Addition By Subtraction Why Keeping the Wrong Employee Is the Fastest Way to Lose Your Best Owner of Planet Novak & The Novak Network As I travel the country for the Novak Roadshow, I hear the same refrain from nearly every operator I meet: “Clint, I just can’t find good help.” It’s the universal struggle in the 2026 FEC landscape. We are all fighting for the same talent pool, and when we find someone who actually knows how to smile and show up on time, we treat them like we found the Golden Ticket. But there is a dangerous trap…
Author: RePlay Editor
The New Games of Amusement Expo 2026 by Adam Pratt, Arcade Galactic & ArcadeHeroes.com We’re well on our way toward summer, but let’s take this opportunity to see what is leading us there, as found on the show floor of Amusement Expo 2026 in Las Vegas. Many things make me feel rather old these days, and one of those is the realization that it’s almost been 20 years since I first began attending the spring show. My first was in 2008, when it was known as Amusement Showcase International or ASI. I’ve only missed it once during that time. Sure,…
The Post AEI Issue – The Floor Is Talking. Are You Listening? by Nick DiMatteo, Pinnacle Entertainment Group There is a moment at every show where the noise fades just enough to notice something different. You stop looking at booths and start watching people. That is where the real story lives. Walking into AEI 2026, I expected incremental. A few reskins, some licensing plays, and a handful of standouts trying to break through. What I found instead was something better. The quality was strong, and more importantly, the games were fun. That may sound obvious. It is not. Fun is…
When We Say, WOW!, We Mean It! WOW! Golf & Entertainment Moves into St. Louis Area by Matt Harding A new, multi-level entertainment center held its grand opening Feb. 27 in Fenton, Missouri. Called WOW! Golf & Entertainment, the 27,000-sq.-ft. facility has a full-service indoor restaurant and bar, an 18-hole mountain-style mini-golf course, eight lanes of duckpin bowling, four Topgolf Swing Suite simulators, a virtual reality arena, polysynthetic ice curling, four karaoke lounges, private event spaces, and three outdoor patio spaces, including one on the mezzanine level overlooking the golf course. The center’s director of operations, Tommy Fernandez, previously had…
Look Beyond Your Four Walls The Future of Entertainment Depends on It by Barry Zelickson One of the biggest mistakes an entertainment operator can make is believing their competition is limited to businesses that look exactly like theirs. It isn’t. Your competition is anywhere people can choose to spend their time. It’s restaurants. It’s bars. It’s immersive art installations. It’s boutique hospitality concepts. It’s mini-golf reinvented as theater. It’s bowling reinvented as nightlife. It’s anywhere that creates a reason to leave home. This month on Fun Across America, we visited two very different facilities: The Painted Duck in Atlanta,…
Table for One, Sir? by Jack Guarnieri, Jersey Jack Pinball & PinballSales.com I’d say that pretty much all of us travel, some more than others. But if you’re traveling alone, how do you feel when it’s time to eat? If I’m at a show, even if I made the trip by myself, I’m rarely dining alone. Honestly, I don’t want to go to a restaurant and sit solo. I love my own company, but it’s not my style to eat in public by myself. I do, however, remember a busy Vegas show where I just wanted to have quiet night…
As many visitors to the recent coin-op show in Las Vegas probably found out first hand, a big reason people play the gaming machines is the “sizzle on the steak” that comes when they score a bonus and all hell breaks loose on the playing field. I’m not talking about cash winnings here… I mean the pure fun that comes when the game you’re playing hits a special combination and goes into the unit’s bonus mode. More money? Yeah, of course, but whether it’s a choo-choo train puffing out numbers or a bunch of cute animals dancing or tossing firecrackers…
JET Games Takes Off Company Expands into Kiddie Rides, Bar Pieces & More With their continually growing product line, JET Games has been focused on developing a balanced mix of attractions for entertainment centers – not just high-cost flagship pieces. Today, following quite a few new releases at Amusement Expo, they’ve got a portfolio that includes kiddie rides, sports games, bar games, redemption and video redemption machines and motion-based experiences. A core principle guiding the company is a strong focus on return on investment, emphasizing cost-effective solutions that maximize operator profitability. The company is led by Justin Jennison, former CEO…
Two Stops, Two Very Different Takes on Fun The Hub Stadium and the Museum of Ice Cream by Barry Zelickson T his month, we head to two locations that sit on very different ends of the entertainment spectrum but share a common goal: to create an experience guests actually remember. First, we headed to Novi, Michigan, to visit The Hub, then down to Austin, Texas, for a stop at the Museum of Ice Cream. One is a massive, event-driven facility built to host everything from corporate outings to league play. The other is a highly themed, self-guided experience built…
Pratt Shares About Pinball, Games & More by Adam Pratt, Arcade Galactic & ArcadeHeroes.com Spring is here once again, and with the flowers blooming and temps rising, people will hopefully be out and about looking for fun. The winter was an odd one. Most of the eastern U.S. was battered by cold and snow, while the western U.S. felt like it skipped winter and lazily held spring instead. Here in Utah, we had record-low snowfall, which is not a good spot to be in for the summer when you live in a desert. I may sound a bit like a…