A recent Vox report highlighted Jamie Ibanez, a 19-year-old from the Dallas-Fort Worth area who operates a 25-machine, eight-location vending machine business called Vending Bites. The route does pretty well, and Ibanez enjoys his work… and so do others. More than 290,000 YouTube subscribers (and counting) follow his journey. There, he regularly posts videos detailing his daily life and describing things your Average Joe doesn’t know about the vending business. He told Vox that he makes $10,000 a month from the channel, about triple what he earns from the route itself. Ibanez started in 2018 after graduating high school. His…
Author: Matt Harding
A craft beer and games concept, RecBar 812 just sprouted up in New Albany, Ind., right across the Ohio River from Kentucky’s largest city, Louisville. The first RecBar 812 is in the Louisville suburb of Jeffersontown. After four years with the first venue, owner Corey Sims decided to open another, which will house more than 200 games and – at 24,000 sq. ft. – is twice the size of the first space, according to the Louisville Courier Journal. “New Albany was a perfect fit for us,” Sims said. “It was far enough away from our J-town location but close enough…
Idaho Falls will soon welcome Ka-Ko Jo’s, a new family entertainment center scheduled to open Feb. 16 with a grand opening ceremony happening in early March. The business will operate inside of a 5,200-sq.-ft. space inside Grand Teton Mall, and feature an arcade with 45 games, plus a bounce house and play area for younger kids. They will also have access to more than 300 virtual reality games and a snack and beverage area, according to East Idaho News. Ka-Ko Jo’s owners Sean and Bobbi Kennedy first opened in Greeley, Colo., three years ago, and have another location they opened…
Thursday, Feb. 13 is the deadline to apply for a Hesch Scholarship, which offers funds for college students with a connection to the coin-op industry. Click here for the application. For more information, email Laura Kasch at [email protected] or call 800-937-2662. Scholarship checks will be awarded June 1 for the fall semester. AMOA’s Coin-Op Cares Education and Charitable Foundation has directed the scholarship for the past 30-plus year. It’s named in honor of the late AMOA president Wayne E. Hesch. Since its inception, more than $1.2 million has been awarded to students. The association recently noted that all Coin-Op Cares…
Provided the coronavirus fright has subsided by then and if you do business in Asia, be sure to mark your calendars for May 10-12 and book a flight to Guangzhou, China. Those are the dates for the 2020 Asia Amusement & Attractions Expo, held in Area A of the China Import & Export Fair Complex. Show organizers say the event will help attendees identify the opportunities in Eastern Asia and other nearby marketplaces, promote their brand to overseas visitors from more than 50 countries and experience the developed foreign trade of Guangzhou City. There are two new themed exhibition areas……
Brunswick Bowling Products recently introduced Sync One, a way for bowling centers to update their scoring and management systems. The company says Sync One will help centers increase dwell time, repeat visits, F&B and group sales, guest satisfaction, employee efficiency, lane utilization and cost control. Brunswick says it does this by eliminating the biggest challenges… capital constraints, scoring and hardware obsolescence, increased business complexity and the financial risks associated with large IT purchases. Sync One is a monthly subscription program that “bundles the industry’s only cloud-based scoring, management and point of sale system, the Brunswick Cloud marketing system.” Plus, their…
Networld Media Group has acquired Vending Times, according to a recent announcement. The business-to-business media company specializes in digital media, and events in the tech, banking, retail and food industries. “Vending Times is a perfect addition to our website portfolio as we continue to strengthen our tech, retail and restaurant groups,” said Networld CEO Tom Harper. Former Vending Times owner and brand director Alicia Lavay will be joining the team full-time, according to Networld president and publisher Kathy Doyle. “The synergies between Networld Media Group business sites and Vending Times are so strong that I am confident Vending Times will…
Eugene Jarvis of Raw Thrills made some 2020 announcements in a recent newsletter, detailing a pair of new games. The big one is Raw Thrills’ jump into virtual reality with King Kong of Skull Island. Jarvis took a swipe at his competitors in the announcement: “Are you as tired as we are of overhyped, overpriced and/or under delivering VR arcade experiences? Well guess what? It’s time to end the VR shell game with the REAL DEAL!” RePlay will keep you updated with more updates when we get them. Another game that’s closer to shipping is the Taito classic Bust-A-Move Frenzy.…
A new entertainment center in Alexandria, Va., opened on Jan. 10 with a little bit of everything: a multi-level laser tag arena, an arcade with virtual reality, plus a sizable sports bar and restaurant. The 16,000-sq.-ft. space, called Doyle’s Outpost, is centered around the laser tag arena, which occupies nearly 6,000 sq. ft., according to ALX Now. It’s a 2-story arena depicting a scene of apocalyptic destruction of Washington, D.C. (in reality located just a few miles up the Potomac River). The elaborate “Battle for DC” installation features local icons in flames, helicopters flying overhead and the Lincoln Memorial in…
The go-kart facility Octane Raceway in Scottsdale, Ariz., has spearheaded a new project next door – Mavrix – a bowling entertainment concept that is expected to open this month. The BEC will feature 22 lanes of bowling, 85 arcade games, a laser tag arena, billiards and 4K TVs. It will share a patio with Octane Raceway and have outdoor games as well. ABC 15 reported that the company was looking to fill 150 positions. “As a long standing tenant, it’s exciting to contribute to the growth by delivering Mavrix, which will be the premier family entertainment center in the area,”…