Positive Vibes Gala Plans, Buyers’ Program & the Dallas Expo Q: Registration for the AAMA Meeting and Gala opened recently. How are plans shaping up for this year’s event? A: It’s coming together very well. Registration is open and the schedule is out. If you’re an AAMA member, you’re welcome to join so by all means, please come out and attend it. It’s going to be a full week with numerous committee meetings, our Government Relations luncheon, which is usually pretty insightful into the world of legislation, the sponsor presentations and the Gala’s dinner, awards ceremony and product preview. I…
Author: RePlay Editor
Editorial I recently celebrated my 77th birthday, if “celebrated” is the correct verb. Anyway, many of my friends are, shall I say, “mature,” so you won’t be surprised to learn that some are rather averse to change. One guy said: “At my age, I already learned all I need to know, so it’s not always necessary to learn anything else.” Another one didn’t like Lady Gaga though he never heard her sing or saw her perform. . .until, that is, he saw her sing on the Oscar show on TV. Now he likes her. There are also a ton of…
“We’ve Only Just Begun” Gaines Butler on Upcoming AMOA Plans Q: What are your goals as you make the rounds this summer at the many industry events you’ll attend? A: While we’re already entering the sixth month of 2016, it’s just the start of the summer state association meetings season in our industry. Since beginning my term as AMOA president in mid-March, I’ve traveled to the National Dart Association’s (NDA) Team Dart program in Las Vegas, the Pennsylvania Amusement & Music Machine Association’s (PAMMA) Annual Meeting and Legislative Reception in Harrisburg and the Oregon Amusement & Music Operators Association’s (OAMOA)…
Sega Celebrates Sonic With Amazing Stable of New Product Sega’s got its swagger back. The company that brought the coin-op industry some great products in its 60-odd year history has its R&D and production engines burning the midnight oil these days to offer operators and FEC buyers a very generous plate of brand new games. Originally founded as a route operation called “Service Games” back in Japan and soon after jumping into machine manufacture, Sega’s U.S. legacy really began with a seminal arcade game called Periscope back in the late ’60s, early ’70s. It was one of the very…
Roll on Over! Roller Skating Association Focuses on S.T.E.M. and Fun at Convention By Beth Standlee, CEO, TrainerTainment The Roller Skating Association International’s convention, held May 3-4 in Las Vegas, was great fun this year. With a focused theme of “Connect, Create, Accelerate,” the planners and attendees alike networked, caught up with old friends, made new friends, and concentrated on making their businesses better. The Las Vegas Rio Hotel and Casino played host to the event. I spoke with Convention Chairman Christopher Griffith, who said they jumped out and tried lots of new things this year. Of those new events, they…
Maximizing Game Room Revenue – Part Three Growing Profits by Working Together and Being Open to New Ideas by Frank Seninsky, President/CEO Amusement Entertainment Management (AEM) & Alpha-Omega Amusements & Sales [Editor’s note: For a first-time read or a refresher, Part One can be found in the February 2016 issue and Part Two in March. Both are available online at the RePlay website: www.replaymag.com/current_issue/frank.html.] Let me share a real life scenario… Tony has an 8,000-sq.-ft. laser tag center that is grossing only $200,000/year in total revenue. He says he must substantially increase revenue to stay in business. When I asked…
Toy Trends for 2016 Annual N.Y.C. Fair Shines Spotlight on Latest Toys for the Market by Howard McAuliffe, Partner, Global Product Services and piaproducts.com New York City is usually very cold, and often nasty, in February, but that doesn’t stop the global toy industry from converging at the Toy Fair there every year. This is a truly international tradeshow that brings vendors and buyers to see what has been created for the current year. The biggest toy companies in the world are all in attendance as vendors and or buyers, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, including start-ups. Our…
First Things First Set Objectives and Measure Your Success By Beth Standlee, CEO, TrainerTainment S o we’ve finished the first quarter of the year! That was fast. How did you do? Did you have the number of birthday parties and group events you meant to have? Did you have a goal? If not, how do you know if you won or not? Many businesses simply measure how they did this year compared to last year. To me, it’s not enough to know that you beat last year’s numbers. For example, if you didn’t have a very good year, then that wouldn’t…
A Nice Problem to Have Multiple New Pinball Offerings Make Purchasing Decision Tough by Adam Pratt, Game Grid Arcade & ArcadeHeroes.com With every trade show there is always something that stands out to you above the other products and with Amusement Expo 2016, it was pinball. To be honest, I never played pinball until I opened my own arcade since finding a working machine locally was difficult. The FEC where I worked in the late ’90s didn’t have any pinballs either. I did recognize that it was important to have so I purchased a pair of Stern machines for my…
How to Lose Money… And Make Your Accountant Happy By George McAuliffe, Chief FEC Strategist, Redemption Plus I struggled with the headline for this column. I didn’t want to insult all accountants, especially the great ones who understand that saving a dollar doesn’t necessarily mean that you made a dollar. It’s not just accountants, either. Plenty of operating managers miss the big picture by focusing too narrowly in certain areas. Sure it’s important to control redemption cost of sales, but it has to be done in the context of the overall guest experience, which takes place throughout a facility. Redemption…