90 Years of Rock-Ola In Collaboration with Mantiques Network, RePlay Dives Into the History of the Longest-Running Jukebox Manufacturer In this first of a new print and video series, RePlay has teamed with the fun and knowledgeable folks at The Mantiques Network to bring stories about the industry’s past to life. Not meant to be the be-all and end-all of historical record, these anecdotal accounts will tell the story through the eyes of people who’ve either been a big part of an industry company, developed games or become avid collectors of a particular genre of coin-op equipment. The common thread…
Author: RePlay Editor
Editorial People are tribal by nature. And while the “us versus them” attitude that can spring from this natural instinct is unfortunate in this “civilized” era we live in, it still exists. It also occurs in industry. Recently, we all spent a lot of time discussing the “polarization” of the nation on the political front? But, what about the coin-op amusement front where we have route operators on one side and game room people on the other? Only a minority of operators have their hands in both (like Family Amusement in Los Angeles and the Quassy FEC in Connecticut). It…
Another Year Flies By A Look Back at 2016 and Ahead at 2017 By George McAuliffe, Chief FEC Strategist, Redemption Plus Did you ever notice how time seems to fly when you’re busy? If that’s true, then I’m not alone in feeling as if this year went particularly fast. It was a great year for industry growth and it sure kept us busy. Here are some thoughts on why that is, plus a few on what we might expect for the year ahead. Macro Factors: Circumstances Combine What are the driving forces of the current boom? There is a…
Reflections Now More Than Ever, Treat People with Kindness & Work to Be Better by Jack Guarnieri, Jersey Jack Pinball & PinballSales.com It’s election day as I write this and while you read this, you’re either still cheering or licking your wounds. But right now, many I know are thinking about how we’ll be happy that this election cycle will be over soon. (Or will it even be over when you’re reading this column in December? I doubt it very much.) The divisions in the U.S. on so many levels will not be healed overnight, if ever. We have this…
Into the Void A Review of Ghostbusters: Dimension by Bob Cooney Virtual Reality is finally catching up with our dreams and expectations. There’s been amazing hype surrounding new VR products like Oculus Rift, Playstation VR, HTC Vive and other consumer gaming products. If you are a passionate gamer and have a few grand to drop, you can pick up a high-end gaming computer, a head-mounted display (HMD) and a room-scale tracking system and give it a go. The problem is you’ll still be tethered to your computer, and limited to slight movements in a small 8 x 8 foot space.…
To download the PDF of this special feature on Stanton Automatics, click here. “A Pretty Good Life” 40 Years With Larry Hilimire at the Helm of Stanton Automatics In the early 1950s, a vending operator in the Finger Lakes region of Western New York State named Dick Hilimire was busy building two things at once: one was the Ace Automatics route he and his brother Lloyd ran out of Geneva, N.Y., while the other was his own family. And just like Ace Automatics was heavy on vending, Dick’s family was heavy on son –– five of them –– all of…
2016 in Review A Look Back at a Good Year in the Life of This Mall Arcade Operator by Adam Pratt, Game Grid Arcade & ArcadeHeroes.com Just like that, 2016 has come and gone. In some ways (namely, politics), it seems like it would never end while in others, I wonder where the time went. From a business perspective, it does seem as though our year “starts” with IAAPA as we get to see what new ideas will be integrated into the “arcade culture” to draw customers both old and new. From IAAPA 2015, we saw more video arcade games…
November Goals A Time of Planning and Reflection By Beth Standlee, CEO, TrainerTainment Happy Holidays. I hope your next few weeks are filled personally with family and your business is filled with fun. This is a high season for indoor locations that will hold many group events; birthdays are on the rise and will flourish through the New Year. When it comes to group and party sales, this can be that “selling season” where we get a little lazy. That may sound contradictory to “bring on the business,” but here’s what I mean. When the business is naturally high, the…
Okay, This Is About Me… But, If You Love Pinball (and Pat Lawlor Games), You’ll Want to Read It! by Jack Guarnieri, Jersey Jack Pinball & PinballSales.com I hate to write about myself, but I want to tell you about bringing an industry icon back to the world of pinball. As a street operator for many years, I ran my fair share of pinball machines. Doing so, I quickly learned which games made more money, sometimes just by virtue of the designer behind the game. One of these amazing pinball creators is Pat Lawlor. He brought us Banzai Run, Earthshaker,…
The Evolving Industry Becoming “Mainstream” and the Benefits of the Redemption Store By George McAuliffe, Chief FEC Strategist, Redemption Plus W. Deming was a great management thinker of the 20th century. When his ideas for changing the U.S. auto industry manufacturing practices were rejected, he went to Japan. The result was unprecedented growth in the Japanese auto industry (and steep decline in the U.S. causing us to play catch up). Perhaps Deming’s most famous quote is “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” The FEC world has enjoyed its own changes over the years. Starting with the…