RePlay has learned that Joe Levitan, co-founder of JVL and Cashcode, has passed away. While JVL has been exclusively concentrating on the gaming market in recent years, many in the coin-op trade remember the heady days of countertop touchscreen games in which JVL was among the major players. We will share more of Mr. Levitan’s passing as we get the information. May he rest in peace.
Author: RePlay Editor
AMI Entertainment Network is sponsoring the ArtPrize 2016 Blue Bridge Music Competition. Now in its eighth year, ArtPrize is an international art competition and festival held in AMI’s home town of Grand Rapids, Mich. Music will be at the heart of this year’s event with a song competition, pop-up performances, and the Blue Bridge Music Festival. Quinn Mathews, ArtPrize 8 Music Venue and Coordinator, said, “Visitors from all over the world will be walking around Grand Rapids to look at art and they will come across these fantastic digital jukeboxes from AMI that are set to free play and ONLY…
AMI Entertainment Network has partnered with Bad Boy Entertainment, a popular hip-hop label, to give one lucky fan the label’s 20th Anniversary Box Set. Now through Oct. 6, AMI users have the chance to win the set by visiting a jukebox on its network, going to the company’s Facebook page or by checking in at an AMI jukebox location via the company’s BarLink mobile app. Bad Boy Entertainment was founded by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs in the early ’90s and is home to some of the biggest names in hip-hop. The five-disc box set features 80 tracks from an impressive…
George Smith’s Family Entertainment Group (FEG) (operators of FECs and other amusement facilities) has added two seasoned industry professionals to its team: Greg Kunde and Robin Kerr. Greg will be managing and supporting FEG locations in the western region. He joins the company with a long history of industry experience dating back to 1987 in New England when he began working with AMF Bowling Centers. He moved to Reno in 1995 to become director of amusements for Reno Hilton Resort, now Grand Sierra Resort. In 2002, he was hired as GM by Wild Island/Wild Waters and was tasked to design…
Sacoa’s PlayCard system will now be integrated with products from a firm named Revention. This company is a developer of customizable restaurant and entertainment solutions such as point of sale, HungerRush online ordering and Revention Enterprise (a web application with all sorts of location data and reports). The companies say the integration of PlayCard system capabilities will allow Revention to include more amusement parks and live music venues. Sacoa is offering the following integrations for this first joint version with Revention: login, card balance, card recharge, debit card, refund balance, card sell and zero card. “This integration will open up…
Effective Oct. 3, Scott Blume will be the new Group Managing Director for Timezone, which operates over 200 FECs across Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Philippines and India. In conjunction with his appointment, Sonaal Chopra will continue as chief operating executive, overseeing all Timezone business operations as CEO. Executive Director Adam Steinberg will become Chairman; current Chairman Malcolm Steinberg will step down from his post, remaining on the board as Founder and Non-Executive Director. Scott Blume has extensive experience in the travel and leisure industry including a previous role as Managing Director and CEO for WOTIF.com Holdings. During his tenure…
The first BullShooter Regional tourney of the season was hosted Sept. 9-11 at the Park Inn by the Radisson in Kissimmee, Fla., kicking off the annual Arachnid dart tour with a bang. The event was co-sponsored by the factory’s distributors in the region: Betson Florida, Brady Starburst and Legacy Coin. Over 300 players came from Tennessee, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Florida and as far off as Hawaii to compete. Eleven main events were hosted from Saturday to Sunday with a Luck of the Draw event on Friday night. All events were double elimination and organizers said the tournament ran well with many…
Community Hubs Creating a Fair Social Experience Benefits Your Locations & the Industry by Howard McAuliffe, Partner, Pinnacle Entertainment Group The marketplace for Family Entertainment Centers is growing significantly, which is great news for us. I believe that to keep this momentum going, it’s important that we make sure we’re operating at the highest level possible for individual profitability, as well as our collective brand. In order to create really great facilities, it’s important to understand the difference in overall philosophy between creating an attraction vs. capitalizing on high traffic with the goal of getting as much money from the…
When is Good Enough “Good Enough”? Thoughts on the “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It” Mentality by Jack Guarnieri, Jersey Jack Pinball & PinballSales.com On a recent wonderful warm evening, my wife Joanne and I took a ride to a popular ice cream shop that’s “Down The Shore.” The place was packed and we went in to take a number. Ours was number 6 and they were calling number 22 so we had 83 people ahead of us. Still the waiting is part of the “experience.” I believe all of us in business observe and try to learn from…
Gala & Meeting Time AAMA Chief Honors John Schultz & Salutes New, Energized Leadership Q: What will the highlights of the coming AAMA Meeting and Gala be? A: Clearly at the top will be honoring John Schultz with the Lifetime Achievement Award (but keep reading because there’s a lot happening on top of that). I’ve reflected a lot on John and his lifetime of work that we’re honoring. He’s spent 45 years in the industry in a variety of positions, and he’s played a huge role in the turnaround of the AAMA over the last seven years. As an example, when…