The LBX Show #62 - Dollywood Host Tributes, Cornhole Golf TikTok, & more!

Sponsored by Intercard!
Sponsored by Alan-1!

On this week's show we scan the FEC and arcade landscape with fresh openings, smart marketing examples, and cautionary tales that point to what actually drives repeat visits and revenue. From Cornhole Golf’s TikTok playbook to archery dodgeball and Dollywood’s employee storytelling, the lesson is design for people, not just hardware.

• KartNation POS Winter Summit details and takeaways 
• Cornhole Golf’s seasonal TikTok strategy and why it works 
• Sherwood's Archery dodgeball format and pricing
• Dollywood’s poster tributes to their hosts and retention lessons 
• Swingers growth and the claw lounge wave 
• VR venue viability and curation realities 
• Nickelodeon Play Istanbul and the age-to-IP mix challenge 
• Hologram Zoo’s franchise model and questionable repeatability 
• Airport free-play arcades and maintenance pressure 
• Bowling M&A, closures, and brand resets 
• New arcade releases from LAI and Bandai Namco 
• Game design balance: fairness, pacing, and polish

Subscribe and visit LBX Collective for more!

Transcript

Welcome And Run Of Show

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Tuning you in now to the LBX show with your host, Brandon Wine. What do you buy the LBX collective? Your community to connect, engage, and inspire.

Kart Nation POS Summit Preview

Cornhole Golf’s TikTok Masterclass

Archery Dodgeball Launch In Colorado Springs

Dollywood’s Poster Tributes And Retention

Sponsor: Intercard Cashless Systems

SPEAKER_01 0:22

All right, well, welcome everybody to the LBX show for February 1st, 2026. This is just flying by this year. I feel like January disappeared right from underneath us, and we are here in February now, February 1st. And it is the first day of the IAPA FEC Summit. And uh right now, if you're watching this, you're probably not at the FEC Summit because it is the opening reception, and I am dressed in a uh in a costume that will be uh showcased here next week. Uh so I will definitely not be wearing it, but I will have pictures of of all the costumes from the opening reception. And so looking forward to having a great time with everybody over the next few days. And um, so we'll dive into it. We got a great show lined up for you today. Uh, first we'll have news you should know, and then we'll hear from Kevin Williams with open and shut to review all the openings and closing trends from the last week. And then finally, we're just gonna round out with the show uh as Adam Pratt shares the latest updates on the amusement front in the industry. So uh, you know, for RK Corner. And that's it. That is our show. And so we'll get started right away with some news you should know. All right. So the first thing I wanted to just mention here because it was brought up to me via LinkedIn that there's a trade show for the carding industry called Cart Nation. And uh Cart Nation is basically a professional network that focuses on indoor carting centers and family entertainment center operators. And they've announced that they have a uh their the POS winter summit, and it is taking place February 9th to 10th. So basically next week, uh, or this, you know, in a week from now at Monza World Class Carding, which is inside Foxwoods Resort Casino. And it's basically a one and a half day industry-focused event. It's gonna basically bring carding and FEC owners and operators and MS to educate and collaborate and network, uh, all focused on point of sale systems, operational efficiency, guest experience, and revenue growth. The summit will provide uh basically a curated environment where decision makers can just check out all the different technologies, share best practices, and gain insights basically around different things. So the different events are going to include, or the highlights are gonna be some educational sessions, focused on POS technology integrations, um, operational and financial best practices for karting and FEC venues, peer networking with owners, operators, and industry leaders. And then uh some company sponsors are RaceFare, BMI Leisure, Apex Timing, and Club Speed. And if you are interested in getting additional information about this, you can check out cartnation.club. That's k a r t nation.club. And you can reach out to Tony at cartnation.club as well to learn more or to just get signed up. So that is uh the next event in our industry coming up here in just about a week. So that is Cart Nation. Thanks, Tony, for reaching out to me on LinkedIn and letting me know about this so that I could talk about it here on the show and hopefully some people will be able to go and check it out. All right, the next thing I want to talk about here is uh, you know, I talk a lot about websites that sometimes um don't live up to what they should, and social media presences that really need a lot of work. And um, then when I come across one that has done just a phenomenal job, I do also like to showcase those. And this one is interesting. This one is Cornhole Golf. This is Cornhole Golf, Arkansas, at the Beaver Fork Lake RV Resort. And they have just a fun, they have a good website, but they have a phenomenal TikTok presence. And so I'll play a couple of their videos here just so you can get some sense for what they're doing on their social media and specifically their TikTok site. Um, because look, this is a little cornhole golf course in Arkansas at an RV resort. And by all rights, they should not have this great of a social media presence, and yet they have done a phenomenal job. They built a great looking course. This is actually the second ever cornhole golf location. And I think what's interesting about that is we actually, Christine Buer, my co-founder of LBX Collective and former co-host, um uh talked about the very first Cornhole Golf location on our very first episode of the LBX Daily Show at the time when we were doing daily shows. So that is uh kind of crazy to see this thing. Finally, uh, Cornhole Golf has uh now a second location at this RV club uh or RV resort. And so we're just gonna pull up a couple of their TikToks so we can take a look at some of them. All right. So the first one is their main one that just I think has garnered some not the most views, but uh just almost under 200,000 views on TikTok. And so here we go. So all so that one was that. Very well done. 11 seconds meant for that quick hit, um, but a mixture of good on-the-ground photography as well as drone photography mixed together, lots of high energy, really solid text explaining what it is and where it is. Um, they've also do a really great job mixing up their seasons, and so they will always they'll they'll re-theme their cornhole golf course with this with the different seasons. And so, you know, we obviously just recently came out of Christmas, and so we'll show one of the uh Christmas videos here. Um, I guess makeover, we'll call it, or take over. So anyway, just overall, very well done by uh the Cornhole Golf group over at the Beaver Lake RV Resort and our Beaver Fork Lake RV Resort. And so that is yeah, Cornhall Golf, Arkansas. Go ahead and check out their website. Um, you know, look, first of all, Cornhole Golf is kind of unique. It's played the same way you would typically play golf. There's, but there's three holes. So, you know, you basically, or three, three, um, three pads. There's one hole, and there's three pads to kind of give you your your par three if you need it. Um, and so, you know, there's uh so some slightly unique rules to it. But overall, it's you know, it's a fun thing to add into a potential you know outdoor or indoor facility. Um, but also, you know, they did a great job re-theming as well for each of the seasons, and then not only just re-theming, but then putting it out in a very high-quality social media presence. So anyway, good job, Cornhall Golf, Arkansas at Beaver Fork Lake RV Resort. You do um get my applause for what you're doing over there. All right, then the next thing is a new thing that you know we didn't cover in open and shut with Kevin Williams because yeah, it is a specific location um that is new, but uh thought I would just kind of call it out here. This is a uh a new Dodge Archery Dodgeball venue in northeastern Colorado Springs called Sherwood Archery Dodgeball. And uh they yeah, they just recently had their grand opening and the games play similar to dodgeball. Uh so you know, we'll take a look at the video here in just a moment, um, but uh play similar to dodgeball. And the basically the teams on the opposite sides try to win by hitting the most people on the opposite team. But when the game starts, instead of running to the balls, you're actually running to go and collect arrows that uh, you know, basically have some marshmallow tipped. So here is on the picture of that, uh, the arrows. And uh, you know, the foam is basically desired uh designed to absorb the impact. Basically, you know, so when it hits you, it they they say it hurts less than airsoft or paintball would, which is good because you know, paintball hurts if you have not played that before. Um, the players shoot arrows with a real bow, so it's called a recurve bow, and they uh they're they're categorized by force. So Shrewwood uh showdown uses bows at either 20 or 25 pound force. And then the safety briefing before gives them not only how to shoot the bow, but also provides some opportunities to practice. And they say that uh the first few times that people play at the beginning of their hour of play, like people are a little rusty. It's kind of hard for them to figure it out. But by the towards the end, the games are lasting longer because people have figured out how to load their bow a lot quicker, how to hide, how to look like around for people shooting while they're actually loading their bow, also. And so, you know, they say it's something you can become good at in just an hour of playtime. Uh, you know, obviously they require at least two people to play, up to 20 players. They say like it really optimizes around that eight to 10 player um modality. And so, anyway, like well, I'm just gonna pull up their site here real quick because uh they do have like a little video that you can watch um uh you know about it. And yeah, I mean, for those of you who are just listening, it's uh they have a bunch of um airbags filled up and you know it's basically in a room that is surrounded by chain link fence so people can watch as people are playing. It's it looks like it's just in a giant warehouse with like open roll-up doors, so it's really meant to be like a fairly casual environment. Um, I do see only men there, which is you know, maybe this was uh video was taken just like what is this, like a guys' group or something like coming in, or some corporate event or like, I don't know, team building event that's just men. Um, so I don't know. Um, but it is uh, you know, Sherwood Showdown, great name for it. Uh, I've yet to see anything like this. Um, if correct me, you know, obviously reach out to me via LinkedIn or via email if uh if if you know this somewhere else. But this, I think, is anyway one of the first times I've seen an actual archery dodgeball. Um, I know that there's been some like individuals, like almost sort of like amusement pieces that have tried to do this, like in small format, like one-on-one type archery shooting back and forth at each other. Um, but in like a dodgeball environment, almost like sort of quasi-paintball environment. This is the first one I've seen. And um, you know, look for the they have reservations and it's basically one hour for$35. That's their price point. And um, yeah, that's uh that's archery dodgeball going on in Colorado Springs, California, uh, Colorado. So if you happen to be in that area, you can definitely take a look at it. Uh if I ever get to Colorado Springs, which I don't know if I will, um, I definitely will uh check these guys out. All right. The next thing we've got coming up here is a little feel good, feel good story here. So I recently came across this news article that was talking about Dollywood and some of the vintage style posters that uh are around their facility. They you know look like sort of like vintage you know, basically, yeah, they're like vintage, they're they're you know meant to advertise for saloon shows and soda fountains and car washes and everything. Like, and each one has like a time period appropriate graphics, and they you know look like they're part of the decor. But what's cool is they're really a lot more than that. So they actually tribute to Dollywood employees who are known as hosts. And it in this initiative started in 2015 as a way to recognize hosts who have been with the team for at least 30 years. So uh, you know, it's been going now for 10 years, and so when somebody reaches a 30-year threshold, they get one of these posters. Each one is personalized specifically for the honoree, the design team that they have, they conduct interviews with their hosts about their first job, their favorite role, some of their hobbies and interests, and even some of their family members. And then these details are all woven into the signs that fit the theming of the different park areas. So it really tells the story of a Dolly, you know, the Dollywood story of the of these hosts. And, you know, for example, this is you know, one that we've got here. This is about Mama Carrolls, and there's a picture of the woman underneath the sign that's like actually up in the park. Um, you have this one, I'll just make this a little bit larger here. Um, and so you've got uh, you know, for example, like this one is Rodney Pearson's Silver Dollar Saloon show, and it charges 76 cents for admission, which commemorates his start in 1976 when he was just a teenager playing banjo in one of the park's bluegrass bands. Uh Pearson's now a maintenance supervisor. He's been with the park for 50 years, dating all the way back to when it was still called Silver Dollar City. So that's kind of crazy. Um, another 2025 honoree as a marketing team member, Jennifer Gorman. She started with Dollywood in 1995 and uh wrong direction. Uh 1995, and hers is actually a uh log flume. So she started in at the logflume, and so her pro poster advertises a 10-mile log flume tours for 95 cents with dinner included, featuring authentic recipes from her parents. So she learned, you know, they learned about her parents, and so uh it's just really pretty freaking cool. So to date, there have been like uh, you know, more than 80 signs distributed throughout the park. And then I think what's crazy about this, like, think about that. What makes this amazing is that 80 the these 80 signs um are basically a tribute to the fact that Dollywood has like amazing employer retention, like longevity is pretty common there, and it just like they're all treated well. I mean, like if they have 80 signs, that means they have at least 80 people who've been there over 30 years, which means they also have a bunch of people who are probably gonna have been there in 30 years along, you know, from then. So, like there's one guy who um uh is is at six, he's at his 16th year, and he jokes about being halfway to his own sign, and he's like, I have to stay until I can get a sign at this point. Like, I'm invested. And so I just think it's really cool. What a phenomenal idea. And I thought I would talk about it, not only because hey, it's a great thing that Dollywood is doing, but look, is there something like this that you could be doing for your long-term employees? It doesn't have to be 30 years because that's like really hard in the location-based entertainment space, unless they're like closely tied to the family of the you know, the ownership group or whatever. Um, but it could be 10 years, it could be 15 years. Like, what are really unique, interesting ways you can honor your long-term employees besides like just giving them uh something, uh, you know, some merchandise or whatever? Like, yeah, this is the kind of stuff that like people like look are taking pictures next to and uh can like point their friends and family about. And so, anyway, really pretty freaking cool. And that is some news you should know. Coming up after the break, we will have the open and shut with Kevin Williams. 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SPEAKER_00 15:16

Hey, big hello to the latest open and shut. I hope I find everyone happy in February, Brandon.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yeah, yeah, man. I feel like July or July, January. I can't even tell what month it is. January just flew by, so there we are.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

That went with a buzz, and we've got a lot of buzz to go with. So jumping straight into it, and we have a reasonable selection compared to uh what we saw in January of venues. Uh I would say that there's an interesting mix here, but I think there's also uh an underlying um surface tension here regarding the number of facilities that are opening that we're expecting. But again, I keep on saying uh I expect to hear a little bit more of a spurt near the end of this month. Jumping straight in, and obviously, if I zip past one that you'd like to know more about, that's what the pause button's for. So we jump in straight to Swingers, uh the latest US facility opening for this uh crazy golf lounge uh facility, 21,000 square. So reasonable size for them. I think this is their standard size. I'm not sure how big uh the uh venue in Las Vegas was. Uh uh we need to stick our heads into this, but we're now seeing the continuation of the theme that this venue also includes the carnival arcade component as a secondary entertainment side. So we're up to seven facilities for swingers, and I think they're listening to the founders they have plans for many more.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Yeah, I I'm always I mean, I really like all the design work that they do. Like it just feels really good when you're in a swingers. That the finishes are very nice, uh, very high-end. Excuse me. Um, I I do know that the swingers in Mandalay Bay is 40,000 square feet. And I think part of that is both because there are three nine-hole um mini uh courses, versus here there's only two in their standard location. So Vegas has three, and then also has a much larger, um uh much larger F and B section, just given the fact that they're in Vegas. And excuse me, I misspoke. They don't have three, they actually have four uh nine-hole courses in Vegas. So it's a much larger facility, and it feels much larger when you're in there than one of their standard facilities.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

I think we need to make that the last venue we go to when we're out there uh in March. But uh I'd like to actually see how these four venues are being populated, especially in the vagaries of Vegas. Um one of my first date night locations, uh working holiday. So I've watched swingers evolve over the years from their first facility in Oxford Street in London. Moving on, and the explosion of the claw machines. I don't really want to make a point of pointing out every opening of a claw machine, but you know, we have uh a couple worth uh noting. Rig claw. Uh I like I like the themality. Uh sorry, the thality of the logo I like based upon the near to the nodding donkey oil field uh there in uh Texas. Um, it has a lot more amusement machines uh compared to the normal train machine venue, and then jumping into the UK, uh the uh Birmingham area welcomes its first uh claw facility. Uh interesting one here, it's going into the Chinatown area of Birmingham. So it's got a very heavy Asian spin on this. Uh, kind of gives me the vibe of how our friends at Round One initially liked to put their Round One Japanese-themed entertainment facilities close to the Asian uh districts within the various cities they went to.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yeah, I find this interesting too that they actually put in a real like an actual attraction. So they have the interactive floor amusement system called Stepan that they put into their facility. So yeah, I find that uh you know it's not just pure claws, like we saw at the the claw, um uh the one the rig claw just before, where they have some amusement machines as well, beyond just the the claws. But uh but here they actually have an what I would consider an attraction, right? Which is the Stepan um game floor.

VR Venues: Viability And Formats

SPEAKER_00 19:40

It is the Chinese version of uh the interactive floor system, it is the Chinese version of the crane machines. I don't know if this is an Alibar purchase of a facility, but it seems to be a plug-and-play solution. And if I'm talking about another lucky claw, then it's part of a master plan, uh, which we'll we'll keep an eye on. VR is not dead, as I keep on saying, it's just changing its clothes. Uh, we have in California, in Brentford, uh another uh VR venue breaking ground, opening its doors to its audience. 50 selections of VR machines that we'd be familiar with. They have uh a phenomenon, they have uh HoloGate, which is uh an interesting selection, and they also have some others there. Um you know, it is following the proven form factor for a VR venue. It's just now can that proven model still work in 2026?

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yeah, I mean, I think that's when you said proven model, that was the first thing that popped into my head is it was maybe proven 10 years ago and then uh and then has like since unproven itself to some level over the last uh the last few years. So I, you know, this at least this like, hey, we're gonna grab every different type of VR solution that's out there, throw it in one place, and think that that's gonna bring people back in for a P visitation. I I think that's that's the the struggle here, and we'll see how well they do in Brentford, California.

Heritage Bowling Revival And Design

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Uh that neck of the woods has had some VR arcades, more of the traditional arcades. I'm in the middle of doing some research about how many of the, shall we say, 10-year-old VR arcades are still with us. Uh, and that's proving an interesting uh research project. Uh built a uh stick from my back, but it is telling us something that's very important about where location-based entertainment and consumer uh entertainment VR is fitting. But we'll go into that a little bit more in Sound Off. Moving on, and uh quite a palatial, comfortable, uh, and what I would say nice pivot for a competitive socializing venue. Um, the really what we're seeing is in Indiana they have. Gone back to a traditional uh bowling facility that first opened up in uh 1917, and they've brought it back to the high elegance standard uh that was the palatial environment uh for the pavilion. They've dropped in uh you know a recreation of the authentic kind of uh bar, saloon, entertainment experience, the billiard tables. Um the bowling is modern, but uh still given a slant, a nod to the traditional with uh uh the large full-scale veneer floor uh approach. Uh a little amusement dotted around, uh though it is uh done very, very well. I would call this a recreation of a uh uh an uh you know a uh historical approach to the social entertainment environment. Uh hey, I love the bar. I I wouldn't mind spending some time in there just watching time go by, but I'm a bar fly by uh attribute.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Yeah, I mean I'm I'm here on their site, and I'm just gonna pull this up here briefly. This is um, you know, their billiard. I mean, it it really is elegant. Um, I mean, both the resort itself is elegant, but what they've done with the billiard and uh bowling room to bring it up to uh those standards, it really looks has a nice feel, like you said, like a nice bar. Um, you know, the bowling is done very well, very tasteful. It doesn't feel dated or aged. Um, it almost like feels like uh a little historic, um, which is really nice.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

So anyway, I noticed I noticed the camera doesn't pan up to the screens above the bowling, but uh uh obviously the people know what they're talking about when they present it.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Yeah, um I do want some of that pizza and those uh shakuri boards, though. So yeah, that's nice.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Something I wish we had in the UK was the Shakurti boards, if I could say it properly. Moving on, uh Istanbul is proving a bit of a mecca uh for a new entertainment development. So we've touched upon what our friends at Doff Robotics has been involved with, with their own FEC as well as historic events, and then we see Nickelodeon Play open up uh in uh in the area. Five uh 5,000 square meters, so you know nearly 49,000, 50,000 square feet worth of uh entertainment facility, multiple attractions, including um what I would call 4D simulator uh experiences along with uh active entertainment. I look forward to seeing how this venue does, as we've you know, been touching upon in the open and shut and sound offs, where Nickelodeon's been finding a mixed response to some of their entertainment installations. This is yet again transmedia entertainment deployment in a new emerging market. So we wish them a lot of well with the opening and we look forward to seeing how it does.

Nickelodeon Play Istanbul And IP Mix

SPEAKER_01 24:59

I was really surprised to see this pop up in my feed as well. Um, I mean, I think partly just because of the location um and where it is, but they seem to have done a fair amount of theming indoor, you know, inside to make this feel really like a Nickelodeon facility. But I hope it doesn't become something like Planet Play School, where they just don't quite get the attraction mix right for the age demographic that they're targeting, clearly that 12 and under, maybe 11 and under for the Nickelodeon play. Um so hopefully the attraction mix and the IP mix that they've selected is the right mix that they, you know, we saw that they got wrong in Planet Play School. This is done, though, I will say, by a group called the Land of Legends. Um, and so they uh this is not their first, yeah, they have like lots and lots of history building theme parks and themed entertainment. And so um, you know, I think they probably understand what they're doing at this point.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Uh while we're recording this previous uh last month, the uh Turkish Amusement uh and attractions industry held air trade uh expo. So um a lot of information about what's going on in the Turkish market was revealed, which we touched upon with the DOF uh news. But also I'm beginning to see a kind of a pattern where we're looking at a sophisticated uh audience with a high level of disposable income, as well as being well represented on social uh and entertainment media. Again, fingers crossed that they got the IP mix and the attraction mix right. One that's been on my radar for a long time. Uh a particular company in uh in Australia has uh developed a holographic technology that they have been presenting to uh the entertainment industry for a long time. I've attended their booth on a number of occasions at IALPA over the years where they have shown off their uh holographic uh representation systems, either used in interactive or passing. Anyway, uh the company has rolled out its latest uh hologram zoo. It's a franchise, so you buy the technology, open the space up, and install them. Uh the company claims on their website that they're one of the fastest-growing franchise entertainment operations out there. They have 46 facilities, and so uh in Illinois we have the latest hologram zoo. I haven't done a hologram zoo, I've done some of the experiences as they've used for demonstration, and I've read the reviews uh and listened to the feedback from some of the franchisees. Uh I I you know raise an eyebrow, not two, but maybe one, towards uh the viability on long-term dwell and long-term repeat visitation for an experience like this. But if it is fulfilling a need and it can generate revenue, then uh it is an important aspect of our market.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Yeah, I mean, we've touched on these guys here and there as they've added and rolled out locations. I think for me, the where I feel like it has had the opportunity anyway for more success is when they add the hologram zoo as an added attraction inside of an existing facility, um, and it isn't a standalone hologram zoo location. Um and I think that's obviously where we come into the repeat visitation, where it is a draw, but it's not the sole draw. Because I would agree with you, I think if I've done hologram zoo once, unless they are cycling out and bringing in new versions, new attractions, like new attractions or you know, new exhibits, basically, because it's essentially like a museum, um like a walkthrough museum, science center type feel, um, you are not likely to return. And so I think that is an issue if you're standalone.

Hologram Zoo Franchise And Repeatability

SPEAKER_00 29:03

I don't think that them uh their business model works if it isn't a standalone franchise. Uh, I don't think that they can um put it into a additional attraction or a secondary attraction to a venue at the moment, but the technology is changing, it is very robust, and 46 franchisees can't be wrong. Uh so we will keep uh we will continue to keep an eye on this one. Moving on, and the immersive uh entertainment experience, we're going to touch upon this a little bit more in sound off, uh, but really what we're looking at is the continuation of the immersive entertainment experience that we saw with the War of the Worlds, that we've seen with some of the uh art and pompei uh edutainment kinds of experiences. You uh go through a number of rooms, you are given either a multimedia or a virtual reality uh uh narrative representation, move from one room to the other, hear the storyline, get pulled into the experience, thrown out through the gift shop. It's a proven formula, um, and uh you know we have some transparency to the company behind uh this uh this development, and we we feel that this is going to be the beginning of a trend in this kind of immersive experience uh installation. It utilizes empty space, it is easy to uh set up and populate, and the content is constantly changeable. So it can offer what I feel is a shared reality next fit uh next generation approach to the uh entertainment market.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

So it's 90-minute experience, and uh, you know, it is a singular walkthrough experience, and and it has the feel of something that is going to be pop-up-ish, or like that, you know, they'll last for a period of time, and then you know, it'll run in London, and then it'll maybe go to New York and then Chicago, and they might have a couple of different locations here and there that they're running at the same time, um, sort of fever-esque type feel that this thing has. Um, that being said, uh, you know, I think this is an interesting way as well to start providing some education. Um, so you know, you can go get a really interesting experience, a kind of dramatic experience as well, uh, but then at the same time walk away with some knowledge about Vikings that maybe you didn't have before. So uh there's a definite narrative thread that's uh meant to be carried through this entire experience, but at the same time, um, you know, you can walk away with a little bit of education, and uh, it's an interesting way to start delivering that. And I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing some smaller walkthrough experiences popping up in museums and science centers as well.

Immersive Walkthroughs And Edutainment

SPEAKER_00 31:49

I'll go into a little bit more detail about the edutainment kind of approach uh in sound off. Moving on and a transition in the Netherlands. Uh I have talked about the chain game box. Uh, they are a mid-scale route arcade uh franchise operation, uh, and along comes our friends at Gabe State, and they have uh taken over uh an existing game box facility and re uh refurbished, redeveloped. Uh you know, they they've injected life into the old body uh and they've created their signature entertainment environment. You know, it's it's a lot more just cleaning the floors uh and painting uh painting the walls light blue, also dark blue in this case. It uh the company also has some metrics and uh some uh internal models of how they operate their facilities, trying to give it a modern uh entertainment mix rather than going for the traditional. Uh we have 17 facilities out there in their chain, they're part of a larger chain uh of uh entertainment uh venues. And don't be surprised if we're going to see some other game boxes getting the game state treatment.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Yeah, and I don't know if it's just this location in Antwerp that they've rebranded to Game State or if it is all of their 17 locations they're rebranding. Um, but I will say at least the one in Antwerp, it's not surprising that they're uh at least, and I I don't we don't know all the reasons why they rebranded, but they do currently have 3.6 stars for their reviews, and that's over 450 reviews. So that is actually um, you know, that isn't like one or two outliers there. There's definitely a systemic issue with their locations, and so they likely felt like they needed to rebrand maybe some fresh blood, some fresh capital in there to help clean things up, and maybe some new leadership as well to try to shake up the management at the location level. And so uh that's my assumption um that was you know that driving that, but uh you know, could be wrong.

Rebrands, Airports, And Free-Play Arcades

SPEAKER_00 33:57

If you jump back a couple of sound offs uh back in 2024, I think we talked about uh uh our friends at GameState and uh the aspirations to take on certain game box facilities. We're now seeing the results of that investment. Interesting one here. Um, have airports have major delays at airport caused for various reasons. What do you do with angry, confused, and bored um uh uh commuters? Well, you stick a couple of free play arcade machines uh into your terminal and call it the Logan Arcade. Um I don't want to make it this, I don't want to be too flippant about this. This is a serious problem that um a number of airports in the US are going through with delays and cancellations of flights. Just as an aside, our friends at Chuck E. Cheese have actually uh thrown out an offer during January and February for people with families that are caught up in some of the airline cancellation and delay, so that you know they can come to their facilities at free or discounted rates. So it is a serious problem. Uh and if you're going to install arcade machines into your Logan's arcade, it's a problem that I think the airport knows is going to continue for a period of time. Either way, if you are a um, shall we say, a Bostonian arcade facility, you're gonna feel a little bit uncomfortable to know that uh you've now got brand new competition from the uh Boston Logan International Airport.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

It's not a bad idea. I mean, I think those machines are going to get uh, you know, I don't know who's who's trying to do the maintenance on the machines, but they're going to get absolutely obliterated.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

They're going to be rubble in a couple of these times. If you need spare parts and uh fiberglass and wood and marquees, I know a place where you can go. It's gonna be interesting to see. I wish, I wish, I wish that one of my trips, uh, so we say, around September time will uh hoist me past uh Logan so I can just stick my head in and see uh see the uh this machine is out of order signs on how many of the uh the units. It's going to be the best example we'll ever have for free play unattended amusement machines in public space. Yeah. Going to the uh shuts and sales, and we have sales, uh, our friends at Ryan. Ryan Family Amusement have been gradually growing their operation. They're on my radar, they're up to about 13, so as soon as they crossed the 10 threshold, they appeared. Um, they've just now uh made an acquisition, their latest acquisition of two uh Massachusetts uh bowling facilities. These bowling facilities look like they're okay. You know, they're they're they're not in dire straits, they're you know, they're reasonable operations. It's just now that I think under the Ryan's tutelage that they will be brought up to the level that these guys like to have from their entertainment operations. Uh it's nice to see this kind of move, uh, and we know that this is one of many that they are considering. So we have a kind of a power struggle going on, you know, in the uh the bowling entertainment sector uh for the acquisition of what some would call outlier entertainment venues. Moving on and closures. Well, we talked about this uh two years ago with the opening of high school uh in pool. Uh we commented about the issues with their name, we commented about their business model, we commented about lots of things. Um I'm not wearing my told you so t-shirt because I'm not that happy uh about the situation which they find themselves in. And uh trying to blame the economic climate uh is one thing, uh, but the pool facility just didn't seem to cut it. That said, our friends at high school have seven other facilities in their chain, and let's hope that those facilities learn the lesson from this closure.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

Yeah, it's you know, it's always sad to see one of these go down, um, but or or anybody's facility, anybody's venue go down. I mean, I'm not saying just this particular arcades, but um it is difficult though when you see you know, when we talked about specific things that were going to be issues for them and uh they weren't remedied, and this is where we are today.

M&A And Closures: Bowling, High Score, Atari Hotel

SPEAKER_00 38:52

And that's the point. If you're not going to even look at the issues, this isn't set in stone. You have to be constantly iterating and evolving. Uh, and some rookie mistakes were made here, but again, let's hope they learn from that. Surprise, surprise. We were talking about it, and uh I said I'd go off and try and find out what was happening to the Las Vegas facility and now shake the tree, and suddenly lots of rotten apples fall from it. Uh, so this confirms that the Las Vegas uh Atari Hotel, arcade hotel, is not going to happen. We'll go into this in a lot more uh in open and shut, sorry, in sound off, but uh one of the issues that I have here that I just want to touch upon is we really do need now to nail into those projects that were talked about five, four, three years ago to go back and see where they are, because if you don't shake the tree, you don't find out until uh you know you come across the LinkedIn uh profile of the company in question that's been uh deleted or edited. But again, not a surprise, but uh uh I think an issue that we need to be aware of. Moving on, and outside of our bully wick, but also discussed, uh, we talked about this in sound off. We will talk about this uh in a little bit more detail, but just for those of you that don't want to fall asleep during my sound-off uh discussion. The issues here is our lovely friends at Amazon have decided that their uh cashless just walk-in and go concept, both uh Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh. Uh, the credit card um AI-powered camera recognition uh grocery store concept is dead. They've you know they've pulled all of the facilities, uh they're going to be turning them into traditional uh whole food uh venues. And this news came a couple of days before the big news that Amazon is going to be dumping a large number of staff uh in the uh next, you know. I'm hearing numbers like 16,000 individuals internationally are going to be going from Amazon. Uh this is a major pivot in restructuring. The robots are to be blamed in some cases, uh, as well as AI, uh as well as a need to restructure in the current conditions. But again, it uh you know, maybe some of those uh Amazon Fresh facilities will be available for an arcade or two.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

Who knows? Maybe, I mean, I'm a little bit bummed about this. Like it was obviously probably ahead of its time, and uh, you know, AI just wasn't quite ready. I know there was a lot of manual work being done through through you know video monitoring and everything else uh related to this. It was kind of like the the you know, the wizard behind the curtain uh in Oz. But um, but you know, it had it was a cool experience, and I can wish that this was uh you know, I'm kind of bummed that this was just a little bit too early. We'll talk about it later.

SPEAKER_00 42:17

Anyway, that is it from this particular open and shut. The usual contact details to get in uh communication with me. Thank you to those that uh passed on some information recently. I am now deep in research regarding a large chain, uh courtesy of that info. Uh we also have hurrah! New Stinger Reports uh and new entertainment social arenas going out, and even a new uh uh virtual arena uh article going out. I actually did something over the weekend. Um again, please keep up with uh our podcasts and information, and that just leaves me, Brandon, to wish you a good one.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Absolutely. All right, we'll see you on the next opener check, Kevin.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

Have a good one.

SPEAKER_01 43:17

Whether it's perfectly flooring three, things want it to be every venue in our case for later yet.com.com. All right, well that was a great opening show, and coming up right now, we've got Adam Pratt in Arcade Corner.

Arcade Corner With Adam: New Releases

VR Pullbacks And What Still Works

LEI, Namco, And Design Pitfalls

SPEAKER_06 43:57

Hey everybody, the welcome to February. Finally here in January twenty twenty six felt like it was several months long for whatever reason that is. Maybe it's just because of winter. Although, at least where I'm at in Utah, we've had almost no snow. Um we've had fog, it's been cold, but uh for whatever reason, all these major snow systems are avoiding us. But, anyways, there's been stuff going on in the arcade industry, and so let's uh jump into it. As you can see on my screen here, we've got Angry Birds Boom by Raw Thrills. Um, they've launched a new software, uh new software version for it, which adds a jackpot feature to it, as well as leaderboards, and so this had been previewed at IAPA. I didn't get a chance to really try it out though. But uh, in case you have this game and you've been wanting to run it without tickets, you can do that and it will work just like a regular uh video arcade game does now. And that software is free. If you can't connect it your machine to the internet for some reason and you need the update, you can contact your distributor and they can help you figure that out. But that's not all. Uh LEI Games has been busy. They've actually announced uh two games as shipping. Uh one I don't have on the screen here, uh, but it was um the um Ubisoft All-Star VR system, uh, which was seen at IAPA Expo Europe, at IAPA 2025, at EAG 2026, and uh so that is essentially a follow-up to the virtual rabbits machine that um what LEI had uh trailblazed things with. Um it's just right now uh what's going on with VR, um if you're paying any close attention, uh Meta is um drastically pulling back. Um I've been seeing several LBE VR places um close up shop or lose uh their top talent and such. Uh Hero Zone VR just got bought out, um, and so Terminator didn't save them. And uh I know there are some people probably even watching this who are still very much in onto the VR promise, but it's like if Meta spends$80 billion and can't make it work and Apple can't make it work, then I think it's pretty clear that this isn't just this just doesn't work. Now, sure, will there still be VR out there just like we're seeing with Ubisoft All-Star VR, or there's Alpha Ops VR Strike or Godzilla Hydre Wars VR? Sure. Um, but it becoming this mainstream thing where we were promised multiple times that it would replace smartphones, it would replace laptops, it would replace all flax displays, none of that was ever going to be true. And there's a number of reasons. I'm not gonna get into all that. Um, but you know, if it still works out to a degree to still make money at the arcade, who's to complain there? It's just it uh the the VR Arenas, they're just uh seems to me there's not much evidence that there's that there's a lot of steam there. It's like sure sandbox VR is doing all right, uh, but that's about it. I mean, how many VR Arena companies have we seen come and go over the past 10 years that haven't made it work, that haven't uh been a success like Avatar or something, which was a stupid argument that I saw online uh comparing Sandbox to Avatar. But uh, anyways, I'm getting a little bit off track there. So Ubisoft All-Star VR is available and uh and from what I heard it tested out well. Uh, I don't know what its actual earnings are, but also this kaiju uh rampage. Uh it's hard to want to say wars. That's a different game from a different company. Kaiju Rampage Unite is now available. Uh, this is uh the second model for the kaiju rampage series. The first one came out as an environmental two-player cabinet uh from LEI in 2025, but now they have this four-player model uh with a bigger screen, uh, no enclosure. Um, it did get rid of the motion sensor camera, but there's still quick time events where you use either the buttons or the pistols to uh do those little miniature events and all that. But um that is both of those are available now. I didn't uh get a price on those yet, but uh you can contact your distributor who deals with LEI game stuff, and they can let you know. Um and then last but not least, we have uh releases from Bandai Namco Amusements. There's two video games that they now have out, and that would be Speedrider 40X and Mini World Motion. Again, both of these were at Hyapa. They were also shown in China last year. Uh Speedrider 40X. I'll just mute this here. Uh had a comes with a very impressive cabinet twin design, uh has your motion bike seat on it. But uh, what's unique about this, aside from it has a lean sensor, which some other motorcycle games have done before, it has a motion base, which other motorcycle games have done before. But when you pull on the brake handle, it unlocks the back of the bike so that you can actually slide it, and that activates the drift mechanic in the game. And it uh feels very realistic. I mean, granted, I've never actually done drifting on a super bike before, um, but it makes it feel like you're actually drifting much more than any other motorcycle racing game I've ever played. And then on top of this, the graphics are top-notch at 4K, 60 frames a second, look uh very good. Has an LED billboard on the top for the marquee, and just overall a very impressive piece. Uh, I'm still waiting for the price on this one, uh, but again, it's available now through Bandai Namco Amusements, as is if you're not wanting a racing game, but you want a shooting game that kind of has a Minecraft look to it. Uh, apparently, this title Mini World is an IP over in um uh uh in China that's uh similar to Minecraft, and but I never played it, so I couldn't tell you exactly what would make it different from Minecraft. Um, but this comes with a motion-based three guns to be able to shoot stuff at, and uh just go through that. Now, in my opinion, I did not care much for the game itself. I mean, I'm sure kids won't mind it, but uh just analyzing it from a gamer perspective, it's like this game needs a lot of polish. There were certain sequences where just it almost felt like it was glitching, not a or it was just poorly designed with how the boss battles and everything worked out uh on that. And so it just could have used could use some extra polish. Maybe they added some between when I filmed this and uh at IAPA and whatnot. But uh one of the things that annoys me a lot about a lot of these Chinese games, like you just saw there, is that they'll come up with these sequences where you're supposed to shoot the little circles, but it doesn't give you enough time because like the the circles are what they call bullet sponges, where it just takes so many bullets to destroy one that uh for you to destroy five within the time limit that it gives you, whether that's eight seconds, ten, or less, um, there's just not enough time to destroy them all. And it's like this is a problem with a lot of Chinese games and how they're designed, where they just don't seem to test it, uh, or they don't design it in a way that's uh conducive to servicing the player. Maybe it's more with the mentality of, well, we just want to kill them off fast and get their coins again. But the problem is when you do things that annoy players, it doesn't make them want to keep putting money into the game. It makes them want to walk away from it and never play it again. And so this is something that, again, like I said, this is more common with uh Chinese design games that they really need to stop uh designing it like that and uh find a way that finds a happy medium. So sure, you don't want it too easy so that people walk up to it, put in a dollar, and they win the game, they play for 40 minutes and they don't put in another one. Uh but you also have to figure out a balance there, and that's something that generally speaking, Japanese and Western game developers have figured out a lot better, and they're still trying to figure out in China. But, anyways, uh that uh those are the games that are available now, and uh, as we go into February, uh also the Storm Racer 2 will be available through Amusement Source International. I'm not I need to double check on this, but I think it's already available through Betson. Um but Amusement Source International is carrying that at a different price. And so, and here on the uh I don't know if you could tell on the video there with that boss battle. That was another problem I had with Mini World is that um during this boss fight, it was coming, he's coming down with his fist, and one of the targets that you're supposed to shoot went off screen. It's like that you should never ever have something you're supposed to hit uh go off screen where you can't hit it anymore. That just again feels like the game's cheating you. So uh hopefully uh if anybody that is involved with the design can uh hear my complaints about that, they can go and fix that. Or here's another example of it just not giving you enough time to destroy everything and it damages you and it's frustrating. But uh anyhow, that is uh uh those are the latest releases uh out there for arcades. Thanks for watching, and we'll catch you next time at uh on the RQ Corner.

SPEAKER_02 54:29

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SPEAKER_01 55:01

All right, well, thanks Adam for an arcade corner and bringing that to us from uh uh what was apparently you know dinner, uh, dinner or breakfast with uh in an aviary. I don't know. There's like birds going everywhere and dishes clanking and everything else, but uh good information nonetheless. And uh thanks so much for putting that together, Adam. All right, uh we've got Sound Off 108 with Kevin Williams coming on Tuesday, February 3rd. Uh, we've got several stinger reports also coming out over the next few weeks. So if you haven't subscribed to the LBX Collective or the Stinger Report, which you can do from LBX Collective.com, um, and then just clicking on the Stinger Report section, um, you know, or wherever you just put your email anywhere on the site, and it will get into there, and you'll get these uh upcoming stinger reports or the upcoming entertainment social arenas or every other publication that we email out. Um, and so if you haven't done that, make sure you do that if you want to get those stinger reports. And well, you know what? That's a wrap for this week's LBX show. This is Brandon Wiley signing off. Stay tuned and keep kicking ass.