Jack Guarnieri, one of the oldest hands around coin-op, got his latest RePlay and emailed the following reply to our lead editorial on the subject of playing fair with crane operations: “Your plea was noble, but only appeals to operators with a conscience. The players need to police the cranes on location with a Yelp-like review system. That’s the only thing that keeps restaurants clean and serving quality food with good service backup. It’s a ‘stick’ that the consumer has in order to keep business owners doing the right thing. It’s something that’s missing in our industry.” Then Jack added:…
Author: Casey Minter
Music and amusement vendors in the “show me” state of Missouri will gather Aug. 25-26 for their annual meeting and product/supplies auction. The venue is their now-traditional Hilton Garden Inn in Columbia. The hotel’s phone is 573-814-5464. Col. G.M. Wilkens will, as per usual, do the auctioneer duties Friday evening, Aug. 25. Donated machines and parts that are used by members of this Missouri Amusement Machine Operators Assn. will be on the block, and the colonel always puts on a great show. The general membership meeting will take place Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Current legislative issues, along with a…
Bandai Namco’s title of “Customer Service Director” has been awarded to veteran Joe Blackwell. Joe boasts 38 years in the business, and has worked in manufacturing, operations and location management, and the folks at Bandai Namco says he is, without question, one of the best in the industry. “Joe has been the voice of customer service and the mentor of the department for us for eight years,” stated SVP Frank Cosentino. “Customer service is the cornerstone of any company in our business and I’m proud that ours is in Joe’s hands. You can sum up Joe’s passion in his own…
Zero Latency says it’s looking to grow to more than 20 operating arenas by the end of 2017. And, these location-based, free-roam VR gurus aren’t just growing across the globe though, they’re also growing the size of their attractions. The company recently announced it will be opening a 4,300-sq.ft. VR gaming arena in Brisbane, Australia, capable of running two eight-player games simultaneously, side by side. The venue is set to open in October. “Zero Latency experienced unprecedented success with the world’s first ever epic-scale, multiplayer, free-roam VR game arena, which we opened in Melbourne back in 2015,” says their CEO…
Industry friend and veteran Dan McAllister recently reached out to RePlay with some important philanthropic news. McAllister is again riding in the YSC Tour de Pink to raise money for the Young Survival Coalition, and is reaching out to the industry for support. Read what he has to say below and consider helping out: “As some know, every fall I ride in YSC Tour de Pink to help raise money for the Young Survival Coalition. This organization helps women and their caregivers with valuable knowledge, resources and support. Maria and I have completed this event six times and are looking…
The Gores Group (“Gores”), a global investment firm, has bought AMI Entertainment (AMI) through its “Small Capitalization Partners investment” fund. Originally founded in 1909 as the National Automatic Music Co. and known for decades in this business for its “Rowe”-branded jukeboxes, AMI Entertainment has been part of coin-op for more than a century. AMI was part of an ongoing series of “digital media” acquisitions by the Harbour Group, which entered the amusement business with its purchase of Merit Industries in 2002. It bought Rowe Entertainment in 2003, which became AMI Entertainment back in 2004. Following this morning’s announcement that AMI…
Almost a year after the doors closed on a popular sports bar in a suburb of Boston, it has reopened as the newest location of Barrett’s Alehouse. The 23,000-sq.-ft. facility got a full makeover to make it ready for reopening, including smashing down some walls to make way for a 4,500-sq. ft. game room. The room is outfitted with Embed card readers, and was filled to the brim with machines by Player One Amusement Group. Guests will get the chance to play the latest arcade and redemption games, including The Walking Dead, Space Invaders Frenzy, The World’s Largest Pac-Man and…
Live Oak Bank’s FEC Lending Team got a new addition recently: Marien Stark. Stark will work as a Loan Specialist for the company, specifically focusing on finding the money FECs need to grow. Along with Ben Jones, Stark will work together with entertainment and bowling centers to find financing opportunities. “Marien brings the perfect blend of financial and lending experience to the Family Entertainment and Bowling Center lending team,” said FEC Lending GM Ben Jones. “With the growth of the industry overall, Marien is helping to expand our current reach and open new market segments. The depth she adds to…
CenterEdge Software has welcomed Kevin McKiernan to its team as Chief Technology Officer. In this position, McKiernan will lead CenterEdge’s software development team in improving existing products and designing new ways for customers to use the company’s products. McKiernan will also contribute to the product strategy and the overall product roadmap. “Providing our clients with the best possible services and solutions is our number-one priority and achieving that starts internally with our products,” said CEO Marcus Mayer. “With our continued growth, we realized the need to add a highly technical and strategic individual to lead the development of CenterEdge’s software…
Bowlers in New Jersey are in for a bit more fun now that the state’s Governor has signed a new bill into law (as of 7/21) that allows bowling alleys of 16 or more lanes to both sell alcohol and operate redemption games. The bill (A-621/S-2328) comes as a windfall for many in the state hoping to bring in new revenue into the bowling alley. The bill requires any bowling alley looking to add redemption to have 40 games minimum, with at most 50 percent being redemption/instant win/prize games. The measure also says the bowling centers must have their redemption…