With more than 20 years of experience, the “one-man marketing army” of Andre Lawless recently announced the formal unveiling of Lawless Marketing, serving manufacturers, operators and locations in the entertainment and amusement industries. Lawless, who has worked with Pokémon, Zero Latency and others, specializes in launching innovative products with “expert marketing designed to build brands, generate leads, attract users and sell products.” He’s led in-house marketing and consulting engagements, including those of Ecast’s broadband media and jukebox network, the first digital jukeboxes from Rock-Ola and NSM Music and NTN Buzztime’s tablet and trivia network in Buffalo Wild Wings nationwide. “Too…

Beyond Medusa’s Gate, the latest VR escape room experience from Ubisoft, is now available in more than 100 locations across the U.S. and Europe, according to the company. The game is “an incredible, larger-than-life virtual reality adventure that is designed as a cooperative multiplayer VR experience” where teams of two or four are transported to the world of Ancient Greece. They have to solve a series of complex puzzles by interacting with ancient objects, climbing, shooting arrows and more. It’s the second game available on Ubisoft’s Escape Game platform. The first was Escape The Lost Pyramid. Click here to see…

An arcade bar in Milwaukee will unfortunately be shutting down soon. According to a post on their Facebook page Monday, when the Milwaukee Bucks’ season is over, 1983 Arcade Bar’s year-and-a-half-long run will be over, too. The post said they’ll be closing to “make way for a new venue from Venture Fifth,” the project’s developer, but no additional reasons were given for the closure. According to the Milwaukee Record, the site was formerly Lucille’s Piano Bar. When it turned into an arcade bar, it was also known as a hockey bar with the players from the Milwaukee Admirals (an affiliate of…

TrainerTainment CEO and RePlay contributor Beth Standlee’s new book, People Buy From People: How to Personally Connect in an Impersonal World, is now available on Amazon. The book focuses on Standlee’s guidance on mastering the sales process, but also details the story of her journey from a pregnant, unwed teen to founder of her own company. The book is also available through her website, www.trainertainment.net.

GameWorks will be recognized with two “Stevie” Awards at the 17th Annual American Business Awards ceremony on June 11 in New York, according to the company. Its chairman and CEO Phillip Kaplan was announced as the Gold Stevie winner in the Maverick of the Year – Consumer Services category. GameWorks also earned the Silver Stevie Award in Achievement in Management – Hospitality and Leisure. Visit the company online at www.gameworks.com.

AMOA recently posted their roster of upcoming state association meetings to be held over upcoming weeks for operators in Virginia, Oregon, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and Illinois. The AMOA of Virginia will hold their next meeting May 14; Oregon’s Amusement & Music Operators Assn. on May 22; the Minnesota Operators of Music & Amusements on June 6; the Ohio Coin Machine Assn. on June 19; Wisconsin’s runs from June 20-21; and the Illinois Gaming Machine Operators from June 25-26. As always, make sure you’re reading Instant RePlay every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for information and pictures from these events and more.

On April 30, leaders and members of AAMA and AMOA traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with a total of 18 Congressional offices representing states around the nation – lobbying on issues key to coin-op. AAMA met with nine offices and AMOA did the same. Both organizations focused on relationship building and a few key issues like tariffs, H-2B visas for temporary workers and the ATM bank account closures plaguing the industry. “As usual, the trip was a resounding success,” said AAMA Exec VP Pete Gustafson. “If nothing else, it’s really important for us to say, ‘Hi, we’re the good…

Parallel Universe VR recently opened at the Sherman Oaks’ Westfield Fashion Square. They call it a “virtual reality arcade” where players can run from zombies, win a championship race and battle evil robots in some of the play worlds. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, the owners are Jesse and Sophia Phillips, who had their grand opening May 11. They can be reached at www.paralleluniversevr.com. Their website states that free demos are available, or you can book a station right away: it’s $25 for 30 minutes (one player); $35 for an hour (1-2 players); or get a 5-hour playtime…

Technology giant Apple announced in March that it was brewing up a new game subscription service, Apple Arcade, to be released this fall. So, what exactly is it? Apple Arcade will be a home game platform, featuring more than 100 games, many of them exclusives, according to Digital Trends. The vault of games will be able to be accessed through a player’s smart phone, computer or TV, and will be available offline as well. Developers are tight-lipped on the specifics of the games that will be available on the platform, but storytelling and design are expected to be “pushed further…

The point of sale software provider CenterEdge recently bowed a new business intelligence tool that “gives users a new, highly-advanced way” to review business data. A part of their Advantage POS software, CenterEdge Business Intelligence the new dashboard shows important data in a “dynamic, customizable format” – from admissions and front line to event sales and team member data. “With CenterEdge Business Intelligence, we’ve made reviewing business data a highly visual and simple part of daily operations,” said CEO Marcus Mayer, “so owners and operators get the information they need to make informed decisions faster and more meaningfully than ever…