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LBX Collective
The LBX Show #18 - BW visits Dubai, Game Preview for AEI, and more!
Sponsored by Intercard!
Step into a world where entertainment knows no bounds. In this week's episode, we take you on a thrilling journey into some of the most exciting new attractions in Dubai, including the House of Hype and Chaos Karts. The House of Hype is a fusion of immersive art and technology designed to evoke nostalgia and engagement, reminiscent of art experiences like Meow Wolf, but with an interactive twist. We explore how unique installations invite interactive play, making it a hot spot for the millennial and Gen Z audience.
Furthermore, we delve into the thrilling rides of Chaos Karts – a real-world Mario Kart adventure designed with gaming principles in mind. Discover how these engaging experiences are reshaping the food and beverage landscape, and the conversations surrounding originality and trademark in the ever-evolving entertainment world. We also touch on the critical preparations retailers should consider for marketing strategies and their implications for upcoming events like the Amusement Expo International.
This episode is packed with valuable insights that entertain and inform, perfect for anyone eager to keep up with the latest trends and innovations in the LBE industry. Don’t miss out – subscribe now and join the conversation!
Tuning you in. Now to the LBX Show with your host, brandon Wiley, brought to you by the LBX Collective your community to connect, engage and inspire.
Speaker 2:All right well, welcome everybody to the LBX show for March 2nd 2025. I am your host, brandon Wiley, and we have a great show lined up for you today. First of all, we'll have News. You Should Know where I'm excited to cover my visits to the House of Hype and Chaos Carts while I was in Dubai this last week. Then we're going to have Open and Shut with Kevin Williams, covering all the latest openings and closings, and then Arcade Corner with Adam Pratt, where he's going to cover some new machines that will be on preview at Amusement Expo. I think it goes about through four or five of those. And then Promo Pro Tips with Chuck DeMonte, where he's covering planning ahead for your marketing operations. All right, so, another great show and let's dive in with some news you should know, all right. Well, first of all, we are coming up to Amusement Expo International. This is March 17th to the 20th 2025. So just in a few weeks I will be there, along with a lot of my colleagues here that you see on the show Adam Pratt from Arcade Heroes, Kevin Williams from the Sting Report and SoundOff and all the other great things that we do together with Kevin, and then a bunch of other friends, clint Novak and others. We're going to be live podcasting on the show floor a couple of times each day and the show floor will actually be open March 19th to the 20th. So if you want to catch the education, you've got to come 17th, 18th. If you're just there for the show the trade show that is March 19th to 20th it is a sold out show for the exhibitors. So attendees you can have as many attendees as we want, so it should be a really good time and looking forward to Amusement Expo Next up.
Speaker 2:We've got IAPA Research and this is the global benchmark survey that they are looking for. So you have just another week left to go and fill out the survey. If you're watching this show, you can scan the QR code that is right here to take the global benchmark survey. This is super important. Whether you're a manufacturer and supplier, whether you're an operator of a single location or multiple locations, it doesn't really matter. We want to get you in there and I say we meaning I'm a member of IAPA, but that's it. I want to get you in there and I say we meaning I'm a member of IAPA, but that's it. I don't work for IAPA, but we want to get as many respondents as possible, because obviously, the more data we have, the better that the global benchmark survey results will actually be. So please scan that QR code, take the survey and get going, get rolling whatever we want to say, all right.
Speaker 2:So I'm excited to talk a little bit about my visit to Dubai. I was there meeting with investors, and so it went well, and there'll be some more follow-up on that down the line, I'm sure. But ultimately, I was also really excited to go check out a few places there that I haven't obviously been to visit, and this one is a brand new location just recently opened up. It's called House of Hype, and this is the Mall of Dubai. This is right in downtown Dubai, like literally right next door to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, and so the Mall of Dubai is right there. It's this massive, absolutely fucking massive mall, and this one it took forever to find, house of Hype and where it was like way back in Chinatown, what they call Chinatown, which is a section of the. It was the section of the area that um actually I might even have a picture of that, which I'll pull up here in a second Um, but uh, but anyway, chinatown was totally crazy. Oh no, I don't. Uh, that's all right, so we're going to go ahead and pull this up. So I said when I finally found House of Hype in the first place and it's an impressive installation, tons of theming, done all the way you can see that these multiple statues that are like three times my height Actually it might only be twice my height, but anyway these multiple statues that walk all the way down, and then that's my ERG score results Wrong direction. All right.
Speaker 2:So as you're walking in on the-hand side, you come across their merchandise, which again was really well done. It had a very similar feel to what you would expect to find at a Meow Wolf merchandise. In fact, the whole installation really felt a little bit like Meow Wolf-ish, but we'll talk about that in just a little bit here. Wolf ish, but um, but we'll, we'll get, we'll talk about that in just a little bit here. Um, definitely, uh, some some more like hip, uh, really on the edge, like avant-garde type art and uh, and other stuff that you're going to find. But then I also thought it was cool because they actually had games and stuff that you could play. So these, uh, these things here were actually touchscreens that you could go and touch and interact with, and then some of the video games that you played on the inside you could actually practice and play out here in the gift shop area. And uh, you know, here's just another one. You know the bodega mark, they call it, and you know, everything's got these really funky stuff again very Meow, wolf-esque, especially when you get in there and the way some of the cast members were dressed it was. It was pretty well done actually, um, from that perspective, so anyway.
Speaker 2:So then, you know, came in, this is one of my biggest complaints actually was the wonderverse. So they this was, like, you know, right at the entrance, right to the right of here is where you actually go around this corner and go in. They call it the wonderverse, like I don't know why they can't just call it the house of hype. Like why did they have to add another layer, another name to it, especially since Sony already has a Wonderverse? And I do wonder when Sony is going to slap them with some sort of cease and desist to use Wonderverse. I'm sure that that is either trademarked or something that Sony has. I think it's a terrible name for Sony's as well. But whatever, this doesn't make much sense at all. Like it. Just this is this feels they're trying to be too meow, wolfie, I think here and, and it just didn't work for me, to me, I'll just mute it here and just let it play in the background.
Speaker 2:This was one of the more you know impressive things, things just because it was when I first came in. Obviously, I came in where it says park exit, so this is like me looking back at the main entrance, but the projection mapping in here was done really well. It continually changed and evolved, but I did think that this was one of the more impressive installations, especially because you're right when you're first coming in the door. So anyway, yeah, I thought that this was pretty good. You know, little selfie me of me. Here they have like this you know thing where you can like hop into this mouth and this big giant tongue and take like a picture. There are a number of different places throughout where they want you to take selfies and you know again, that's the whole thing about this, these types of places.
Speaker 2:But then it like for me it started to get old and, frankly, like I'm sure one of the issues or reasons here is that is that I was alone. So I think that if I had been there with a bunch of friends, especially like friends that are like cool and hip and like into all the weird, like you know, kind of all the weird things that were going on there, like artsy type stuff it would have been a much better, you know, more enjoyable thing. Like I was there to just check it out and like appreciated the immersive aspect of it and some of the interactivity, but for the for the most part, like it's definitely not something that I would go back and enjoy. You know cause you're going in and you're doing things like this avatar labs. I didn't take pictures of everything because I wanted to leave a number of things for you if you were able to go and, like you know, actually check it out. But this avatar labs, for example, like you go in and you create your own avatar. This is one of the first things you do.
Speaker 2:You go into, like these booths and you make a couple of choices it's a little bit of a like personality thing and then it like develops this avatar based on some of the choices you made, and mine came out. We'll take a look at my avatar here in just a minute, but anyway, then, like they actually had some retail. So this is one of the things I really appreciated about them is that they had retail throughout the entire facility. So like I could actually go and buy one of these things and and, and you know, ultimately check it out. They have the candles and basketballs and these weird little, you like these little House of Hype characters. This is Sharky, this is their main character, and then they've got a bunch of other ancillary characters and so, yeah, again, I could go and I could buy this stuff while I'm there throughout. It would be a little bit difficult, I think, to have to carry it around with me, but it was an option.
Speaker 2:This is another area that was really impressive theming. I mean, the entire thing had phenomenal theming, but I just really enjoyed this aspect of it. And this is coming into their first food and beverage installation, so that was the other thing I really liked about what they did is not only did you just have this big like multiple different art installations and like art booths, and most of it was projection, mapping and mirrors, and it did start to get repetitive down the line, you know, as I went along, but uh, but the food and beverage was really on point all customized, all really unique. So, for example, uh, well, this was like I don't know, they just had a cooler full of different flavored Dr Peppers in this one. I don't know why, uh, but I took this from my son cause he loves Dr Pepper, so, but here's one of these like they, you know, the guy, the different cast members throughout as well, and this is one of the guest experience aspects that was really useful.
Speaker 2:The cast members were going around and I don't know if they would call them cast members, but I would, because they definitely were fulfilling characters. They were all in costume and they all, like, acted a little bit more unique and differently and in fact, there were actually just a couple of characters who were literally just there to be characters Like one was like a clown, another one was like this woman carrying a chicken and like she was really kind of odd and interesting and like there was definitely an aspect of of just character play that was being done there. But this was, you know, I was asked if I wanted some chicken ice cream and I was like, oh, that sounds terrible, that sounds absolutely disgusting, I do not want chicken ice cream. And uh, and so I was like okay. So tell me, like, really, what is it? It's like chicken flavored ice cream. He says no, no, no, no, it's really good, it's one of my favorite things on the menu. And I was like, okay, cool, well, I'll try it. So I got this little tray. They pull it out of this little tray you know again, they're sharky and it literally looks like just like a drumstick, like a chicken drumstick, and I bit into it and the stuff on the outside it was super sweet and flavorful. It was ice cream, very smooth ice cream, and then they even did like this, like crunchy stuff, and there was like a hard stick in the middle that was like a, like a cracker and and so like. It was kind of like the bone of the drumstick. So, anyway, it was an excellent snack and I thought very, very well done.
Speaker 2:And all of their food and beverage items that you could select were all custom done, so very, very creative, but also expensive to produce. But you know what, then I'm going to pay a premium for that type of experience as well. When it came to my food and beverage, they didn't offer any alcohol. I would have had probably like a cocktail or something, but this is Dubai so they didn't offer alcohol, but there were lots of different funky sodas that I could get.
Speaker 2:The whole thing is really targeting the millennial group crowd, millennial and younger Gen Z that grew up in the 90s or else have some nostalgia for the 90s and so, like you know, they had in one of their merchandise areas they had like these things where these areas, like these coolers like you went into a bodega mart and these coolers filled with like different 90s, old 90s things that were like supposed to bring back nostalgia, and this was one of those in there. Um, anyway, you know, just another view of the. You know one of the main areas that led to a laundromat, and again, I'm not going to talk about some of those details. And then you go into their arcade and I can't remember the exact name of it, but again, classic things like skeeball, and then they had their version of Dance Dance Revolution, but what they did is they themed every single one of their boxes. Their cabinets were themed out with rolling with Sharky, and so they really did a great job, like hypershoot, right With one of their little icons on the balls. So they took standard arcades that are out there, but they took the time and the creativity to retheme everything and I think this is something that's overlooked a lot in a lot of venues and I really just appreciated that.
Speaker 2:And then this was one of my favorite rooms to walk into. It just really had a great feel to it. So I'll just play a little bit here. I've got the sound muted, you know, here I'm able to just really creative with the fiber optics as plants, uh, hanging down, and again the mirrors and stuff got a little old. But it was a really cool room and again was one of my favorites to like walk through this little park that is, uh, you know, a little bridge going over there. That is like all with this fiber optic material. So anyway, that was my visit to House of Hype.
Speaker 2:I will say that one of the other areas that was really good I'm going to switch my screen share here and pull this up here was this was my avatar, by the way. I ended up with like some girl unicorn thing with like pink and I don't know. I guess it's my personality, so I ended up with her. But this was my app, so I didn't have to download the app, but I ended up downloading it, but I didn't have to. I could have just used the mobile version of it, but it had a leaderboard, so, like there are different missions and stuff that you did and you can see where you ended up. I didn't obviously try to go and earn a bunch of points on the leaderboard.
Speaker 2:I wasn't there for long enough, I was just there to check it out, so I was ranking down way at the bottom, but I could come over here and so we actually got we all got wristbands, and these wristbands had an RFID tag inside of them and then, in order to connect the wristband with my phone, I would scan the QR code here and then that's what connected my account I created in their app with my wristband. So then, whenever I would tap to activate, building my avatar or doing other things, it would actually, you know, all sync up with my account because I had already synced those two things together. So you know again, they, they. One of the cool things was it would automatically move my stuff to the vault. So when I would create something like you know, there's this thing, you could take a selfie and then, like, do a bunch of stuff to it. So I took a picture of myself and then like did up and I can, you know, download it, different things like that, so you know you could create your sharky avatar. And this was my sharky avatar I guess I got so anyway it, uh, but I did think that having the app along the way and being able to eat very seamlessly collect. So all I did was like tap my wristband, I made these things and it just showed up in my account and I didn't have to do anything else to like put in my email address and like download all these things every single time. It did just seamlessly connect. So I appreciated that and thought that that was a great component.
Speaker 2:All right, now quickly to jump over to Chaos Carts. This was the entrance. First of all, it was in the middle of nowhere. I was like I actually thought that my taxi driver was taking me somewhere because it was in the middle of like some really desolate warehouse, and I was like, okay, I'm going to get robbed or mugged or something. But no, there was a little chaos cart sign on the outside that showed that where I was. And then you go through this long tunnel and one of the things I noticed was that this Chaos Carts was actually run by Fever. So those of you who aren't familiar with Fever will know that Fever does a lot of pop-up installations, temporary things, so Fever is the manager behind this thing. So there are only three people in my group.
Speaker 2:I came in the middle of a Thursday afternoon, early afternoon, so there's just two other kids. So when that happens some of the staff members pop in so that there was at least five people riding around. So it gives you a little bit better experience. They can do up to eight at a time. I feel like eight is like max. It would be too many in here. But then you can see this is when I get in you create an account and you pick your little avatar and then this is the screen. It sits between your legs. I would have preferred it to be actually a little bit higher, but it sits between your legs and this tells you like what you have available to shoot. You can drop things behind you, you can drop things ahead of you.
Speaker 2:So if you're not familiar with Chaos Carts, it's basically like Mario Kart for go-karting and this is a quick preview of what the so the projection mapping goes on projection maps on the walls, on the floors. I'll be honest, once I was actually racing, the stuff on the walls just really went away In the back of my mind. It could have been a black wall for all I care, because you're watching the karts in front of you and behind you and the stuff on the ground and you're trying to collect jewels and other stuff. So I wasn't really paying close attention. But I will say this was the main eating area. They had some arcades, ping pong, shuffleboard excuse me, not shuffleboard air hockey and pool to be able to play while I'm waiting. And then they also had this thing they called a queue, which are a few little mission rooms. They were pretty cheesily done, but you know it's another way to kill some time and also to make some more money. And then their F&B was actually not too bad as well and you know you could see this is the outdoor and like down this, like we drove down this long alley, I thought it was going to die.
Speaker 2:Anyway, I'll just say that this was by far one of the most enjoyable carding experiences fun carding experiences I've ever had. It was 20 minutes long and it was a and it was six different races, so six different tracks basically. So it wasn't exactly, maybe two and a half minutes or what would be about three and a half minutes roughly per race. And you know, and so half minutes or what would be about three and a half minutes roughly per race, and you know, and so you go and you're fighting and whatever, and you like different things, and then everything would just kind of shut down and stop your car, it would go dark and then it would come back up again with the next race and again I just it was. It was a complete blast. I had a ton of fun.
Speaker 2:If I were with my friends there, it would have been totally fun, great birthday option and really, really enjoyed my time. 20 minutes is more than enough time for one race. It was fairly expensive, all things considered, so it ended up being about $48 US for me to do that for that 20 minutes. And, look, it was fun. But if I were to spend $200 to go to Disneyland versus $50 or $40 for 20 minutes of chaos carts this is where you really begin and nobody spends $200 to go to Disneyland. I understand that, but we really began to break it down. I feel like it's a little pricey for the amount of time and the experience, but it was a phenomenal experience, but I would love to get your feedback.
Speaker 2:The House of Hype, for example, was $50. So it was about the same price to go to House of Hype and I was there for an hour, could have easily been there for a lot longer and I could have done and completed all the missions. And if I was there for friends, it would have been there for like two, three hours at least. So $50 for the two to three hour experience at House of Hype versus the $45 for 20 minutes at Chaos Carts. Again, like the pricing differential there is tough for me, but it was a lot of fun. So, anyway, that is my visits to the House of Hype and Chaos Carts, and I do want to cover a couple of other things, because I think these are some important things to cover and if I don't talk about them now they're just going to get shoved off down the line and like there's whatever.
Speaker 2:So I want to quickly talk about Shuffley. So these guys have introduced a new modular design with their, with their, their product, and so we will take a quick look at their little trailer here and hopefully, okay, good, I was like I sure hope that they don't do little things. So, all right, let me just quickly share this tab and pull it up and we'll just watch the trailer real quick. Okay, all right, there's no sound. I thought they would. So they've created this modular design. So, basically, you can add on different components of their projection, mapped and gamified shuffleboard. So you could have just the regular shuffleboard, add lights, add bar tops, and then you can go on full on to do what they call their shuffle showdown, which is their version of their gamified shuffleboard. So, anyway, I just thought that that was. And welcome back to this US Open. We're just going to watch the commercials there. So I thought that that was a great way.
Speaker 2:Here's obviously like the full shuffleboard experience, shuffling experience, and, yeah, it's built for 10 people, up to 10 people. They're 12 foot shuffleboards, or they can do larger shuffleboards for up to 20 people and then again, like you could add bar stools, you can do everything. So they just really created this modular design and they also added a. They created an add-on that you can do with the wooden cover, which changes the shuffleboard into a large table or buffet station, and then you know obviously this scorekeepers and stuff for seamless tracking. So this is the latest, this is now available, and I'm sure Shuffley will have a booth at Amusement Expo that you can go and check out. So that is Shuffley.
Speaker 2:And then also wanted to talk quickly about the Banjei group, and the Banjei group has launched a new location-based entertainment arm. So, for those of you who may not know Banjei what they are they're the group that's behind a lot of IP like Peaky Blinders, black Mirror, masterchef, and they are have created this group that's now going to create local experiences and their whole idea is to roll out internationally, and their first experience will be a VR experience created around Black Mirror. So they haven't given out a whole lot of information yet, but I think it is important to continue to watch things like this right. They haven't given out a whole lot of information yet, but I think it is important to continue to watch things like this right. So now Banagier is doing this stuff. We've seen Netflix already doing these things with their working with Fever for their pop up experiences, and obviously now they're creating their own versions like physical installations called Netflix House. We see Sony doing this with their Wonderverse, even though it's been poorly implemented. We see Universal doing this with some of their location-based entertainment that they're doing at Area 15. And so more and more we're beginning to see these studios that are creating this IP, creating location-based entertainment locations, and so just something to keep an eye on and something to consider when you're working on, if you're looking at expanding or doing a facility or adding in new locations. This is all just stuff we need to be aware of and see that's coming down the line.
Speaker 2:So, all right, that was a lot to cover in this episode's News, you Should Know. But that wraps us up, and coming up next we'll have Kevin Williams with Open and Shut. Intercard is the only cashless system designed, developed and manufactured all under one roof. They introduced cashless technology to the amusement industry and have been leading the way for over 30 years. Cashless systems from Intercard increase customer spending, guest satisfaction and boost revenues by up to 30%. Intercard is so proud to be serving the amusement industry and if you aren't already part of their global family of customers, they hope you will become one soon. All right, so let's hear from Kevin.
Speaker 3:Williams on the latest openings and closings. Hey, a big hello to everyone. The latest open and shut again another crowded one for this particular week and also a particular theme. Let's see if you guys can spot it. So let's jump straight in. And so, regarding the openings and Centre Parcs, a, you know, a leisure entertainment resort, environment chain of facilities, and they've just announced that two of their UK facilities in she, sherwood Forest and Woburn Forest are going to be including immersive game box. They're also going to be including a little bit of competitive socializing there. This is all part of an investment that the operation has put into their facilities, these particular facilities, especially to bring them up to code, to appeal to their audience and to, you know, breath of fresh air. It is interesting that they've gone for competitive socialising. They're now joining the Butlins and a number of other UK tourist resorts or leisure resorts that have decided to incorporate some immersion and some competitive socialising, and they won't be the last. I know that we've got some European venues that are going to be going down the same path. Then we have some interesting news from Orlando, disney Springs, very close to my heart, that particular area and the building that used to contain the MBA experience has now finally found a new tenant. This is part of the redevelopment that we're seeing across the sector. So, along with new openings, we're seeing existing venues being redeveloped or having new additions made to them. In this particular case, the active entertainment mission room style experience, which is level 99. That now is going to be launching its largest facility inside the previous MBA experience building. They have a chain of about three sites out there and this one's going to be quite an important one and we'll talk a little bit more in sound off about the particular reason why Disney Springs location is so important and also so close to my heart. Another retro arcade facility throws its doors open with Q25. Quarter 25, do you think? I didn't do as much research into the name as I should have there, but anyway it contains about 50 games. They have a selection of classics, bar and cocktails, the beercade approach that we've seen so popular again in California. Another mission room style experience, this time, you know, offering a little bit more of the active running around entertainment along with groups trying to solve puzzles and gain scores. This facility Breakthrough very, very good name and 20,000 square and opening.
Speaker 3:In Texas we have another kind of mission room Beat the Bomb popular chain. They have a couple of facilities out there. This 10,000 square foot facility comprises a number of challenges and activities that you've got to complete. Once you've completed the activities, then you have to defuse the bomb and if you've done everything correct, you don't get covered in paint from the explosion of the bomb. A very popular kind of mission game experience 10,000-square-foot facility. It also has some video game elements to it, along with social entertainment and some F&B, with its bar in Texas again. Then we jump over to Lumos. This is a 40,000 square foot competitive socializing facility. It's got the bowling, it's got the laser tag, it's got the axe throwing, it's got VR experiences, it's got amusement, it's got an extensive bar. It is a brand new concept and from what the people behind the project are talking about, they're hoping it's the beginning of a rollout of a brand-new chain of facilities and they've decided to open their first pilot facility in Texas.
Speaker 3:Talking about redevelopment and the previous AJ Family Fund Center in Michigan that has changed hands. The facility kind of was started in November to look for new owners. Anyway, they've gone through a rebranding. It's reopening now as Game Time Fun Park. It's got mini golf. Some of the attractions it previously had have now been updated. It's got mini golf. Some of the attractions it previously had have now been updated. It's got arcade, it's got batting cage, it's got the bumper boats, it's got the kiddie carts. It's got a bit of everything. It's more of a family entertainment center but now with the new branding they're hoping to bring it up to code to meet the new audience's needs. To bring it up to code to meet the new audience's needs.
Speaker 3:Kingpin in Australia, part of the chain. Seven venues in this particular chain and they have redeveloped by along with their bowling facility. They've now added AR darts and a competitive socializing element to their mix. I am not sure if the other seven venues are going to be going through this reinventing of parachuting in a competitive socializing, but we're seeing it here with the first one. Another venue that's parachuted in a competitive socializing elements to their mix Baller Z, based in UK farm. It was more of a entertainment bar venue. Now they've parachuted in a clay pigeon shooting component. They have shuffleboard, digital shuffleboard. I think they already had the mini golf component there, but we're seeing a rebranding and a redevelopment of this concept down a competitive socializing route.
Speaker 3:Jump across to Dubai, where some friends are at the moment and we see Adventure Islands open up. It's a family entertainment center but it also has a little bit of a competitive socializing style entertainment. It's got amusement, it's got laser tag, a bit of everything here, adding to the vibrant mix of entertainment spaces in this territory. Cojump, this is Belgium. This is Belgium. This is a, you know, active entertainment venue trampoline park. They got quite a large trampoline venue here that's opening up, one of many in this locale. I've noticed by doing some tracking. Belgium has definitely seen a number of active entertainment as well as other kinds of leisure entertainment venues opening up. This particular one also has a climbing wall. We're not sure if this has any amusement or game components to it, but you know it's brand new. We'll try and find a little bit more out about this if it falls into the entertainment as well as active entertainment model.
Speaker 3:And then Fabi land in the UAE active entertainment, but it's also got a range of amusement. It's got some attractions in there, so it's got the trampolines. Obviously it's got the bumper cars. So the Fabi Land operation is part of a chain in the UAE of about five facilities and this is the latest one aiming at quite a wide disparate of audience in their age groups, in their age groups, and also a brand that is part of a chain of operations that is moving more towards a modern Western approach to family entertainment layout. Be interesting to try and get a chance to have a look at this latest opening.
Speaker 3:And then we have an augmented reality or holographic mixed reality experience. Let's stick with mixed reality, I think, on this one Holographic Zoo, one of the first of its kind in Texas, and this one includes screens of the setup, guests wearing special glasses. They get to see the virtual animals created. So it's a it's an immersive entertainment. It's a semi-permanent facility I'm not exactly sure how permanent this particular site is in Texas, but they have already rolled out versions of this in Australia and Africa and this particular experience can also include different kinds of content. So you have your virtual animals, you move through, but you can also have a virtual dinosaur experience, a new concept, an immersive adventure that I would like to call it.
Speaker 3:And then we jump over to Michigan. We have Rhythm Lounge. This is best described as a retro sorry, as a arcade aimed at a particular Japanese theme. It's got a number of the latest Japanese amusement music games the B-Mania from Konami, as well as the other examples, as well as a selection of some other video amusement I saw in the promo video, but I think their predominance is on the music games, courtesy of the name missing the N, obviously. And the interesting thing about this is that they're going for a micro-arcade kind of derivation here. Our friends at Round One are rolling out their latest facility going into a previous department store. That's 23,000 Square in Texas. You've spotted the theme.
Speaker 3:We're seeing a lot of new openings this particular period in Texas. This site's interesting. It is the traditional mix of round one foyers, but there's also some new options in there. You know they've got the basketball shooting hoops, they've got axe throwing in there, they have their crane machines, they have their redemption and they have their music games In there. They have their crane machines, they have their redemption and they have their music games Brand-new facility pushing forward the establishment of this latest generation of the brand. And then in Texas again, we have Pins, pins Mechanical. It's what I would call a boutique bowling environment duck pin bowling but it also has a very heavy social entertainment vibe. It's in a an old warehouse that's been abandoned for a period of time. They've gone in and they've restyled it to represent their entertainment space. Again, this is part of a chain, or beginning of the establishment of a chain, and we're looking forward to getting a chance to see this. You know Texas is now calling out for a special visit by, I think, the LBX, to try and visit some of these new venues and see how many of them are going to be able to survive in this now crowded landscape.
Speaker 3:Jumping back to the UK and in Reading we have Urban Fun. This is a facility developed by Funbox, who are involved with our friends at Sega Amusement International. We've talked about them when we were talking about the Gravity Arcade facilities. This is a what I would call a mini arcade. It's a good selection of arcade. It has pool tables, it has redemption, it's trying to offer a revitalized amusement space for this particular sector and it is the beginning of a rollout by this group of more than just one, a beginning of a chain. We'll talk about this a little bit more in the sound-off. Coming up Also part of the conversation in the sound-off will also be the entry of our friends at Chuck E Cheese or CEC Entertainment with their brand-new Chuck's Arcade about to throw its doors open in Georgia. It's in the mall there and it is hoping to be an interpretation of all of the aspects of amusement, borrowing a little bit from the Chuck E Cheese brand but aiming at an older audience and aiming at also a mall-style entertainment offering what I would say trying to be star-cated again. But we shall see when their doors throw open and again we'll talk a little bit more about the details of what's behind this.
Speaker 3:In Sound Off, knott's Berry Farm, they had an arcade on property at the California facility and our friends at FEC so FEG have gone in there and revitalized the previous bar arcade facility and turned it into the factory floor arcade. They've gone in there. New machines, new livery, new branding, so a redevelopment of an existing site. Our friends at Lane 7, again in the UK, milton Keynes this time, and they're just about to throw the doors open on a 40,000-square-foot version of facility. Boutique bowling, a little bit of I think they're going to have some AR darts in there. We do know that they have pool in there and the bar yes, confirm it has AR darts in there. A little bit of food and beverage. So, continuing of the Lane 7 rollout of new interpretations of their sites, aiming again at the kids and the activity entertainment. Active entertainment Florida is about to get a brand new site. This 808 bounce facility has obstacle course, it has a trampoline as far as I understand it has inflatables. It also has party rooms. No word if it has any amusement. But I think they're aiming for a much more younger audience and they're focusing more on the educational style of play here. So you know, the young players of the future.
Speaker 3:And then we have Bowling de Klaak. This location in the Netherlands. It's a redevelopment. The facility has been there for about 15 years. It's been focused on its sports bowling aspect and now the operation is adding more of a social entertainment component to it. They've actually added 600 square meters facility that includes a themed entertainment attraction which has about 27 rooms. So it's more of a mission room kind of experience on top of the bowling enterprise that they're offering there.
Speaker 3:Then we have some casino attainment, as it were. We have the Chicken Ranch Casino Resort. That's announced in California that they have now added a cyber quest to their setup of attractions, cyberquest being a style of arcade that has been parachuted into a number of casino and leisure entertainment venues. There's about 17 out there in the chain, also part of the KidsQuest chain as well. This is aimed more at a broad mix of amusement components with a little bit of redemption no F&B there, depending on the venue's own offerings for food. And again, this is adding an entertainment mix to an existing venue. The casino opened in 2024, but now they're just now throwing the doors open on their cyberQuest. Quite an expensive build on this casino and it's part of a chain that I'm looking forward to keeping an eye on. And then we have Splitsville, a bowling experience in Canada, part of a chain 15 facilities in Canada based on the Spitsville brand Boutique bowling F&B.
Speaker 3:A little bit of amusement. Proof of formula Clubhouse. This is really a competitive socializing venue that has at its heart golf simulators but also has some karaoke rooms in there and also has some dart space. So a little bit of everything, but focused heavily on the clubhouse golf aesthetic. Another active entertainment facility, the other trend that we've seen in this latest report Frontier Trampoline Park in Wyoming. Again, they have added to their existing facility that opened in 2020. They have now been able to spend some time, evaluate their audience, get over the COVID situation and now they're reinvesting into their space and they've added a pixel game floor the interactive illuminated floor game experience and they've added a new basketball court to appeal to their audience here. We wish them a lot of luck with that rollout.
Speaker 3:And then, just about to throw the doors open again in Canada, in Quebec, is Amusement 2020. This particular facility is part of a chain of two sites, so this will be the second site opening its doors and it's talking about offering 100 amusement devices in the space. It is more of an arcade entertainment venue than a social entertainment experience, building on the previous facility that they opened and then one of the last of the active entertainment spaces that we're going to be talking about. On this particular sound off paris, we have a thousand square meter facility going in inflatables, trampoline and also more aimed at the, but they have a rocket launch simulator for the kids to play at. Very interesting styling on this particular operation and going into a crowded market.
Speaker 3:The French suburbs have seen quite a few entertainment facilities opening, recently concluding with our friends in time zone in indonesia. Part of the grand time zone chain represents about 200 amusement sites dotted around in australia, indonesia, vietnam, singapore. This particular site has about 70 amusement pieces into it as as well as I think it had one bumper car attraction added to it. I was watching the video of the opening ceremony of the facility, adding its name to the list of sites and dropping into a very popular market. Anyway, to conclude with the shots and we've seen the closing of Centre Bowl, now to be acquired by a new owner. That owner is going to be updating the facility. I have the information that the property has been sold and that the venue is going to be going through redevelopment. But that's about all the information I have. Once we get more I'll try and share that either here or in a Sting report. And then a major adult entertainment facility is now facing bankruptcy.
Speaker 3:If you're not familiar with the Hooters bar chain, it is a very popular or was a very popular kind of guy hangout facility, started in the 1980s, had about 300 locations dotted around North America bar tavern kind of approach with screens and served by the popular Hooters Girls. It looks like the audience has moved on and they've gone from one kind of entertainment now towards social entertainment. And again, this is an example of how the audience and the market is changing in the hospitality sector, something we all need to be mindful of, especially if we have an F&B component. Anyway, that's the main rundown from me Quite a crowded list of operations. Anyway, I'll leave it here and look forward to speaking to you soon with the next line-up. Have a good one.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, thank you, kevin for that. And, man, I wish I had visited Adventure Island in Dubai while I was there. I just didn't catch it in time, but I will definitely go there next time. I'll be in Dubai fairly frequently, well, not you know, but once about once a quarter for the next year or so at least, if not potentially longer than that, depending on how things go, from this last week that I was out there. So, anyway, I will definitely check out Adventure Island because that thing looks awesome.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, obviously, like just the Texas saturation that's coming that was the theme from earlier on. It's just insane the amount of saturation that we're seeing coming through in Texas, and it doesn't really matter whether it's Dallas or Houston or San Antonio. We're just seeing more and more of these facilities opening up in those areas and I do think it will become a problem here pretty soon. But we'll wait and see. Obviously, texas is a big state, but some of these suburbs that these things are going in, like Katy and Sugar Land in the Houston area for example, there's still a limited population of people who can go and actually visit those things. So anyway, I definitely think that that will be a problem.
Speaker 2:A couple of other quick notes here from Kevin, from Kevin's episode from his segment was level 99. I'm just super excited for those guys. I love what they're doing, I love the mission room, adventure room concept, and so for being able to get into Disney Springs is a huge get for them, especially considering this is just their third location. And we do dig into this a little bit further in the next sound off that's coming up in a couple of days Sound off number 64 with Kevin Williams. This and the next sound off that's coming up in a couple of days sound off number 64 with Kevin Williams, and this comes out on March 4th. So you definitely want to tune into that if you want to hear us dig in and talk a little bit more about Level 99 and Disney Springs.
Speaker 2:And then, lastly, beat the Bomb in Houston. They mentioned we are going to be doing a Behind Our Doors very shortly with their founder, alex Patterson, and we may not be doing the Houston location, but we will definitely be doing a new Behind Our Doors podcast, which we haven't done one of those in quite some time, so very excited about that. So keep an eye out for when that will be coming in the next few weeks, all right. Next up, we've got some Arcade Corner with Adam Pratt.
Speaker 1:If you run a location-based entertainment brand and want to attract more visitors, check out Radius. They use real-time location data and customized marketing strategies to help brands like yours stand out. Radius can boost your foot traffic and build a loyal customer base. Plus, they're offering a complimentary local market analysis to show you exactly how they can help you grow Curious, visit Radiusco and ask about your free market analysis. That's R-A-Y-D-I-U-S dot C-O.
Speaker 4:Greetings. It's Adam Pratt for Arcade Corner here on the LBX Collective and getting you up to speed on some new stuff within the industry. There has been a lot of things going on with investments into new locations, such as a new type of arcade I mean I guess would just be a variation on Chuck E Cheese's called Chuck's but also Round 1 USA opening more locations over in Europe, seeing some activity over there, such as with a place called NQ64 and such. But I believe those have been covered in some other news bites, and so we're going to be focusing a little bit more on products, as we often do.
Speaker 4:Of course, this month, where we're now in March and slowly approaching warmer weather, at least for a lot of us out there, we've got the Spring Show, as sometimes it's called, or the Amusement Expo International 2025 over in usually sunny Las Vegas and there's quite a there are quite a few things that are going to be interesting to play and try there that we're not at IAPA, and it's always nice to me when there's several products at amusement Expo that weren't at IAPA, just because when it's say only one new thing, and it's even though I live close, relatively close by plane to Vegas, it still feels like kind of a wasted trip if there's almost nothing new there that I hadn't seen at IAAPA already.
Speaker 4:But of course it's still a good show for operators who couldn't make it to IAAPA to pop up there, and it's been a long time since I've seen it to where it's has so few new releases to that degree. Several years ago it could be like that, and there was even one amusement expo that I skipped because I wasn't aware of anything new that was going to be there, although I guess there was one or two or two things.
Speaker 4:Anyways, what we've got on the screen here it's not call of duty, although it kind of is aiming for that vibe a little bit. This is by a new company called blue motion games and it's this particular game. They actually released two games you've got desert chase and cannonball jam and so these are the first original games that are coming out from this company. Now, blue motion games was at iapa. In a sense they were sharing a booth, um, trying to I can't remember the name off the top of my head if they were with my apologies on that, but they had a world rally simulator there. They were working with a motion company out of turkey and they they still are, and so I'm not sure if it was that company that developed this or blue motion themselves. But either way, desert chase is maybe going to look a little familiar to some of you out there if you're familiar with trio tech's super blaster, which has four seats. These are motion seats, just like in super blaster for tethered guns and surround sound. 4k screen. I believe this is 100 inch, just like the super blaster is. Now I'm not 100 sure what the price on this one goes for and it doesn't have as much content as the super blaster would, but I would all assume that it would be coming in at a lower price tag to compete with that and salim uh over at blue motion games. He also used to work for trio tech for a long time, and so that's possibly where some of that inspiration is coming from. But trio tech of course they have a lot of other products that they've been focusing on that aren't necessarily arcade products or aren't even close to arcade products, more theme park products such as roller coasters and dark rides and things of that nature. But in this sense, I'm not aware of Blue Motion Games going after the large scale or even medium scale attractions and looking more at things of this nature as well as Cannonball Jam.
Speaker 4:Now, of course, cannonball Jam is a redemption game. It can be played without tickets, but at first glance this probably looks like one of those water games, like Iceman, but it's actually stewing water for little soft balls. I'm not sure. I don't think they're ping pong balls because from the video that I saw of this very brief one, they didn't have the same sort of bounciness as ping pong balls and, as I'm sure, those would fly all over the place, but it hits a plexiglass berry on the screen. Of course the targeting is really determined by the potentiometers within each gun, just like your typical mounted light gun game, as opposed to using a sensor net or anything like that or actually hitting a touch screen with balls. I don't believe they would go in that realm. But this Selim also had been working at Playbox, which creates the, or Playmind, sorry, which creates the Playbox, where you throw the balls at the screen, and I can't recall exactly how they have that technology set up. But either way, new multi-level ball shooting game that can work for redemption, self-recycles the balls. I believe there also is a barrier over the top right here to prevent balls from flying out of the machine. So it's all self-contained, which is nice, like Desert Chase. I'm not aware of what the price is on that one as well. Balls from flying out of the machine. So it's all self-contained, which is nice, like desert chase. I'm not aware of what the price is on that one as well, but there are distributors out there that are already listing these games, so anybody who is a blue motion games distributor, you can ask them and find out how much that's going to run for, and I also can't recall off the top of my head which booth the number they're going to have at amusement expo, but they will be there, outside of anything that's a tragedy, like a vehicle accident, like what happened to team play last year and their all their equipment wasn't able to get to the show. Um, another thing that's going to be there.
Speaker 4:This is a name that is likely going to be familiar to most, if not all, of you out there Pop a Shot. You've probably heard of that before. Maybe you have one at your house. They've made quite a name for themselves, but what many people may not realize is that this is the original arcade basketball machine, and so it was created way back in 1981, but I think it took a year or two before they had a coin-operated arcade basketball model out. But over the years it became more lucrative for the company to focus on home sales, and I think the home basketball machines are something like two to $300. Whereas typically your basketball arcade machines is full size, like these ones tend to run in the three to $6,000 range, just depending on what it is.
Speaker 4:And so Papa shot hasn't had a presence in the arcade industry for at least 25 years. They have had some coin operated models in the 80s and the 90s, but since then they've just been paying attention to that residential market until now. So they actually brought on Ryan Cravens, which is a name that you might be familiar with and perhaps you know Ryan as well. He's worked for many different companies across the coin op industry and so he was recently at Stern pinball. But he's bringing his expertise over to pop a shot and that's where they've unveiled the pop a shot elite, where it's already been tested. It's already shown up at some other events that aren't our amusement industry, events where the reaction, from what ryan told me, has been extremely good, and so very good chance you'll start seeing pop a shot elites, uh, show popping up out there.
Speaker 4:But what this one does, uh, because that's probably what's going through your mind. So what is it that this one does other than have the name pop a shot? That games from Ice or Sega or Unus or whoever else already. What does it do differently compared to those? So you can probably tell on the back there that there is a video screen. It's a 49 inch screen and from what little they've shown of that so far, it seems like it has some pretty high quality video on there that so far it seems like it has some pretty high quality video on there. But it also has an idea that seems to have come from Ryan Cravens that he brought over from Stern Pinball, where you can take your phone and get a QR code and log into the machine, just like Stern's Insider Connected, and then that allows you to have your score tracked across the leaderboards and you can compete in tournaments, whether that's a local in arcade tournament or a regional tournament or the national pop a shot tournament, and so just that alone is probably going to differentiate it from any other basketball machine that I can think of that that's out there, but then of it also has those other niceties, such as the 49-inch video display. And I didn't hear what the price is yet because that's still TBD, but there will be distributors carrying this pretty soon and then they'll be able to share pricing on that. But from what Ryan hinted at, it's going to be priced very competitively, because usually ones that have the screen, the video screen on the back because of course they need to have plenty of protection like a plexiglass screen or like panel of plexiglass in front of them so that you don't have the screens destroyed. They tend to fall somewhere around the $6,000 range, so if they can hit in a bit below that, then that could be a very lucrative or very enticing buy for a lot of operators out there.
Speaker 4:And then one that we just got an updated look at from Sega Amusements and Kaizen Entertainment is Alpha Ops VR Strike. This one was at IAAPA, but they were telling me at that show already that they were going to change things, such as they were going to change the marquee, they were going to change how the lighting on the back of the machine worked, and so this one, instead of having edge lighting with through leds, looks like they have certain blobs of the camouflage lighting up, which I assume it's going to look like a cooler effect in person, especially if it's animated lighting. But that was just recently revealed by Sega. And now Rothrills also has several products, but as of this time where I'm recording, they haven't made those public yet. I do know what they are, but they're going to wait to officially unveil them throughout the month of march. So just stay tuned and you'll be hearing some stuff about a new redemption game that they have that will also work with car or also vans cards, kind of like the injustice and minecraft games, and an update on minecraft as well, and then a brand new video game that I think it's going to do very well. It has a very big movie license attached to it and I can already see this being a huge seller.
Speaker 4:But last but not least, for today's Arcade Corner is something that just showed up on test over in Japan, called Magiblast or Magiblast. I'm not sure how you might want to pronounce that. I guess it depends on what region you're from. I'll call it Magi Blast, like magic blast, but this is actually on test from Bandai Namco Amusements. Now I haven't been able to confirm yet whether or not this is going to show up over out West North America and Europe, but apparently it has some sort of augmented or mixed reality holographic component to it.
Speaker 4:Um, but these odd things are. Here are mounted what appear to be guns, but they have these dishes on the end of them, and so it might be like sig is old. I think it was called laser, not laser strike, but laser squad or something of that nature, where there was a laser that shot into a piece of plexi to make it seem like you were seeing these ghosts floating up or shooting the ghosts that were on the screen. It was a cool effect, but we haven't seen too many of those things happen in a long time. But that might be coming from namco again could just be sticking to japan, but sometimes they do show stuff off over in japan first and then bring it over here if it's a big enough success. But that's what's happening in the arcade industry. Thank you for watching and we'll catch you on the next arcade corner all right.
Speaker 2:Thank you, adam pratt for that and uh for that and for doing everything that you do on Arcade Heroes. Looking forward to hanging out with you and spending some time walking around checking out some of the new machines. Specifically, I'm excited about Cannonball Jam. I think that thing looks pretty fun, and so I'm definitely going to go and try that out, and then I hope Magiblast is there, because that looks like very interesting game mechanics, so definitely looking forward to both of those. All right, next up, we've got Chuck DeMonte with Promo Pro Tips.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Promo Pro Tips with Chuck DeMonte. That is me, and today I want to talk about planning ahead. Okay, in marketing, it is so important and people do not do it. So not only will this help you with marketing, it should help with your operations as well. The little things that that crossover between operations and marketing, like changing your hours on your website, changing your hours your Google business profile Okay.
Speaker 1:So what I want you to do, what I find to be so important and again this blends sort of marketing and operations slightly I want you to plan out at the bare minimum, six months ahead of where you're at. Okay, and so what does that mean? What holidays are coming up? What are those holiday hours? What promos are coming up? So, if you got Easter coming up, maybe we're doing Easter egg hunt, maybe we're doing you know, I don't know there's Good Friday there's. You know, what are these holidays coming up? What are things, seasonality things, what are things that are happening? You got summer. Are you in extended hours? Right, planning that out? You need to know it's for your staff. You need to know it's you. Like I said, you could adjust your hours on things like Google business profile. You could with promo ideas, right. I can't tell you how many times people are behind the eight ball when it comes to promo ideas, right. And now they're scrounging around to put together a promo and the promo and the marketing effort and the event doesn't work because you market it for a week with terrible assets and you don't get enough exposure. Right. So plan ahead. It is extremely, extremely important. I cannot say that enough.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, again, start with six months. I would love to see you do 12 months. That includes everything. That includes your hours, right. That includes events coming up. That includes promo ideas, discount ideas right. Get them all out on the table and then refine from there. Okay, now we use a tool called plannable. Right. Schedule social media content. I believe you should be doing content. How are you going to promote these? You know hours, these events, all that other stuff? So let's say you were using plannable and plannable. They have a campaign schedule where you can literally put out, you know, basically, you know it's like a calendar right Of when things are happening, right. Use that, let your staff have access to it, right. So have a. Have a place where everybody is accessing this. Okay, super, super, super important Right Now.
Speaker 1:Once you have that in place, I want you then to work three months ahead to create assets and for those promotions and events you have happening, right, this way, you are ready for your emails. So really think through all the things and all the marketing strategy you have. Now I think you should have a marketing agency, right. If you don't, or if you do this in-house, you know make sure again even more so why you need to be months ahead. But you need to think through all the things you're going to be doing when you're doing a promotion. Right, if I'm doing a promotion, I'm going to need a social media ad. I'm going to need an email image for an email copy. Uh, I need to adjust my hours and maybe get a banner on a website. I need to maybe put that into advertising or meta ads or any other thing I'm doing. You know, promote. You know some sort of media spend somewhere on the radio, whatever. I don't love radio. So that's why it's important, right.
Speaker 1:The more you can get ahead, the more you can plan, the better and more effective your promotions will be. The better the promotions are, the more revenue you're going to make, right, and why else are you in business, right? Yes, it's fun, it's well. It could be right, it can be also. It can beat you down a little bit, but you want to do well in business, right. Otherwise there really isn't much of a point. So if you want to do well, start planning ahead. Plan your promotions ahead. They will do better, it will help your team operate better. It will just help the whole business perform at a higher function in your business in general. So make a plan, execute the plan and do it. Early amusement industry and have been leading the way for over 30 years.
Speaker 2:Catch the system from Intercard, increase customer spending, guest satisfaction and boost revenues by up to 30%. Intercard is so proud to be serving the amusement industry and if you aren't already part of their global family of customers, they hope you will become one soon. All right, well, thank you, chuck Damonte, for the promo pro tips there. And yeah, you know what One of the things that I love about what Chuck and his team do over at Radius is? Well, we don't want to do, we don't need to do that. But here is that on LBX Galaxy.
Speaker 2:So again, if you guys don't have, if you're not on LBX Galaxy yet, definitely join and go to LBXGalaxycom, or you can scan this little QR code if you're watching galaxycom or you can scan this little qr code if you're watching. But in there in the obex galaxy, we have different channels based on different topics, and one of the busiest topics that is that you know has a lot of coverage is in the marketing channel, and that is because chuck adds a lot of really good information in there and there's actually, if you're, you know, one of our members, there's some areas we can actually take different courses as well on marketing that they've created. So a lot of really good content that they put out there and it's available for free for anybody who's a LBX Galaxy member. So hop on there, join LBX Galaxy at lbxgalaxycom and get all that great information.
Speaker 2:So, all right, coming up this week we have SoundOff number 64. This is on Tuesday, march 4th, and we're going to cover all the latest trends and then we're going to do some housekeeping. So it should be good, but otherwise, this is Brandon Wiley signing off. Stay tuned and keep kicking ass.
