What is TOCA Social and how does it work?
When you book a session at TOCA Social, you get your very own private playing box. Think of it like a mini, high-tech football pitch enclosed on three sides, with a massive, floor-to-ceiling screen at the front. This screen is where all the magic happens!
At the bottom of the screen, there’s a clever machine that fires footballs out at you with varying speeds and trajectories, depending on the game and difficulty level you’ve chosen.
You’ll control everything from a large, intuitive touchscreen panel inside your box. This is where you pick your games, set difficulty levels (beginner, intermediate, or advanced), and add all your players to the system. Each player gets their turn to step up and show off their skills.
What Players Need to Do: Kick, Aim, Score!
The core action is simple: you kick the ball at targets on the interactive screen. The objective changes with each game, but generally, it’s about accuracy, precision, and getting those points! You don’t need to be a football pro; the games are designed to be accessible and fun for everyone, even if you’ve never kicked a ball before.
Before you start, there’s usually a short safety video and a quick run-through from a host to get you comfortable with the setup.
The Games
TOCA Social offers a selection of unique, arcade-style football games that are totally different from a regular match:
Target Games: These are all about accuracy. You’ll aim for specific areas on the screen, and when you hit them, things like “atoms” might split and multiply, giving you escalating points as the pieces get smaller.
Eliminator: This one’s a fan favourite and perfect for a bit of friendly rivalry. Your opponents’ profile pictures (yes, you upload them!) appear as targets on the big screen. The goal is to hit their faces enough times to “eliminate” them from the game. It’s a hilarious way to settle some scores!
Zombie Attack: Exactly what it sounds like! You’re kicking balls to hit zombies on the screen to earn points.
Each game has different difficulty levels, which typically control how quickly and in what manner the balls are delivered to you. So, whether you want a gentle lob for beginners or a rapid-fire volley challenge for the more experienced, TOCA Social has your ability covered.
It’s all about quick turns, keeping the energy high, and a live leaderboard tracking everyone’s performance, culminating in a winner’s ceremony at the end of your session.
Get ready to settle the debate of who’s the most accurate with a ball in your group!
TOCA Social Review
We played four games and they were all fun to play. There’s just enough variation in each to make it interesting, but essentially it’s all about accuracy and hitting targets to earn points (I would have loved a game to see who could hit the ball the hardest or a game of free kicks or penalties.
There are three levels to choose from, beginner, intermediate and advanced. We played intermediate and the balls varied from straight, left, right and chipped to knee height where you control it or volley it so a decent challenge even for those who play 5-a-sides or Sunday league.
Booking at TOCA Social
TOCA Social have just updated their booking system, which still a little unhelpful. We had three players in our group, which they recommend 30 minutes. We found this was not long enough and felt we had to rush. To play 60 minutes (which I think would have been the ideal time for our group size), we would have had to pay for 6-8 players. Here are the playing durations per number of players:
- 2-3 players – 30 minutes
- 4-5 players – 45 minutes
- 6-8 players – 60 minutes
- 9 players – 75 minutes
- 10-12 players – 90 minutes
- 13+ players – 90 minutes (2 boxes)
30 minutes might be okay for a quick casual game before doing another activity at the O2, but I would have liked the option of choosing the amount of time you play for no matter your group size.
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Tips for playing at TOCA Social
They recommend arriving 20 minutes early to check-in (the check-in desk is on the left at the entrance which we missed).
They will tell you which number of pitch you are playing on. After, head to the bar area. There are monitors which will show your name and when you should go to your pitch.
Keep an eye on the monitor as there is about five minutes of admin which you don’t want to eat into your playing time (it also gives you time to stretch if you’re over a certain age like me…).
The admin consists of watching a safety video and adding names to the board (similar to bowling).
TOCA Social verdict
I highly recommend TOCA Social for anyone who likes to play football, whether casual or competitive. I just hope they change their booking system to allow playing longer no matter your group size. If you’re a small group, I would recommend booking twice as I feel 60 minutes should be a minimum to really enjoy your experience.
Address: The O2, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX
Website: https://www.toca.social/
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