On an airplane again, I ponder today's events. Colorado is on fire as I write. This is a first for me. I live in a Denver suburb. Yesterday the smoke was so thick at my house that visibility was restricted and breathing difficult. It almost makes you miss the Kansas tornados ... almost.
We're in the middle of summer, preparing for the fall onslaught of trade shows. The AMOA is just around the corner. To do the IAAPA show or not to do: that is my annual question. I'm hopeful I come up with another reason to skip it this year. It's just too big and most of it is not applicable to what I do for a living. I usually do skip it. However, it's been a few years since I've been. I always remember leaving with a new idea or two when I do decide to attend.
Speaking of trade shows, I hear it's official that at the ASI show in March, location owners will be invited to the convention. If they are attending the Nightclub & Bar Show they can use their badges to attend the ASI show. I can't help but think of a story that my father passed on to me one time (I forget the exact reason he told me). There was this guy in his house with a woman that was not his wife. The two were in the bedroom totally compromised, when his wife walks in. The man grabs the sheets as he sits up and says, "Now honey, are you going to believe what you see or what I'm about to tell you?" I know that this isn't a move to sell directly to locations, but ...
When I look at the industry landscape, I see the companies that are prospering all focusing on a specific niche market. They are very focused and committed to their specific business models. The guys who are still trying to do it all, jacks-of-all-trades and masters of none, are struggling. The biggest market that is prospering, while most of the industry isn't, is the area of online games. A number of companies are focusing on online games and are very successful at it. One operator tells me if he can't plug it into a phone line, he doesn't buy it. That's commitment. This segment seems poised to continue to grow. The opportunities are endless. As more new games gain online capabilities, this segment will grow.
While in Atlanta recently visiting family, I had the opportunity to visit two industry friends at their offices. The first stop was Greater Southern Distributors. David Capilouto and his partners last year opened up a new state-of-the-art facility in Atlanta. I got the tour and was totally impressed. The facility is beautiful. Building the complex from scratch gave Dave's group the ability to lay things out exactly as they wanted. From start to finish, every department was a site of efficiency. They've done well over the years and look poised to continue their distribution success well into the future.
Across town, at fellow AMOA board member Gaines Butler's Metro Games, was another matter. It was equally impressive, but for totally different reasons. Someone told me once that the size of a man's office is frequently in inverse proportion to his wealth. Gaines must be loaded. Gaines is predominantly a 45-RPM jukebox operator for the Waffle House chain of restaurants. You need to understand that this 1,500-chain restaurant is no small account. If you want to operate jukeboxes in a Waffle House, you will be talking to Gaines first. He has the contract for the entire chain, and they love him. He maintains that the right music delivery system for Waffle House, considering the demographic of the employees and customers, is and will continue to be a 45-RPM jukebox. The price per play is 25 cents for one play, six plays for one dollar, and 30 plays for a five-dollar bill. His operation is built around this total concept. I haven't seen this many 45-RPM jukeboxes in one place since the AMOA show in 1980. In one corner of his office are technicians rebuilding the mechanisms, and in the back room they are refurbishing the cabinets to the same condition they were when they were new. In some cases they've changed the color designs from the original scheme, and they look better than they did when they were new! This is another great example of an operator whose niche is very specific and successful.
On the front of how our industry is responding to the continued political pressure of violence in video games, I found it entertaining that our number one video game in last month's RePlay chart was the newest "strong life-like violence" shooting game. How's that for being proactive as an industry? Just ignore the politics and keep doing what we always have. We'll lose that battle eventually and then ask, "How did that happen?"