It's getting a little repetitive attending all these trade shows lately: the same people say the same things. "Attendance is down." "The aisles are empty." "It is a slow show." Compared to what, I ask? The record-setting 1981 AMOA show? The fact is that I think I saw everyone in the industry that I needed to see at this year's AMOA show. Sure, I miss a few people. They've sold their routes and left the industry. I even saw some of those people at the AMOA.
What you're seeing at the AMOA show, and the ASI show, is "what it is." This is our industry today. No one that is a player in our industry stayed home. Many people have left the industry. Many have diversified and now attend other industry conventions. Consolidation has taken its toll in our industry...just as it has in many others.
I enjoyed the recent conventions because I was able to see everyone and everything I needed to see. There is no question that there will be a consolidation with trade shows as well. And when it occurs, you'll still see the same faces. Guys will still be saying, "This show isn't what is used to be back in the '80s." My reply: nope, it sure ain't. This show accurately reflects the industry of today!
Now that I've got that off my chest, let's explore a few other random items of interest...
· Midway-Atari gets a gold star this month for taking the aggressive, and expensive action by converting for free the Hyperdrives they sold to California Speeds. Hyperdrive was a bad game. I have them out earning $40 per week. Other manufacturers have made bad games before, but I don't remember them converting them out at no cost.
· Someone once told me that the way to eat an elephant, is one bite at a time. That philosophy has helped me through many a large project. It also describes Don Hesch's recent reign as president of AMOA. Throughout his year as AMOA president, he quietly made progress every day, working to solve some of AMOA's problems. Like a ship turning in the night. Then, one day, AMOA and AAMA have made a deal to promote each other's conventions. AMOA gets a new executive director. AMOA moves out of Smith-Bucklin and opens up shop across town with a new staff. AMOA has its first realistic budget in years. All of Don's accomplishment's have been discussed and attempted by others. Don got it all done. In twelve months. Team '98 is headed for the AMOA Hall of Fame. Very impressive.
· While I'm talking about AMOA, Craig Johnson this year graduated from the AMOA Past President's Council. Now he'll be able to come to meetings whenever he wants, and only those he wants to attend. He'll leave when he wants. He'll give sage advice and then head back to the ranch. More seriously, there have been very few AMOA decisions made during Craig's 15 or so years on the AMOA Board that Craig hasn't influenced one way or another. Another Hall of Famer.
· I'm a resident of Boulder County now (in Colorado), due to my new role as an employee of American Coin. I was driving to work the other day, headed directly for the beautiful Rocky Mountains, thinking how quickly things can change. One year ago, none of this was on my plate. Now I've sold a business, moved from Wichita, taken a new job, and my wife is due with our first child in January. Life is good. A friend of mine read a stress test to me that attributes stress points to major life changes. It said I was in big trouble, because (in addition to all the changes just mentioned) there is more traffic in the Denver/Boulder area than there is in Wichita, Kansas.
· Speaking of the AMOA and all of the changes, one meeting in Nashville sums it up for me. The Government Relations committee had, among other people in attendance: Craig Johnson (AMOA past president); Bob Fay (executive director of AAMA and now in the new structure overseeing the AMOA staff); Bill Beckham (who as an operator has been a manufacturer adversary since birth); and Dick Hawkins (an AMOA past president who has not always been on the same page as Mr. Fay, to say the least). I sat there with these guys and thought, "Now if all that can happen, and these professionals can put these major issues behind them for the betterment of the industry, then I'm convinced anything can happen."
· I was in a Dave & Buster's recently. My grandmother-in-law had her 80th birthday party at the D&B in Dallas. The demographic draw of this chain must be the entire population of Earth. I spent a great deal of the time in the game room/arcade area doing what some call "location research." I was with my nephews who are two and four years old. I must say it was great fun to watch them play the games without putting money in them. That's one of my biggest pet peeves - kids crawling around and playing "on" the simulator games as if they were playground equipment, rather than playing the games. But, these were someone else's games. One nephew especially liked the Final Furlong. It plays great for free.
· Seriously, D&B has successfully become what everyone else wants to be. They define a successful family entertainment center. I liked the fact that I didn't see a light bulb out in the entire room. All games were properly labeled with signage. They were very clean, all the way down to the monitors and the rubber mats on the driving games. They had all the latest and greatest games, but most impressive to me was that even the games that were three to four years old were immaculate.
I've looked at a lot of debit card systems but I learned something new at D&B. When I bought the card, the purchase cost was $20. I don't have any idea what I was paying per game, but I think the price points were all over the place. From a business and customer point of view, I like the fact that I only thought about the price when I bought or replenished the value on the card. Price per play has long been a problem in our industry. It appears to me that debit cards are a tool to overcome that problem.
· Did you notice that Jim Hodges, longshot candidate for governor in South Carolina, defeated the heavily-favored incumbent Republican Governor Beasley? Beasley angered the wrong group when he took a position that he wanted to remove video poker in South Carolina, where it has long been legal. The South Carolina coin machine operators got involved when Beasley had over 60% in the polls. I hope those guys don't ever get mad at me. Whoever said that "You either need to get involved in politics, or you need to get uninvolved in business," was right on target. If Beasley had been elected, the coin machine operators in South Carolina would have been out of business.
· Here's a "Stan story" (from my dad, tradevet Stan Chilton) that some large industry operators would do well to consider. Two homeless men, one formerly an amusement machine operator, were under a bridge gathered around a trash can fire one night. The former amusement machine operator said to the other, "I got every location I ever bid." "How did you do that?" said the other man. The former op says: "I was always the lowest bidder." The other guy asks how he thought that was ever going to work out for him. "Volume," the other replies, "lots of volume."