LBX Collective

The LBX Show #51 - Arcade Hall of Fame, New "Pour" Games, Pixel floors, and more!

• Brandon Willey • Season 4 • Episode 51

Share episode

Sponsored by Intercard!
Sponsored by Alan-1!

On this week's episode we take a fast tour through the latest wins, misses, and pivots in location-based entertainment. We weigh connected pinball, branded "pour" games, and why good branding beats big square footage.

• IAAPA Expo preview with LBX Collective's booth speakeasy details
• Give Kids The World Golf tourney, 1K, and 5K fundraisers
• Arcade Heroes launches an Arcade Hall of Fame
• Scorbit 2.0 and the rise of connected pinball
• Branded pour games and sponsorship-ready IP
• 24/7 I‑Drive arcade and unlimited play pricing risk
• Global openings from Singapore to London and Austria
• Pixel floors and active play trends in FECs
• Pac-Man Live booking friction and repeatability
• Electric Playhouse Vegas bankruptcy context
• VR arcade pivots to Nightwave synthwave model
• Closures, layoffs, and belt-tightening across parks

Join the LBX Collective team at Footprints From The Heart on Thursday morning at IAAPA!

Subscribe and visit LBX Collective for more!

SPEAKER_01:

Bringing you in now to the LBX show with your host, Brendan Wyatt. Brought to you by the LBX Collective. Your community to connect, engage, and inspire.

SPEAKER_02:

All right. Well, welcome everybody to the LVX show. This is uh I think it was Halloween edition. I've got my Wolfman shirt on from Epic Universe, Universal's Epic Universe, and uh I know it's running on November 2nd, but I'm recording this on Halloween. So, you know, I've got to feel uh I've got to feel you know in the spirit in the season. So uh there we go. Uh all right. So we've got a really compact show lined up for you today. Uh first we're gonna dive into some news you should know, and then we'll roll right into a robust open and chat with Kevin Williams to review all the latest openings and closings and trends for the last week, and uh then we'll wrap up. That's it. We don't have the you know, we don't have anybody else, we don't have uh Adam Pratt's Marquade Corner or Chuck Damonti with promo pro tips or Clint Novak with anything, you know, a guest gap or a road trip or any of that good stuff. But you know, next week we're gonna have a great guest gap, and then the following week we're gonna have another good guest gap, and then we're gonna take a break for IAPA week, and then we'll be back with a really robust IAPA overview. Adam Pratt and Kevin Williams are gonna join me. We'll have a big long guest gap discussion about IAPA Expo coming up. So with that, and without further ado, let's dive into some news you should know. All right, look, it's IAPA Expo and it's coming up in just a few weeks. I'm super excited to see so many people and just have a blast for a week, just doing nothing but entertainment and attraction stuff, talking about it, seeing people in it, going to places, having parties, checking out new attractions, all the cool stuff and fun stuff that goes on at IAPA Expo. So that being said, we do have, and I talked about this last week and the week before, we've got our speakeasy at the LBS Collective Booth, his booth number 4402. And we're gonna return with unlimited Negronis and old fashions and our very own super popular Galaxy cocktail. And it'll be hiding out in the backdrop of our LBX Collective booth because we aren't supposed to serve our own alcohol on the show floor. So it's gotta be a speakeasy. Don't tell anyone, not that this podcast is going out to a bunch of people and they're all gonna know about it. But uh, that's all right. I want to see you at 4:30 every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday during the IATA Expo on the show floor. Our booth is 4402. Super excited about it. Absolutely enjoy having a great time there. Um, then the other thing is Cube Kids of the World. This is a great, great um program and facility and nonprofit that does uh just is amazing work for children battling critical illnesses. They provide cost-free vacations to them. And so this is just an amazing thing. And so they've got a golf tournament. You can scan this QR code if you want to join the golf tournament, or if you want to walk a 1K or run a 5K with me on Thursday morning. It's called Footprints from the Heart. It actually runs through the Give Kids the World Village. It's super awesome. You can scan that QR code and you can uh join the LBX Collective team. And so would love to have you guys all join me with that. So go ahead and scan the QR code. You don't have to run, you don't have to walk even if you just want to donate money, and you know, it goes to the LBX Collective team that ultimately all flows right to Give Kids the World Village. So that is what we've got there. All right, the next thing up on news you should know is uh one of our you know good friends, Adam Pratt. He does the arcade corner from arcade heroes every single week. And he's just announced a brand new uh program uh and thing on his site called the Arcade Heroes Arcade Hall of Fame. And so, you know, he's been thinking through this for a little while and he's talked to a few different people about finally doing this. But this week he did launch the arcade hall of fame. And, you know, he just was like, hey, this we would love to have this at some point in a physical location, you know, potentially his own arcade. Uh, but you know, look, he's starting with the virtual version, and they'll be represented uh, you know, all these different things we represented through slideshows. So, you know, you can see an example here. This is one where they're first focusing first on creators and then also the games themselves. So that's what he's starting out first. And so this is an example of Dave Nutting, who is uh, you know, one of the um, you know, his word for nutting associates, Midway, but then you know, created really iconic games uh like Wizard of War. And um, and so this is just one of those, uh, you know, one of the slides. He's gonna be breaking things down into uh the 1970s, 80s, 90s, you know, in in different categories as well. Like here's an example of Space Wars that was came out in 1976 from uh Vector Beam and Cinematronics. And so this is uh you know on his site. And you know, to take a quick look at what his site looks like here, we'll uh pull this up. And uh, you know, this is his arcade hall of fame. And you can see here there's a slider that goes through you know a bunch of the different people for the game creators and then arcade games as well. So what he's trying to do is focus on not just the games he likes, but you know, the ones that are specifically uh were either firsts or helped to build trends or that kind of stuff. So that is what he has launched. And so very excited for him. You can check this out at arcadeheroes.com and then just click on a link to arcade hall of fame. So that is Adam's latest thing added to his site. And so the next thing up we got here on as you should know, is the uh let's Scorbit. So Scorebit is uh this is a new connected gaming platform. Um, this is actually they they they've been out for a little while. They just launched their 2.0 version, which includes a mobile app. So you can actually download the Scorebit app. And basically what it does is it turns vintage and modern arcade games like pinball or skee ball or basketball into social competitive experiences. So it will track the scores that are gained there. You can you know get ranked on leaderboards that are online, and then you can actually do searches through the app to find your favorite game and like which arcade nearby has your favorite game. Obviously, they have to be connected to the score-bit platform in order to make that happen. But the new system includes digital payments. Again, it has the competitions actually. You can run jackpots. If you're an operator, an arcade operator, or you have a game floor, you can run, you know, build jackpots in competitions. There's a whole management platform as well. Um, initially, this is focused just on pinball. They have a little hardware package that you can install into your pinball machine. Um, but look, they say that whether they're 50 years old or they're brand new, you can actually put them all online if you're connecting this scorebit platform um piece of technology to your uh pinball machine. And, you know, they say that he's uh they're they're trying to lay the groundwork to build what they call the premier connected pinball experience for quote unquote pinball players all around the world. And there's already, you know, you can see here there's some initial scorebit locations that have begun to roll out in arcades and bars and venues across the US. You see them in Canada or Canada, California, uh California, Minnesota, New York, Tennessee, and New Hampshire so far. So they are expanding and they really want to take eventually beyond pinball. They say any game that's fun to play in person should have the power to connect players, hold host competitions, and track performance and share excitement online. So that's where Scorbit's going. Uh, pretty cool new system that they've just launched and uh you know, wish them well, and something that you can consider putting into your place to add just that extra gamification layer on top of your existing pinball machines. All right, so next thing we've got is DSM Arcade, and they've partnered with US beer brand Patch Brewing, right? So perfect. This is this is a brilliant play, I think, that uh you know PBR has been around, all the hipsters love it, although it's kind of beginning to lose steam here with the Gen Zs, but you know, whatever. The millennial hipsters loved PVR, it was the thing to do. And so they've come out with Patch Brewing's version of um Perfect Pour. And so this is actually, you'll be able to check this out at IAP Expo this year, and it'll be at the AVS company's booth. And basically, you know, you look, you it's you if you've done perfect poor, perfect poor's been around since 2022. Um and so, you know, it's the same mechanics. It's like literally just pouring, uh pouring PAPS beer instead of other things, it's just branded PAPs. Um, and so you know, they're just taking that proving formula. But I think what I really like is the um is the captain design, right? It's super retro. I think it'd go really well in any bar. Um, you know, I don't, you know, you look, you can put it in your arcade, it depends on the vibe of your arcade or whatever. Um, the perfect or the regular perfect format would be better fit. But depending on your bar, depending on your venue, this could be a really interesting fit for it, just depending based on this. And obviously, this is you know very similar to what Alan One has created with their Dr. Pepper Soda Slam. So this is a you know full full disclosure. Alan One is a sponsor of LBX Collective, but this is you know, they've they've recently come up with the branded version of their soda slam. So there was Perfect Tour, then they developed, you know, then there was Icy. Now I see came out with their well um Splush Rush, and then now there's Soda Slam by Alan One. And then they recently did a deal with Dr. Pepper, similar to what um DSM Arcade has done with Paps Brewing to make a Dr. Pepper version and branded a version of the Soda Slam. So that is uh, you know, like that's what's going on. These games are really fun, they're redemption driven, obviously, and you can create little boss battles, mini games, you know, and that kind of stuff. So anyway, that's what we got there. And uh, you know what? I think that is a uh what do we have? One, we have one more thing left here. Uh yes. Betson Enterprise recently announced Vested Enterprises has recently announced the collaboration with Arcade Time Entertainment on the successful launch of the company's newest flagship location on International Drive near um Universal. Um so uh this is this is on iDrive and it's a big standalone building. This is a 32,000 square foot family entertainment center, and they say it represents the next evolution of the modern arcade experience, um, blending and installing innovation and all the entertainment under one roof. Uh look, I mean, at the end of the day, it is uh, you know, it's got duck pin bowling, crazy darts, an arcade, and a full service restaurant along with two bars. It's just it's an FTC, okay? But you know, it's a big arcade, it's a big FTC, whatever, and that's fine. But the one thing that I thought was really interesting here is that they are open 24 hours a day. So this is going to feature over 300 arcade games. Some of those are retro titles as well as cutting edge releases. You have Top Gun Maverick, obviously a new one, Godzilla Kaiju Wars VR, which is interesting that they went with the VR version versus the non-VR version, which we've been talking about on sound off of Kevin Williams. Uh, they got Wizard of Oz by Raw Thrills, Goldstone Pirates. So, like all these really big ones. You know, the Slush Rush from Bay Tech, uh, as we had just talked about, and then like Swurch CoinPusher from allowed, and you know a bunch of others. So, like they've got a good mixture of you know, merchandisers to pushers to games to redemption um to VR and et cetera. So they've got a big mix here, uh, but they are open 24 hours. And here's what I thought was really interesting: was their pricing. I was like, okay, open 24 hours. What is kind of the pricing we've got, you know, going on here? And they have a bunch of different food items as well. So again, full service restaurants as well as two bars. Um, but that you can go and you can pay per credit. So you can pay, I think it's$20 for 400 credits. And um, you know, I don't know how long that long that'll last, but you can, you know, you get discounts on the number of credits you get as you buy more. Um, but what was interesting here is that you could also go and it's online only. So that was an interesting approach, but online only you can get a one hour all-you can play pass for 10 bucks, but then you can go and get an eight-hour all-you can play pass for$20. Like, I don't know, like even though I'm planning to stay there for three hours or two hours or whatever, like fuck, I'll just get the$20 thing and you know, do that. But like eight hours of all-you can play. Now, obviously, it's not going to include merchandisers or redemption, or at least I would assume it doesn't. Um, so uh you're still gonna have to buy credits for those if you want to do that. But uh look at the end of the day, eight hours for 20 bucks, man, I always struggle with this type of model for you know, these types of arcades is like an all-you-can-play model. Um, they just tend to not work super well. Like if you want to build a membership model, so you're getting a recurring subscription or whatever, that's fine. Um they can come in and play all you can play or whatever during, you know, like eight, eight hours a month for a recurring subscription or something, but like eight hours one time, they're gonna get their fill of all the arcades you have, and they're like not gonna come back. So anyway, I do struggle with this, but I am excited about this opportunity. And I just thought it was worth mentioning it here because the 24-hour thing is really interesting. Makes me wonder if they're gonna run their restaurant 24 hours or their bar 24 hours as well. Like, can I go there and get a drink at 8 a.m.? Not that I would do that, but like, you know, look, you know, I've just got ready to go to Universal and I want to go there and get a drink and play some games before Universal opens or something. I don't know, right? But like, you know, I wonder if they're gonna be running that stuff for your uh also 24 hours. So anyway, that is uh wrap for Needs You Should Know. Coming up right after the break, we'll have some open and shut with Kevin Williams.

SPEAKER_03:

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. Cash system from InnerCard increased customer spending, debt satisfaction, and boost revenues by up to 30%. Innercard is sold property during the amusement industry. If you are already part of a global family of customers, they hope you will become one too.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh man, doing great, doing great, ready uh ready to roll. Let's see what we got going on this week.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, another crowded one. Uh so as I was saying last time, you know, the uh pace hasn't slowed any. Uh pause if I go over anything too quickly, but I'll jump straight in. And uh we have Singapore, uh, an interesting market, of course, uh a little bit of everything there, and they're now embracing the competitive socializing uh enjoyment, a 6,000 square facility going in there, a mixture of what you would uh come to expect from a social entertainment venue, though the information about how much uh F and B is part of this uh operation wasn't very clear uh from the information. But they have the VR, they have uh social gaming, uh the darts there, hockey, uh a bit of everything.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I'm assuming because it's a cafe in games or some sort of F and B, even if it's like just small, like you know, cafe type stuff. But when I I think the 6,000 square feet is really small. Very how how much, how much, especially if if they have space to eat, you know, for the because it is a cafe, like really how how many things can they squeeze into that 6,000 feet? Well, that's a pretty remarkable, actually.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that's what uh made me uh look at uh take a double tech to A to check that I wasn't dealing in uh feet or meters, but also I think those pictures do give the full uh coverage of the uh the slide. Um I I I question about how big the F and B component is, if it is just a vending machine in the corner, but they've managed to get everything in, and we know in uh especially in Singapore, uh spaces have a premium. Yep. Moving on, and we uh go to New York, and New York has been collecting uh quite a large selection of uh carting systems. Uh I would say that this is more of a mule than just a carting facility because it has the indoor carts, of course, but it has the retro amusement, it has the mini golf. Uh and uh, you know, it it is trying to create a formula that uh can be uh replicated. This isn't part of a chain, this is a standalone as far as we can understand from the information available, and they've just thrown their doors open.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and well, I so what I find interesting too, and they do actually have a decent number of simulators in their uh you know in their facility, but I do find it interesting that in their Google search, they actually classified themselves as the recreation center. And you know, like Google's uh taxonomy for you know categories, your business categories is robust enough that you you there there's better selections in the recreation center. So I find it interesting that that's what they ended up going with. And I think just like a word of caution in general that what you put under your Google Business profile is important because that's how people search. And if they search family entertainment or carding and they don't search recreation center, you may not show up if that's what you selected.

SPEAKER_00:

Um marketing doesn't seem their strong suit if you go onto their website. It's uh it's a little bit of a uh a slog. I would recommend that they take a cold hard look at which category they really uh uh fit into, especially if they're going to try and do party room business. Uh one here that uh I will be visiting in a couple of days' time. Uh Urban Fun is uh the second facility uh here in uh the UK or London area from uh the team at Funbox Entertainment. That is the operation that was acquired recently by uh Sagra Amusement International. Uh it is a composite uh location-based entertainment facility, uh, meaning that it has uh a bit of everything to fit into the social entertainment mix. It's got the bowling, string bowling systems, it's got the AR darts, uh, it's even got uh axe throwing uh in uh this particular facility, as well as some amusement and a very strong bar component. Uh I'm led to believe that this is a four million pound uh investment into their second facility, uh, and they're working very hard towards establishing this as a competitive socializing chain.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and they've done some good work on their site as well. Uh, first of all, you know, they've they've done, I mean now you're showing content images here, but actually on their site already, they have you know guests playing the actual games in the facility. So you get a feel for what that is. We talk about that all the time. So they've done a good job. And then they've also created that little monkey. No, it's not a monkey, it's a gorilla. But uh, if you look at the little icon above that, but it's a branded gorilla with like a top hat. And you know, I guess when I see that, like that tells me, okay, these guys are very serious about how they're going to be marketing their business, their business, the brand they're creating, and clearly getting ready to do multiple things, you know, multiple locations. Um, I do wonder what the R and the U, the you know, what that is for, because they highlight the R and the U in both of this one and they've got them connected, but even when they don't have them connected in this this top, uh the stacked logo, they have the R and the U highlighted in their vertical or the horizontal logo as well. So I'm curious what what's going on with that, if it's just an affectation for uh for design and branding, or if it actually has some symbolic uh components to it.

SPEAKER_00:

These guys don't do anything for nothing. I'll make sure when we're at the uh press event to uh ask them what this branding uh motif actually means. Yeah. Moving on, and we have uh I've touched upon this before, the sports entertainment facility or stadium making use of their available space. Uh in this particular case, the uh football club in Southampton have uh allocated uh a number of units towards creating their own uh social entertainment space, uh, eight-lane bowling, uh mini golf with some amusement and a heavy push on FB. Um not big shakes, but uh a trend that we've seen repeated a number of times now, where a sports fixture facility, uh be it an arena or a stadium, is now uh incorporating in an entertainment component to try and increase the dwell time and spend.

SPEAKER_02:

And I would say that these things become community centers to some extent. So you know, communities come around, there's usually some pubs attached to them because they tend to be more local community-based football clubs and stadiums. And so it makes sense that during you know off seasons that there's opportunity for people to continue to come together as well, in addition to increasing dwell time during the actual games.

SPEAKER_00:

Continued usage that uh this place will be open when there isn't a match on, uh, one would assume. And also uh it has a longer opening and closing period. Uh it's utilizing the space that you have and uh offering something to the community, as you said. Uh one that uh we've been following, you know, kind of out of interest, uh the Illinois market has been growing. We've mentioned it a number of times. Uh Thrill House Entertainment, this is an 80,000 square foot. So from 6,000 all the way up to 80,000 kind of tells you uh the push. It is a mule. It has the karting, it has the bowling, it has the laser tags, it has the darts and the axe rowing, as well as the amusement and the F and B. So it is a dedicated entertainment space. They're just finishing their job sphere. Uh, you know, a facility like this will be eating at least 50 uh employees uh to keep it running through different shifts, uh, as well as the different jobs and operations. And the one thing about this space is that while it's pushing the full full throttle uh thrill house kind of uh experience based on its karting component, it is also embracing uh its bowling uh and its competitive socializing elements.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, just like Urban Fun was doing a great job setting up their branding in advance, Thrill House is doing the exact opposite. Um I've not been able to find any web presence whatsoever besides some news and notifications related to the job fair, obviously, but that's some news. If you're at the point where you're finally hiring people and you're beginning to hire and running job fairs, then you better as hell have that website live.

SPEAKER_00:

They have a dark website, which I came across after doing some sleuthing, but uh I'm not gonna point anyone there because it was a mess. And it's clear that maybe one of those jobs they need to fill in their uh in their job fair is a marketing director. Uh I'm interested again with uh Whoop Entertainment. They hadn't appeared on my radar uh as an Austrian location-based entertainment facility. Um, and they're part of uh an operation that looks like they're positioning themselves to become a chain. 14-lane bowling uh with the escape rooms. A lot of the European uh mule entertainment venues would uh pivot towards an escape room rather than laser tag, especially in the German market. Um I'm also noticing that this is active play. We have a trampoline component to this. So they're capturing a wide audience mix, and from the themality of the space, they're not skewing it young and they're not skewing it old. It is looking as a purebred entertainment facility. And by the way they position themselves, I'm also thinking that this is the beginning of a rollout of more than one facility. But again, uh this is 5,000 square meters, so so we say about 50 something, uh uh 50 something thousand. So it's no slouch in the size department, it's going into quite a crowded market for entertainment in Austria, but I would also say it's uh bringing something a little bit newer uh to the mix.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and you know, one of the things they've done here, I was just gonna pull up my uh screen because uh this is one of the more unique installations of you know the pixel floor that I've seen. One, both the size of the pixel floor. Um but then yeah, but then the way that they've actually created, you know, they put it like it looks like two or three maybe side by side. Um, obviously, so you can have multiple people playing together, they're not competing necessarily against each other. But then it's just very visually dynamic because they they kept the they had like acrylic in in the separation. So you know, you've got you can see through, so all the colors still come through. And even in the front, they've done the acrylic here. So you see all the colors from outside on the floor if you're not on it as well. So I just feel like this was uh one of the better implementations of this type of uh simple game floor for you know in a mixed use uh you know FEC.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, funny enough, uh if we jump back a couple of uh the openings I was mentioning, uh they also had uh their own pixel uh floor, uh which is captured in the picture. This particular one is uh two units side by side, as you say. Unusually with uh the uh uh the screening, as it were, most of the time I just see them open deck. Uh, I would say that uh the interactive uh entertainment floor is one of the biggest trends uh for sales that we've seen in the sector for the 2025. But again, we will be looking at that market quite closely following IALPA because there's some developments that will be popping up uh there regarding this sector. Moving on, and again another trampoline entertainment facility. If you look at the list of news sites on uh this rundown this week, you'll see Texas pop up more than uh three times, uh, which is telling us a lot. Uh 60,000 square facility, heavily on the active play. So it is aiming for the active entertainment children's play mix, but I think something has happened in the decision process, and they have uh rolled in our friends at Fun Sport Entertainment to uh actually drop in the amusement machine. So these are amusement uh added, not just as an afterthought, but given its own entertainment space. Uh, this is the second in the chain. Uh I know that they've got a third one in the mix, and yet again the trampoline boys are now beginning to understand that they need to broaden their uh entertainment offering.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, absolutely. So this is not the one that is going to open in Houston. That site is still not up, but this is the same brand and same location. In Pleasantville, yeah, exactly. Um so it gives you a sense for what the experience is. And like you said, you know, multiple forms of active play here, especially with that zip line going over the foam and then the balls. I mean, they they've really got uh a big mixture of attractions for active play.

SPEAKER_00:

But this older site kind of mirrors the uh more active play than amusement component, where this new Texas facility will be incorporating uh its own dedicated amusement uh sighting. Our friends uh to activate uh uh active entertainment seems to be the trend that we're touching upon uh today. And again, another London site. Um, you know, they are pushing, their franchisee is pushing very heavily. I will also be going to uh the uh final shake-up event uh for this particular site. Oxford Street is a major retail thoroughfare and center of London. Uh, and at one end is uh facilities like Boom Battle Bar. Uh and at the other end, there are um uh what I would call theme golf entertainment social environments like swingers. So, you know, it is fitting in with trying to appeal to the office workers that are in the catchment as well as uh the retailers, the shoppers uh that are also falling into this mix. How many of those uh individuals will want to rush into a mission room activity experience? Uh we will we will see uh from how well this site does.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and you know, I think the only chance that they have of real significant success is being able to play off of the foot traffic that's already going to some of these other social entertainment venues. Um and I do question the small number of mission rooms that they have in this location at 12. And ActiveVate doesn't have a lot in their portfolio compared to other mission room, uh mission room brands, but we'll see.

SPEAKER_00:

We'll see. Um I'm I'm wondering if this is a a pivot of uh the original 30, 20, or 30 mission room units uh configuration for a much more smaller configuration to fit uh available retail space, or if they have uh cut their cloth to suit their audience. Again, uh we will interrogate the team uh in between uh libations. The uh our friends at uh Little Lions had already established, I think you went to the uh Chaos Karts facility uh when you were last out, and uh one of the things that was interesting, I suddenly saw them mentioning that they had installed uh their Pac Man live uh experience uh in Riad. I had made the uh stupid assumption that they were going to be parachuting it into their already existing space, uh their VR arcade, but uh, I'm led to believe that this is actually in a purpose built space for the uh Riad season. uh the period that takes place uh uh in september uh and october uh for the residents anyway uh i'm hearing a lot of uh mixed reports uh about Putman uh life experience I hear people gushing about it and saying it's a really great experience. I have uh other people coming to me and asking what is it in this experience that is so uh makes it so popular. I haven't done it myself uh I've watched but I uh I'm going to actually make a point uh with the new London facility that will be opening up soon to uh to put the game through its paces. Uh I am very interested to see how our friends at Little Lions are doing. As we re uh reported on previously they just tied up a deal for the Crystal Maze uh experience to be rolled out in the Middle East market through a license E. And it sounds like they're you know utilizing that new investment uh to push their brand.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah and I find it interesting I mean I was on the Pac-Man live experience for Saudi and you know and I went to go uh click in the book now and it took me to the Chaos Cards site to book at the Chaos Karts uh location and only chaos carts Pac-Man wasn't even available for me to book so maybe it's just not open yet um maybe they haven't gone live um but it I thought I still thought it was weird that it took me entirely to a new site the Chaos Cards site. Now look I mean you you know me I've gone on the record I think chaos carts was a phenomenal experience I really enjoyed my time there um and so you know Little Lions has uh you know knows how to do some of these things but I uh I I I I do wonder how much that this experience is really going to be you know driving repeat visitation.

SPEAKER_00:

It might be one of those that was like really cool to do once and maybe not again but I am looking forward to trying it certainly and uh finally in the the new openings uh turkey uh everybody wants a little turkey at this time of the year and uh you know this is a three facility chain um it is offering your uh 60 000 square foot 6000 square meter kind of facility it's active play it is amusement I would say it's on the cusp of a mule um it is either you try the trampolines or you try the amusement with a little bit of F and B but it is that progression in this uh emerging market where a brand like this can get momentum and start pushing heavily to add more and more attractions. And with companies like Doff Robotics in their you know in their backyard it's no great shakes to think about a facility such as this thinking about adding more and more complexity to their entertainment offering. At the moment uh uh I I am interested to see how well this brand does within their core market and if it's something that could grow outside of that territory uh into uh other countries yeah I mean this is definitely a venue that is targeted for 14 and under.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean it is uh obviously you know for families etc but like you know they're all even all of the pictures on their site are of kids playing and and everybody is like you know probably actually closer to 12 and under even than 14 you know but uh but I thought one of the things I'm just gonna throw up here uh that is was well done um and I feel like it's maybe a little over the top um but they they created a an entire like theme park feel of a map that you can then go around and what's going on here. You know and it does seem like it's this is 6000 square foot space so not small but um you know right should say 6,000 square meters you know roughly 6000 square feet. And uh you know there's there's a lot of stuff here going on but um you know I think somebody maybe just had some fun and um wanted to do a more visual layout. But there's a lot going on here.

SPEAKER_00:

If that map was tied to real pictures if that map was less busy I would agree that it would work. But you have to be mindful uh that your uh website is going to be viewed both on mobile as well as laptop more likely it's going to be viewed originally on mobile and to put all of that effort into something that can't really be used in the mobile uh uh side of the application you couldn't swint your way through that on a mobile um i i would i would argue that they are aiming young but they are beginning to broaden their entertainment appeal which again uh in this emerging market is a good idea uh the shots uh the redevelopments and the layoffs and uh something that we touched upon many sound offs uh ago uh we were talking about where uh electric playhouse would fit in in the Las Vegas market especially with things like uh party playground uh uh with uh some of the other new uh immersive entertainment venues as well as well as the pressure from area 15 uh in that uh that market was their entertainment offering striking enough to survive in a very competitive sector well uh according to the information uh that's come through from uh our friends in Las Vegas the uh the the Las Vegas facility of electric party uh playhouse uh has uh fallen into bankruptcy um there's some estimates of uh how much uh they're in debt to uh and what the company owes uh I'm not going to go into the detail of that because the information was based only on one particular source uh the only source that I have confirms uh that it was uh in trouble as in lack of attendance uh again there has been a lot of questions about the one and done nature of uh the uh uh the facility and you know it is a chain of two sites so their Las Vegas uh facility was their second uh stab at this model and I think this was where they overextended themselves and worked out the reality uh of the brand that said it is Vegas very cruel uh master uh if you're going to try and uh set up anything in that market a lot of a lot of brands go to Vegas to die um what I'm interested about here is will someone step in and take it over or more likely will that valuable real estate uh uh be uh utilized by another company maybe another entertainment offering we see this happen unfortunately too often um and a lot of this I feel like an uh has to you know comes from where the actual attraction or venue is located inside of one of the other casinos and resorts.

SPEAKER_02:

So one of the big issues with play playground for example and the Luxor is that it's upstairs there's no signage really hard to go and find and uh you know there's struggle as a result. And so if you are not visible on the strip, accessible from the strip, even if you are connected to one of the resorts, it is going to be an uphill battle to to get the type of foot traffic that you need.

SPEAKER_00:

One of the nice things about doing it within a casino is it forces you to understand what your offering is so you can stand out from the crowd. So it it is a a hard baptism of fire but if you're willing to learn from that then you can grow your brand and then expand out of Vegas market. I would argue that uh Electric Playhouse didn't quite know what they had or are uh again understand we're only talking about the Las Vegas facility and not their original facility so again we need to sort of have a cool down period maybe by the time of March we'll have a much better handle if someone came in as a white knight and saved them from their debt problem or if another operation uh utilizes that space but hey it's a tough market and that tough market kind of reflects itself on how you position yourself. We have a chameleon brand here. Our friends at VR Core uh were one of the early VR arcade uh operators very very strong operation they really did nail down what it was to attract their audience to the VR experience that they were offering back in the uh 2018 2019 period and then surprise surprise the operation went through a little bit of rebranding and uh went from the V VRcade to the VR core uh which is what we know the operation now uh under uh they have an education as well as a pop-up uh as well as a traveling uh vr component to uh their uh their site or their business as it were and now that uh VR arcade business the facility side of the business has totally pivoted they still have kept their uh VR arcade component but upgraded it to uh the latest arena systems but they've now shipped in a lot more amusement and social entertainment machines to create their night wave uh arcade facility so again this is a perfect example over a seven or eight year period of how a brand has cut its cloth and re rediscovered itself to suit the audience and to stay relevant especially within a very tight knit audience catchment yeah they've done a really great job making the brand transition here uh this is their site they've leaned hard into the synth wave um you know music feel like the retro feel right stranger things etc that you know we're all kind of crazed about right now collectively and you know I think adding pinball is a nice touch to beyond just so you've got the virtual reality but then you've got the real physicality of pinball too as an addition and obviously just to drive that per cap alongside their arcade but you know leaning into that 80s you've got the although it does say HD here which is funny but you've got like the VHS cassettes and the old TVs and stuff uh here to just talk about their different cigarons. It's a heavy brand pivot to the the zeitgeist at the moment as we touched upon in uh previous sound off about how the classic retro arcade is very relevant and very popular to hang on to uh again I would argue that that only has a limited shelf life of maybe two or three years before they're going to have to pivot again and it's where they pivot next if that VR is still included in the lineup of offerings when they next pivot because I I get the feeling that these guys know how to ride a wave or two. But from a positioning point of view this is the kind of the positive story that I prefer talking about regarding a facility that takes enough time to stand back, look if it's tired, look at its uh uh audience that it's trying to attract and then re-pivot, reposition and and continue. No one has given you know uh you a guarantee to exist in uh in this sector as a successful company it's up to you to keep it fresh and I come across too often brands that uh uh are just very indignant uh once they've designed themselves they think that's going to stay the same for the next five ten years even I would point to Dave and Busters as one of those uh brands that has sort of taken its own sweet time to work out that it needed to update its uh offering uh Splash Zone I don't normally get too uh too much involved in the water park side of the business as you know uh though if they do include an amusement and attractions uh they do pique my interest anyway uh Jersey Shores New Jersey uh surprise announcement at their shuttering after 26 years uh again it's one of those shutterings where we don't have a lot of information on what the decision process was in this move uh and we don't have a lot of information if a white knight is going to come in and take them over as a going concern or whether the real estate barons are going to gobble up this fantastic real estate for houses. And then finally we have some layoffs and uh it was inevitable uh regarding the situation that we're seeing in the uh the Orlando sector uh as well as across Disney uh in general that there was going to be some restructuring in the jobs we had rumors a couple of months ago that uh we were going to see cast members from uh the Disneyland operation uh uh move on uh and be laid off uh that was poo-pooed at the time uh I think that was a political reason why they were trying to cover up uh what was going to be an inevitability we are facing you know in Orlando we have the situation with staff changes with the Disney World uh operation uh in California now we're seeing uh this hundred uh layoff at the Disneyland uh resorts we've seen also universal uh and six flags going through restructuring of staff this seems to be an inevitability under the current financial conditions but also is an example of how some of these theme parks cut fat uh when times get hard and cast members are usually the first to feel the brunt of that yeah and I'm sure this is something we'll cover or dig into a little bit further on the upcoming sound I shouldn't say I'm sure but I'm assuming this is one of the something we're gonna cover on the upcoming sound off.

SPEAKER_02:

But you know the Magnificent you know in the tech sector outside of the attraction sector even the Magnificent 7 have announced massive layoffs this last week as well.

SPEAKER_00:

And so I think we're in this phase right now in the economy in general where we're seeing belt tightening transitions etc and it's and it's now having an impact on the actual staff volumes yeah and staffing will never go back to how it was previously this is a situation where once these jobs have gone I doubt if we will see them coming back uh in the same way and that's something that we we may uh touch upon in the next sound off or we may wait to uh actually report on another of the uh major theme park corporations that is about to make an announcement in the next couple of days but hey let's not use our crystal ball up too much uh this uh particular open and shut anyway I hopefully uh I've gone through at some speed there please use the rewind button to go back to any of the ones I've missed if you have any information uh or any news that you'd like to pass on the LinkedIn uh details are there as well as my email and please make sure that you're receiving your Stinger uh and enter uh entertainment social arenas hopefully I've covered everything Brandon there well you know another uh another great one well wishing everybody have a good one is perfectly for you to play this every one is every venue is like two yes alancash one dot com more it's alancash one dot com all right well that was a great open and shut thank you Kevin Williams for delivering that for us and bringing everything together and uh you know what look this is the episode 51 um so episode 51 of the LBX show remember we did a whole year in season one of an LBX daily show so Monday through Friday Christine Beer and I got on did like a 20 minute episode every single day which is crazy and then we shifted it to the LBX show and this is number 51.

SPEAKER_02:

And so we are now officially moving into season four of that of the LBX show looking forward to some great stuff coming up this the rest of this year and then into next year. And don't forget we've got a sound off number 97 with Kevin Williams on Tuesday November 4th we've got a big 100th episode planned for the week right after IAPA Expo and that is a wrap for this week's LBX show. This is Brandon Wiley signing off. Stay tuned and keep kicking out

Head Shot

Brandon Willey

Host