The LBX Show #48 - TopGolf's PlayMore, Gravitar Recharged, and much more!

Sponsored by Intercard!
Sponsored by Alan-1!

On this week's episode BW lays out the FEC Education opportunities at IAAPA Expo in Orlando and joins John Keys from Centeredge as they discuss how memberships become revenue engines. Then we scan global openings, preview new arcade releases, and share a simple, repeatable promo system that keeps guests coming back.

• rundown of IAAPA FEC education sessions
• why the Global Benchmark Report matters now
• nostalgiatainment potential and risks with Retroescapes
• seasonal content wins: Zero Latency’s "Haunted"
• critique and lessons from Topgolf’s PlayMore membership
• membership design: tiers, seasonal bundles, installments
• reducing churn with monthly value and use‑it‑or‑lose‑it perks
• guest referral mechanics and bounce-back offers
• global trends: hybrids, retail conversions, resort entertainment
• Dave & Buster’s new-look franchise signals
• arcade previews: Gravitar Recharged, Dino Dash, Wild Hunting, Balloon Fest
• marketing funnel made simple: Meta, search, email, SMS, community

Stay tuned next week for our own announcement about the return of the LBX Collective Speakeasy on the Expo floor. Sound Off #94 with Kevin Williams is this Tuesday, October 14. 

Subscribe and visit LBX Collective for more!

Chapters

• 0:00 Kickoff & Show Roadmap
• 1:35 IAAPA FEC Education Deep Dive
• 10:22 Benchmark Report & Why It Matters
• 12:00 Retro Escapes: Nostalgia Theme Park
• 18:54 Lego Data & Zero Latency Haunted
• 21:05 Topgolf PlayMore Membership
• 23:11 Guest Gab: Memberships That Drive Visits
• 41:09 Open & Shut: Global Openings, Trends
• 1:06:20 Arcade Corner: New Releases Preview
• 1:22:50 Promo Pro Tips: Multi-Touch Journeys
• 1:28:34 Closing Notes & Upcoming Segments

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:01

Tuning you in now to the LBX Show. With your host, Brandon Wilder. Brought to you by the LBX Collective. Your community to connect, engage, and inspire.

SPEAKER_03: 0:21

All right. Well, welcome everybody to the LBX show for October 12th, 2025. We have a solid full show lined up for you today. First, we're going to dive right into some news you should know. We got quite a bit to cover on that front. And then we'll go straight into a guest gab with John Keys. He is the director of sales at Center Edge. We're going to be doing a guest gab about memberships and we're going to talk a little bit more about those. And you'll wonder why, but you know, you'll you'll know in the news you should know. And I can just blend right into guest gap. So it'll make sense when it happens. And then next we're going to roll into open and shut with Kevin Williams. And we're going to review obviously the latest openings and closings and all the trends related to that from this last week. And then we'll hear from Adam Pratt. He's back with Arcade Corner. And he's going to cover several new releases like the Gravitar, uh, excuse me, Gravitar uh recharged from Allen One, uh Dino Dash from Eunice, which is uh pretty cool looking, and then some others. And then finally, we'll close out with some promo pro tips with Chuck Tamonty as he shares tips on creating multiple touch points throughout the customer journey. So that is our show for today. And to get things started, we're gonna go with some news you should know. All right, well, if you're in this industry, you know that IAPA Expo in Orlando is coming up in just five weeks. So it is right around the corner. If you're not pre, if you're not ready, if you're not prepared, if you haven't booked your flights, if you haven't booked your hotel, you better get on it because things get crazy, it gets sold out, etc. And so you definitely want to be ready for it. But the reason I wanted to talk about IAPA Expo today is to just do a little review on some of the FEC education tracks that are actually going to be coming out. So uh this is uh there's there's a lot, right? So there's a lot of different education sessions, actually 13 main edu sessions, plus some additional edu talks, plus the FEC lunches and some receptions and everything else. And it's a lot to try to manage and handle and take care of. So there's actually, I thought I'd bring up their website so you can kind of get a sense for how you can go through these and we can talk through a few of these uh different education sessions that are coming up here. So I'm gonna go ahead and uh throw this up on stage here and make it a little bit bigger because it's a little hard to see. Um, all right. So this is the uh iappa.org website. And you know, you just you can just go to their main thing, it's iappa.org, and then go to, I think attend and go to events or whatever, but you can get you filter down to this page here, um, you know, ultimately, and uh get to a list of all the sessions. And then what I highly recommend, I mean you can certainly want to see other sessions, and let me scroll in a little bit bigger here. There we go. You can certainly go and see all the sessions if you want, go to try to get some unit park attraction sessions, some entertainment or food and beverage sessions, things like that that are like specific to those areas, but you can also just filter it by family entertainment centers. Uh, now just keep in mind that if it's an FB specific, a food and beverage specific uh thing, and even though you either be some stuff you can take away from that and deploy it inside of your operations, um, that may not show up if you just filter to family entertainment centers. So just want to be clear. But as we're talking about family entertainment center stuff, then you filter it. And what's cool then is it drops it down to just the days that there's going to be those sessions. So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, there's different sessions every day. And so, you know, there's gonna be things with like Cheryl Bindle Glass from Cheryl Golf talking about the downtime or off-peak playbooks. So 18, 18 ways to pack your place with people. Her sessions are always really engaging. This is on Monday. There's first thing on Monday morning, so it'll wake you up for the rest of the week. Then you've got like Peter Martins talking about Black Friday and how to sell a bunch of gift cards in just a few days around Black Friday. I definitely recommend doing that one. You've got Steven Tan from Eunice uh doing an edu talk. So this is a smaller, uh, you know, about like a 15-minute session, 20-minute session about crane retail. Uh, the dude is a master around cranes, he's the one that's created the emoji planet concept as well. And uh, you know, is actually the one that's got the dyno uh game that uh Adam's gonna talk about a little bit later. That's coming from his company, Eunice. And then you've got uh, you know, another edu talk with Chris Barker from InnerCar doing level up, three strategic moves for growing successful arcade, all arcade-focused stuff. So you've noticed they try to cover all different angles of the Family Entertainment Center or location-based entertainment uh program. Then another eduk from Tony Sanders, Games Great. It's a five-step program for operational success. Again, like 20-minute, hard, hard-hitting thing on the eduk stage in the South Concourse. So all of these are typically taking place in the South Concourse. Then you've got a panel that's going on as well. This is also on Monday in the afternoon for optimizing your arcade room and game room. And then you've got another edu session about understanding the data. So just really breaking down visitor trends, that kind of stuff. And then um uh then the family entertainment reception is happening Monday night at King's Dining and Entertainment. That is a separate ticketed event. So if you paid for the expo already and all the education, you do have to pay an extra ticket for that family entertainment center's reception. Um, but it's a blast, it's really great time to reconnect with everybody. Uh, sometimes wish it wasn't only just two hours. Uh, I think it's an hour and a half shows up here. People always hang out way longer than that. But uh, I'm kind of like glad it's gonna be a King's Dining Entertainment versus at one of the like the hotel uh things because then they just like kick you out. I think with the King's Dining, like we'll be able to hang out for a little bit longer afterwards. So that's my hope. Um, so anyway, that's on Monday. And then Tuesday, it's another packed day um as well, but not quite as much as you cram in on Monday. Uh but another education session with Fraser Thompson from Pier 39. It's about team preparedness from crisis management. And then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are really interesting because you have another separate ticketed events called the FEC lunches, and they're always bigger, bigger panels or or bigger topics because you get a little bit longer period of time, plus you get a lunch. So you get a lunch that you have with that, and then just more time to network. And so this one is putting to bed the worries that keep you up at night. This is just talking about issues and concerns that FECs face, and it's a panel of a bunch of interesting people that uh I happen to know, um, all but one of them, I guess. Uh so you know, they should be a really good panel there. And then later in the day, you've got top operator secrets for running a lean, profitable FEC, another panel with some solid, uh, so solid speakers as well. And then this one will be a fun one. This is FEC Triage, Common Problems and How to Stop the Bleeding. This is with my friends over at um at Front Across America, Barry and Nate, and then my other good friend Jeremy Hoyam from Urban Air and uh and you know some other uh some other places as well, formerly of Jake's Unlimited and a former Breast Ring Award winner, top FEC of the world as well. So, anyway, that one should be great. That's uh those are all happening on Tuesday, and then Wednesday is another good one. So Beth Stanley's gonna kick things off Wednesday morning. She always has a great session, lots of energy as well. And that's on cash flow, how to do small changes to drive big results. Then you've got another one with Ruby and Cheryl combining to how to fine train and keep the most and uh keep the most unforgettable and memorable teams. They're always great, uh, a lot of fun that work together. And then the FEC lunch for uh about uh AI is going to be on Wednesday, is going to be with Kevin McNulty. He's from a company called Netweave, and he's gonna be talking about getting out of the experimental phase with AI. So that should be an interesting one. I am looking forward to sitting in to see what kind of information he can bring to the table there on that front. And then the another session in the afternoon is the ultimate entertainment blueprint, right location, right attractions, right results. That's with Jerry Marola. Uh, he's the guy who leads um Foundations Entertainment University as well as AEM. Um, and so he'd be great. And he's coming alongside Barry Zellickson, again, one of my uh good buddies. And then a next generation commercial party program. So focusing on group sales. That is uh in the afternoon on Wednesday, and that is Frank Price. He runs Bertha University, and then Zach Johnson from Rev Up Fun, also one of the FEC committee members currently. So that's Wednesday, and then Thursday is another you know, a few sessions here. You've got the price is right, the business impact of redemption inventory, um, with a couple of people from Redemption Plus and InterCard, all about redemption. Delivering a great guest experience is not easy but simple. That's with Bart Berger from Cubica AMF. So that one should be really interesting uh to learn about there. And then the FEC lunch for that day, uh if for Thursday is yes is the answer, transform leadership teams and guest experiences. This is by Christine Trippy. I don't know her. She's with the wise pineapple, don't know that. Uh, but that should be a really interesting uh mindset and leadership seminar. So that one will also be a great one. I'm hoping to get to. And then from cold calls to warm leads, all about prospecting. This is with Denise from Train Entertainment. So that one also should be good. And then finally, to round out everything, it's an FB focused one about profitable plates, how FECs, small parks, and LBEs are winning with smarter FB. And that's with Clint from SB Value, Tim Murphy from Murphy's Entertainment, and then Chris Desh from Gen's Links. Chris is also one of the um one of the current FEC committee members. So, anyway, that is the FEC education sessions. If you haven't gone and you haven't registered yet, definitely do it. What's cool about this whole thing is you can then add each one of these sessions. If you've logged in, you can add each one of these sessions to your account so that then you'll be reminded when they're coming up and that kind of thing. So I'll definitely plan your education attendance ahead of time. It's all there. You know what you're going to be doing because you are going to be drawn out to that trade control floor. You don't want to forget about these really valuable education sessions. So highly recommend you get on top of that. All right. That was a lot to cover on the uh FEC, uh, excuse me, on the side of um IAPA Expo. And then the next thing I wanted to talk about also with IAPA, just briefly, is the global benchmark report for entertainment centers was released in August. And so if you haven't had a chance to check this out, definitely recommend you do that. You can download that. If you are an IAPA member, you can download it for free. And that's at iAPA.org slash research slash benchmark dash reports. So it's iappa.org slash research slash research slash benchmark dash reports. And uh it's a great, great report. Definitely recommend you dig into it and read all of their um all the stuff that they have there. Now basically uh it was uh from the participation from operators and it has insights into admissions, staffing, guest behavior, revenue, expense management, and then it also explores economic indicators, attendance patterns, spending habits, and its overall developments in the FEC world. So there's executive summaries or sector-specific breakdowns. And so, anyway, definitely highly recommend that you uh download that and read that in your spare time. Uh, I know you might not have a lot of it, but uh highly recommend it and take about a half an hour to get through all of it. Um, but uh it's it's valuable information. So definitely recommend you do that. All right, so that is uh all the news on the association front. Now, this one I want to talk about because we're we're actually gonna touch on this briefly in open and shut coming up here shortly, and then also on sound off in two uh in just two days with Kevin Williams. We'll go dig into it a little bit more. Um, but I really hope this thing takes flight. I'm not quite convinced that it's going to, um, but I I uh do really hope that it does. And so I'll just talk about it. Okay, like what the hell are you talking about? This is a new nostalgic theme park called Retro Escapes, and it's planned for Las Vegas, and it will immerse according to their terms, it was going to immerse visitors in lands themed to the 1950s, the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. So you literally can go in and think about Epic Universe, different portals, but to different time periods in Americana. And so, according to their website, this is the world's first nostalgia-focused theme park and entertainment destination. And um, yeah, so we'll go ahead and just pull up their website here briefly, uh, so we can take a look at it. And so this is their, they call the time traveler's paradise. You can see here this big AI-generated image, you know, is this all this stuff going on here? Um, and then, you know, basically, this is uh, you know, the only place on earth they say that you can experience the 50s to 90s all in one place. They also have to plan a plan to have an area that's called the tomorrow zone that will provide a glimpse into the unknown future. I think I've talked about this on this show or on others, but that always is a bit of a problem. Um, this is why Tomorrowland was like good for like 10 years and then it wasn't. And so now they kind of have to go to like this retro futurism thing because you know, ultimately at the end of the day, uh you kind of have to keep refreshing in order to stay in the future, especially when things like in our world are moving so fast technologically that you can't do a tomorrowland. So just stick to nostalgia, right? So like you don't have to do the whole fucking tomorrow zone thing. Um, but uh you can go to nostalgia. This is kind of that trend that I like to call nostalgia attainment. It's the term I've been throwing out there. Um, but it actually is one of Blue Loops uh there. If you ever if you don't read Blue Loop, Blue Bloop.com, um, that's one of their top immersive trends to watch in the attractions industry this year. And so this is a good example of that, right? This is tapping into that nostalgia retro experience. We've seen that with you know retro games. Again, we go into this a little bit more on sound off, but I really hope that this thing takes off, you know, and there are some like really legitimate, um, what I believe to be legitimate. Uh here, let me make this a little bigger. Um, believe to be legitimate uh concept images that developed that they developed with an actual architect, like the King 50s Diner and this Monroe Cocktail bar. Um, and then they have a smattering of AI generated images too. And one of the things you can always tell by AI generated images is that text is a little bit funky. And so, like this one, for example, the LANs, um, you know, the words here are all funky and not real. And so, like, it's clearly AI-generated images. So it's all kind of blended in. Like this is clearly a concept image, and this one too, the 70s Main Street and 60s rocket bar. Um, but you know, look, they've got some stuff that they want to do. Uh, you know, I think they went a little overboard with some of their AI stuff, like this hype, whatever. Like, they're not gonna have a skate park there. Like, come on, guys. Um, you know, this like grunge concert they threw in this concert thing. So, like, you're again not gonna go into it too much because I do in sound off. So, definitely listen to the sound off conversation. Uh, have a little bit of skepticism about whether or not this actually happens, but I do hope it does because I think they're thinking big. This is what we need in a location-based entertainment world. We need to be thinking big and trying new things and definitely immersing people in experience and uh and deeply in environments that are going to drive them into different past memories or whatever, into that nostalgia. So uh that is uh a little bit of retro escapes, and I do hope that they keep doing that. All right. So, next up we've got uh, well, let's see, skip that slide. There we go. All right, so new research from Legoland Windsor Resort revealed that nearly one in five kids want Lego bricks instead of sweets for trick-or-treat. So I thought that was really interesting. Um, the research sample was a 2,000 five to 12 year olds, and they say they hope to get Lego bricks while they're trick-or-treating this Halloween. And again, uh, you know, one in five kids actually want that instead of candy. And of those one in five, 60% of the children said it's because they can build things, and 57% said they can play with them, showing just how much kids value creativity and imaginative, imaginative play. Uh, so anyway, the reason I bring this up is what can you do inside of your uh inside of your facility to engage kids into building things, taking things home, and that isn't going to be that kind of thing. So if you have like a trunk or treat in your parking lot, or if you do some sort of like trick-or-treat festival or something like that, like Legoland likes to call it brick or treat. And so, you know, if you can create something like that, maybe even have little bags of Legos that the kids can take home, like little Lego sets, that kind of stuff, and you know, for some of your giveaways or prizes or whatever, um, it just shows that kids are really interested in building things. They don't necessarily aren't looking into the ephemeral, just eating some candy is a really cool experience for a minute and then it's gone. Kids do understand this idea of taking things home, building things, playing with things over a longer period of time. And sometimes that cost for a small minifig or whatever can be uh the same cost as like a big Miss Snickers candy bar. So anyway, I thought that was some interesting research from Lego. And then uh staying in the Halloween theme, as we are in October, um the first fully immersive horror experience from zero latency is now available to venues worldwide. Uh, this happened on October 3rd. Uh, I wanted to talk about it last week, but you know, there's just too much to talk about. So October 3rd, so last week this did come out, and they recently um they come, they talk about it like it's set inside a mysterious shifting house that seems to live and breathe, in quotes. Uh, and then they say the the player the experience offers players cinematic horror featuring 5K visuals, responsive spatial audio, and warehouse scale gameplay, obviously, because it's zero latency, so large gameplay for up to eight players. And then, in quotes from their CEO of Zero Latency, says this is an experience that lingers. I like that word. Haunted is a deeply immersive, century-rich story designed to stay with players long after they leave the arena. It taps into fear in unexpected ways, sometimes loud and chaotic, chaotic, sometimes it's quiet, intimate. Either way, brave participants come out of it talking, laughing, and often a little shaken. So that sounds like a pretty cool experience. Um, hoping that the zero latency that is up by Octane Raceway, uh, that uh that they have the haunted experience. I do plan to go check that out with my kids and uh and see if I can get them scared a little bit. So should be, or even scared myself a little bit. Uh, but should be a good time. And uh, if you have zero latency, uh, this is something to make sure that you are offering, especially during this period of time. You want to make sure that you've got seasonal offerings. This is a great way to do that without having to go full season, full seasonal on your facility. All right. Last thing I want to talk about because this is tied directly into guest gab, and then we'll roll right into that. Um, this is our um TopGolf has announced that they are opening, or not opening, but uh launching their brand new monthly memberships program called Playmore. So they have obviously over 100 locations, and this is uh their first membership that they've they've offered. So this is called Playmore. Um, it is$20 a month, excuse me,$20 a month, and you get okay, not the greatest membership in the world, but whatever. Okay, so we'll talk a little bit about memberships on this guest gab and some of the additional value you should probably provide with your membership, um, especially when it's called play more. Uh, but it basically decides it's it's designed to, in quotes, unleash the power of play, making it more accessible and affordable for players. So again,$20 a month and allows players to receive one hour of gameplay each month that is redeemable any day at any time. So there's no blackout periods. That is probably one of the biggest benefits here, um, as well as in an appetizer every visit. All right, so there's some of your additional value. You get some food along with the one hour of play for$20 once a month. And so they can, you know, again in quotes, they can say players continue to look for high quality, fun, and affordable ways to connect and play that don't break the bank. Uh, this, they say that this top golf play more couldn't come at a better time. In a period of economic uncertainty, we're meeting players where they are, delivering flexible membership options and everyday value that make top golf accessible every day of the week. Well, it doesn't. It is accessible, but it's one hour a month. So it's not flexible because it's the only option that you have that is their membership. So, you know, some marketing terms, some spin terms, whatever, but they're experimenting at least with memberships. And I think this could be potentially a salvation for Top Golf if they can get people to buy into this. I do think that it should bend either a little bit more, maybe$30 a month, and then offer um, you know, potentially five hours of play or like five visits or something. One hour one every one month isn't going to get people to really come in and play more. Uh, but you know what, if they can build a subscription base through memberships that helps to fill in the gaps for their repeat visitation, then I think this is definitely a positive for them and is definitely something that I think every operator should be thinking about ways that they can build that subscription revenue through memberships. And that being said, that ends news you should know. Right after the break, we'll dive right into the guest gab with John Keys. Power up your game floor with arcades by Allen One. Whether it's perfectly pouring drinks in Dr. Pepper's Dodus Land, grabbing official buttons on things flushes, or defending cities from attack and missile command recharge. Alan One has something for every venue in arcade floor that will select your guests. This game is also an active later space for a free app that tracks player top scorers and brings guests back to your venue for more. Visit Allen Dash One.com to learn more. That's Allen Dash One.com. All right, John. Well, welcome to the LBX show, man. Good to have you on.

SPEAKER_01: 22:04

Hey, Brandon, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_03: 22:06

Good, good, good, good. Hey, so today, you know, one of the things that we were talking about, you know, just off offline, we were talking about memberships and just other ways to drive revenue. And so I just figured we'd just jump right into it and we'll just talk about how, you know, in from what you've been seeing, how do memberships generally help drive return visits and and get more people through the door?

SPEAKER_01: 22:27

Well, I think a lot of it is is really around, and I've been kind of hearing this term of stickiness with custom with guests, is that how do you get the get guests to come back into the to the venues and how do you create uh that uh experience and make it easy for them to come back? And I think that's what memberships do is that you can offer, let's say, discounts or packaging that makes it more uh accessible for for the guests to to come back. They've got a reason to come back, and you kind of keep uh uh they and as they sign up for the membership, they're always getting that point where there's a reason and there it's top of mind. If they're thinking about what am I going to do with the family, I want to actually say, yeah, we've got this membership, let's utilize it.

SPEAKER_03: 23:15

Yeah, so you know, there's I I'm always curious because you know there's a lot of different types of memberships that are out there. And so, you know, we could make maybe talk about it generically, but I really am curious like what what different types of memberships do you see that are being utilized, especially the ones that are more successful in driving that repeat visitation.

SPEAKER_01: 23:34

Well, I think a lot of times uh probably the simplest membership is you sign up for a membership and let's say you get a discount or you get uh a certain number of uh free visits or uh free games or free attractions. That's probably the simplest. And then you can get into uh larger, and it can even do like the way you do let's say sometimes some of the guest uh the group uh and packages that you have. You can do like good, better, best. So we can go with a very basic one, we can go with an annual membership that let's say every month they're getting certain uh uh entitlements. And that also means that you're connecting with them every month, let's say announcing what's new. And you can get into a little bit more involved. Now, one that I thought was really interesting is I had one customer that was they said they were having some trouble getting people to sign up for an annual membership because they didn't know if they wanted to commit to that 12 months. And by the way, annual memberships can re can renew, auto-renew, so it's like you're going ongoing. But they were doing a seasonal membership for three months and they did that three times a year. They did a seasonal membership in the summer, they did one let's say over let's say the Christmas time, and then maybe for spring break. What they found is people were signing up for all three of them, which basically gave you an annual membership, but it gave them options. And it and so I think I think they just got innovative with this idea of being able to uh tailor something for their guests and what's most important to them.

SPEAKER_03: 25:07

Yeah, that's interesting with the three memberships or the the three seasons that are out there, that that's that's really interesting. Because one, obviously, they don't have to, if they want to just do the one season to just try it out, right? Um they can they can just dip their toe in the water. Um but I would imagine that if they're gonna do all four or all three seasons, um, then it's probably like some bundled pricing. So if they were to buy each of the three seasons individually, it's gonna be one cost. But if they were to do all three seasons together, there's a slight um package cost that you know, some sort of discount they'd go all in. Yeah. So you might go you know for four four months first and then decide to do the next three months or the next two sets of four months and do a whole year after that.

unknown: 25:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 25:48

I just think I think the packaging is good that you can have it. And I think what they wanted offers initially is saying go three months and then go three months again uh that you could that you could utilize it. What that does is a couple of things. First, it allows you to change your offering. What you offer in the summer may be different from what you offer in the winter. I think the other point is it gives you an easy way that you can measure the success of the membership. So now I can look at the metrics from the membership in the spring and see how does that, if I'm offering, let's say, let's say I have outdoor activities, I'm gonna do that in the summer or and then I'm gonna in the winter time I'm gonna do some more of the stuff inside that now I can say, okay, what's the better fit? And then maybe how do I tweak that for the next season? Because I think the most importantly, when we're looking at memberships or groups or any type of marketing or packaging, we need to look back and measure it and say how successful was it? How and how do we need to tweak it to make it uh even better for the guests? And ultimately everything that we're talking about is driving more money to the bottom line. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 26:57

Yeah, you know, and uh one of the things that I wonder too, so obviously when they're buying uh a season package or even an annual package, they're paying the they're paying upfront for that package, you know, versus a monthly membership where they're just paying and uh you know, paying every single month and it just keeps coming, they could cancel anytime. Yeah. One of the things that, you know, I've I've come from the software world, you know, in software specifically for this, and obviously you're you're on the software side as well, the center edge, but um, you know, the the one issue that that we always had when we were trying to sell annual memberships or annual pack, you know, annual subscriptions for us as subscriptions um versus monthly subscriptions is that it tends to mask churn. Um and so you know, churn being you know the customer that doesn't renew. Um and so there'd be a customer that maybe paid for the whole year, but then they decide they don't really want to use the product, but they've already paid for it. So they're just kind of sitting there, right? In this case, um, it also sort of masks that churn if they're doing it uh you know on an annual basis. So you're capturing all that cash up front, and uh, but you don't know if they're really happy with their annual membership until you get to all the way a year later, and then they don't renew. Right. So over the month to month, you have a much better sense for whether or not they are renewing, or even the season to season, right? Did they renew for the next season? Did they renew for the next season?

SPEAKER_07: 28:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 28:17

Now, so I'm curious in your mind and what you've seen, is there, you know, this is a little bit different model than some than software subscriptions, obviously. Um, but do you see some of the same issues there where it's hiding customer satisfaction or guest satisfaction um issues because they've paid for an upfront annual membership versus just billing them monthly and then really seeing what the true retention rate is?

SPEAKER_01: 28:44

I mean it's definitely something that we need to be looking at because as we've all had memberships, and when it comes up for renewal, you decide, do I really want that? I think there's also sometimes when you're dealing with annual memberships, it's that there is a barrier because you have that large upfront cost. It's great for the for the location because I'm capturing all that information or that money up front, but we don't know if it's being used. So now one thing that we've been looking at that we just implemented was the option to be able to do an installment plan on an annual membership. So now you're kind of getting the best of both worlds. They sign up for an annual membership, that can auto renew. But then I could stretch out the payments, let's say over 12 months or over 10 months. I like the idea of 10 months because it gives you a little bit uh that you they in essence they think that they're getting like two months free. But I think that then now you have that connection where every month you're having people uh the money is being automatically deducted from their their account. So you've got that stickiness coming in, but they're seeing that coming through every time. So it's a reminder to them as far as that they have that membership. But I think most importantly. memberships and when you're capturing the guest information, you need to make sure that you're marketing to them every month, every other month. Here's what's new coming in. Here's what you can do with the membership that's unique to everyone else. So I think that's important when you're doing that. It's not like set it and forget it. You have to actively engage with your membership to make sure that they're it's top of mind, that they're excited about what's coming out.

SPEAKER_03: 30:26

Yeah. So yeah, let's maybe back it up for people who have not created their membership program.

SPEAKER_07: 30:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 30:33

Um and just really curious what what are some of the important things to think about or to plan for when you're creating a membership program to make it successful.

SPEAKER_01: 30:44

Well I think first first you need to make sure that don't make it too complicated. You want to make it easy the the the entry needs to be easy. And so in a lot of cases I look at the ideas that don't have 10 options. Have three good, better, best that's a simple piece with it. You also want to make sure that you're not cannibalizing revenue that you already would receive. So if you're thinking about memberships and what I'm going to set up is I want to find out is what is what is bringing the people into the location? What is your big draw? And then how can I add that let's say adding greater value maybe putting in like a free$5 game card. You know you're going to spend more than that. If you're going to include a food and beverage offering in your membership then maybe offer that for for the kids because then you know that the parents are going to pay full price for for their food. So I think there's you have to find that balance of the easy entry and not too complicated, but you also don't want to be giving away the store with it. And I think the the other piece that's important is you need to evaluate it. You need to look back and say was it successful? Was it not? How did that compare with the other programs? And I think always be willing to be adaptive on that.

SPEAKER_03: 32:06

Yeah I mean I think adaptability and agility is definitely a big thing and no matter what you're doing right in but certainly when you're trying out something new to be willing to test the market see does it work did did we get an uptick here or are we is are they taking advantage of it too much. I had an opportunity to go down there for the opening and we recently did a behind our doors thing with uh with that for the LBX collective um but they had a really interesting model where they you come in and for one dollar more that day you could sign up for the membership. You know it's a dollar more meaning like let's say it was$23 I can't remember the exact price was but let's say it was$23 to come in to jump around. So for a dollar more for$24 I could make that a membership. But then next month it's going to be$24. Next month it's going to be$24. So it was a really interesting incentive to just get them hooked in oh yeah for a dollar more and I can come and jump as many times as I want the rest of the month. So like they're thinking a dollar more and now I don't have to pay$24 to come in tomorrow or next week or the week after. But they are now locked in or hooked in anyway they're not locked in but hooked in for subsequent months. So I thought that was a really interesting incentive somewhat like your$5 game card or you know some of those kind of concepts like what are those incentives you can get to drive them to conversion right while you have them.

SPEAKER_01: 33:27

Yeah it's that making that reducing that barrier reducing the friction to have them join I also like you brought up that point that you know for$1 more you get that month but then everything is reset for the next month. So I've had uh some other a couple other customers that have looked at doing that we're going to offer let's say a unlimited rides let's say on the uh the racetrack or the go-karts but that resets or let's say you can have up to seven rides at at in a month I can have that but then it resets. So you're not going to collect all of them it basically expires every month. And I think that's important that do you see that where there's an incentive to use it use it or lose it every month but then you can start again. But again you may be looking at different offerings that come in. But I'd really like that idea of one$1 is a is a great way to start.

SPEAKER_03: 34:23

Yeah it's great right I mean it's somewhat like you know when you go to a zoo or or some of the like sometimes like a lot of those nonprofit the the nonprofit like zoos, aquariums like they do a really good job with that where they'll like for just the price of a half a visit more, you know, you could you could get your membership and then come in and you you you know two two visits and you've paid for your membership right like they do a really good job with that kind of sell at the at the exit at the gate as you're leaving. So I thought that was interesting. One of the um I think questions people have sometimes or hesitations they have when putting a membership program into place is this idea that what if somebody takes advantage of it? Right. They they pay$50 a month you know maybe it's maybe it's$35 to come in normally and jump or whatever to go you know go kart you know karting or whatever the attractions they have it's$35 is like their typical entrance fee and it's$50 a month for membership. And so they come in twice well now am I now I'm losing money. So how do you how do you help people think about that when they're thinking through memberships is this concept of oh am I really losing money um by or losing opportunity by people taking advantage and coming in five times a month for this for the the cost of a membership.

SPEAKER_01: 35:33

Right. Well it comes back to what we talked about earlier is that you number number one you need packages so you're not giving away the store. I also think about when you're looking at what you're offering in the membership is the whole idea is what's bringing them in. And then once they're in uh what are what are some add-ons that you don't necessarily have to discount. And maybe like giving them a$20 game card as opposed to a$5 game card or giving everyone a free slice of pizza as opposed to just the the the children. That's where you want to match it. And I think but I think what what I'm hearing from from customers now about is they're saying with the way things are currently now with the economy just a lot of different uncertainty that's out there a lot of the casual casual guess the casual players are not necessarily necessarily coming in. So they're looking at memberships as a way to get some more consistency on people coming in. You may whether it's$35 each time versus$50 in the membership if you came in twice you're basically leaving$20 on the table. But if you're getting that customer coming in on a more regular visit then you're still getting that those add-on sales you're still getting that benefit that comes comes through and you're getting a tighter relationship with your best customers.

SPEAKER_03: 36:59

Yeah I think that's what stands out to me is that you have the opportunity to build a really great long-term guest experience for those guests who are coming in more frequently and if you can continue to deliver the same level of guest experience every time they come in the stronger they are going to be an advocate for you out in the community and getting more people to come in as well with them, right? If they if there's no cost off their back to come in a second time, well then why not bring John, you know little Johnny and little Johnny's you know two other friends in they're paying you know to come in more right they're not getting in for free but now they're bringing people along with them. I think it also matters as well on what types of other value upsells that you have inside the venue. So what does your F and B program look like? Is it just vending? Well okay if it's just vending it's still going to be some incremental revenue or is it something that you actually have a real full F and B package and program that you can really drive an increase per cap when they come in the door.

SPEAKER_01: 37:59

Yeah. Well and you bring up a really good point with uh uh bringing Johnny Johnny and and bringing in his their two friends so as part of let's say that membership package you can say you can bring you can bring a guest and that museums do that a lot but if you combine that with something like a bounce back offer for that child that you can say you know here's a coupon bring this uh back in for whatever free free five dollar card free game of laser tag etc um not that my granddaughters have ever done this to me as coming home from a party or an event that they want with a friend it's like pop up and I have I have this free uh the game of laser tag we need to go and what am I going to say no? Yeah yeah now you're bringing in new guests to do the experience and then they can talk with the parents and they understand that whole membership and again now there's one of the other points with uh memberships is parents are always looking for activities that they can bring get the kids off the tablets off their phones get them doing some activities we want to bring them into the venue and that's just a great way to kind of extend the reach.

SPEAKER_03: 39:14

Yeah yeah absolutely well John this has been a great little dive into memberships there's so much more we can talk about if somebody wants to get in touch with you to learn more about memberships or just even talk about centeredge or whatever how how can they do that?

SPEAKER_01: 39:29

Well uh my email address is JKeys uh j k e y s just like car keys at centeredsoftware.com uh they can also go to uh centeredsoftware.com our website and a lot of information is there there's a lot of case studies uh client spotlights uh I think it's really good for people to be able to see kind of what other people are doing but if anybody has any questions please feel free to uh they can send me an email or connect with me uh online yeah and obviously we'll all be together in Orlando pretty soon as well at IAPA so we're looking forward to to hanging out with you there.

SPEAKER_03: 40:07

Excellent Brandon thanks so much yeah thanks so much for being on see you next time innercard is the only cashless system designed developed and manufactured all under one roof they introduced cashless technology to industry and have been leading the way for over 30 years.

SPEAKER_00: 40:33

Cash assists for innercard increased customer spending debt satisfaction and boost revenues by up to 30% innercard is still proud of the starting industry and if you are already part of a global family of customers they hope you will become one too all right well that was awesome with John coming up right now we've got open and shut with Kevin Williams well a big hello to everyone to this uh latest open and shut back in the hovel Brandon yeah yeah back in the hovel um I can't guarantee where I'll be next week but you know for this week I'm here know that feeling very well well we've got a lot to go through in this latest one and we jump straight in the usual process pause it uh automatically if you want me to uh go into more detail send me an email and I might backtrack if you're lucky but anyway straight in and India uh I've been seeing a lot of active entertainment what would have been called trampoline and uh active entertainment kiddie environments now they're pivoting they're going much more for uh the application of uh not just trampolines but they're including the ninja walls they're including a lot more amusement and attractions and this is a chain that wasn't really on my radar which should have been on my radar um our friends at Bounce Inc.

SPEAKER_03: 42:05

uh have just opened uh their latest facility 30 in their chain within India and this uh particular uh facility that they're opening in uh Graalgram is going to be uh the largest I think the doors are already open on this uh facility quite impressive yeah I mean this is uh I'm I'm looking I've got their website up here and just the number of different attractions they have in this space it's gotta be uh yeah obviously 6000 square feet but I mean it they've they've crammed a lot in there everything from soft play to cliff jumps they have like actually the rings and pegs they have climbing walls um you know ninja courses parkour courses i mean it's it's really a full a full blown um active active park and also pivoting from a very young audience where the original facilities were known for now pivoting for a much older or broader demographic of uh players which is again another trend that we're seeing in this particular sphere of the sector moving on and uh black bunny uh I think we've touched upon uh the possibility that Black Bunny was going to be opening up a third facility uh while Dubai is going to play host to that again another facility that offers active play alongside a quite uh active uh interactive entertainment attractions uh blend so along with the trampolines along with the uh the uh wall climbing you have some bowling you have some laser tag you have some amusement so as I said part of a three-chain and one of those chains that pivots so it has a capability of an after dark audience appeal the the one thing I always w wonder for some of these types of venues is when you see them blend trampoline part you know some trampolines in with like all the other more traditional family entertainment center attractions right so they have bowling arcades VR uh laser tag carting uh and then they have like a kid's playland but like so they have wall climbing and trampolines and I always feel like those are two very different things you're going for active entertainment active play or you're going for more traditional interactive um more social entertainment components and like those two I always wonder how they how a place blends like feels like they can really blend those those two different types of audiences together.

SPEAKER_00: 44:23

The Philippines the Indian market the Vietnamese market the UAE market uh the Middle East sector these venues feel that they can do this and they do you know we see the successful numbers to see that they actually achieve this for us uh in the Western market we wouldn't be able to get away with this dichotomy of mixtures uh as well unless we made you know a hard wall separating the trampoline the kids area and the climbing walls from our virtual reality from our bowling from our amusement it's one to watch this could be a trend that then permeates itself into the Western market because we have a lot of trampoline and active entertainment facilities that must be thinking quite heavily now if only I could clear some of those jumping gyms out some of that climbing wall out drop in some more attractions then I'd have a much wider appeal so I think we may be um at the cusp of seeing a transitional evolution here. And that evolution is uh reflected with uh all these department stores and uh sporting goods uh large chains that went to the wall uh around uh the time of uh COVID and before during the retail apocalypse now they're being taken over uh and uh Oregon Portland sees uh the latest of uh their Dick stores uh brought out from retirement and turned into an entertainment facility again from our friends at Fun City. You know they're up to 19 uh facilities in their chain and most of those ones have populated abandoned department store spaces so you know you get a rough idea that they're playing around the 60 to let's see I'd say about 50 to 6000 square they didn't give a number for this one but I'll you know stick a wet finger in the air heavily on amusement but again they have some trampoline they have some climbing they have a foam pit but they have managed to uh separate the two going back to what I was saying earlier.

SPEAKER_03: 46:30

Yeah I mean they really do of course there we go I was like of course it shows the birthday parties they really have you know um alluring facilities I really enjoy what they've done and look this is ex we talk about this all the time about getting video getting footage getting pictures of people really you know having it staged even if you have to but getting people actually playing in your facility don't do AI don't do concept images get real stuff and they've done a great job with that obviously they're 19 locations in so they've got some of this behind them but they do a pretty good job like that looks fun like I want to go there and uh and and want to have my birthday party there right like that's they've done a good job with that.

SPEAKER_00: 47:10

I would argue that they've skewed it young uh a little bit uh but nothing wrong with that and if you're gonna stage it get them to wear the merch hey uh so the the issues are that we are seeing a lot of these uh trampoline and entertainment facilities now in the West beginning to break down the boundaries metaphorically as well as physically between uh the kids play component uh and the more uh mature uh simulators bowling uh and uh you know good selection of arcade moving on and activate it doesn't you know they're becoming the gender of this moment you know we're talking constantly about a latest activate opening this one in France uh within the catchment of Disneyland Paris there is a small town just outside of uh the suburbs of Disneyland Paris and they've uh you know it's got a retail area it's used as a kind of an overflow by tourists that visit and they're dropping in an activate or their franchiseur is uh dropping in an activate which will be uh one of the first in France which is interesting and the beginning of their world domination tour that seems to be taking place at the moment. Yeah I think it's one interesting thing to note that this is obviously a franchisee who's come in near Disneyland Paris a little bit different than the I won't call it a partnership with but then the the closer relationship with level 99 at the Disney Springs in Orlando or our friends at Laugh Out Loud I think they're uh one of the ones that uh uh was uh looking at uh having uh activating their retinue you've got to understand that sometimes the franchisees and franchisers are depending on which side of the fence you're on um some of them don't come from the entertainment sector they actually come from the real estate sector so they have access to uh a choice location and then they throw the doors open to that being uh made available for uh a franchise like this uh our friends at speedparks staying with France uh and speedparks opening a 5000 square meter uh facility karting of course bowling quiz rooms VR attractions and amusement it's a large property um I would kind of call it a K1 or an Andretti's kind of approach though their hospitality component isn't to the same level it is aimed more for their target audience you know and they're a chain of 23 uh uh facilities dotted around uh France and Europe so nothing to sneeze at yeah no nothing to sneeze at at all and just just a point of clarification I think you had said 5000 square meters it's 5,000 square meters I keep on I add the zero when I'm trying to uh do metric yeah exactly yeah so 6000 square meters would be a very large uh very large facility and we're populating with karting but the issue here I think with speedpark is that they're pivoting towards now incorporating a lot more attractions where if you look back at the other of their earlier facilities it was much more focused on the carting component jumping on and Dave and Busters now this is a fascinating for uh one for me and we're going to go into a little bit more detail about this in the coming uh sound off but uh we have the Philippines uh about to get their latest Dave and Busters out there the franchise uh has made it out uh to there and this is an example of the new new look of uh Dave and Buster so this is developed under the current tutelage rather than the previous so no one can be thrown under the bus for this one this is based on their thinking and uh attitude and approach um again we weren't given the size but uh looking at uh the pictures I think it's about 8000 square feet uh of uh facility and uh it has billiards in uh their um uh what I would call social bay area it has a much more different layout uh of the uh the actual amusement machines the future of play is the terms that they're using a lot more signage a lot more color uh a lot more um uh design approach to what they're trying to do obviously they're targeting their local uh audience so it's not going to be a carbon copy but also this is the closest we've got to an idea of what the new new version of Dave and Busters is going to look like yeah and I'll hold most of my comments until we talk on sound off but I the one question I do have is uh how much and maybe you you you know this but how much pull does the franchisee have in in a region like this especially an international region um so I guess is you know the tail wagging the dog as far as the attraction mix, the design aesthetic, et cetera, or and or or is this really do we know this is really the direction Dave and Busters is going um you know how indicative might this be? How much can a uh a local territory franchiser you know get a large monster like Dave and Busters to change their design well mmm Dave and Busters and Chuck E cheese and even our friends at Timezone they have a very high level relationship with the companies of the franchise and these aren't onesie twosies these are 20s and 30 aspirational rollouts uh and so I think that it is a very strong partnership and each one brings something to the table regarding the changes and the modifications that are needed for the particular territory. Moving on and a new entrant into the uh swing suite golf top golf kind of approach uh our friends with the pin this is an interesting one uh regarding I'm not sure if it's a rollout of a chain or if it's part of uh a particular hotel project so uh the UK facility uh Ramside Hall um they have thrown about one uh sorry 31 million at uh redevelopment of uh a hotel complex it's a it's a new build fundamentally and they added an entertainment component to that and that entertainment component that they added was really from my point of view a top golf light kind of approach uh but it also incorporates a very high level bowling component as well as a uh social entertainment uh components and some amusement it's it's an interesting to watch the way it's been branded and presented and from the video of the walk around this looks like it may be the beginning of a bigger partnership uh towards rolling out this kind of approach as a competitor to Top Golf.

SPEAKER_03: 54:10

Yeah this is interesting I mean it is very much a part of the Ramside Hall website even so you know there's the they have a thing called the pin. You can see it's connected really closely to the hotel. And I think that is maybe the only way I was really concerned when I saw there was 43 bays and that they only added six lanes of 10 pin bowling as well you know like they're clearly expecting people to go there to golf versus to bowl that's just like an added incentive or an added per cap increase maybe or for the attraction mix. But um I think the way that this place is going to be successful is to draw from the hotel. You know you look around and it looks gorgeous and beautiful and rolling and they've got a golf course a real golf course next door as well but there's not a lot from a catchment standpoint to bring people into this facility at least from what I can tell by this picture.

SPEAKER_00: 54:58

So I think they're going to be relying heavily on driving that traffic from their hotel 43 bays still even for the hotel just seems overbuilt this is an entertainment hub component on top of the golf hub on top of the hotel resort hub and spa hub so someone has really looked at this they've seen the catchment they know what type of audience they want to target and this is top golf done right from my point of view which is you're not just depending on the shooting range and leaving it at that you have the competitive socializing you have the bowling you have the amusement which gives uh your audience something else to do if you're going to use this as a catchment then you're going to have to offer other levels of entertainment which I know our friends at Top Golf are adamant that they don't want to consider at this moment in time. One that hadn't appeared on my radar but because we were talking about active play and active entertainment I included it Peekaboo Factory in California part of a chain of four facilities. Now you look at it from the webpage and the basic approach and it looks like a children's young children's active entertainment facility. But then when you see that they have uh interactive games a VIP room arcade uh amusement added to the mix it feels like a brand that is part of what I was uh alluding to previously in transition moving from the young active all pit climbing wall business and trampoline and pivoting a little bit more to a wider entertainment spread. Yeah this is interesting and it's right in the Bay Area where I used to live so this is definitely a newer franchise I mean granted I've hadn't been there in over 10 years lived there but there's you know one right down the street effectively from where I was uh where I lived and so uh this is absolutely a place I would have taken my kids uh when they were that age when we lived out there and so um you know it's it's uh it's an interesting bit of um you know it's a it's an interesting attraction mix here um their site leaves a little bit to be desired their brand is a little bit uh underwhelming but um but the facilities look nice I think given a little bit of TLC they'll be able to pivot uh cleanly into the new market talking about pivoting into the new market and it is now the Gender moment in all of our presentations and a little bit of surprise news from our friends at Genda Americas uh they have partnered with Toys R Us and uh we will see the first of two of the new Toys R Us flagship facilities Toys R Us coming out of uh the financial problems and woes of their bankruptcy uh being reacquired and then restarting themselves now more as a showroom entertainment retailer rather than just as a toy store they will be incorporating into their facilities the first two facilities uh a Kittleton um crane and prize machine setup so you can kind of see that uh the Gender team are using their um player one team to populate this space uh and it offers entertainment Turnkey uh you know doesn't need uh any members of staff to uh operate this other than uh Gender's representative to come and refill the machines at a certain period of time but it allows our friends uh Toys R Us to have an additional entertainment component to their facility this fits right in with Toys R Us's transition to a retailtainment destination I mean they really are much more of an opportunity to try out and play the toys before you buy um similar to a Best Buy the transition they've made and why Best Buy has been able to stick around for so long.

SPEAKER_03: 58:50

And so yeah this is a perfect partnership this is really fits their model.

SPEAKER_00: 58:55

And if if you're in the retail business and you haven't pivoted towards a showroom kind of approach to uh your business you know showrooms are not a uh a bad toxic phrase that's why the car uh showroom industry still exists is because there are certain physicalities that you can't do uh doom scrolling on your uh mobile phone when you're looking for toys for the children it is better to go to a showroom uh where you can actually uh uh have a chance to play and while you're there why not uh also take away some prizes it is the future by the way just one note um on their website I mean I haven't shopped for toys in a long time my kids have been out of this age for a while um but really something I've not seen done at least oh so overtly on many sites is this ability to shop by age 0 to 2, 3 to 4, all the way up to 13 plus.

SPEAKER_03: 59:47

I thought that was really interesting you could filter your toys by the age that you're actually looking for. So they've already done some of the precuration for you especially if you're somebody buying for a somebody buying for Somebody else. The reason I bring this up even in you know on this uh on this thing is because this would be something very interesting to think about when we have a wide variety of attractions that we are trying to target older to younger demographics. Like, how do I filter on the types of attractions based on age? What things am I going to be able to have for my older kids? What things I'm going to have for the younger kids, and where is that overlap? Could be an interesting approach to take.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:24

I look forward to seeing how successful that approach is for Toys R Us. They've taken something from their online service and applied it now to their facility service again. I part uh colored me uh cautious regarding Toys R Us. They're throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall at the moment uh to bounce back from the difficulties that they've been in. Some of it will work, some of it won't work, but I think their Kiddleton relationship is going to be one that you can bank on. And we deal with the shots and the acquisitions and the mergers and uh Vertigo VR in Milton Keynes in the UK, well known, one of the early established VR arcade facilities uh that took hold uh during the early phase of adoption. It has now changed hands. Uh, a new management team has come on board, and they have big plans to uh upgrade the facility uh and to put some new love and attention into the virtual reality components that it offers. Uh another new pair of hands for an existing brand. Uh, again, we're talking about a UK facility that could trace its roots back to the 1970s and 1980s, though not closing the doors here, but being handed over to uh a brand new management team. It's gone from a uh the French looping group uh that uh were the previous owners now to uh a British uh family uh run business uh premier attractions. I don't think that we will notice much changing here. Uh gradual, they understand their audience uh and they also understand the market very well there. They've already gone through a rebranding. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's just now that the French operation wants to focus more uh on European brands rather than on European and UK brands. And then we have retirements uh facilities been going since the 1990s, Dinosaur Venture Park. Um, you know, it's a bit of everything. It's uh it's a real uh active entertainment, karting, uh safari, mini golfer, it's got it all. Uh, it is a slice of uh entertainment in this particular uh area of Tembury. Uh 36 rides and attractions there. The uh operators are now retiring, and uh they're in the process now of uh handing this over. So if you've got four million pounds, uh burning a hole in your pocket, then there's a uh slice of Pembrokeshire with your name on it.

SPEAKER_03: 1:03:07

Yeah, wow. Well, you know, and that's uh hopefully it cost them less than four million pounds to build. Um and you know, hopefully they've made their money back, and this is just another nice way to exit. But they've got a it's a big facility, lots of attractions, um, and surprisingly little vegetation, considering how much vegetation there is around around the rest of the park.

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:28

I haven't dug into the history of how this facility opened. Um really it's one of those kind of uh resort entertainment one-off uh installations that don't appear on our radar unless they're buying lots of amusement systems or they install a new type of immersive attraction. I wouldn't be surprised that whoever buys this is going to be utilizing uh the licenses from the local government to uh maybe put in more permanent style attractions rather than the semi-temporary attractions that this site has. It's a nice aerial shot, at least you see what it is.

SPEAKER_03: 1:04:05

Yeah, again, great. You know how easy that is to do now with a$150 drone to just fly over the top of your park and you know, or through it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:14

Or you uh call up the Ukrainians and I'm sure they'll send a couple of drones over for you. Exactly. Interesting close here. So we talked about uh a couple of months ago uh Henshard's uh acquisition of those uh palace entertainment facilities. Uh I raised an eyebrow of how many of those sites would actually survive uh after someone had gone through the books and seen the uh viability of each one of them. And so we now have two new editions that will be closing down. Um the Malibu uh Norcross facility. I've actually walked around. That was pretty tired the last time I walked around that one. Uh Montezia, uh I haven't been uh been through. Um either way, they will now be removed or cut out uh of uh the operation, and I assume that they will be acquired. Uh they are going concerns, it's just they're going in a direction that uh uh I don't think is wanted by uh the new management.

SPEAKER_03: 1:05:19

I always thought that this was a weird acquisition for Herschan. This felt more like a five-stars types of attraction, uh five-star attractions more of an acquisition than uh than a Hershen. So it's not surprising that they're carving out some of this, uh, some of these sites.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:32

Or even Bolero.

SPEAKER_03: 1:05:34

Yeah, right. Exactly. Well, that's exactly right, as Bolero's made their shift beyond just pure bowling.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:40

So, you know, but be prepared to see this slide pop up uh with a different name at the bottom of it. That fundamentally covers everything from me uh as we speed ever closer to uh ILPA. Um have I touched upon everything, Brandon?

SPEAKER_03: 1:05:59

Well, we we didn't actually touch on everything, as usual, right? But we just uh we did touch on the uh the core ones.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:05

Well, thank you anyway for your time, and we'll catch you all later.

SPEAKER_05: 1:06:18

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SPEAKER_03: 1:06:50

All right. Well, next we've got Adam Pratt with Arcade Corner coming up your way right now.

SPEAKER_04: 1:07:04

Greetings everyone, it's Adam. This is Arcade Heroes for the Arcade Corner here. And uh it's news has been a little bit slow as it often happens right after trade shows. There tends to be a little bit of a news vacuum, uh, and just because all the news happens at the trade shows, and then there's nothing uh else that's really uh popping up to discuss. Although I suppose there is value in um going back and maybe reviewing some of the things you had to rush over, as we always have a limited amount of time here. But what I am going to cover today are some new releases that have popped up out there, and these games that I'm going to discuss are all going to be at IAPA 2025. I always like giving previews when I can, just because there's so much news that happens around IAPA time that it's very easy to lose stuff. And so that's where I appreciate it when certain manufacturers are able to unveil their stuff in advance, so that way it can at least not only know that it's going to be there, but that you actually see it. Just because uh I know for me over the years, uh, even when I attend these shows and I'm actively trying to find things to report on, uh, I miss stuff. And just because there's just so much uh content, I guess you could call it, at uh IAPA. But um we've got uh well before I mention these uh first three games, I just would point out that uh Golden Tea PGA Tour 2026 did come out uh on I think it was September 29th. And so Incredible Technologies has been able to get back to their original release schedule. They used to release every annual update to Golden Tea in September, but of course, after 2020 that got disrupted for a while, and as I recall, the PGA Tour one came out in spring or something like that. Um, but now it's back to September, and uh they are doing the commercial version first still, but then in this month in October, they're doing the home editions and such. But um there was some news that came out about them depreciating some of the older home editions, and those won't be updated anymore. Uh, probably to push people that uh have the are into doing the home versions so that they can get the new PGA Tour version, uh almost like Windows 10 in a in a sense, which uh ends the support for that ends this week in case you hadn't heard about that. But uh yeah, so that one's uh out and then Trio Tech at IAPA Expo Europe 2025, they unveiled their Super Blaster two-player model, and that is already shipping as well. And so if you're wanting something like the XD Dark Ride, but you don't have the quarter million dollars or whatever it is that it takes to get an XD Dark Ride, or you have or you don't have the space for it, uh, but you want the same sort of gameplay into an arcadefied experience, the super blaster, whether it's the four-player or the two-player allows you to do that um for a more affordable price than uh those. And uh I was talking with uh someone at Trio Tech and um they sent me the pricing, the MSRP pricing. I now can't remember what it is off the top of my head. I want to say the Super Blaster two player is somewhere around 33,000 uh or such, and uh offers all the same sorts of bells and whistles that the four-player does, just two less players and cheaper price. But uh, anyways, we've got some more games to cover. And so, first off is from an LBX collective sponsor as well as an arcade hero sponsor, and that is Alan One, uh, who is based out of Utah, where I'm located. And so in this coming week, there's actually two shows, events that aren't exactly arcade-centric. Uh to it, they are to a degree, but I guess I should say they're uh not uh my bird uh over here is wanting to uh chime in, but uh but they're they're not um industry type events like say IAPA or amusement expo are. They're a little bit more or they're totally consumer focused and they just happen to have arcades or pinball machines there. But yeah, Pinball Expo 2025, uh, where you'll have Stern Pinball there with an enormous booth, uh bigger than anything they've ever set up at IAPA or Amusement Expo. Uh Jersey Jack Pinball, same story there, where Jersey Jack is at IAPA, but uh their booth is nowhere near the size of Pinball Expo. And but then you'll also have several other companies like Spooky Pinball and others who uh are focused on the uh uh on the consumer. So you have so many consumers that buy pinball machines, that's where why they kind of use Pinball Expo as their sort of IAP or their E3, so speak. And then you have Portland Retro Game Expo, um, which does have arcade machines at it, but it's usually classic games that are brought. But as you see on my screen here, Gravitar Recharged is a third recharged title that is being brought to market by Allen One. This uh is succeeding uh Asteroids Recharged and Missile Command Recharged, and uh they will have other recharged games coming out soon, so they are working hard on those. But um, this one, just like uh with asteroids and missile command, it comes in a beautiful cabinet. This is all hand-drawn, not AI art, and uh by a comic book artist out of Argentina. Uh, the gameplay itself has received a lot of changes in polish, uh, such as the uh solar system view. It uh is zoomed out and it'll zoom in when you get closer to a planet. And uh they've added the green outline back to the rocks uh to give it a sort of vector look, and uh they've changed a few other things, so it's not exactly just taking the$10 console game and putting it into an arcade cabinet. Um it does have changes. Although I would say um from what I've played of it, I've had the fortune of being able to play test it and provide some feedback on it. It doesn't have quite as many new things in it as Asteroids or Missile Command had to them. Out of the three so far, I'd say Missile Command had the most changes. Um, but uh either way, um, this is bringing another game back to our kids that used to be there a long time ago. Uh but this is based on or it's the sequel to Gravitar, which came out in 1982, um, was notorious for its difficulty. Um now this game is not quite as hard as the 1982 original. Um, it's still a little bit tough, and so this will definitely be something of a reward for uh classic gaming players, or if you have a location that has retro games in it, uh, this and the other recharged games would be a good fit uh for that. Uh, and then there's another channel uh grab or that uh called Gen X Grown Up, which uh has a huge audience, and uh they just did a promotion about this too. And so this is um coming soon. It's not shipping yet, it's just essentially been unveiled, and I believe it'll be shipping out uh in time for IAPA, and one will be at IAPA. Uh, next up is from Unis. Uh, this was announced uh yesterday from when I'm recording this, uh, where um we've actually saw photos of this. It was at uh two different Chinese trade shows earlier this year, um, but uh we weren't aware that they were going to um bail this uh so soon. As uh I mean Yunis is they oftentimes will just start shipping a game. They don't necessarily do like a press release or anything on that, and sometimes they'll bring games to shows and then they won't ship them for several months. Um, but it looks like this one they want to get it out before the show, and so this will be at IAP up at Dino Dash, uh, where kind of like a kitty ride of a sort, or maybe it's better to compare it to one of the uh derby horse racing games, like Final Furlong, but instead you're on a dinosaur, and uh so there's a trailer here. Let me just mute that because it'll probably it's probably using licensed music and everything. Uh but you get to unleash the dino power and uh sit on that seat, it moves back and forth, it has the reins uh that you use to uh move along, and it's not entirely clear what the buttons do in the uh description. It mentions shaking the uh the reins to unlock the unique skill. But when you watch the video, it almost looks like you need that as kind of the acceleration. Um unfortunately, too, uh Unis did not say how many of these link up on their uh product page, so hopefully we'll find that out sooner rather than later. Um but again, this will be at IAPA, and so you'll be able to enjoy it there. Um then we get into the company called Amusement Source International run by Corey Haynes, uh, which I'm sure uh some or many of you know. And they are bringing 19 different games to IAPA, and uh so they've been unveiling uh a few. They haven't gotten halfway through the list yet, um, but a couple of video games that they uh brought up that they are bringing. One is called Wild Hunting Heart of the Hunt, uh, which is the first challenger to Big Buck Hunter since Sega did their um they they had a hunting game or they had a few different hunting games around 2006. Uh their names are escaping me now. I think one was like Turkey Shoot or something. I know they had a Clay Challenge game, but that's not a hunting game. Um gosh, and now I can't remember. Tournament extreme hunting or something like that. And it actually had online features, but that was the last time anybody really made a serious attempt to compete with um Big Buck Hunter, which also, as of when I'm recording this, or by the time you see this, it'll be over. But Buckfest 2025, which is the new name for the uh Big Buck Hunter World Championships, uh, took place. Uh, I think it was in Nashville uh over this weekend. And so a winner will be crowned and they'll win. I think it's something like$25,000. All the other various players in the um that circuit also win cash. But uh again, as I'm recording this, uh they've just uh they haven't really started yet. So we don't know who that winner will be, but uh it'll be online uh before uh by the time this uh hits the internet waves, I guess you could call them. But anyways, uh wild hunting, it's very much like uh Big Buck Hunter in how it appears to operate, but it does not have a pump action shotgun. It looks like it's just a single shot rifle, and so if you could uh pull the trigger fast, then you shoot at them. It's not clear to me if there's uh like shooting three uh animals, uh like three bulls per round. I assume that there's different animals and different locations to go to, and it does look like there's critters and things of that nature. And uh there's also bonus uh challenges. So again, very similar to Big Buck Hunter, but not um it's not a pirated version of Big Buck Hunter, I should say. It's uh it is an original creation, it's just following the same sort of gameplay that Big Buck Hunter has proven over and over again that uh works out really well. But uh they have a two-player version and then they have a four-player version. That's the one that you see on the screen here that uh actually had uh uh four guns on it. So like Big Buck Hunter has always had two, but you can do four-player modes, it's just you have to take turns uh between them and such. But uh as you can see here, um that the gameplay looks very similar to uh the the Big Buck Hunter series, um without the uh Pappy on there and uh doing commentary and such. And also looks like the in-between rounds is very different uh as to how that's handled there. But uh, I saw somebody on LinkedIn claiming that you were shooting animals with uh vaccines, but from this footage here, that does not appear to be the case, so I don't know where they were coming to that one, unless they saw a different version of it. But this was video from the uh GTI Asia China expo, which happened about a month ago, or a little less than a month ago. And then next up is uh game from a Chinese company called Sunflower that ASI will have called Balloon Fest. And Balloon Fest, it uh don't have footage of it here. There is footage on Amusement Source International's LinkedIn page, uh, but they haven't uploaded it to YouTube or anything. But this takes the same idea, uh, and as also you can see a similar aesthetic from uh you have Allen One Soda Slam, you have Baytech's Icy Slush Rush, and so it's like showing that this type of gameplay is uh becoming a big thing. Although, again, as I've pointed out before, the originator of that whole concept was an independent game called Perfect Pour, and that's actually what SodaSlam is based on. Um, and and that didn't hit market before Icy Slush Rush. But, anyways, um so in this one, instead of pouring drinks, you're actually filling up balloons, and it'll have like a dashed outline of how much you need to fill up the balloon, so you don't want to make it bigger than that, otherwise it'll pop. Um, and you'll want to make it smaller, so you're trying to get the perfect um pump, I guess maybe is what I call it. Um, but interesting to see that you know, you know you have a good idea in gaming once uh it's being um uh I guess uh what's that uh imitation is the sincere form of flattery, that's the phrase. So yeah. Um, so yeah, those are some of the newest games. And again, there will be a lot more on the run up to IAPA, probably then every recording that I'm gonna be doing here for the next uh month or so is going to be about stuff that we're learning is coming to that show. So stay tuned uh for more. We've got a lot more on the way, and we'll catch you on the next video.

SPEAKER_03: 1:22:20

All right, well, we're gonna round out with a really short five-minute promo pro tips with Chuck DiMonty. Let's hear it.

SPEAKER_05: 1:22:35

Hello, and welcome to Promo Pro Tips with Chuck DiMonty. That is me. And I'm always racking my brain about what I want to talk about on this segment and what would be most valuable for you. And this might be a topic that I've kind of touched on before, but I think it's really important. And, you know, we speak to FECs every day, clients, potential clients. And I always find it so interesting when um, you know, like, oh, that doesn't work, or we've tried this, or that doesn't work. And it's you know, again, we we've discussed before of how business owners, GMs, they find it difficult when they cannot attach an exact ROI to each marketing thing they do, right? And while you want to try and do that, right, definitely strive for that. It's it's it's not realistic, okay? And marketing is a combination of a bunch of things that equal success, just like businesses, right? If you have good marketing, but uh uh a bad you know management and bad employees, and you know, it's not gonna work, right? So marketing is a combination of a bunch of different success. So today I want to discuss the customer journey, what that looks like, why you need to have multiple touch points, and what some of those strategies are within that journey that are easily executed and not necessarily break the bank and can be done. Now they're a little time consuming, right? Um, but you can do them yourself, and and they wouldn't have to necessarily break the bank. So let's discuss the customer journey first. Every business on the face of the planet has a customer journey that looks like this awareness at the top of the funnel. People need to know about you before they're gonna do business with you. Okay. Consideration. Now they're considering should I go there? Hey, you guys want to go to this place? I saw this place online, or we saw an ad for it, right? Do we want to go there? Hopefully, then make the decision to become a customer, and then you want to turn them into a repeat customer, okay? So you want to have strategies that hit all parts of those journeys, right? In that customer journey. So, you know, awareness. How do you accomplish that? You know, a lot of people do, you know, meta ads and and and stuff like that, like, oh, they didn't work, I didn't get anything from them. It's like, how do you know that? How do you not know somebody didn't see an ad, tell somebody and um they they came down or you know, planted with their family? So you you don't. And I promise you, that is what's happening, right? People are seeing that, you are getting awareness, and people are coming into your location, right? But you have to do it consistently, okay? There's something that's that's uh to the multiple touch points, right? And frequency. People need to see it over and over and over again to stay top of mind. And so when they are like, oh, we should do something this weekend or or tonight, right? Or this whatever, Monday, they'll think of coming to your location, okay? So let's talk about awareness, good, good strategy and awareness, uh, meta awareness ads, right? On Instagram, Facebook, TikTok awareness ads, and overall just general social media content, right? Really, really good. Now, those things could also be used in in you know, for customers, repeat customers, right? But it is a great way to get the most reach into new people that have never seen your brand before. Okay. Um, but again, there's you know, you could go sort of as as minimal as you want with these strategies. You could also go as complex as you want, right? But again, even just doing these at the minimal complexity will drive results for your business, right? So meta awareness ads, that'll get you again as much exposure locally, like a ton, right? This is why digital and sort of traditional marketing has even though there's there's a time and place for it, right? People tend to lean toward digital because you get the best bang for your buck. You're gonna get for the lowest cost, get in front of the most people, right? And where people are, they're scrolling on their on Facebook and Instagram, right? So meta content, get it out there, get in front of more people, okay? Um, consideration, right? That's you could do like retargeting ads. You could do um, you want to have people see you sort of uh doing a giveaway or at a local uh event and say, Oh, I remember seeing these people, I saw that online, right? So you continue to sort of push them down that funnel with more awareness. That's sort of the frequency piece, okay? Then a customer, how do they come with a customer? Stuff like Google ads, when they Google like something to do this weekend and you pop up, like, oh, I remember I see that place. I want you to go, or even they just Google your name, right? It's not an uncommon journey for people to see you on social media. And since going from you know, Facebook or Instagram into a web browser is not the best user experience, um, they'll Google you, right? And do it directly through their platform. So you want to be bidding on your name, right? It's important. You want to make sure you come up, okay? So stuff like Google paid Google ads, search engine optimization, that's a great way for sort of having somebody become a customer. You're making that journey easy for them to go from consideration to customer easy, okay? Uh, and then stuff like uh once they are a customer, hopefully you're capturing their information. Now you're emailing your SMSing them, right? Now email can also be used in sort of the awareness uh uh in the consideration phase. For awareness, we could have maybe captured their information as sort of for a lean magnet. Now they're in our marketing funnels and we're trying to push them over the edge to become a customer, right? But email and SMS could also be used sort of again toward that middle to end of you want to get them uh to be a repeat customer as well, right? So again, those two strategies meta, Google, content, right? Uh email and SMS, you know, those are fit all the funnels. They're very easily executed. It's like you just gotta do them. It's not again, you can get super complex with them, don't get me wrong, but you could also keep it very simple, okay? And if you continually execute them, they will drive results, right? Again, go back to the to the to the people that say, Oh, that didn't work, or marketing didn't work, or that I tried this, that didn't work. It's like they did it for a little while, they didn't know what they were doing, they didn't take time, they didn't, you know, and and then the funny part is they're always complaining that they don't have enough revenue or they're slow, or it's like, yeah, why do you think, right? So, really, really important. And then the only sort of um, you know, bonus tip I would give would be pair that with local community outreach, right? Attend events, hand out tickets to schools, right? Do whatever you can to get really creative about um how to how to how to partner with the local community, mom groups, whatever, right? Get really creative and and work on getting the word out there. That goes across all the customer journey. So hopefully that helps. I promise you do some marketing, it's going to drive people in your door. You gotta stay consistent. You could keep it simple, but you gotta stay consistent, okay? Good luck.

SPEAKER_03: 1:28:34

All right. Well, stay tuned next week for our own announcement about the return of the LBX Collective Speakeasy on the Expo floor. So very excited about that. And then next week we're also gonna have a guest gap with Clint Novak that you're not gonna want to miss. And sound off number 94 already with Kevin Williams will be this Tuesday, October 14th. That is a wrap for this week's long LBX show. This is Brandon Wiley signing off. Stay tuned and keep kicking ass.