A guest book keeps every family's visits and spend; opt-in loyalty rewards the parents who come back every week — nothing for them to sign up for.

Pricing

One flat price.
Never a fee per child

Sessions, parties and payments — priced per venue, not per booking. Every plan starts with a 30-day free trial and no card.

Starter

£29/venue/mo

Timed sessions with capacity and age-band pricing, deposits via your own Stripe, Square or SumUp, a booking widget for your site, email confirmations, and digital waivers, signed at booking — included from Starter up, because safety isn't an upsell.

Complete

£99/venue/mo

Everything in Pro, plus café order & pay: QR ordering at the table, split tabs and a kitchen screen. We never take a cut of your sales.

No setup fees · no contracts · cancel anytime · no per-child fees · no cut of your sales — the money is yours
Annual billing: Starter £319/yr · Pro £649/yr · Complete £990/yr — one month free, two on Complete · 30-day free trial, no card needed

Straight answers

What play centres ask us

Do you ever charge per cover, per booking or per child?

No. One flat monthly price per venue — £29, £59 or £99 — whether forty children come through the door this month or four thousand. A wet half-term costs the same as a quiet week in term time. That is the whole point of the product.

Can I run two parties at the same time?

Yes — if you have the rooms for it. Add your party rooms in the Parties tab, then tick which ones a package can use. Every booking is given an empty room automatically, so two rooms take two parties at once, and back-to-back parties reuse a room as it frees up. A party in its own room is a separate space, so it doesn't use up your general play capacity — an everyday session can't accidentally block a party, or the other way round.

Can I stop guests booking play sessions months ahead?

Yes. Alongside your overall booking window, you can also let everyday bookings open only a week or two ahead — so your near dates stay free to fill, instead of a quiet Tuesday getting booked out three months early. Parties are deliberately exempt: they still book as far ahead as your full window allows, because birthdays get planned months in advance.

Do parents have to sign a waiver every visit?

No. A parent signs once — as they book, or at a door-side QR — and a returning family inside the validity window you set (12 months by default) isn't asked again; the booking form just shows "waiver already on file". They only re-sign when it lapses, or if you change the wording. Your team sees a Waiver ✓ / needed flag on every arrival, so anyone who booked by phone still signs at the door.

More questions — trials, your data, who holds the money →

See it with your own eyes

Play a Saturday, before you commit

The demo hands you a practice venue — set up a session, build a party package, take a booking as a parent, run the diary as the venue. It's yours alone and wipes clean every night.

Open the interactive demo Get early access
No sign-up needed to try it · resets every night

It works both ways: founding members agree, in writing when they join, to a named case study, use of their logo, and the odd reference call for venues sizing us up.

Reserve with Google is built and waiting: Google certifies nuvelo as a partner once the first venues are signed, on Google's timescale — it switches on for your venue after that, not on day one.