After launching in a physical location for the first time last year, a mobile Knockerball business closed its indoor operation at the end of 2025. The owners are shifting their focus back to mobile events and their axe-throwing business. 

Owners Jasen and Nellie Hinshaw and Rachel and Rudy Garcia closed their KBTC Family Fun Zone at 8425 Chapel Hill Blvd., Suite D120, in Pasco due to a changing economy and hard times, plus poor visibility in the area, Nellie Hinshaw told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business. 

The KBTC Family Fun Zone at 8425 Chapel Hill Blvd., Suite D120, Pasco, closed at the end of 2025 due to economic hard times.

| Photo by Rachel Visick

“With any business, it’s always a risk,” she said, noting it was important to give it a go anyway. 

Knockerball’s distinctive person-sized inflatable balls will still be around in the community. 

Launched nine years ago, Knockerball Tri-Cities’ mobile knockerball business is still going strong and showing up at events throughout the Tri-Cities. 

Hinshaw said that the mobile business will pick up in the spring after the slower winter months. The owners “look forward to still bringing the smiles out to the kids,” she said. 

The Family Fun Zone featuring bumper cars, arcade games, food, knockerballs and more had about five employees, and Hinshaw said the owners worked to help them find other jobs. Some were able to move over to the neighboring Axe KPR, an axe-throwing business in Suite C104, run by the same owners. 

The owners of Knockerball and Axe KPR continue to invest in those businesses. Recently, they bought small games for the axe-throwing business, so that those waiting their turn can play, along with several other improvements.

| Photo by Rachel Visick

The owners continue to invest in Axe KPR. They moved in a few of the arcade games that were in the KBTC Family Fun Zone. 

They’ve also tweaked the axe-throwing shop’s operating hours and are now open on Tuesdays and are working on obtaining a liquor license for the space. The owners also have invested in small games like tic-tac-toe and Connect Four for those waiting their turn to throw axes. 

In addition to Axe KPR’s standard axes, the owners are offering several new and larger axes and shovels to throw. Kids can now throw Velcro axes at a large Velcro target while their parents are throwing axes. 

Axe KPR also launched a friendly tournament for the first time for regulars that’s been fun and brought people in, Hinshaw said. 

She said that it’s possible that the KBTC Family Fun Zone could reopen in the future, if the owners are able to find the right place for it.