Next year’s 28th Annual VNEA Juniors Tournament will relocate from its familiar Erie, Penn., Venue to the Marina Inn Hotel in South Sioux City, Neb. “Valley League” charter holder operators have plenty of time to gather contestants, since the dates will be June 21-24, 2018. Already, 14 operating companies representing seven states (plus Ontario and New Zealand) will send something like 250 youngsters to the bout. Regional operators at River City Amusement are going to host the event, to be played off on 80 Valley tables. Prizes run $600 for the first-place team, $200 for the top boy and $75…
Author: Casey Minter
The Minnesota Operators of Music and Amusements recently congratulated the following seven students for earning a $1,000 MOMA scholarship for the 2017-18 school year: Austin Kueck, Hailee Stock, Colton Hines, Taylor Hansen, Katelynn Larson, Ridge Hokens and Michaela Spielberger. Since 1991, MOMA has raised more than $100,000 in scholarship funds that have been awarded to over 100 deserving college-bound students. The support is need- and merit-based and the recipients are children of those in our industry or league participants who would like to pursue a college education. For more information, visit www.momapoolanddarts.com, MOMA’s Facebook page here or MOMA’s Twitter page here.
AMI Entertainment released its annual list charting top jukebox artists, songs and music videos for 2017. With millions of songs and tens of thousands of locations across the U.S. and Canada, the 2017 End-of-Year jukebox music charts offer a broad cross-section of popular music among today’s bar and restaurant goers. In the world of new music, many genres were equally represented in AMI’s Top 20 New Songs list. Hip-hop’s Migos took three of the top 20 spots, while other popular artists like Sam Hunt, Ed Sheeran, Luke Combs, Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B and more filled the remaining spots. AMI says…
Ernest Yale, president and CEO of Triotech, gladly announced a new addition to that company’s management team: Gabi Salabi. Salabi moves up to the company’s Chief Commercial Officer post, after working as Triotech’s VP of global sales and business development since 2010. “Gabi has played a key role in Triotech’s emergence as a global leader in interactive attractions,” said Yale. “This appointment will leverage his leadership to facilitate our interface with major clients and optimize new business development.” Charles Décarie, Chief Operating Officer at Triotech added, “Our site operations team will be integrated with our sales team under one vision…
Family Entertainment Group (FEG) recently bought the beloved FEC Freedom Station in Prescott Valley, Ariz. The transaction is one of many acquisitions by FEG in the last twelve months, and adds to the company’s growing profile of FECs including Hollywood Park in Crestwood, Ill., Bonkers Fun House in Peabody, Mass., Funtrackers in Corpus Christi, Texas, among others. Freedom Station was owned and operated by Chad and Brenda Cook. Through collaborative conversations with FEG ownership, the company reports that a mutually beneficial deal was structured to meet the needs of Chad and Brenda, and insure that the business and employees would…
Intercard announced the addition of a new member to its North American sales team: Todd DeMott. A native of Belmar, N.J., DeMott grew up battling for high scores in Jersey Shore arcades and quickly turned his childhood love into a career as a sales rep, manager, consultant and owner of his own arcades. Now, DeMott represents Intercard’s U.S. interests as the company expands globally. DeMott began his career at Monduce Inc., which then led to a 10 year stint at the company’s successor, Elaut USA. “Todd DeMott grew up in the arcade business and understands it inside out as a…
As nostalgic interest in the arcade world continues to grow, studios in Hollywood aren’t missing out on the chance to capitalize on it. The 1986 Bally Midway classic, Rampage, is getting the red-carpet treatment, with a film featuring Dwayne Johnson slated for release in 2018. Additionally, a Wall Street Journal article reports that Illumination Entertainment, the studio behind Despicable Me, Minions and Secret Life of Pets, is in talks to bring Mario and Luigi back to the big screen with an animated Super Mario Bros movie. The deal would follow what many call a commercially and critically disastrous attempt at…
The show floor was still lit up with hundreds and hundreds of games and rides as IAAPA attendees wandered about on the Expo’s final day. With record breaking numbers, solid sales reported and a variety of new, engaging concepts and machines, you’d be hard pressed to find a person who didn’t call this year a success. As of 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16, registered attendees numbered at 38,500, with registered buyers coming in at 24,900 (compared to 2016’s 34,800 attendees and 22,000 buyers.) That’s a big jump in attendance, and throughout the week the larger crowd was felt by…
With the VR sector of the amusement industry continuing to grow, the immersion experts at Triotech (the ones behind the well-loved Dark Ride series of motion theaters) were sure to enter the fray. They did so in a huge way, with an announcement at the IAAPA Expo that the company would be teaming up with AAA home game developer Ubisoft. “I’ve tried VR before, but never tried an attraction like this one,” said Triotech President, CEO and Founder Ernest Yale. “We wanted to begin to play with the psyche of the guest.” Yale and his firm have introduced an engaging…
BMI Merchandise hosted a press conference on the last day of IAAPA, with toppers David and Shelley Katz continuing to promote the firm’s brand switch-up. According to the duo, the company held talks with both internal and external marketing teams before deciding on the new “Moving Fun Forward” tagline. “Our whole goal is to give our customers sustainability and scalability,” said Shelley Katz. “And have some fun doing it.” According to toppers, the company has been consistently installing two to three new redemption centers each week in FECs and other locations around the nation. The rebrand brings a new outlook…