Sonic, Mario Kart and a tiny planet: the golf game built by Foreplay’s Roel Boer

People who run an indoor golf venue tend to have plenty on their plate. Roel Boer of Foreplay in Groningen looked at that list and added a video game.

It is called Golf Buddies, it is out now on iPhone and Android, and it has nothing to do with launch angles or spin rates. You drive a golf cart around a tiny spinning planet and try not to hit anything.

It started with Sonic

The idea came from two generations of the same game.

“I once played a huge amount of Sonic the Hedgehog on the SEGA console, and my kids now play Sonic on the Nintendo Switch. Then I thought: could I make that kind of game too, something you’d want to play more often, and with your kids?”

The brief Roel set was short. You have to react, you have to score as many points as you can, and it has to work both as a challenge between players and as a few quick rounds on the train or during a break. The reference points are all classics.

“A bit of Sonic 3 meets Mario Kart meets Asteroids.”

Golf, but everything is coming at you

You steer by holding left or right, or by dragging. Trees and ponds are the obvious problem. The less obvious one comes from above: when “Fore!” appears, a shadow and a ring show where a ball is about to land.

A Spring gives you a short jump and a Ramp a long one, and while you are in the air nothing can hit you. Along the way you are looking for the 14 clubs you lost, and you score points per metre, per hole and per birdie.

“The goal is simple: dodge everything, find your lost clubs and score as many points as possible,” Roel says. “Every run the globe is different, and it gets laid out in real time while you play. That keeps every run unique and random.”

The 18 holes each have their own character, from park and dunes to woods and heathland. This being a game from Groningen, there is also a Dutch polder.

Better with your buddies

You can play alone, offline if you want to. Or you invite up to 5 buddies with a link and race on the same course, with everyone’s cart and name in view. When the round is over you get a scorecard to share and a rematch button, which is where the kids get their chance to embarrass you.

Why we like it

We usually write about simulators, coaching and the people who run indoor golf venues, so a phone game is a bit of a detour. But it fits. Foreplay’s profile on Findoori says it straight away: you don’t need to know how to golf to have a good time there. Golf Buddies takes the same view. All you need is left and right.

Where to play

• Free demo with 9 holes

• Golf Buddies on the App Store

• Golf Buddies on Google Play

The full game has all 18 holes plus multiplayer. You buy it once, with no ads, no in-app purchases and no account.

And if a tiny planet is not enough golf for one day, Foreplay in Groningen has the full-size version indoors.