Hundreds of teenagers go on rampage at mini-golf centre after being refused refunds

Crowds stampeded through car park amid chaos over faulty games machines on Saturday

Video shared online shows teenagers attacking staff at mini-golf centre with objects thrown (Tatianna Lak / Facebook)

Police were called to a games centre in Memphis this weekend when almost 400 teenagers went on the rampage over broken games machines, according to reports.

A Memphis Police Department (MPD) spokesperson said somewhere between 300 and 400 teenagers descended on the centre on Saturday when the chaos began.

In a video shared online, teenagers were seen throwing plexiglass, games machines and other items towards workers at the Putt Putt Fun Center in Memphis.

That trouble started when Putt-Putt workers announced the centre was closing on Saturday, with crowd sizes that violated Covid-19 occupancy limits.

Staff told the teenagers that there would be no refunds over games machines that were allegedly broken.

Tatianna Lak, who videoed the disorder, said some machines were working incorrectly when she visited.

“Something was wrong with their machines today because when they credited our attractions card for 5 attractions the money didn’t upload. HOWEVER they were very understanding and still let us get on each attraction several times,” she wrote on Facebook.

Whilst teenagers were seen creating damage inside the centre on Saturday, police said others stampeded through the car park when Putt-Putt workers announced the closure.

According to Fox13, that came as someone launched fireworks into the crowd, creating more chaos.

One teenager who uprooted plants and threw them at parked vehicles was later issued with a juvenile summons for disorderly conduct, according to MPD and Fox13.

Putt-Putt workers were said to have cleared-up the mess inside the centre whilst police cleared crowds from the car park on Saturday.

“Unfortunately, yesterday evening we had an incident that we have never experienced in 57 years of business,” said Putt-Putt in a statement on Facebook.

“Parents chose to leave large groups of teenagers at our facility without parental supervision. Some of those people chose to create a disturbance the likes of which we have never seen.”

“Going forward, all minors must be accompanied by their parent or guardian while at Golf and Games,” said the statement. “Anyone that is left unattended will be asked to leave.” The businesses said that they were working with authorities to investigate those who caused the chaos.