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LBX Collective
The LBX Collective aims to inform and educate, create opportunities to connect with industry peers, and to spur collaboration, discourse, and cross-pollination of ideas in the location-based entertainment and experience industry.
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LBX Collective
The LBX Show #35 - Inside Bowl Expo 2025: Trends and Industry Shifts
Sponsored by Intercard!
On this week's show, Brandon is joined by Kevin Williams and Adam Pratt for a special Guest Gab review of the Bowl Expo 2025 experience, examining the state of the bowling industry and the growing influence of competitive socializing on traditional bowling centers. The future of bowling centers depends on embracing tech innovations and diversified entertainment offerings beyond just lanes.
• Bowl Expo 2025 suffered from lower attendance due to its scheduling just before July 4th holiday
• Tradeshow layout revealed many empty spaces with most vendors downsizing to minimal booth sizes
• Notable absence of complementary attractions like billiards tables despite their natural pairing with bowling
• New social entertainment offerings included Puttify (tech-infused mini-golf) and Singa (drop-in karaoke solution)
• Bowling industry faces a growing divide between traditional centers and boutique/social entertainment venues
• Industry insiders suggest future shows need better timing and more compelling reasons for vendors to participate
• Technology integration becoming essential for bowling centers to attract and retain modern customers
• Multi-location security solutions from companies like Intercard increasingly important for operational stability
• Growing trend of bowling centers converting underutilized spaces into additional revenue streams
• Successful venues now focusing as much on food, beverage and atmosphere as they do on bowling itself
Join us next week for our regular programming featuring Arcade Corner with Adam Pratt, Promo Pro Tips with Chuck DeMonte, Open and Shut with Kevin Williams, and another Road Trip with Clint Novak.
All right. Well, welcome everybody to the LBX show for July 6, 2025. We've got a great show lined up for you today. Hopefully you've all had a great 4th of July holiday for those of you who are in the United States celebrating that holiday with friends and family. But today we're going to kick things off with a really brief news you should know, because we've got our special Bowl Expo 2025 review, doing a guest gab with Kevin Williams and then Adam Pratt from Arcade Heroes. Then we'll finish off, actually, with just another packed open and shut to learn more about all the latest openings and closings and yeah, so, with that being said, let's get started with some News you Should Know. That being said, let's get started with some news you should know. All right. So we talked about this last week and IAAPA Expo is here, or it's coming up here anyway. So registration is now open, is what I meant to say.
Speaker 2:Registration is here and, if you are familiar with IAAPA Expo, this is obviously the big trade show of the year. This is the Super Bowl for the attractions industry, which includes location-based experiences and entertainment, and it runs from November 17th to the 21st. There is education the first day, exclusively on that Monday, and then the trade show floor runs from Tuesday through Friday for like eight hours a day, except for Friday. It's a little bit shorter. And then there's education as well on that Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday. No education on Friday they used to do that. Nobody came because everybody was hungover. So they stopped doing that, and I'm sure that's not the reason, but maybe it was All right. So, anyway, get registered if you haven't already. Also really important, because it does sell out IAPA Celebrates is going. This is their big event that they do on Thursday night. It's a limited amount of people that can go and it will sell out, if it hasn't already, I don't know. I think some people are still getting tickets, but it is at Epic Universe, so Universal's Epic Universe, and it's going to be a great time. The IAPA Celebrates is always a lot of fun, and so definitely recommend getting registered and then getting that IAAPA Celebrates ticket right away. You do not want to wait, all right. So, speaking of IAAPA, this is a really, really cool thing. This is something that, when I was on the FEC committee for IAAPA, we first started to work on, and then I'm really excited that the FEC committee still continued to move this thing forward and is now working with the IAAPA Foundation to have a new implementation of the FEC Scholarship for 2025.
Speaker 2:So what is this FEC Scholarship? All right, so, first of all, the application window opens July 1st, so it is now open, and it closes August 15th, so you only have a limited window to apply. Also, basically, the IAAPA Foundation FEC Scholarship supports individuals who are passionate about creating exceptional guest experiences and that basically want to build on their future in the attractions industry, so people who want to be a part of this industry, going forward for a long time. The opportunity here, through the scholarship, provides one recipient with a chance to attend IAAPA Expo 2025 in Orlando, florida, from the 16th to the 19th, and then the recipient will take part in curated education sessions for them and also events focused on family entertainment centers, offering valuable, all the valuable insights you're going to get into industry trends, operations, leadership and then connections, right? So what's cool about this is this includes the cost of the actual attendance, the cost of the education, the cost of different events that they're able to go to, like the FEC reception and some of the other edutainment events, and so, basically, if you're working in a family entertainment center or an indoor entertainment venue or any location-based entertainment facility. You can and you really want to make this your career. Just see if this is something you want to make as your career. That's what this scholarship is intended to do to help you grow and connect and gain the tools that are going to help you advance in your journey in this industry.
Speaker 2:So a couple of requirements here. There are some applicant requirements. Basically, you need to be either a student or an employee that is going full-time. You could be a part-time student as well if you're also working somewhere else. You need to be 18, between 18 and 35. And if you're a student, you need to be majoring in hospitality, the culinary arts, ride design, graphic design, maintenance or some other similar attractions field. And if you're an employee, you need to have been employed for at least one to three years in any role at an FEC in sales, food and beverage, ride operations, hr maintenance or something like that. Again, in the attractions industry, you'll need to upload your resume or your CV, get a letter of recommendation. So definitely reach out to some people that you might know in the industry, from your current, but also from your current employer or your instructor if you're a student, and the letter should be concise.
Speaker 2:There's details on the IAPA website I'll get to that in a minute and then an application video as well no longer than three minutes, a bunch of stuff that you're there, and then you'll need to be able to do a testimonial afterwards. You'd be willing to give a testimonial? So, anyway, the total scholarship is a total value of about $2,500. So a portion of the amount will be used to cover the cost of the expo registration, the reception, three FEC lunch and learn events, and then the remaining balance will be issued to the recipient to also help offset co-talent airfare expenses. So it is actually a really comprehensive scholarship and we're really, really excited for this to launch. So congratulations to the IAAPA FEC committee for getting this over the line. Thank you to their liaison, monica Bejarano, for helping see this through as well, and everybody else involved that was behind the scenes at the IAAPA staff. So thanks for getting this across the line and if you have any questions or want to learn more, you can visit the IAAPA website at iaapaorg or just search, you know, for fec scholarship 2025, with iapa in there.
Speaker 2:So all right. That wraps up our news. You should know coming up after the quick break, we will have a excuse me, we will have a uh, what are we going to have here? Um, what should we do next? We'll do the bull expo review next, and how about that? Instead of the open and shut? So we'll do Bull Expo review, coming up real quick here after the break. All right, I'm here at Bull Expo at the Intercard booth and I'm going to hear from Chris Barker. He's going to talk to us a little bit about multi-location security. So, chris, let's go ahead and take it away, man.
Speaker 3:Hey everyone, welcome to Bull Expo 2025. Thanks for stopping by the Intercard booth, brandon. Some of the stuff that we like to do with Intercard, with multi-unit locations and keeping cybersecurity, which is the most important thing for us keeping your data safe, keeping your data secure and keeping your locations running 24-7 is what we strive to do. So some of the things that we do we have off-site data storage at our Kansas City facility with multiple failover ISPs. So, hey, verizon goes down, we got you covered on AT&T. That goes down, we got you covered. On Charter. We're constantly backing that up every 15 seconds, so there's no loss of data there. Our architecture also is compartmentalized to prevent servers from talking to each other across the network, so therefore it keeps everything secure and stable across those facilities. The two factor authentication also does prevent people from accessing the data unauthorized. We are also in this compliance, which is very important in our industry, and we definitely strive to stay ahead of where the hackers and the nefarious people would be.
Speaker 2:So all right, that's awesome. Thanks, chris. We'll see you around at the next Expo, which will be IAFA Expo, all right? Well, this is good to see you guys.
Speaker 2:Every time after a show we always have a little gathering, we talk a little bit about the things we either saw on the show floor or heard about the show through all of our eyes and ears that we have everywhere, and so I figured we'll go ahead and just dig a little bit into Bowl Expo, which I just came back from, and I know you guys have been following the news very closely. This was in Washington DC at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. The education ran from June 29th and 30th. Then they had a little break for the trade show the first and the second, and then they had some more content in the third. So I will say because I know that this was a weird time I do appreciate that they at least bookended the trade show floor, because I think if they hadn't done that, it would have been even more dismal from the attendance than it was already, and so I'm really glad that they did bookend it. So that was still. That was a good move that they did.
Speaker 5:What does the bookend entail? So they had conferences at the beginning and conferences at the end.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they had like a special speaker on the third, so the day after, well, it's the day after, and so the trade show is really just the first and the second. And I also appreciate what they do with their trade show. They don't try to extend the hours so long. It's like 11 to 4 and 11 to 4, two days, right, like they also know that nobody's going to get there earlier than 11 o'clock anyway, so don't need to open the trade show floor earlier and then nobody wants to stay after four because they want to go do happy hours and everything else. So I really do appreciate the like Bowl Expo does do their times really well. I think Abuseman Expo could learn quite a bit from that. Obviously, iap just has to be longer because the trade show floor is so much larger.
Speaker 2:I was able to walk the entire floor of Bowl Expo four times and that's with stopping like multiple times, with talking to people and hanging out and sitting in booths and just chatting and everything else.
Speaker 2:But I will say one of the first things I noticed when I came in was like right on the far right hand side, you've got, you just saw a bunch of like a whole empty rows, so definitely not a sold out show and even to the point where, like the way some of the stuff was laid out, I felt bad for some of the event. You know some of the vendors who ended up on this row because it just was super empty and they were even filling in a lot of their booth space with these types of like last minute vendors that always pop up right the little massage things and skin care and everything else that have nothing to do with beholding, and these guys just uh, you know they're like the parasites of the trade show world and not the people but companies. You know, people are pretty nice, but the company save this for the organizers, because nothing personal, yeah, and then you had a couple of booths too.
Speaker 2:People had some travel problems coming in, probably some visa issues if they're out of country, and so, anyway, you ended up with a couple of booths like this as well, that just had the stuff delivered but unfortunately not set up during the actual show floor do you think that there's anybody listening?
Speaker 6:that's for operating bowl expo. That's being it's paying attention to the fact that nobody seems to want to have a trade show next to a major holiday like july 4th you know?
Speaker 2:I, I sure hope so. I know that when they first announced the denver show last year because last year was the same week in denver, the denver gay when they first announced that in 2023, a lot of the vendors almost boycotted the show. Many of them said, well, we're just going to go down to a 10 by 10 booth. And actually many of them did, and many of them this year too, were in 10 by 10 booths and they didn't bring stuff to see. Really any booth that was larger than 10 by 10 was Intercard, because they've just had their booth structure and they're a SmartB partner, so it makes sense.
Speaker 2:And then was obviously cubica, amf, brunswick, and then some of the distributors. So player one bets in, uh, you know, etc. Right, so, like the distributor guys, so because they just have games they brought, but even still, a lot of their spaces were 20 by 20, maybe 20 by 30. Everybody else was a 10 by 10. You didn't see anybody really in 10 by 20, maybe 20 by 30. Everybody else was a 10 by 10. You didn't see anybody really in 10 by 20 booths either.
Speaker 5:There is a silent protest being launched inside the bowling sector because the traditional bowling guys are obviously competing with the new insurgents of the boutique and the social bowling side and these guys can't justify the expenditure of being at an event before the 4th of July flights, bookings, all of the problems that come with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I know that the dates were announced, but I could not find any posts. There was no collateral for it. It's not online yet with the dates for next year, but I do know that they're at least a week or two earlier. It's not going to be this week anymore beforehand, and it's coming back to Nashville, which they haven't been back to since 2017. And it will be at the Gaylord in Nashville, which is a beautiful facility. It's Nashville, I think. I think, if anything, that will draw some more people. But when I was there and I was walking, I was just talking with some of the other vendors we're seeing.
Speaker 2:Some of the issues is that there's just nothing new at Bowl Expo. I remember back in the day that there used to be things that would show up at Bowl Expo that were new, right, and there's no new product launches. There's nothing. Like we saw. There was no social entertainment except for one, except for shuffling, and you could consider put a fi to be social entertainment. There was no VR. There was no, not that VR is new, but like there's just nothing extra. There wasn't even any billiards. There was not even a single billiards booth, which surprised me, right, because this is bowling.
Speaker 2:Bowling and billiards goes together, and there wasn't even that there.
Speaker 6:I mean, I guess, to be fair on VR, even at AEI the presence of VR was severely restricted, but when AEI has more billiards than Bowl Expo, does you know you've got a problem, and maybe that's the reason why you know the billiard boys have put their budgets and their support behind aei in march, and can you really justify doing this all over again?
Speaker 2:uh for uh for july well, and one of the things I did here and again this has to do location is that it was very expensive to ship into that Gaylord in DC, that the shipping costs were extremely expensive, and so if you're shipping multiple pool tables, like the shipping costs alone, you're not going to be able to justify that from an ROI standpoint. That, from an ROI standpoint and I think this is one of these really concerning things I have for Bowl Expo is that they seem to be in this downward cycle of if you don't have anything new like nothing really new or innovative and you don't so then your attendees aren't going to want to come to the trade show because they've seen it all. They're going to come and place their ball order. They're going to place their sock order. They're going to come and place their ball order. They're going to place their sock order. They're going to maybe talk to their guys. They maybe go talk to their distributor for their arcades or whatever, and then that's it, because they're not going to walk around.
Speaker 2:But if you don't have anything new, you're not going to get the attendees. But if you don't have the attendees, then the new guys aren't going to want to come to Bowl Expo. Because why? Because nobody's there.
Speaker 5:You can do all of that at a distributor meeting. You can do all of that at an open day at a distributor warehouse, which is the real danger now. The Brunswick's, as well as the Kubica's, all have major events for their high sales leads and maybe they don't need the Expo to bring that. I get the feeling that the International Bowling Expo is more about the association business that was bookending quite a small and tired looking expo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, I will say there were a couple of new things, though.
Speaker 2:So you know a small handful, and so we know, so we'll, we can walk through some of them and this is a competitive socializing and remember that this isn't new to us like especially not us, and certainly not new to the listeners here but this is a new to bowl expo. So you know, these were the four, four new vendors that were new to bowl expo, and so I thought that we could just hear real quickly from John at Putify and he can walk us through it. All right, I'm here with Putify and they've got some really unique gameplay. It's very different than a lot of the other tech-infused golf systems, and so John is going to talk us through a little bit of what that's like.
Speaker 7:Cool, yeah. So this is our Putify system, brand new to the market. We've been making this, or designing this, for many years now, and we've really focused on gameplay being the most important part. The tech then would follow. So what we have is a concept of giving everyone those first shots three times and allowing them to score three times and improve as they go, and by doing that we remove the sort of tap, tap, tap that can hold a game up and to slow people down, so we can control the throughput a lot quicker and a lot more accurately, which is superb for both the players and the operators.
Speaker 7:So, yeah, three shots, each hole is completely different. Trying and challenging a different element of your skill set. This is called cascade trying to get it in 100 as many times as you can with your free shots, but if not, you're always going to score something. The good thing about that is it keeps everyone in the game, so that when that player is always scoring a one and everyone else is scoring an eight, at least they stay in the game for a lot longer. So, yeah, that's sort of the basis behind the game, and it challenges people at all different abilities and levels, while making sure we can get a group through every five minutes, which is about a 20% uplift on most mini-golfs.
Speaker 2:So what are the things? What's that?
Speaker 5:Greenspan is greenspan. These guys get it. They've been in the mini-golf and the miniature golf. There is a difference of the sector. They understand what the players want and now, as they broached into competitive socializing, they've created a very strong package there for all of the players. I'm sorry, brandon, I interrupted.
Speaker 2:Oh no, not at all. So again, just, I really like their scoring system and what I like too is that you don't have to worry about holding on holding onto your ball, right. So this is one of the things that Puttshack that when I went to Puttshack it was I had to wait for my ball to come out. It was programmed connected to me here, like literally, they just have a pile of balls in there, you just grab three balls, you hit three balls in, you get your points because it's tied to just the score you're getting, versus having to track where that ball is. So the level of tech required for that installation is a lot lower.
Speaker 5:Yeah, the important thing regarding Puttshack is that their technology is patented and so they're very. They push that your ball, your experience kind of thing, which is a bit of a faff when you're playing, when you just want to play rather than have to track your ball. Adam, do you have any thoughts on this?
Speaker 6:No, I actually hadn't seen this one before myself, but that looks really neat. Do you know what the MSRP on those are?
Speaker 2:I don't know the MSRP on one of those. That's a great question and I should have asked that. But I wasn't in the market, and so I didn't think that you know what was the footprint and did it look super huge or anything?
Speaker 2:yeah, so the footprint for that I mean. So each hole is slightly different depending on the type of the, the type of gameplay, but that one was about it was actually about a seven by seven, so I mean it's still a pretty decent footprint. But you know, you, they say that you can put up to 12, 13, right, nine holes, depending on your mix. Like, if you they suggest that if you go more than 12 holes, so then you should really split up and actually have two different courses. So six and six, right to just keep people flowing through.
Speaker 5:Nine is the maximum we're seeing in facilities. We can't. You know, if you do more than nine, you better be doing separate units, like our friends at PudgeCamp.
Speaker 6:So are they related at all? Are they just a competitor to that? Was it called Lucky Putt, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, creative Works, lucky Putt yeah, they would be a competitor with Lucky Putt, for sure, and definitely a different game. Really, the gameplay is what differentiates Puttify. I mean, their stuff is very nice and beautiful too, but their gameplay model is different, where Lucky Putt is very much the same type of and they have the different types of games, but it still is like your more traditional mini golf scoring.
Speaker 6:Right, whereas they're supposed to be more gamified with getting throughput, as opposed to just letting you relax and drink all your puds or whatever.
Speaker 5:Yep, tech-infused mini golf with scoring. So it is the scoring capability. It is also the touch screens which are used for also the ordering of those drinks and those snacks. So this is really the push, Something that the bowling boys are only now just waking up to.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, exactly, all right, right. So then another really interesting one. These guys were brand new as well to bowl expo. I don't think that they are a brand new company, they've been around for a little while, but they definitely were a part of the new product showcase. And this is uh votex, and so you know, instead of me talking about it, we'll just have uh, we'll have him talk about it here hi, how are you?
Speaker 4:johnny keeps my name. Uh, this is our brand new patented product. It's called votex faucets. It's smart closet. We turn your washrooms into a revenue generating adventure. So, uh, we install these in units for in venues for free. You can do some self-promoting uh advertising in there. For free. You can do some self promoting advertising in there. We've got and we do everything that we do to get the advertisers owner to help promote and sell products within your venue. So it's a great money-making opportunity. It's brand new, inventive. If you have manual faucets, it's also a 70% water safe. People use the water, leave the water on all the time, user friendly and you do QR code or anything you want on it. But it's just a great way to advertise and you've got everybody's attention because they're washing their hands and they're staring right at all the advertisers and somebody doing all the marketing. So, yeah, we'd love anybody got any questions. They can call me anytime, 314-941-0317. Thank you, awesome. Thanks, john. Oh, thank you.
Speaker 5:And what would be called in the industry. Yeah, the industry calls this DOOH digital out-of-home advertising. This is a sector of the market. We were just talking about our friends at Chuck E Cheese who are pushing the screen usage in their facilities. Adam, this kind of reminds me of that Sega game in the urinals, remember?
Speaker 6:Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. I have to imagine or I hope that they tested with somebody peeing on it because it's probably going to happen out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess, depending on what venues those are going into, it's probably already happened.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it's gonna get a bit of everything right right, but but it's still a very clever, innovative way to monetize a space that's generally not monetized at all yeah absolutely and you know, I like the fact that it's a revenue share right, so you can, they'll put them in for free, so you get the stuff in there and then, if it makes money, great. If it doesn't, well, at least you have something to advertise your own, your own events and things. Right, cause obviously we'll still swap out some of your stuff in there QR codes, et cetera. And so you know, it is a space for you to advertise your own events but also then hopefully, make some money from the revenue share and if it, if anything, you've got some free automated faucets that you got for your space.
Speaker 2:But I really like what those guys are doing.
Speaker 6:It'll make people remember the bathroom. Maybe for a better reason than what they were. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5:Rather than the problems on the floor. For me, wherever you put a screen is important now, especially with the digital approach. And the one thing that's obvious to me if you're going to put a screen there that has the capability of taking QR codes or doing scanning, it'd be a great place. After I've washed my hands, to check it how many credits I still have on my card, and so if we can use that screen to be part of the gamification of the environment, great. If it can generate revenue through advertising, even better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I like that, all right. So another one that we saw and we've been seeing this trend definitely pick up, but this was these guys are Singa and they're a Finland based company, although all these guys were from the US, but they are a Finland based company and they are the drop in karaoke, and so they've got a really easy way to convert party rooms, birthday party rooms, other rooms, event rooms, into a karaoke room, or just dropping it in. So, again, instead of me talking too much about it, we'll let them go ahead and share a little bit. Real quick, I'm here still at Bowl Expo. I'm going to talk to Jacob and learn a little bit more about Singa.
Speaker 8:Hi Jacob here from Singa Karaoke. We have over 1,300 venues globally. We have 100,000 songs in our catalog. We're the first karaoke provider to have a direct relationship with the major labels, so you can sing original songs with original vocals in the background as well. If you want to come take a look right here. The customer experience is very similar to Spotify, so everything is very easy to find. It doesn't take any draft staff training to show people how to use it.
Speaker 8:You add songs to a queue. I can show you right here. People add songs to the queue. The song titles or the names of the singers scroll across the bottom and then we have update times as for when their next person in line, so that people can actually run themselves. It's very low maintenance by your staff. You can customize the background photos to your venue. Also our home screen to your venue and also video to your venue. Right here you can see across the top. You also have custom text, so everything can be branded to your experience to your venue. Right here you can see across the top. You also have custom text, so everything can be branded to your experience at your venue.
Speaker 8:The main use cases for us are either for private room usage, so you can build out a private room just in equipment. Mary Bones equipment can be like $800. If you want to add furniture, things like that, $3,000 to $5,000. We can operate out of a 120-square-foot private room. We've also gone into underused space so, like storage areas, things like that, you can package it with bowling to upsell. You can also upsell private events with it.
Speaker 8:But then we also, if you're doing live stage karaoke, what we're brought in a lot of time with, is to replace KJs. So some people have scheduling issues with KJs. If you've got a great KJ it's a great deal for you, but sometimes it's hard to find. So sometimes a KJ will have scheduling issues, attitude issues, things like that. They'll charge you $300 a night. We charge $300, so it's $2.99 a month for the pro product, $3.49 for the private room, the box product, and usually people are seeing ROI on that. Sometimes within the first month. Karaoke makes money and usually people are seeing ROI on that. Sometimes within the first month Karaoke makes money. If you'd like to come talk to us, please let us know.
Speaker 5:Awesome Karaoke makes money and boy does it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, especially when it's going into an underutilized space, right? So why not put it into your party rooms and then use them as karaoke rooms when you don't have parties booked? Or use them as an upsell for your birthday parties and just add that extra or put that as part of your premium package. Have karaoke available or even have it as an impulse buy, right, like, they come in there, they're there for their birthday party or they're hanging out there for a corporate party and they see the screen. They're like, oh, what's that? Oh, tap that. Oh, it's cost, you know, you ask to have it activated? Oh, it's an extra $100 to have it activated. Okay, cool, yeah, an impulse purchase to add karaoke in is great opportunities there.
Speaker 5:I'm noticing all of the venues that I'm going to now have karaoke venues and they're all automated karaoke. And the important thing about a system like that is its automation starts at the registration, so it's not just kicking them to the room and then having to have a member of staff activate it.
Speaker 6:That system will allow you to do remote activation it isn't uh round one usa, they all have karaoke rooms, I believe, as many as I know of they've gone through the new update, same with the new dave and buster's layout.
Speaker 5:They're turning their party rooms into karaoke and where I was just looking at Box Park in London, who have just added the play box, they have a dedicated karaoke area, the same way that Boom Battle Bar also has dedicated karaoke, yeah, and I think the key there, though, is to still what I I think the key there, though, is to still what I really think the the value is in is putting them into your flex space.
Speaker 2:so, if you want to have a dedicated karaoke rooms, maybe one or two dedicated rooms that have different types of furniture so the couches, you know, tables, that kind of stuff that you can more lounge style seating but then still add this in, have your party rooms, your rooms, and still have this as an add-on component, right? So you want to have both available.
Speaker 5:You're missing the point. The karaoke is a party, and some of the karaoke rooms I'm seeing now it isn't just a screen and some couches and a table. They've got the outfits that you can dress up in.
Speaker 7:They've got the disposable light.
Speaker 5:They're having to go to a level of themality that turns these into party rooms.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and so you know. The only other thing that I saw that was new again to Bowl Expo and definitely this one is new somewhat to the industry in general, and when I say the industry, I'm talking about the FEC, bec, lbe, industry, and this was these guys maintain IQ, their software platform, very similar to jolt definitely a direct competitor jolt but, as they say, easier to use and less expensive, and so I didn't get a video of them. There's a number of reasons but, but, anyway, if but, I did see them and I think it's probably worth checking out maintainIQcom just to learn a little bit more. If you're already using Jolt or you've been looking for a system like that, it seems like this would probably be at least a good one to take a look at in and compare against a Jolt type system. All right, so yeah, that was, that was really it. I mean on, like the new exhibitor stuff. So what? What were you hearing about some of the new arcades and some of the new amusement pieces that were on the floor?
Speaker 6:the main one that I heard about was zandamero's brought a chinese lycan shooter over called marksman um, which, if you've seen uh, those games from Jet Games where they have the Quickshot, bigshot, megashot, coastal Amusements had one. Several companies have had these styles where they're essentially shooting gallery type games, often with a realistic gun. That's what Marksman is, although I don't know in this case if it's a plastic gun or a metal gun, like what JetGames does, but as far as brand new, never seen before at a previous trade show or a new product launch. That's all I really heard about. It sounds like most everything else were things that were at Amusement Expo, obviously upgraded from what we had seen at Amusement Expo, but still something that you've seen before. Maybe you already have in your venue out there.
Speaker 5:So you know the situation is clear from the bowling industry. The bowling industry is doing phenomenally well at the moment regarding the installation of brand new bowling systems. The problem is that there is a dichotomy between the traditional bowling sector and the boutique and the social entertainment bowling sector, and in the middle of that for all is, of course, the argument over gravity and duck pin. This show was a very important show regarding the exhibition component because it allowed the amusement industry to flex their stuff, because one of the big businesses going on at the moment is the bowling game center business that is doing phenomenal numbers in venues because they put money into these and they've updated them, they're helping with the drinks, they're targeting a new audience. The sports bowling industry still carries on the sports bowlers using the full-size bowling balls and the smelly shoes and the specialist socks and all of that business is still there. But it is amusement that was reflected by the prevalence of amusement, if not new amusement, on the Bowl Expo show floor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think that's true. That was really. All that was. Prevalent was the amusement components. We talked about the very little social entertainment. You did have also Shuffley, so Shuffley was there in addition again to Putify, if you want to talk about the social entertainment component, but they were the only shuffleboard system that was on display.
Speaker 5:And robots.
Speaker 2:What's that?
Speaker 5:And robots. Don't forget they were a twinned booth with our friends at Bulma, the robotic company.
Speaker 2:They did have robots running around and then know, obviously not social entertainment, but this is, they had gel blaster. This is a new booth that gel blaster had. I hadn't seen this booth yet, so I thought they. They have these. There's like mannequins set up in these corners so you can actually shoot at the mannequins. I actually think what they need to do is you need to be able to shoot each other um shoot and be hit by one of those, because they're not. They're not, uh, it's not a laser hitting you. It definitely does, uh, does sting, and so I think people sometimes don't fully understand what it feels like to get hit by one of those, especially in close range. So I do think that that would be something worth trying to do at at at uh, you know there.
Speaker 2:So, um, the last thing I'll say uh, at least as far as this is um, a competitor to dip and dots and mini melts called 40 below, and it's actually brought to you by the guy who created dip and dots.
Speaker 2:So his, his non compete must've run out and he created a new company called 40 below, and this is actually. They come in little packets so, instead of little cups. And this is actually. They come in little packets. So instead of little cups that you would find, they come in packets that you just tear off the top. There's a little spoon inside and I'll tell you it is much near than a dot. Reminded me of more like me, which I big fan of, and dots, j and J snack foods, but you know, I think that got something going here with 40. Oh, and definitely j and j snack foods, but uh, you know I think that got something going here with uh 40 and uh, definitely pretty good left that he was handed wow nice, the only, I guess the one one little quick update on the amusement side amusement redemption side was the minions game.
Speaker 2:so we talked about the minions game, uh, at amusement expo. Uh, you know, really pretty fun gameplay. I'll say the one thing that we really still need to make an improvement on is the amount of stuff in there, so it's just not enough. Like they need to have more bananas, more dynamite you know six dynamite or whatever flowing through. You're waiting sometimes for them to come in and the conveyor belt is maybe just a little bit too slow for it to cycle through. If you're a little kid, maybe that's enough, but I want to grab a couple of them and throw them at the screen, just like Playbox from Playmine. You're just grabbing those balls, chucking them at the screen. That's the whole idea. But you're waiting. I found myself waiting a number of times just trying to reach in and try to scoop them out.
Speaker 6:But the one improvement they did make from Amusement Expo was that the bananas are now rubber instead of hard plastic like they were. And that's a great point, because I remember the first time I came across the play box I was like, wow, this feels like a lot of balls. But then I realized, well, actually, that's exactly what I want, because then my flow is uninterrupted. Otherwise it becomes like a basketball arcade machine where oftentimes you're waiting for the ball to roll down physically to uh, shoot your next shot, and if you want to get the high score, you can't have any delay and so, uh, it's like yeah, it just seems a no-brainer that our friends at PlayMine need to get this software on their machine.
Speaker 6:I was going to ask how they were doing, because I haven't heard anything from them in a while. I don't even remember them being at Amusement Expo. I saw them at IAPA, but I can't remember if they were at Amusement Expo.
Speaker 5:I can't tell you if they were at Amusement Expo, but their last time was at IALPA and of course they were still trying to push their redemption variant that they built that looks remarkably similar to Dominion's machine.
Speaker 6:Right, they were not at.
Speaker 2:Amusement Expo, so I don't know how PlayMind is doing. They were not at Amusement Expo. I'm a fan of their PlayBox and I really like the large format too. You have to have the square footage, obviously, but for the social, especially social entertainment, venues like to put in an eight-person or six-person large format play box also really cool and so I hope they're doing all right. I haven't seen them at Amusement Expo and they definitely won't have a lot.
Speaker 5:We'll do some research and try and find out what the hell's going on there, right? I suppose the biggest surprise for many people regarding the show was its proximity to the 4th of July, which put them off the word on the street that I'm dealing with. The individuals. They just you know their travel plans to shows are not always planned months ahead, so sometimes they make last minute decisions to go to these exhibitions and when they looked at the bookings to these exhibitions and when they looked at the bookings for the flights and when they looked at the availability of hotel rooms, they had a heart attack and they said forget that, now I'm looking forward to nashville. Um, as you say, there's a lot of things we can do in between. But there's also the argument about, uh, whether the trade associations can come to an understanding where it is value for money for exhibitors to go to these shows, maybe a guarantee on attendance linked into the prices they're paying for exhibiting at these events.
Speaker 6:Brendan, sorry, one thing that I just remembered. I was told that the new Goldstorm Pirates from Ben Inamco was there. Did you come across that? That is in production now. So if anybody hadn't heard, that's listening out there. You're interested in this game, which is like Dead Storm Pirates Namco keeps emphasizing. To me it's not a sequel. I don't know why it can't be a sequel. I don't know. They say it's the legacy of Dead Storm Pirates but not a sequel. It's like okay, fine. But, it's still a fun game. It plays just like it.
Speaker 5:It's brilliant. I played it all the way through. I had some time at EAG. I played it all the way through to completion. On the B-Class machine, which is the latest software update, it had the golden guns and all of that. But the issue, which is the latest software update, it had the golden guns and all of that. All right, yeah. But the issue I have is is it still the same price that they were selling it for at IL?
Speaker 6:From what I heard, yes, and so I know that the whole thing with tariffs did cause the delay, because it was supposed to come out in May. But when I asked Namco about it and I asked for the price, it did not change, which surprised me a little bit.
Speaker 2:Would it have been with a specific distributor? I don't remember seeing it on the floor. It might have been.
Speaker 6:ABS companies, because I saw that they were supposed to have Bandai Namco product, but I haven't seen any photos or heard anything other than. James Anderson telling me that it was supposed to be there.
Speaker 5:I didn't see Bandai Namco on the exhibitors list, so I don't know. Like I said, I know.
Speaker 6:ABS companies were supposed to have them.
Speaker 2:I don't know if any other distributors did, though so, yes, only had uh, if I remember from, only had the avatar of Soda Slam, um, but then, you know, I think they had like four or five, it was like a 10 by 20 booth maybe maybe a 10 by 30 booth, so they didn't have very much stuff.
Speaker 6:And I would have seen the Goldstorm Pirates. Yeah, you can't miss that machine, as big as it is.
Speaker 5:I got a really bad video walk around from a colleague. I think he'd spent too much in the bar before he walked around with his phone.
Speaker 2:We'll flip phone to film it for you.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I got some great shoe footage and some great ceiling footage but the stuff that you know. I was surprised how much amusement was there, but I was also surprised at how little of the rest of the bowling industry paraphernalia was there at a bowling show which tells us a lot about what they're going to have to do to improve.
Speaker 6:and maybe a partnership with the associations where we can get a better relationship going regarding what you get for your exhibition payment would help our industry incredibly which also sounds like it's flipped, because I remember when I first went to bowl expo I want to say 2019, 2018 that there were very few yeah, there were very few arcade slash amusement type companies. There was mostly bowling. You know, I I went there because it's like in las vegas and because namco was showing off something new, or touch magics had something new and that, but that was it. Um but, but now it seems like it's almost like another AEI with a little bit more bowling on it, but it's. You know, if it's the Bowl Expo you're supposed to go for bowling, you'd think, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And additional attractions, right. So, because this is what as bowling centers try to evolve into, bowling entertainment centers more multi-attraction, fecs, many things, other things to put in, and there just weren't other things. You had your laser tag vendors a couple of them, not all of them and oh, and I do want to apologize to lasertron, lasertron was there with their crazy darts and they had their axe throwing. Oh, under the that, that, under a social entertainment component as well. So when I say there was no social entertainment, lasertron was there and really they were focusing more on their social entertainment components than they were on laser tag. They just have a little kiosk about their laser tag. The rest was obviously crazy darts.
Speaker 6:Kevin, I can't remember if you're the one that shared this, but there was a venue, I think, in Missouri recently that replaced their ax throwing with BB guns.
Speaker 2:Uh, do I where was a company like that? Thereon, I don't remember their name, no, I, there was nothing that was. They were the only axe throwing um laser tron had. That was the only axe throwing component there and I'm really excited. Uh, you know, I was talking to jim about the, about what they have coming down the line and um, so he was telling me a little bit about their new attraction they're going to announce and launch at IAAPA and so pretty excited for that. We definitely want to keep ear to the ground. He didn't say I couldn't talk about it, but he also didn't say I should, so I'm going to just keep my mouth shut, but very, very excited about what he has coming down and he is as well.
Speaker 5:Lasertron's got some surprises going forward. They're also looking at updating their existing range of axe rowing and tarts.
Speaker 2:You did see that already they had some new games that they had as part of their stuff, and some of that was getting ready for the new announcement as well.
Speaker 5:In the Stinger report we will talk a little bit about the stuff that was on the periphery. Maybe there wasn't a physical product at the show, but there was more talk. Our friends at Creative Works were partnering with Valo Motion at the show and they were talking about what they've been up to For a show that didn't have any competitive socializing. We had Shuffley there, we had Greenspan there, we had Lasertron there. I would say that there was competitive socializing there, and that is the thing that is scaring the traditional bowling industry the most, about how much their future is now going to be depending on offering booze and pizza and snacks, along with hiring shoes and socks and polishing boards. The industry is going through transition and it's very profitable, but it may not be the traditional industry that is making the profits eventually.
Speaker 2:That wraps up, I think, a good spot to end our Bowl Expo coverage for 2025. We'll be together again for IAPA.
Speaker 6:See you guys in Orlando. Have a good one.
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Speaker 2:All right, well, that wraps up our Bowl Expo coverage, and coming up next we've got Open and Shut with Kevin Williams.
Speaker 5:Hey, a big hello to everyone and welcome to the latest Open and Shut and another crowded one as well. We have quite a list and there is a little bit of a trend here, but we'll allow you to spot that in your own time.
Speaker 5:As always pause it where you need to be, Right into the middle. There we go, it just never ends. So Hollywood Bowl I'll pick out of the budding crowd. They're, up to now, 85 stores within the UK. The interesting reason for picking this one is that we get a snapshot at the expense of rebranding and refurbishing one of their existing facilities. So this one in Tolesworth has gone through the refurbishing and won. What was it? £325,000 per facility, 10-pin bowling. But really where the money is being spent is on the back of the house, the kitchen and adding a better bar competitive, socializing element. But these are the things you have to do to stay relevant.
Speaker 2:It seems to me that the 325,000 pounds is low, maybe depending on what they were doing. It seems like they maybe just put some lipstick on a pig and didn't really go for a full renovation or switch of the types of games and other things that they have in the venue.
Speaker 5:It's the three-way argument. Is it a refurbishment or is it actually doing the maintenance that should have been done years ago, Right? Is it just picking a particular problem and putting a plaster on it, you know, taking their bar and turning it into what they perceive as competitive socialising? And the final one is is this just a number that's made up and amortised over a number of facilities that are being operated? I will, at some point in time in the future, stand in a Hollywood bowl and show you what the current version is like from where I'm sitting. There's actually two quite close by, but I need to have a very stiff drink to go into one of those facilities.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've been in one together before and it was an interesting experience.
Speaker 5:It was an experience Talk of Social, a venue I have been to recently. This is the brand new Westfields opening. The interesting thing here is that Talka Social had some available space and reached out to friends of theirs at Sandbox VR UK and they dropped in a three arena virtual reality experience within the 24 bay. Tokcker social uh competitive sports entertainment environment. I will go into a lot more detail about this in the coming sound off, but you know this is the beginning of a very interesting trend for tocker social. I had a chance to speak to the chairman of the company as well as some of those involved, as well as speaking to the team at Sandbox VR UK to get a little bit more of a snapshot on what their long-term plans are, and they are very ambitious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was great to see some of the video that you sent me while you were there for the press event, and so, yeah, definitely looking forward to the SoundOff discussion. I'll hold some of my comments until then and we'll coming up in just two days.
Speaker 5:Moving on, and an interesting one from Australia. Our friends at FunLab has not been bored with the time they've had recently. They've been opening a number of new facilities, obviously, but they've also been experimenting. Been a number of new facilities, obviously, but they've also been experimenting and we now get to see their uh, what I would call their boutique entertainment concept, meet their um, social entertainment concept. Uh, and together these you know, the archie's brother concept has already got about five venues in Australia out there. What I would call that is a kind of carnival entertainment, laid-back experience alongside a escape room or a mission room kind of they call it challenge room, I would call it a mission room kind of experience. This is something that our friends at Little Lions would understand. You know, these are the kinds of experiences that are really pushing the live experience argument in the sector at the moment about a component of social entertainment. It is the derivation of the escape room and now it has been combined with competitive, socializing elements towards a package which I think is going to be quite popular.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I really love what FunLab is doing. I think their branding is on point the design, the theming, the gameplay. Now I've been to a Hygienes hotel or a Circa Electric, but I certainly want to and would love to check it out. But I really am a fan of what they're doing as an organization.
Speaker 5:I wouldn't be surprised, as we saw with their Holy Moly, that they don't decide to take this concept wider afield. But that's not something.
Speaker 5:Yeah yeah, moving on, and altitude 95, so let's say 90 confirmed facilities uh in operation at the moment. Active entertainment, an operation that has branched away from just being a trampoline park now to being an active family fun entertainment facility concept, and their latest opening in florida has, uh, really embraced the gamification and the competition element, or the technology side, as I would like to focus on, where they have a number of the velo motion systems in operation. They have the velo jump, they have the velo climb, as well as having eye wall from our friends at cse, as well as some other components, so it is a well-rounded system. This is their fifth facility in orlando well, sorry, in florida area, so it really does kind of tell you how many of these uh 35 000 square feet systems you can drop into a state if you are mindful and if there is an audience there for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, go ahead, here we can continue.
Speaker 5:Oh dear, it had to happen. Ai has now invaded the development and manufacture and construction of facilities. We have Super, super. They kept the midnight oil burning on that name.
Speaker 5:And what we have in Montreal, canada, is fundamentally a crane store, as I would like to call it, with a little bit of amusement heavy on the merch, heavily stylized. It's been dropped into a retail unit, but the AI has been used to come up with the decor and the design. So the artwork, as it were, was created via AI by the studio KIF that was involved in this process. I can't say that I'm blown away by the art style was involved in this process. I can't say that I'm blown away by the art style and I would say it's generic, but I also get the feeling that it is a quick in and possibly quick out facility.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I'm just not a real big fan. I don't really know what they're trying to do with the Super Super brand as well. And then the yellow flooring, the yellow ceiling, the yellow artwork I mean.
Speaker 5:It breaks all the rules that I was taught about design yeah, yeah it's.
Speaker 2:It's rough to look at it. I don't know what it'd be like to be inside, but it's.
Speaker 5:Look at the pictures yeah, being in there, uh, for all of your working day is going to be enjoyable.
Speaker 5:Now, I usually would say that this is the Genda point of the presentation, but no, I'm talking about Taito, and Taito is one of those companies in Japan that has a strong opportunity to compete directly with our friends at Genda with a very strong IP through their amusement lineage and their video game development background current background they're owned by Square Enix, but also they have quite a considerable number of location-based entertainment facilities within the islands of Japan about 74 franchised facilities as well as self-operated facilities and they just opened the latest of their Taito F stations F standing for franchise.
Speaker 5:No, I'm not sure what the F stands for, but these are their franchise facilities, smaller scale, much more focused on amusement trains. I'm not sure if they do capsule, but I know that they do price and sticker machines. It's been a while since I've crossed the threshold of one of the F stores compared to the normal station facilities, but it's nice to see that they are continuing to reinvest in their operation, even if that is through franchisees. And by the way, I lied, yes, there is another Genda facility and they've just announced Coyote, the latest venue. This is more of a capsule and crane, with a little bit of amusement, and this brings them up to about 800 and something. Facilities, oh my God.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I mean, the reason we're hearing, yeah, just Japan. The reason we hear so much about them too, is they just have so many brands under the overarching and the parent company, and so you know, we're going to see one from Geico, we're going to see an NEN, we might see something run and operated by Player One in the US, and you know so just, there's so many brands now under that parent company that we're just continually seeing new things open.
Speaker 5:I'm waiting for when we see the company starting to make a lot more of their own machines for their own facilities. And then you know they have reached that critical mass which will be very telling for our sector Moving on. And another company that's reached critical mass and is utilizing very interesting IP our friends at CEC Entertainment, chuck E Cheese, have now rolled out officially the first of their Chuck Arcades. It's a little bit of a cheat. What they've actually done is they've gone back to a number of their Fun Spot Arcade facilities and rebranded them as Chuck Arcades as well as taken on new facilities. So we have 10 brand new openings. The interesting things about these facilities is they're playing very heavily on their ip and on their nostalgia. There are classic animatronics in the windows, the merch and the prizes are based on chucky cheese merch, but it is fundamentally an arcade aimed at a much more older audience than the 9 to 12 age group that the Chuckster facilities normally go for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is the first look. I know we've talked about these guys when they first made the announcement that they were going to be rebranded to Chuckster, but it's interesting to finally see it open and, yeah, again, they've done a decent job with the rebranding on the inside. So actually I am a fan of what they're doing with the brand and trying to target some of the nostalgia for the parents of the kids and so hopefully, you know, you get the older kids that come in and play. Since they're no longer going to Chuck E Cheese, they now come in and play at Chuck's Arcade. You get some of the parents to come along and play as well. So I think it's a good way to capture more lifespan of their original core audience.
Speaker 5:Something that we try to do at Disney, which is to have a progression of your entertainment. You don't just aim for one audience, but you aim for a life or a series of junctures for an entertainment property. You know we called it correctly that the Fun Spot arcade concept was just a placeholder towards a much bigger concept. What they've gone down the path of doing is creating a nostalgia, retro-styled or franchised arcade. This is what to arcades one-up is. To cabinets. You know it is an interpretation of what the traditional cabinet was like.
Speaker 5:I noticed that in the couple of facilities that I've been looking at in the chain they do have some retro machines dotted around around uh, in their own cluster, as well as pinball. But I would say that this is a light touch and you're quite right. Catch them young at seven and hopefully keep hold of them, uh, once they get bored of the uh, the pizzas at chucky, then you grab them and get them into the chucks arcades and if you're smart, you will also have something for the older audience further down the line. And using that, branding and IP something that we've been talking about constantly over the last couple of months how IP and branding is vital to location-based entertainment in the physical future, vital to location-based entertainment. In the physical future.
Speaker 5:We see Chuck E Cheese, cec, doing a deal with the Westgate Resort. So this is a mixture of two approaches. This is the resort business, adding a high-level entertainment and competitive socialising elements to their mix. It is allowing Chuck E Cheese to flex their muscle beyond just their children's entertainment business got what was going on here, but uh, yeah anyway.
Speaker 2:So I had a chance while we were, while we were taking a little break, I had a chance to dig in a little bit to the mystery funhouse arcade experience and it's actually really pretty cool, like I love. I mean, they've really gone down a really like like an interesting path for a retro arcade. They've done a lot of theming, but then what I really like is their food hall as well. That they've done so they call their food hall the megabytes and there's a bunch of different little food hall areas. You go through this doorway. They've got a like, I guess, sort of like an ice cream candy shop as well, called sweet dreamery, and they've got a mirror maze and anyway it, I guess, it, guess it's.
Speaker 2:It's a lot. It's almost like a replica of what the what the founder of westgate did had originally back in the 70s and 80s called like literally the mystery funhouse arcade experience, and he had a big wizard and then it calls the wizard awaits and everything else. So anyway, I'm a fan of what they're trying to do. I hope that this actually comes into the Westgate in Las Vegas as well and not just the one in Kissimmee, florida, because I think that'll breathe some life into that Westgate. It's such a piece of shit hotel, so it'd be great to see that this thing come into that area.
Speaker 5:We're not sure how far the relationship with Westgate Resorts goes with CEC. I think this is a toe in the water, depending on the reaction from the audience. This is shooting fish in a barrel because the Kissimmee venue already had a very strong funhouse relationship and they've created quite a compelling entertainment space. It's more than just dropping in a hotel arcade or a resort arcade. Again, we don't have the final pictures of what the arcade looks like, uh, compared to the artists renditions. But again, I think the chucky cheese relationship here is more to add machines, machine operation experience rather than getting deep and dirty into the weeds with the development of the theme. But we'll go into this a lot more when we have sound off Moving on and we have Stack.
Speaker 5:I've talked about Stack in the past, which is a container food hub kind of approach food and live performance. They have a number of these containerized venues dotted around the UK and they've just received permission to keep their competitive socializing concepts going in Sunderland. Now this is really a very similar approach to what our friends at the other container entertainment hub, boxpark, have been developing with their Playbox concept, play Box concept, and now Stacks has their version, which has been going a little longer and has proven itself to be popular with its local audience, and the local council there has given it the green light to go from being a temporary pop-up that was going to be pulled down and now being a permanent, indefinite fixture Again. All of these entertainment hubs are now looking at adding a competitive socializing element to their mix.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and again it's interesting to see that they are blending together multiple types of activities. It's important, as we talked about a lot on the show on the segment, that you need to have more than just darts or more than just shuffleboard, unless your food and beverage is really good and that's what's going to drive people back in. But even still, it's nice to see some of these new concepts merging. The one thing that I do get concerned about is when they try to do too many and then there's too few of each type of attraction. So just two shuffleboard tables, just two dart bays, just two of something else, and then that really becomes a problem for people who really do want to come in and play darts that time. And now they're waiting in a queue for an hour or two to try to get a bay or have to book in advance. And if they don't book in advance, you really lose your walk-in ability. So it is one of the downsides when they try to put too many of these different things in a single smaller venue.
Speaker 5:From the research I do regarding the best mix for competitive socializing, it's understanding the audience, and I don't just mean the type of people you're trying to attract in, but the actual audience that comes to your facility and how they move through the guest experience, the guest transition through your site. You're quite right, brandon. You know, having too many, especially if you've got a crowded facility with too many people crowded around the machines, making the play experience uncomfortable, especially with shuffleboards, too many people crowded around the shuffleboard table can be a recipe for disaster. I would also argue that this is the bare minimum approach to dropping a competitive socializing into a live entertainment space. But if they're getting away with it, they're getting away with it. Moving on and we go to the shots.
Speaker 5:Uh, and our friends at top golf have pulled out of a particular deal in New Orleans. They had previously been involved. Now we're not quite sure if it's Topgolf Direct or Topgolf supporting a franchisee here, but either way, the New Orleans facility in the River District has been abandoned. There's been unpaid or missed payments regarding the structure for the acquisition of the land and the build-up towards building the locality, and now it's official that that concept has been mixed in the bud. How much of this overhead, as it would be seen, has been removed because of what will be happening soon with the separation from Callaway and the restructuring of Topgolf's, we're not sure about. But this is not the only example of, shall we say, land being more valuable to be handed back than actually used as an entertainment facility, as we saw with our friends at Area 15 in Orlando.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, as Topgolf does begin to really figure out what they're doing, in the future we're going to see more of this type of news where there's abandoned projects and land deals that were going to be inked, or just maybe the ink is still wet, that then get torn up as they figure things out.
Speaker 5:Taking it to the nth degree. What do you do with an entertainment facility that's been closed for forever? It feels like the Camelot facility in the UK. They closed in 2012 and kept on threatening to keep on coming back. It was a mixture of live entertainment and attractions. Anyway, the facility has now been handed over, or is in the process of being handed over, to being turned into houses rather than carrying on as an eyesore in the locality.
Speaker 5:I really do get annoyed with developers that just hold on for dear life to property and allow it to become an eyesore for the local community. You're totally going against the goodwill that you were trying to engender in the first place. Hopefully, this will be used properly now. Interesting closure here for me I keep a close eye on the claw store explosion that's sweeping North America.
Speaker 5:The retail units transformed into a mecca for the latest new wave crane machines, the utilization of the upgrade and the general vibe that we're getting out of this business to see if it's a fad or is it going to be a dedicated component of our industry. Well, we've had the first of the closures a pretty quick one. This one under 12 months in Montreal, canada, opened up the Claws Surprise, interesting name and then closed permanently just a couple of weeks ago. No details on the reason for the close. It's already stripped out as a facility. So is this the beginning of the roller coaster ending, now that people are a little bit more cautious about how they're spending their disposable income? We will have to wait and see.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is definitely something we're going to have to watch, because we've been seeing so many of these clockades I guess we'll call them popping up and, depending on where they go in, depending on the demographics of the area, like those are. Again, just because you've got a bunch of crane machines and you've got a space doesn't mean it's going to be a good fit for that community or for that shopping center or that shopping mall or wherever you end up putting it. And this one looks like it was overbuilt, it looks like it's much too large, probably for the expected attendance, and so it's unfortunately not too much of a surprise that it's already closed down.
Speaker 5:Interesting aspect is Montreal has got a number of new claw-cades. You know claw-cades opened within the area, so this is partly due to oversaturation of a particular brand or concept in the market, I think. But we'll need to have some more solid data before we start calling it. On the death of the Clawcade. Talking about the death of the Clawcade and our friends at Bandai Namco Amusement Europe had opened about 24 months ago their entry into the live play experience, what I like to call live play. But these are online skill-based crane machines. You know where you load an app onto your phone and you're playing a real, physical claw machine that's stuck in a warehouse somewhere by controlling the phones on your phone. If you are successful, the prize is then same day mailed to you.
Speaker 5:Anyway, our friends at Bandai Namco in Europe opened up their Wincher system and that has been bubbling along in the background and then suddenly it's now permanently closed. It closed the beginning of July and then suddenly it's now permanently closed. It closed the beginning of July. No information given for the closure other than they thank everybody for the value information.
Speaker 5:It is important to remember that the original Bandai Namco in Japan. They have been operating for many years their own Namco online crane system, which is fundamentally the same concept and that is still operational and still going great guns. Why Bandai Namco Amusement Europe didn't just directly import the Japanese version and translate it for the Western market may be having a reason why the Wincher system is no longer with us. Maybe having a reason why the Wincher system is no longer with us. And just to conclude, remind everybody if you're not already receiving the email, don't forget to go onto the website and get your Stinger report and your entertainment social arena delivered directly to your inbox, rather than flinching it off of the LinkedIn and the Facebook links. Have I missed anything there, brandon?
Speaker 2:No, I think you covered it. I will say that one of the things we skipped over and if somebody wants to go back and take a look at it was BAM Kazam. They've got a new location opening that just opened in American Dream in New Jersey, and so the only thing I'll say about that is BAM Kazam I really enjoy. It's in Scottsdale, arizona. Here it's the only other location, and so it's nice to see that they're expanding into American Dream. So, anyway, check out bamkazamcom if you want to see what they are. They're like adventure rooms, mission rooms, that kind of thing, and so they've done a really good job. All of their stuff is custom from the ground up, and so, anyway, I'm excited to see them expand.
Speaker 5:Mission rooms more than escape rooms.
Speaker 2:Mission rooms, adventure rooms, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5:Anyway, that's it for me. Have a good one, all right.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, next week we'll be back to our regular programming. We'll have our normal arcade corner with Adam Pratt, a promo pro tips with Chuck DeMonte. We'll obviously have another open and shut with Kevin Williams, but then we are going to have another road trip with Clint Novak. So we had one last week where we went to Denver, and we'll get to explore his next location next week. So we also sound off number 81 with Kevin Williams on Tuesday, july 8th, so keep an eye out for that. We Williams on Tuesday, july 8th, so keep an eye out for that. We have a new trend we added to the different lists of trends, called Live, where Kevin breaks down some of the venues he visited in person. So that is a wrap for this week's LBX show. This is Brandon Wiley signing off. Stay tuned and keep kicking ass.
