After opening their first warehouse-scale, free-roam VR system in Melbourne, Australia in August 2015, the people over at Zero Latency have been busy. The company recently opened its first U.S. location in conjunction with a Main Event FEC in Orlando, and has now announced a collaboration with George Smith’s Family Entertainment Group which will yield two more VR systems in FEG’s Pennsylvania and Wisconsin Kalahari resorts in December and January. These will only be the second and third Zero Latency systems running in the U.S., but the company has also opened in Madrid and Tokyo. The company’s existing arenas range…
Author: Casey Minter
For many, Black Friday is a mad dash to the biggest sales in town. But at the GameTime FEC in Miami this year, the day marks the release of a new menu focused on brunch. The 36,000-square-foot FEC recently renovated their restaurant to include both outdoor and indoor seating, and is excited to show off their new options. Since 2010, GameTime has had a menu full of your usual, American-inspired vittles like Angus burgers, buffalo wings and more. With their weekend brunch offering, the company hopes to tap into a different crowd. Mimosas, Bloody Marys and a host of breakfast…
A&A Global Industries announced the promotion of Stacy Johnson to the role of Sales Team Leader, using her 15 years of experience with A&A to supervise a team of account reps covering the company’s product lines. “Every team I have ever been on has had great leaders, people that are always there to pitch in and do whatever it takes to make everyone around them better,” said Clothier. “On our sales team that person is Stacy Johnson. Her innovative thinking and vision will continue to enhance the strategic direction, growth and profitability of A&A Global.” Johnson will continue to service…
A recent article published by ESPN tells the story of young pinball prodigy Robert Gagno. The wonderfully written piece dives into Gagno’s complicated story, and how he found pinball at a young age and sees it in a unique way. Gagno won the U.S. Nationals in 2015, and made it to Pinburgh’s final group of four at the young age of 22. Below is an excerpt from the article that gives you a good idea of how Gagno sees the world and pinball: “When Robert looks at a pinball machine, one part of his brain that lights up is the…
If you get AMOA’s Off-the-Top newsletter, there’s a link you can use to get Denton’s “U.S. Election Insight” downloaded into your computer. These D.C. insiders really know the “skinny” of what happened, why, and as important, what’s downstream for small business owners (including possible changes in overtime rules and some other regulations). Also in that newsletter, it says AMOA’s back with their “Save the Rack” breast cancer awareness program where operators staple pink cloth on 6-pocket table rails (and also on the slate, if they’d like). Call Claudia at the AMOA office for more info about this public spirited campaign…
It was rock n’ roll all night at St. Louis Game Co.’s IAAPA booth with its new, licensed KISS-themed cranes. The company introduced three new units at the Expo: the KISS Double Platinum rotary, KISS “Phantom of the Park” candy and toy crane, and the KISS World crane. St. Louis Game Co. says the KISS Double Platinum rotary is exclusively licensed to the manufacturer and uses a magnetic device to pick up prizes from the rotating playfield. It comes with patent-pending lighting effects, an enhanced sound system and life-sized KISS character graphics. The machine can also be outfitted as a…
The 2016 Big Buck World Championship took over The Belmont in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 4 and 5 as players and fans were treated to a fantastic competition and party in what’s called “arcade eSports.” After an intense five months of qualifying, it all came down to this: On Friday Nov. 4, reigning champ Sara Erlandson went out early leaving it to a nail biting showdown between Kylie Hodsdon and Melinda Van Hoomissen. Van Hoomissen needed two victories to break Hodsdon’s advantage. Van Hoomissen narrowly won the first match but left nothing to chance in the second as she was…
Marc Haim, president of Gold Coast International, recently toured the Jersey Jack Pinball factory in Lakewood, N.J., and by the time Haim was finished looking at the installation, he wanted to be involved. Jack Guarnieri, owner of JJP, was pleased to appoint the Gold Coast topper and his company as the exclusive distributor of JJP pins in South America. Guarnieri said, “We have our Wizard of Oz and Hobbit lines running flat out, and we will be releasing our new Pat Lawlor game Dialed In! in Q2 ’17. We were ready to broaden our sales by working with the South…
On the weekend of Nov. 4-6, approximately 500 soft-tip darters descended upon the Ramkota Hotel in Sioux Falls, S.D., for the first of three regional events to be conducted by the AMOA-National Dart Association (NDA) during the next two-and-one-half months. More than $31,000 in prize money-in the form of 324 player payouts-was awarded during the course of the event. Bouts in Open 501 Singles, Open Cricket Singles, Open 501 Doubles, Open Cricket Doubles and Mixed Triples Combo-were featured, and players were placed in levels according to their skill ratings. In addition to cash prizes, first place winners in each event…
Family Entertainment Center operators (along with their goods and services suppliers) listen up: if you are fortunate enough to be on the Three Amigos email list, on-line registration for their third conference opened up late last week. All you need to do to attend this Feb. 21-24 “summit of the FEC clan” is check your email and you can register quickly on your computer. The event will be held at the Chateau Elan Winery & Resort in Braselton (North Atlanta) GA and run under the theme “Differentiate” by Amigos Ben Jones, George Smith and Rick Iceberg (if you’re not on…