The LBX Show #64 - Guest Gab w/Randy White on authenticity & more!

Sponsored by Intercard!
Sponsored by Alan-1!

On this week's show we track how adult-focused, social, and authentic experiences are reshaping location-based entertainment, with Randy White from White Hutchinson sharing new data on spending, time use, and shifting tastes. Open & Shut with Kevin Williams maps the freshest openings, risky bets, and quiet closures across the U.S., Europe, Japan, and China.

• birth decline and the shrinking kids market
• educated households changing spending patterns
• live events up, community venue time down
• social games plus F&B beating attraction-only models
• programming and seasonality driving repeat visits
• alcohol moderation and the rise of zero-proof
• food adventures as a core draw
• authenticity over IP skins in guest choice
• Taito, Genda, Round1, and Toca Social updates
• space efficiency, dwell time, and revenue per square foot
• mixed-attraction venues as the competitive edge
• what fails fast: empty space and weak F&B

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Transcript

Show Overview & Agenda

SPEAKER_01 0:01

When you win now to the LBX collective with your host Brandon Wynn, what do you buy the LBX collective?

FEC Summit Highlights & Takeaways

Amusement Expo Preview & Plans

Guest Intro: Randy White

Audience Shifts: Fewer Kids, Educated Adults

SPEAKER_03 0:21

All right. Well, welcome everybody to the LBX show for February 15th, 2026. I'm your host, Brandon Wiley, and we have a really interesting show lined up for you today. So we will dive right into a pretty brief news you should know. And I'm just going to do a little bit of review from the FEC summit that we just had and then talk about one other thing. And then Randy White from White Hutchinson will join us on a guest gab. Kevin and I join together with Randy, and we're going to talk about some of the audience and guest changes and trends that are taking place in the industry. And then lastly, we have a really robust and extended open and shut with Kevin Williams to review all the opening and closing trends from the last week. But there's some really interesting discussion that happens throughout that. And so definitely give that a full listen. And then you know what? We'll wrap up. So that is our show for today. First things up, some news you should know. All right. So the FEC summit tooth for 2026 for IAPA just wrapped up this last week. And it was a uh it was an it was an excellent, fun blast. Had a had a great time uh hanging out with everybody. And man, it's crazy that it just uh feels like it um, you know, it didn't happen just last week, I guess. I didn't really talk about it the the week you know before. Um, but we've got uh yeah, just a couple of pictures here. So, you know, we had some good trips out on uh to fat cats and to Pecan Lake and to KTR. Um and so that was a lot of fun. But you know what? Like what always makes the FEC summit so freaking special is how much time you just get to spend with everybody. So it's not like your standard expo where you're just rushing from one booth to the next and one education session to the next. Like there was some really good uh keynote speaker in the morning, some some good workshop there. Uh, but then the second day had some great education as well, some panel, some operator panels and some other discussion and um and so just overall really good education component. But like again, what makes it so special is hanging out with everybody in the industry and meeting new people. So obviously, they're they're good friends here. So, you know, we did uh had uh the mini golf and and long drive competition, and then uh the costume contest Sunday night. And so yours truly won that one. Uh dressed up as you can see there, like auto the caddy, uh, you know, basically the uh original caddy for Happy Gilmore and the first Happy Gilmore. And uh there's my buddy Nick uh dressed up as Happy Gilmore as well. And so uh, you know, then we obviously had to um Mike and I had to Mike Wincup and I from Galaxy Multirides and also do the beach, had to uh have our go-kart race, uh, our annual and what has now become an annual go-kart race to see you know who could eke it out. And uh again, got him right at the very last second, 0.3 seconds. So suck it, Mike. Um, all right. Anyway, I have that form. I can I can do that. I can have this form, I can do that, I can give him a hard time. But uh anyway, he's a great sport, he's so much fun to race with and hang out. Um, and then you know, had a great condo uh unit on the the golf course that had a great fire pit and had everybody coming out and just hanging out, a big group, whoever you know was invited, like come by and uh you know, we're mixing drinks and Nick and I are mixing drinks there and having a great time with everybody hanging out. So, again, that's really what makes FEC Summit so special. It is probably now one of my favorite events that happened throughout the year. Uh in it in I would say, with the exception of the North American Summit, which takes place uh every other year now. Uh, but the North American Summit and what used to be the leadership conference as well, like it's always about hanging out with people and getting to know them, building deeper relationships, and lots of really great things come from that. So, anyway, if you haven't been to FEC Summit, highly recommend you do that next year and uh and get going. So, all right, last thing in news you should know coming up in just a few weeks, March 16th to 19th. So in one month, basically, we've got the amusement expo. And it is uh, you know, they're talking about tomorrow's industry, today's platform. Not sure what that means. Um, I think maybe uh, but it says next is now. So, you know, okay. You know, anyway, whatever. It's gonna be a great show. It's gonna be a great expo, regardless of whether or not I truly understand what that slogan is. I mean, okay. There'll be some new things to check out, and uh, you know, and Adam Pratt's gonna be talking about that next week more on the show as well during Arcade Corner to talk about some of the amusement pieces that are gonna be there. And we're gonna be um, you know, we've got some announcements coming up, Kevin and I uh regarding excuse me, amusement expo. Oh my gosh, he is speaking um on those uh on that day or on March 16th about the social entertainment. So that's gonna be a great session there with Kevin on the first day. I think it's around 10 a.m. in the main auditorium. So definitely want to check that out. And then I will be coming in on the 17th, hanging out for the main expo days, 18th, 19th, and then sticking around probably one day longer just to go and see a bunch of the attractions that are around the area. So maybe we can all roll together and find a way to do that too and check things out. So if you're uh you know gonna be there, come find uh come find me. I'll be on the show floor walking around and doing some interviews and everything else. And so it's gonna be a good time. And again, stay tuned for hopefully an announcement pretty soon. All right, that is some news you should know. We'll uh see you on the other side. All right, well, coming up after the break, we've got Randy White joining Kevin Williams and myself for a guest gab. White Hutchinson, which is uh what Randy is a co-founder of, is recognized as one of the world's leading multidisciplinary feasibility design, production, and consulting firms. And they put out a fantastic research newsletter a couple of times, uh, you know, probably about once a month, maybe once every other month, um, called the Leisure E Newsletter. I could not recommend this enough. If you haven't um ever subscribed, go to whitehutchinson.com. You know, again, that is whitehutchinson.com. You can see that right down there at the bottom. And highly recommend you put that, uh, you subscribe to that newsletter, get it. It's it's phenomenal research, phenomenal for information. They they gather research and in and data from a lot of different sources. And so he always has great insights. He has. I've been reading his newsletter for 10 years now. He's been writing that newsletter for much longer than that. Uh, that's just how long I've been reading the newsletter and wish I had found it much earlier. But anyway, you can go to whitehutchinson.com and yeah, coming up after the break, we'll dive right into the guest cab. Intercard is the only cashless system designed, developed, and manufactured all under one roof. They introduced cashless technology to the usement industry and have been leading the way for over 30 years. Cashless system to InnerCard increased customer spending, get satisfaction, and induced revenues by up to 30%. Intercard is still properly serving the usual industry. And if you aren't already part of a global family of consumers, they hope you will become one too. All right. Well, hey guys, Randy, Kevin, having you on. Randy is your first guest, Gav. Good to have you uh on the on the show. Pleased to be here. Yeah, it's awesome. Awesome. All right. Well, let's just dive right in. Um, obviously, there's tons of changes coming down the line um, you know, over the last few years in how the audiences are shifting, what uh their desire for different experiences uh are. And so let's let's just dive into it. I mean, Randy, uh like maybe we can just kick it off. Like, how do you feel like the audience is changing and has been changing over the last few years?

SPEAKER_06 8:20

Yeah, there's there's a lot of things that have changed. First of all, we got a baby bust. We have less children. In fact, in the US, the peak was 2007. The birth rates decline Sing Seng. We've missed out on 10 million children. So children are becoming less and less significant as part of the market.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

You could go on to say all the kidults has uh taken over.

At-Home Time, Live Events, And LBE Trends

SPEAKER_06 8:50

Yeah, yeah, that's very fair, absolutely. Number two, we're getting a much more educated audience. Uh right now, about half of households in at least the US are headach by uh somebody with a bachelor's or higher degree. That's a significant increase over the last 10 years. We're spending more time at home. This is partly driven by the pandemic, but right now our data shows that people are spending 50 minutes more a day at home than they were in 2019. Spending on live events is up by about 40 percent since 2019, so they're shifting their preferences. Time spent spending at what we call parks and museums, which include location-based entertainment, it's a broad category, is down about 10% since 2019. Obviously, these are shifting to live and other events. In terms of uh community-based, location-based entertainment and museums, people are spending one and a half hours less a month at these venues than they were pre-pandemic. Then we have the whole thing about foodies, it's really a broader category. We call it food adventures, because a lot of people don't post, but they have all these foodie behaviors. That's becoming higher and higher. In fact, we now have generation alpha as foodies. They're being influenced by their millennial parents. They prefer a lot of them prefer sushi over chicken nuggets, just as a real quick example.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Food Adventures, Families, And Adult Focus

SPEAKER_06 10:48

The whole definition of what we call family time has changed. Gen X parents would tolerate taking their kids to Chuck E. Cheese, although it was just kind of a miserable experience. Now parents want to go places that work for them and they drag the children along. And the alternative is if they go somewhere, they want to, if it's not an adult venue, they want to do things with the children, not watch the children do things. So uh, and I'll give you two quick examples. So you can look at Top Golf or you can look at Dave and Buster's. They don't have a single game in there for kids, they're really 100% adult oriented. One-third of Dave and Buster's customers are families with kids. If you target the adults, you still get the families. The problem is if you target the families, you don't get the adults. And actually, the adults, the bigger market. I don't know. I hate the term family entertainment center because it says so many developers on the wrong course. The biggest market demographically are adults, and they're the bigger spenders. So, what's happened is people are now seeking new and unique experiences. Repeat appeal has declined. We have so many options and so many things to do. Why do same old, same old? And this has been validated by PGAV studies, studies we've done, a lot of research we've looked at. And then what is also very significant, we've had a decline in alcohol consumption. Roughly half of adults do no longer drink, and the ones who drink are drinking less. And many times they'll go out and do non-alcoholic or mix. I saw a recent term zebra group. They're like zebras with two different colors. So, I mean, that's some of the things we've identified in all our research.

SPEAKER_03 12:54

Yeah, interesting. Kevin, you were gonna it look like you were gonna add something there.

Social Experiences Beat Attraction-Only Models

SPEAKER_00 12:58

I was going to say, Randy, at the moment, regarding top golf, we we know that top golf's management are looking at some uh entertainment editions. They've been playing around with the concept of simulators, which I know aren't aimed at children, but they've also been looking at adding mini golf uh components to the top golf. It's important for our audience to understand, Randy, how you get your hands on this information, if you could, please.

SPEAKER_06 13:25

We do a lot of research. It's amazing, at least currently, our government here does all kinds of research on spending and time using all, and you can delve into that. Plus, there's a lot of independent companies doing research we get our hands on. Incidentally, on top golf, I would like to mention the majority of their sales are food and beverage. Yes, and that's a shift we're seeing in a lot of venues.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

That's fine away from alcohol as well. Yeah, so they're they're food, they're shareable and their beer has gone gone through quite quite the rainy. It is interesting how that's dropped. Sorry, Brandon, please. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

Well, yeah, no, I mean I I think that that's a maybe a good transition because if if food and beverage is one of the key revenue drivers, if not the revenue driver, for a venue like Top Golf that's so massively overbuilt for what they actually deliver and the number of people who actually come and play there or visit. What what could what implications in this this audience shift, this buying shift, this um really experience consumption shift, we'll call it? Um what how does that impact ultimately somebody who's in the family entertainment business looking to get into the location-based entertainment uh or experience industry? And like what are the implications ultimately for that? And like what are some of the things you think that they should be thinking about as a result of this type of shift?

SPEAKER_06 14:51

Well, we call it social gaming. I I can give you a whole thing about competitive socializing. A lot of those venues, competition is not social. Top golf is social gaming because they combine easy games to play where people take turns while they're simultaneously eating food and beverage. And what this is all about is that people are looking for social, highly social experiences. And I think this was triggered a lot by obviously the pandemic when we were isolated. So you need to look at creating social experiences. And the other thing we're seeing is you can't base things on attractions anymore. That formula doesn't work. You can have some attractions, but you have to mix in what we call programming. You have to have special events, you have to have music, you got to have limited time offerings on food and beverage because repeat appeal isn't there anymore. People are looking for new, unique experiences. Yeah. Does that sort of answer your question a little?

Seasonality, Programming, And Repeat Appeal

SPEAKER_03 16:01

Yeah, well, I think it certainly does. I think the um the the difficulty for that, right, is what if somebody needs or uh if they're building their venue based on that repeatability or based on something that is well, all right. So let me back up. Let's let's talk a little bit about the uh we'll call it social gaming. Although I think gaming has a negative connotation at some some level, at least in the US, um, you know, given around like casino channeling, gaming, that kind of thing. But but we'll call it like you know or social games you can call it. Social games. That's that's that's fine. That's called social games. Um but the you know, in that scenario, we run into and we see a lot of the types of attraction, or well, I'll call them attractions, experiences or venues that are a single experience, right? It's darts or it's shuffleboard or it's clay shooting or whatever, or it's some other sort of simulator, and then some really great F and B typically, right? We don't one could argue that's a second attraction, um, but it also could maybe be the primary driver. But if if you know we're trying to drive repeatability, if we're also trying to create new experiences every time, how should people be how should we be thinking about that type of social gameplay um versus something that has maybe a broader mix to be able to appeal to more people or to be able to appeal to more people over multiple times?

SPEAKER_06 17:23

There's a basic premise in marketing that most people don't understand. When you try to be a little bit of something for everyone, you don't end up being special to anyone. The markets are big enough to focus on a particular market. You always get the secondary market, like just like David Buster's does, you know. But the point is you got to have more than attractions and food and beverage today. You need to have music, or you gotta have special events, or you gotta have date nights, and you gotta program all these things in to drive that repeat attendance, you know. And it's also it comes down to programming, is what you're saying.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

So programming, special events, that kind of thing, added added experiences, enhanced experiences, seasonality. We talk about seasonality often, right? Um, you know, bringing different uh yeah, different uh experiences based on seasons, even let me tell you about the power of seasonality.

SPEAKER_06 18:23

We work in agritourism, which is an amazing industry. These are the farmers, okay? We have clients who in eight weeks do more than 200,000 paid emissions and gross three and four million dollars. That's more than most of these venues do in a whole year, yeah. But it's the seasonality of it, and what these farmers are doing is they're not going back and running other festivals and things. I mean, people are going to live events, they're going to festivals, they're going to music concerts, these are different every time. And that's the new competition, you know. That's part of the issue out there. How do you become more like them versus this old formula that so many people keep replicating, which is almost out of date totally, is just pure attraction based.

IP Value: Authenticity Over Wrapping

SPEAKER_00 19:16

And that is the key, isn't it? We're we're talking about, in a lot of cases, experiences in the entertainment side uh that are showing their age a little bit. They haven't really been upgraded for the new audience. And uh, to be blunt, some of our brethren in the amusement sector would find it difficult to embrace an older audience having spent the last generations uh vending uh redemption tickets. Yeah, just one thing for me, uh Randy. Um, you know, I I wave the flag of competitive socializing as a term just to get people to think about something other than amusement. But I agree with you that social experiences, I'll go with another E, shall we say? The social experience market does seem to be something that's happening. Hospitality, entertainment, socializing.

SPEAKER_06 20:10

But the other thing you got they we need to be aware of. This book just came out.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:17

And what's happened is this educated audience is looking for transformative experiences. They are not so looking for entertainment. It's we we're moving from fun to fulfillment. So they're looking for classes and cocktail things and learning. That's the new powerful attraction. And I've seen this in with some of our clients where they build some of this in to an event, and all of a sudden they start getting a much older market, they're getting more adults, and they're getting much higher spent.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

The experience is key now. You know, we've had the the publications talking about the experience economy. I just read a report from the new head of uh Walt Disney that is uh pushing the experience and the immersion. Our audience wants to take something away more than just some redemption tickets in their pockets.

SPEAKER_06 21:14

Yeah. So I mean, some of those components still work if they're mixed in with these other things.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

So you you mentioned Disney, right? So speaking of Disney, where does uh this is sort of a shift, but it's actually not like where do you see uh IP um coming into the mix, right? So you have uh dedicated IP venues, like obviously Disney at the large scale, Netflix house at the LBE say uh scale. Um but in uh an individual venue, where do you see IP is IP even have any value for a uh for an independent owner operator of a location based entertainment venue?

What Excites Randy & Where To Learn More

SPEAKER_06 21:54

A lot of these IP heavy IP immersive venues that are popping up are in major. Major, major markets, you know. In terms of the smaller operator, I don't see that as really key to the whole thing. You know, it's it's it's a different market in a sense. You know, uh it Disney is separate from some location-based entertainment venue in your local town.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

Yeah, totally. I think the question is, right, we see a lot of you know, pinball aside, right? Pinball is different, pinball would you know, very heavy on the IP side. But if we're just talking about amusements, uh, you know, amusement pieces and redemption gaming, we're seeing a lot of IP being overlaid over the top of potentially machines that have done well on their own that don't even need that IP layer. And yeah, um, but they it's almost as if they're saying, well, you know, pig basketball doesn't work anymore, so we need to layer which we need to layer some other IP on the exact same piece, and nothing you're paying more for it. So I'm just curious, like, do guests really even give a shit whether or not something is overlaid with some somewhat moderately recognizable IP versus something that just pays out tickets and is fun to play?

SPEAKER_06 23:09

It probably gives them quicker identification or something. I I think it has value in a game room. I would agree there that it makes sense. I don't know how you IP duck pin bowling or electronic darts or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Yeah, uh it's it's already been done, you know. They're uh yes, of course. Yeah, they they they wrap it so they have digital screens going into my fidgetal uh bully wick at the moment. They have digital screens, and whatever the flavor of the month is, whatever the film advertising or the IP, they're pushing those digital screens uh around the duck pin bowling uh lanes are now promoting that particular branding. It's as as I like to call it the wrapping paper. They are skinning, skinning these machines.

SPEAKER_06 24:00

I I think, yeah, I I would agree with that, but I don't know if that really increases the attractiveness of people making a decision to go there. They're just getting it overlaid on the experience once they're there.

SPEAKER_03 24:12

Yeah, so and that's I think that's that's maybe the point is like it's not an attractor, so why do it? I don't know. People are there, like why pay the extra fee for the license for that IP if people are there to play together, to build experiences together, and it doesn't matter whether it's duck pin bowling or duck pin bowling that looks like angry birds are falling down blocks.

SPEAKER_06 24:30

Yeah, and and I think also, and we're seeing this in agritourism, people are seeking real experiences, not these overly commercialized, slick things. They're looking for real experiences, so it can actually work against you.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

Yeah, it can feel alien, it can feel very alien, and there's also the danger of overload where we have too much digital screen, we have too much IP being forced down someone's neck. Authentic is a phrase that we're going to hear a lot of, linked with experiential.

SPEAKER_06 25:05

Yeah, and the the whole movement with AI is pushing people towards that.

SPEAKER_03 25:09

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think you'll see that backlash, people looking for something real, physical, or digital, like as Kevin likes to use as well. And uh yeah, authentic. So, Randy, as we we kind of wrap up this guest gab, I mean, what what is it that's keeping you enthralled, excited about um, you know, what's coming down the line for you? Um yeah, what keeps you engaged and excited about what this uh industry is doing?

SPEAKER_06 25:34

Well, we're just we're just fascinated by what we're experiencing with our agritourism clients. I mean, these farmers are entrepreneurs like you wouldn't believe. And they're on trend with a lot of this stuff, you know. Uh I also love, I well, obviously I'm into research. I'm a bit of a nerd, and I love doing our our newsletters. We do two of them. We do the leisure newsletter and we do an agritourism today newsletter, which uh where I the point is once if you can write about something, you can talk about it and you can apply it. So it forces me into really understanding all these trends.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

Yeah, excellent. Well, so then to that end, how would somebody be able to learn more about your organization, your research, get that newsletter, what where they need to go to subscribe and uh and be able to get get that to their inbox?

SPEAKER_06 26:31

So right to our website, White Hutchinson, H U T C H I N S O N dot com.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

Excellent.

Open & Shut: What Counts As Open

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Excellent. Well, Randy, I hope this isn't the last time that we uh have a guest gap together. It's been great to have you on. Kevin, as always, always good to have you as uh contributor, and we will definitely see you on the next guest gap. Okay, thank you very much. Every venue is two defense 15 is also free, clearly gets clear venue for more.com to learn more, it's almost one dot com. All right, well, that was a great guest gab with Randy White from White Hutchinson. And again, you should sign up for his newsletter. It's his leisure e newsletter on whitehutchinson.com. So get there, do it. And while you're at it, go to lbxcollective.com and then sign up for ours. Uh we send out multiple sting reports and entertainment social arenas, and I know there'll be a virtual arena coming out uh as well. And so there's a bunch of really great stuff that we send out on a regular basis, and uh again, lots of great good content that you need to keep up in the industry. All right. Next up, we've got uh open and channel with Kevin Williams.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Hey, a big hello to everyone, and welcome to the latest open and shut. I hope I find you well, Brandon.

SPEAKER_03 28:21

Yeah, doing well, doing well just here in uh you know in foggy Florida.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

So ready to go. On the road. Well, let's jump onto the road then. Perfect. And we are in February, as you may have all gathered, though it feels like we're still in December of last year. And one of the things that I need to clarify is the definitions that we're using here regarding the various openings and closings. So there are three kinds of uh operations that we're talking about here. Either venues that are in a soft opening phase, venues that have thrown their doors open and had their big party, and those venues that are fully open after going through a period of uh, so we say perder as in not reporting that they went through a soft opening period and you know they are now fully operational. Become clearer why I have to make these definitions later on. And as you can see, Shazam, uh, we're back to the uh the big rollouts now. We're seeing venues and operations that we knew were in the works, and we ain't seen nothing yet. Uh I always have to work a week ahead when compiling this, and I can always already tell you that I'm halfway through compiling the next one of this. So we jumped straight in, and our friends at GameState, we've touched upon them before in their relocation or re-development of previous sites. This is a brand new site that they've uh thrown the doors open in Arnheim, and you know, it's their standard operation, part of their 19 facility chain as it is, and they'll be soon announcing their 20th very quickly. But it is a reinterpretation of the amusement mix for a UP a European flavor, and it is borrowing very heavy from the ancient approach to uh a more FEC style amusement mix.

Taito’s Bootverse And The F&B Gap

SPEAKER_03 30:24

Excuse me. Yeah, this is when this what is interesting. Do we know if they took over an existing location? If this is if they were operating as another location, and then they rebranded Game State? Because the reason I'm asking is I'm looking here on their Google business page for Game State Arnhem, and there are 315 Google reviews already, and they only opened just a few days ago. And so there's no way that they had 315 reviews, and if they did in the last few days, then the 3.5 stars that they've had over the course of those last few days is not a good start. So either they took over an existing facility that was, and then they just renamed and took over the Google business profile, which may not have been a good idea given the current reviews, um, or they are really suffering right out of the gate, which I don't think so, because we've we've covered Game State openings before, and this is uh it's a decent reinterpretation of uh, you know, the I would say the kind of like arcade center at FEC.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

It's a confusing situation. They have taken over existing facilities, part of a previous brand, as we talked about last year. They made a big noise about that, and these have been updated, but the way that they are promoting and marketing this is as if it's a brand new facility. Um as you say, uh the TripAdvisor reviews tell me that this is not just uh uh a brand new facility. Uh the uh the Google reviews tell me that this isn't a brand new facility, but everything else tells me it's a brand new. So let's play the game of we need to go there and find out.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

Yeah, and I would say that look, if it isn't a brand new facility, that's fine. They've reenvisioned it, they've rebranded it, totally fine, but they should have created a new Google business profile in order to avoid the conflation of the poor operations and bad review that that existed beforehand to their new operations and new design, everything else. Um and it's gonna take some time now to have to lift out of that 3.5 stars hundreds of reviews at five stars to even begin to make a move versus just canceling out that old Google My Business and creating a new one versus taking over the old one.

Genda’s Suburban Push & China’s Mega LBE

SPEAKER_00 32:39

It's a perfect example of why so many companies now suddenly working out that they need to have a marketing uh officer that is competitive, social, uh, and entertainment focused, that they know how to uh launder their uh reviews. But again, we can touch upon that more in sound off. Moving on, and the Japanese market continues to emerge, evolve, and grow uh under the current conditions, and we have uh a brand new crane chain. Well, it's not brand new, but the interpretation in the presentation is being given a update. Uh the the location uh is interesting from uh my point of view that it is popping into a retail unit, and again, it looks like it is uh a brushing up of a previous venue that was there that is now being given the uh the cranukoza uh approach. Uh but they're part of a 1,300 chain of facilities. Not all of those facilities that uh developed to this level, some of them are much more traditional. Uh, but again, it kinds of shows the uh uh the changes that are going on in the Japanese sector.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

I was muted there for a minute. Um yeah, I mean this is it's it's it's interesting, right? Um they continue to just push out. Well, this is an interesting one for me, just that they continue to push out multiple different brands. And I mean we know that uh Gender does the same thing, um, but they you know uh think that some level of standardization would be helpful in like crane design and crane layout and you know, merch, like the mix that you're putting in, the merchandise, the mix that you're putting in those cranes and and and the the gas points. So anyway, it is interesting that they continue to roll out new brands within an already pretty significant sized group of brands.

Active Entertainment Expansions In Texas

SPEAKER_00 34:35

They're going through. I I get the feeling that they like with what we were talking about with Taito uh a couple of uh open and shuts back, they are also giving their brand a lick of paint and a brush up towards competing with that monster that's uh entered the room. Our friends at Taito uh have more than one chain. Uh so we talked about the Taito stations last time. Uh now we also need to talk about Bootverse. Bootverse was their uh concept for a kind of active play, social play older player mix, less on the amusement, more on the attractions, the pixel floors, the interactive walls, uh the immersive enclosure experiences. They are spinning this, you know, uh this particular uh venue is opening up. This will be uh, I think the third in the chain now. So they've been sitting around with two facilities open. They've learned a lot of lessons about what the audience wants. They've now launched number three. Um 16 attractions in there, many of them off the shelf. You know, Pixel Games is uh an off-the-shelf attraction that has been pivoted towards their needs. The the one thing that I'm fascinated about regarding what they've learned from the bootverse, uh rebooting the universe, uh, which is where the name's derivation comes from, uh, approach, is that they're pushing party games. And that smacks to me competitive socializing.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

Yeah, there's an really interesting 30-minute video which I'm just flipping through here about Bootverse, uh, because I'm not a whole lot yet out there because um I think they're still trying to experiment. But this to me feels very much like a play playground meets activate. And if you took the two and smash them together, um it's a little bit uh it's a little bit like that.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Missing one important component.

SPEAKER_03 36:40

I did I did not see any F and B, at least in the video, but there we go.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

No booze. And we can't remark that and we can't say that's a regional thing because we have examples of competitive socializing already opening up in Japan. So you would say.

SPEAKER_03 36:56

Well, no, I was just gonna say, I mean, given the amount of dwell time they're expecting their guests to have here, playing all the different attractions, you would think you would want you you'd capitalize on that just to, even if not to increase the dwell time because of the food and beverage, just to increase the per cap.

UK Social Golf, Round1 Scale, Toca Arrives

SPEAKER_00 37:11

There's an uh an idea that they could employ that is now being developed by some companies uh regarding how they can add hospitality to a venue that hasn't normally had a hospitality component. But as a consultant, I'm not going to give them any free consultancy. I'm just gonna say there is a solution to that problem, which is going to be a problem if they want to increase their dwell time. It's that Genda moment, and here we have an example of Gender parachuting into an existing facility. This facility was much more of a convenience store that had some entertainment components. It's been uh totally turned into a Gaigo, all of that has been removed. All of the crawl machines and the Gasheau and the sticker machines have been inserted in with some uh amusement and Bishbash Bosch. We have another addition to the ever-ending uh Gaigo uh rollout in the suburbs, though. So we're not, you know, we're not stuck in the middle of Tokyo here. We're moving more and more to the other parts of the islands uh uh that are important to the Japanese market.

SPEAKER_03 38:20

Yeah, um, just very interesting that they're taking actual corner store real estate. You typically see these in shopping malls and, you know, again, more urban environments. Obviously, even suburbia, you've got to deal with what you've got to deal with in your real estate. But um, it is interesting to be like basically in a corner store for uh your your cranes.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

Uh and it is what one of those things that Sega, when they rolled out the their Sega facilities in the Japanese market, they had that kind of build. So it is a little bit of a ghost of uh the previous uh amusement take up just given the Gender uh seal of approval. Jumping over to China, uh an ICI, um, the Netflix of China threw the doors open on their mega uh facility. It is quite a considerable investment and it's quite a considerable project. We're gonna talk about this much more in depth in sound off, but the point I really wanted to make here is this is the beginning.

SPEAKER_03 39:26

Yeah, this is absolutely the beginning, and um will be really interesting uh to talk about this. I'll I'll hold off other further comments until sound off. But um, do we know what the square footage or square meters on this is?

SPEAKER_00 39:39

No, because it's uh it's a split facility, it's uh it's not all indoors, there is some outdoors components to it, and uh trying to get the Chinese PR people to give us the acreage is like pulling teeth. So um maybe we're going to have to call upon the support of one of our uh uh viewers to uh or listeners uh to give us that type of information.

SPEAKER_03 40:03

Yeah, okay. Yeah, I was just curious uh to see how how much how the equivalency to Netflix house based on size, so based on footprint. So all right, well we'll dig into it more and sound off.

BallR Social’s Space Math Problem

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Looking at the video of the walk round, I would say it is three Netflix houses for one uh uh IGI land. Rule of thumb. Moving on, and we have uh area two five four. Facility's already been open for some time, but they have decided to add a considerable amount of new property real estate to their indoor active entertainment facility to incorporate a much wider or more diverse entertainment mix. They have added or improved upon their ninja course, they've added uh much more active entertainment, uh sports related, they parachuted in uh a Valo Arena, uh, and they've added uh to their amusement mix. This is that example from our previous coverage of saying you can't stand still, especially when you're in a locality that is showing popular interest. So rather than uh moving to a new facility, they expanded the facility they had, and we know how crowded the Texas market is for entertainment venues.

Rivals Social: Mixed Attractions Strategy

SPEAKER_03 41:32

Yeah, yeah, this is um this is interesting. It's like it's an interesting interesting iteration on active play. Um I think that you know I don't I don't know that we anyway, what am I trying to say? Um there's already lots of brands. I don't want to convince somebody not to go and shove something like this into another Texas town. Um and you know, the area 254, right? It's probably the varia code, I'm guessing. Um so not too uh you know, too much uh too creative there. Um but uh the you know that it looks nice. They've got some an interesting mix, at least, that they've put in here, some slides, ninja course, sports court, near the ballerina, but um yeah, we'll see.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

It is clear that they have seen uh how the market is playing and they've had to pivot themselves away from your trampoline and climbing wall uh approach that the original facility was more focused on uh and have gone for a heavier entertainment mix. But this is uh a sign of the times, as it were. Um it was pointed out to me that uh Fair Games uh in London uh that has just uh gone through acquisition was not the only carnival approach. You know, we also have the carnival component to our friends at swingers. Uh and it is interesting to see something like uh this uh particular facility in the Midlands in the UK uh offering that mix of uh carnival style play and femality, offering uh the mini golf gamification, you know, incorporating even a bit of laser tag and escape rooms in a complete competitive socializing mix. This is clearly aimed uh at a much older audience than an amusement facility or an FEC would be offering. But it's also developed by uh a company that has its roots in family entertainment centers in the UK. So this is, shall we say, a new string to their fiddle?

SPEAKER_03 43:42

Yeah, I mean, this is a pretty straightforward standard. Um, I don't I I don't mean to I don't mean to disparage, but it's a pretty straightforward standard indoor mini golf created. I mean, it looks very similar to holy moly in the sense that like you know, each each hole is themed and it's meant to be kind of a party atmosphere. Uh or in this case, I guess they say carnival atmosphere. So it seems to me like they're trying to uh emulate holy moly potentially here there in the UK. But um, you know, look, it's a good instantiation of indoor mini golf um and F and B. So uh, but yeah.

Premium Putting In Nashville

SPEAKER_00 44:15

This is the second in their chain. So uh they have managed to also keep up with fair games by opening two facilities, as you can see. Uh, and I would say you're quite right to uh to link this, excuse me, into the holy moly kind of approach of social entertainment. A nice level of femality that they've learnt from uh their competition, and in a marketplace that doesn't have that many uh equivalencies at this moment in time. That said, uh, you know, uh the competitive socializing market seems to be traveling up the spine of the UK, eating everything in its path. We will have to see how this one fares in the mix. Our friends at round one, you know, it's really confusing to keep up here with this. Um, you know, some some of uh our viewers will say, you know, haven't you talked about New Jersey in round one before? Did you know that there are now three round ones in New Jersey? So yeah, it's uh you know, maybe they know something that many people don't about how many of this type of facility you can parachute into one regional area. This is a 50,000 square um round one operation, so nothing to sneeze at. Um I would still argue that their marketing and promotional positioning is very vague on what this actually offers. Uh, I didn't see a sport tainment uh uh addition to this this particular site, though the search engine was catching fire trying to separate all the different uh New Jersey um round ones from the mix.

SPEAKER_03 46:00

I mean 250 machines is just absolutely insane.

Closures: UK Resorts, Retro Bars, Cinemas

SPEAKER_00 46:06

To be expected, they go heavy on the machines. Uh a lesson that I think our friends at uh Dave and Busters are going to have to take from regarding the competition that they're going up against. Uh if you are into your games, uh 250 gives you a good dwell time uh opportunity supported with F and B. Uh you may stay there to try the uh unusual cuisine that round one offers. That said, um, I also think that if you look at the way that they've laid out their bowling and the other entertainments, they are going for a much more social environment on top of their more traditional amusement mix. But hey, we will wait and see how this one fares. And then our friends at uh Toca Social. Uh we've been waiting a while for this, uh, their fourth facility, uh, very important here. Uh their first entry into uh America, USA. We we know that they have plans to announce their entry into the Mexican market soon, but uh 20,000 square, um, a number of uh social boxes, their playing environment, not a direct number on how many are in there. I think it's going to be about 18. Uh, and it is now a proven formula for them that they need to roll out in a mix that creates that uh dwell time that's so important to them moving forwards. I also noticed from some of the renderings for the facility that they put in a lot more amusement than in previous uh toker social sites.

SPEAKER_03 47:49

So this is going into excuse me, it has gone into Grandscape in Dallas. So um Grandscape is the same um area I've actually visited. There's an Andretti's, there's a Cosm, there was a you could go down this number of other attractions, but there was a Fixes. Um so Fixes was there, failed um like spectacularly, and then that was then shut down. Looking at where it was located, it doesn't look like it's in the old Fixes facility or building. It does, but it is in the same Grandscapes complex. So there's lots of other entertainment. Um, it's a busy complex when I was there. Uh, and so ideally, they're non-competitive with everything else that's there as well. So we'll have to wait and see if you know you can't survive at Grandscape in Dallas, then you probably are not going to be able to make it somewhere else in the US.

Esports Inside Parks: What Survives

SPEAKER_00 48:42

I call that uh that locality, that area, uh the equivalent of Las Vegas, really. If uh it is a proving ground, it is a harsh crucible, and it's part of the reasons why Sixes was parachuted into that. I know the space which Sixes used to inhabit is up for grabs by another competitive socializing brand, but hey, again, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Um, Ballar Social. I touched upon this in last year's sound off at one of those dark horses entering the competitive socializing and sporttainment market. We now had the doors thrown open after a period of soft opening. You see where I'm going, the soft opening allowed them to evaluate what they were trying to offer and also for some confusion to be built up. Because to be blunt, the way that Ball R Social was sold to many of us was as a much more gamified, toco social-esque kind of entertainment experience, maybe not using digital screens, but definitely using gamification technology and such like that. And what we get is a warehouse populated with uh a number of pitches, active uh entertainment systems, as in uh ball kicking procedures uh to test your skills and improve your skills, and a relatively interesting bar where the parents can cheer on their children. This ain't what I thought Ballar Social was going to be. Maybe the failures on my part on how I read their release.

SPEAKER_03 50:27

Yeah, I mean, I certainly thought that they were going to be much more aligned with like a token social um as a competitor there. Um man, when I look at some of the square footage usage, it just cringe. I hope they got that space for cheap because their revenue per square foot is going to struggle. The amount of empty space they have, in addition to just obviously having the pitches, is going to be uh it's going to be an issue trying to generate that type of revenue they need to, again, unless they just got a crazy, stupid cheap deal on that space.

Wrap, Upcoming Sound Off, And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_00 50:58

If they haven't got one of the best deals per square footage, they have created a millstone around their neck. Uh and the way that they've created their player experience, no matter that they may be utilizing FIFA's standard football pitches, it's still empty space when it's not being used as a uh football pitch. And again, there's the issues of you're going to need to have the lockers, you're going to need to have the showers and the toilets, you're going to have to have some level of support for the players in an energetic game. Um you're not that social, you're much more stadium. And uh, you know, those models, though the business model is slightly different compared to the entertainment sector. But we will wait and see how well they've done their research. Yeah. Another venue that has sidled from soft opening. So I've had many people jumping up and down at me saying, Why haven't I covered this? Why haven't I covered this? Well, when a company's in soft opening, sometimes they don't want to have too much publicity while they're in soft opening because that's the learning phase. That is the point where they find out that they haven't got uh enough lanes in their bowling alley, or that they need to remove one of their mini golf courses, or that the particular attraction they purchased is a piece of junk and they need to replace it with something else. Um anyway, our friends at uh Rivals Social, I always feel that's the wrong way around, but that's just me. Um they thrown open officially their 12,000 square, they've come out of their uh one and a half to two month uh soft opening period, and they now have their uh bowling system set up the way they want it. They have their uh bat ball uh attraction, they have their arena from our friends at Conduct R. They have their escape room and they have uh their putth hub, their uh mini golf area, as well as conduct uh parachuting in one of the first installations in the UK of their hotshots shooting game that we were talking about in our EAG coverage uh uh last month. It's it looks interesting as a facility. I don't think they've blown themselves away on themality. I think that they've been just trying to get this nailed down as a working business model. I know they've been going through the staffing issues and they've been working out how the kitchens and the bar issues, because that isn't their comfort zone, as it were. And I would argue that this is feeling a little bit like a test facility uh or showroom for uh for the conductor range, but uh that's that's just me being Kevin.

SPEAKER_03 53:54

So uh a couple of things here. First of all, like to be fair to us, we have talked about them on here, you know, on the show. So um we have mentioned that they are coming, and it may have been on a standoff versus an open and shut, but clear. Um but look, I actually think that this has a lot of potential. This that they are doing what we have said needs to happen in the competitive socializing space for a couple of years, which is to combine multiple experiences and attractions into an overall venue where people can come, they can do RC racing, or they can do shuffleboard and uh and putt hub, like mini golf, and then come back the next time and do hotshots and battle ball and bowling, and then come back the next time and do AR darts and enjoy some F. Every time enjoy some F D if it's good enough. And so I think it'll come down to operational execution, and and at the end of the day, like what type of vibe that they're putting off. If it's just a box with a bunch of things in it, then obviously that's not going to be exactly successful. But so far, what's at least visible online um seems to be like they've they've done they've done their work and they've got a alluring F and B and a great attraction mix so far.

SPEAKER_00 55:04

It's an interesting attraction mix. I would need to get to the nitty-gritty to see what the audience uh in this part of Kent feels about this. I'd like to see what competition they're going up against. It is uh uh shooting fish in the barrel regarding the mix that they have produced here, how they're going to handle their pricing, how they're gonna handle their special deals, how they're gonna handle their downtimes and their uptimes, are all of the minutiae that I get into regarding operations. Uh, I would point, though, this will be the first deployment of an arena system uh in the UK away from the Dave and Busters application, and I will look forward to seeing how well this is used uh by the uh target audience. Moving on, and you know, have vast space populate with mini golf, well, mini putting. So rather than your crazy golf or your putty uh putteries or uh your usual approach to the mini golf experience, we really see putt zone creating uh a short game entertainment environment. Now I have problems with the entertainment and golf uh analogies. Um this has 18 holes uh of course, uh, and it's gonna depend a lot on the F and B and a lot on the uh uh uh presentation. But so far, you know, the money has been parachuted into this and it has got the PGA support.

SPEAKER_03 56:44

Yeah, I mean, look, this is a beautiful facility in inside uh the space, and if it is meant to be there for like, you know, like I feel like it's a pop stroke sort of like elevated mini golf versus pure putting practice because it does feel mini golfish in there. Um, and you know, they're trying to have like the bar and everything else, but like look, it it looks like an alluring experience. I still struggle with like revenue per square foot for a building of this size, um, the air conditioning required and everything else um for the space. But look, Nashville is a uh is is like desperate for this type of uh this type of uh I'll say entertainment. Um, Nashville has historically um the FEC summit went to Nashville a few years ago, uh I want to say almost four years ago, and there was almost nothing to for us to go and tour. We toured like a curling facility and like in our big arcade, and it was really hard for us to find us meaning at the committee at the time to find things to tour. And in the last few years, a number of things have popped up in Nashville now. And so this is, I could see doing very well there as an ancillary to people coming for the music. What are they gonna do um you know during the day before they go out onto Broadway at night to go and check at all the bars and the music and the energy there, right? They're gonna go to a place like putting zone. So anyway, we'll see how it does. Um, it is still a hefty real estate lift for what they've put inside, but uh it looks beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 58:16

One thing I will add to uh your excellent points there is that I think one of the things that this has been created for is for uh corporate events and private hire. I can see the way that that has been laid out, that they can run a lot more corporate or private hire uh uh uh bookings than uh and there is not a lot of opportunity there for that type of uh uh hire, though it is a vast piece of real estate. You know, 18 polls may be standard, but when you put that indoors, especially in a not a purpose-built venue, but a venue that has been brought up to the requirements of that uh uh game experience. Oh, sorry, that sport experience, then uh you know, we need to be mindful. It may not be a model that could be replicated everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 59:08

Yeah, I think that's true. And I think it's you to your point about corporate groups and and you know, large groups that obviously go to Nashville, uh still a massive place for uh bachelorette parties or uh you know, obviously hen parties. And so like that stuff happens a lot in Nashville, and so I could see this being just one additional attraction that they go to. And look, five-star reviews, right? Five star reviews out of 31 people reviews. So they're doing something right here, even uh, so hopefully that translates to long-term sustainable revenue.

SPEAKER_00 59:40

Tiger Woods, better watch out. Moving to the shuts and sales and the definitions, we touch upon the chapter protections, the chapter 11s, or the uh moving into liquidation or uh administration. We deal with the closes here of facilities that have just closed their door, either giving us a reason or no reason at all. And that includes closing your doors not just because you're ending your facility, but you're just in the position of being acquired by another operation to be rebranded and relaunched, as we've touched upon in the openings. And those acquisitions are now becoming more and more prevalent because if you can't get it to work, there are a number of corporations that would like to have a go. So jumping straight in, and the UK sees another uh of its, shall we say, veteran entertainment facilities closing up. Um, it's fallen into liquidation as the media has reported it. Uh, the administrators don't really want to go into too much reason for the uh the closure. And there's been confusion. There's the claim that it's still going to be open during the season, but then will close permanently uh at the end of the year, while other reports have said that the doors are closed and it's not going to reopen. Whatever the truth is, this is the latest in a batch of UK-based regional uh entertainment facility, uh entertainment venue resorts that have closed down. Most of them showing a pedigree in the 1940s and 1950s, most of them outside of the catchment of major cities, most of them really needing some TLC. And this could be uh a venue uh which we will suddenly be talking about in opens uh the opening components of opening shuts that's been rebranded and taken over. I would argue that it will need a level of investment to bring it up to uh the quality needed for the uh sophisticated audience that they're trying to attract. And I don't just mean sophistication in the education, I mean sophistication in the available entertainment that is going to pull in. All of those carnival uh venues that we've just talked about earlier that are going to be targeting this type of audience. I know that there's a very young component uh to this particular facility. But I would also argue that there are active entertainment facilities within the catchment that offer an equivalent.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:26

Yeah, it's unfortunate, but uh we're seeing lots of closures for these types of theme parks? Question mark? Really more like local regional amusement parks, I would call them.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:40

Amusement parks.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:42

And obviously uh the condition uh of the venue in the locality, it's already got permission, so uh any uh uh realtor worth his salt will look at this and say, get rid of the machines and let's put some houses up. But we'll wait and see what happens to this particular piece of history that is disappearing. Uh how to break records. Uh, we seem to be seeing a lot of this, which is hey, we opened up in 2024 or 2025 and we're closing down. Uh and again, it's those labor of love vanity project, retirement 401 investment style entertainment venues where someone wakes up and says, I like arcade machines. Everybody likes arcade machines, let's set up a retro arcade brew pub. I'm not entirely sure that is the exact uh rationale behind this particular facility in Detroit, but uh to open in 2025 and to close in 2025 with only 40 machines and a media presence, a social media presence, which is worse to terrible, I think I wouldn't be surprised that this won't be taken over by a uh barcade operator because if you're going to build something like this, you're gonna go larger than smaller. But I wouldn't also be surprised that maybe uh there could be a salvation plan for the locality rather than the operation.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:17

Yeah, I'd be surprised, frankly, if it does survive. I mean, they were on quarters, the games. They were not on cards, they were not on tokens, they were literally on quarters. So you had to go and bring in cash, go put that cash in to get quarters, and then use that to play the games. And so it would have been better to just charge an admission and put it on free play, even, right? I mean, which is a which we know is not a business model that's sustainable, but neither is cash or go to an ATM to get cash to then put into a machine to get quarters, right? So that's that's where this model was just not gonna work. There's a vanity project, and it's sad to see that type of investment go under in less than a year, but um, like, come on, guys, come on.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:01

Yeah, vanity projects, death of all of us. Um, showcase. I point this out purely because it's one of those uh cinema operations that should have pivoted a little bit faster towards entertainment. It is a multiplex location, it's been going since 1989, sorry, 1998, and it is uh closing its doors uh in Boston, and I'm led to believe that this isn't the last of the showcase cinema chain to uh go through this process. But again, it is important to point this out. Uh, I am sure someone in the uh location based entertainment sector is looking at that real estate and thinking what they can put in there.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:52

Yeah, absolutely. That's uh I'm sure this is I'm sure we will not see something uh that is just like uh a gross. Store going in there. I think we'll see this reenvisioned as a new entertainment facility.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:04

Or a Dave and Buster's. Not a surprise. Actually, when I walked around this facility and reported back for uh sound off, I kind of intimated in the tone and sarcasm of my voice that I had a stopwatch running of how long Moonshots would uh stay. Moonshots, for those of you that aren't aware, was the breakaway, well not breakaway, but the pivot by our friends at sixes, uh, where if uh holding a heavy cricket bat uh and being shot at at high speed by uh cricket balls wasn't alluring to uh those in the competitive socializing sector, then we will try and pivot and go for a kind of softer version using baseball. Using the same uh fast bat technology, uh, even left the machines at where they were. They just threw in a lot more pool table and uh pivoted from British pub approach to American bar approach with the dining and the cocktails. It's a difficult location if you have a problem brand. This is not where you test a brand to go. It is a place, uh, this particular shopping mall, uh uh the Westfields we've talked about before, uh, is quite a strong proving ground for location-based entertainment. You know, just up the street, uh uh up the uh the block from there is a top Tocker Social venue. And put this next door to Tocker Social is chalk and cheese. And LinkedIn to the problems that Sixes is finding itself in. Um, it is a surprise, it lasted as long as it did.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:49

Yeah, not a surprise at all. Um I it was literally a moonshot, and they they uh it was actually probably further than a moonshot, frankly, in my opinion, when they announced this. And um, so it's an ironic name for what uh has been unsurprising in me.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:05

I'm sure base on Mars was already taken, so they had to go for it shot. Uh Kung Fu, not every closure is a closure based on failure. Um, from all of the reports, all of the reviews, this was a thriving, popular, um, retro-esque competitive socializing venue, part of uh a chain of uh two other venues. Uh, this particular site sadly ran into uh the landlord greed scenario or the landlord realism. Uh you know, the area is very popular, and I'm sure that the competitor uh retail and hospitality units going into the spaces surrounding uh this kung fu location that had tenure, it had been there since uh 2015, so it wasn't uh a new uh flush of entertainment. It had proven itself, the chain has proven itself, but sometimes when the rent is too high, you've got to fly. And I wouldn't be surprised if uh our friends there uh who uh this particular chain is run by a hospitality restaurateur uh operation, and I wouldn't be surprised their savvy will mean that they'll find a location very close by at a much more reasonable price point and they'll be reopening. I am willing to take that bet.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:40

Yeah, I would I would totally agree. There are other locations in both Fort Worth and San Antonio are crushing it, uh at least based on the reviews and some of the imagery that's that's available. So yeah, I would I would agree. Not surprised that they would, we would not be surprised if they pop up somewhere else in Austin.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:57

When I'm uh doing presentations, I always use the Kung Fu Saloons brand as a kind of boutique retro arcade uh distinguisher uh compared to your more traditional barcade and retro arcade uh kinds of uh facilities. This was a rent dispute where they voted with their feet, and I think that landlord may rule the day. But anyway, moving on, and you know, winding up, we have uh a difficult one here. It's the uh kind of the American equivalence to what we were charting at the beginning uh of this uh shut period. Uh a entertainment or attractions park uh that is in a scenic location, is very seasonal, seasonally controlled, and is in uh you know a part of Delaware where you know not everyone's going to want to crawl up the side of that mountain and jump in the gondola constantly. So it has a very uh limited uh uh repeat visitation component. They've fallen into some serious debt, they've overextended themselves, uh, and uh you know they've uh fallen into chapter 11. Whether a white knight's going to come along and save them, or whether this particular location is going to have to go through a major rethink about what it brings to the area and what it can charge and offer as an entertainment venue, uh, we don't know at this early stage.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:34

Yeah. Yes, too bad. I know we'll dig into it a little bit more in sound off, but um, it's all I'll reserve my comments until then.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:42

Uh another one we'll touch upon in sound off. Uh I staggered across this one due to some individuals pointing me in the right direction. Six Flags had put a lot of investment into their um esports components, and then all of a sudden um we didn't hear anything about it. I was lucky enough to be able to speak to the new, very new, uh marketing and media, uh let's call them executive that is responsible to uh answer these questions. They went away and did some digging for me and they gave me some observation on what's actually happened, which we can go off in more detail and sound off.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:22

Yeah. Um I'll just the only thing I'll say here before um you know before postponing everything else to sound off is that uh when this first when they first announced these back in 2023, I was highly skeptical that this would actually be a viable business model within a Six Flags. And uh, you know, unfortunately I happen to be right on that one. Um I have been actually into the E6 gaming venue in the uh Six Flags Fiesta, Texas location. Um, and it is actually a beautiful facility. It's well done, well appointed, like the rigs that are in there are excellent. Um and I was there to be fair before the park opened as a you know kind of a behind-the-scenes tour. And um, and so it was hard to say whether or not it was being utilized, but I do know there was an upper floor that was definitely not being utilized anymore, and it was they really just driving the traffic down on that bottom floor.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:13

Well, we'll give a little bit more uh granularity to uh what's actually gone on because funny enough, uh the the one venue that had the most investment into it, uh the Fiesta Texas venue is the only one that survives of the seven of the eight that were actually uh developed. But hold our fire there. Anyway, uh we've sold uh you enough on uh following up on sound off. Uh, but if you have any information, please uh chase us on LinkedIn. Please send the emails. We have uh some stinger reports out there, we have some entertainment social arenas uh now flying their way out there. Uh make sure you're up to date. Anyway, Brandon, that's enough from me. I hope I've touched on everything.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:02

Well, I think we've touched on enough for this open and shot, and looking forward to the near the complete open and shot ready for next week.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:10

Have a good one. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:20

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SPEAKER_03 1:14:52

All right. Well, that is uh that was a great open and shut with Kevin, and uh we had a lot of great things to talk about. And so uh already looking forward to the next one. And there's so many things happening and so many new interesting things opening up as well. Uh, but for this next week, we've got sound off number 110. 110 with Kevin Williams, and this is on Tuesday, February 17th. So just in a couple of days, if you're listening to this on Sunday when it releases, and um, and you know what? That's it. That is a wrap for this week's LBX show. I'm Brandon Wiley signing off. Stay tuned and keep kicking at us.