I've gone through a lot of stages in my career in this industry and seen it from many different vantage points. From a young shop rat to college student to the boss' son who knew everything (or nothing depending on who you ask) to small business manager, being a partner with my father in our coin-op business, I've had corporate experience since 1998 at Sugarloaf and now Coinstar. Add my 20 years of AMOA involvement, and you've covered a lot of ground, except for my new vantage point, which is seeing our industry's products from the scariest vantage point of all, that of a parent.
Our products were always widgets to me. I never had a desire to have a room full of pinballs or jukeboxes in the basement anymore than an accountant wants to work on a neighbor's financial books on his day off. I just wanted to sell more widgets than the other guy. Now, I'm a parent and consumer of our industry's products, and (as many of you can relate) the industry looks very different though the eyes of a parent!
Let me start by saying that I look forward to never having to go to Chuck E. Cheese again! I'm the parent that goes to the birthday party and stays there. I've never understood the parents that drop kids off and don't get to enjoy the full experience. But that's another topic. There is a beautiful Chuck E. Cheese in Superior, Colo., just down the road, and my kid's love it! It's loud. I have a hard time keeping track of them, and the kids are seldom together except for that brief moment of pizza and cake consumption. Then they're back at all the games, running around, spending large sums of our family's entertainment budget. I'm sure Chuck E. Cheese does well. They're famous in the industry, but count this 46-year-old out.
I cut my industry teeth operating games like Asteroids and Pac-Man. That's not the new retro models, and not the home game versions, but rather the original arcade video games. Ben, my six-year-old, has already started the negotiation for an X-Box console system. He is asking for it by brand name, so well done, Microsoft. He doesn't even know what an arcade is, although we have gone to Dave & Buster's a few times. When we go to the AMC theater, both my son and daughter play the attract mode on the latest video driver. I hope that lasts a few more years.
I've fought for the right personally, and on behalf of the entire industry, to be able to legally operate whatever violent video games I choose, wherever I choose. Watching Kate, my four-year-old daughter, walk up to a Time Crisis video game, pick up the gun and pretend to be shooting everyone in sight, including me, without inserting any money, was a moment I won't forget. We had just seen "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" so don't think I had her in the local pool hall or anything. Candidly, I would have preferred that my daughter, at this stage, not have that type of exposure. As an industry I wonder if we are just creating our own problems by not being responsible?
And then, Ben picked up a cigarette off the ground and gave me the "Ain't I cool, Dad," James Dean smoker's look. It made me momentarily ill. As an industry, we're fighting against cities that want to ban smoking inside public places. As a parent of young children, the only restaurants we frequent are totally non-smoking. Ban the entire ugly act, I say, inside and out. I cringe at the thought of any of my children smoking. That's not exactly freedom of expression for those who choose to smoke, but who said we have to be objective about these things?
My children love to play cranes. Unfortunately, the greasy spoon restaurant we frequent on Saturday mornings (they are a hit as they make the pancakes in the shape of rabbits, which is very important) has a crane operated by a competitor. My children know what I do for a living; they just don't know that other people do it too. I now know the joy of seeing one of your own winning a prize from a crane. And I also know just how deep in my pocket I will go for my child to experience that joy, which is deeper than I would ever willingly admit. The toy and the experience are the attraction for everyone.
The bulk industry is in a lull. So I asked our in-house industry expert about what the problem is with our bulk program. The expert is my wife Deanna, and she looked at me as if the answer was obvious. "The candy is terrible for the kids!" she said. I was quickly educated. The challenge with children is to limit their junk consumption to, say, 10 pounds of junk food per day. It's all over the place.
So I went to our Sugarloaf expert and learned that, yes, we had tried healthy offerings in bulk machines many times, but they didn't sell. So maybe my wife is one of the healthier ones, and the public in general doesn't buy it. To her it was obvious. The hot grocery segment is healthy foods, so why doesn't it sell in bulk?
Probably my favorite industry product as a parent of young children is the kiddie ride. They speak directly to the innocent fun of being a child. I've never seen a frown on a child riding a kiddie ride. Who cares if it's licensed or not? I can't put money in them fast enough. They're the reward for good behavior at the grocery store, and the first thing they run to in restaurants.
One of the most enjoyable experiences involving my children and my job was when my family accompanied me to the IAAPA show a couple of years ago. It was the first time I had brought them to a trade show. It was in Orlando, and one day we went to IAAPA, and the next day to Disney World, and the third day they picked. It was IAAPA again. If you don't have children, you should rent them for trade shows. I learned more about what products are appealing and why than I ever had walking the floors alone.
We're in an industry of offering fun and entertainment to families that use our products. What better research can there be than to learn from your kids who are your customers? Take them to the office and follow them around. I'm more educated today about our industry thanks to my family. It seems we're always learning.