The LBX Show #78 - Captain Cacao, Immersive Fever, Summer Passes, & more! Artwork

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The LBX Show #78 - Captain Cacao, Immersive Fever, Summer Passes, & more!

May 24, 2026 • Brandon Willey • Season 4 • Episode 78

0:00 | 39:55

Welcome And Today’s Rundown

SPEAKER_00 0:01

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

SPEAKER_02 0:22

All right, well, welcome everybody to the LBX show for May 24th, 2026. I'm your host, Brandon Wiley, and we have a really great, simple show lined up for you today. First, we'll dive into just a few things and news you should know. Then we'll close it out really with a solid open and show with Kevin Williams to review all the opening and closing trends for the last few weeks. And there's actually not any closings, which is weird. Like really strange. There's just openings. So we feel like maybe there's something missing, like we missed something. I don't know. But uh, but there's a lot of openings. So we're gonna talk about those. And uh and then yeah, Chuck DeMonty is on vacation this week, and uh as is Adam. And so, you know, we're taking a you know summer. So we're gonna take some breaks. And anyway, we'll get back to the regular programming next week. But for now, let's dive into some news you should know.

Where To Meet The Intercard Team

SPEAKER_02 1:13

All right, well, as we like to start off with our uh our news you should know with the inner card lineup for 2026. This is where you can meet with all of the experts that have uh no, not just about the inner card platform, but obviously about the Family Entertainment Center and location-based entertainment industries with redemption and amusement and arcades. And these are the places they are going to be. Uh, they just were at the BCAO Bowling, so that's the Bowling Centers Association of Ohio this last week. So if you were there in Columbus, hopefully you got a chance to connect with them. They are going to be at the Minnesota Operator Show in just two weeks, June 2nd to the 4th. So, again, another great place to connect with the Intercard team. And then you have IAPA Asia Expo. This uh is coming right off the heels, obviously, of the AAA Expo that happened just a few weeks ago. And we had a big debrief from Adam on that uh on the arcade amusement side last week on this show. And then actually coming up in just two days, we've got a really good overview and debrief from Kevin um and uh on the sound off. And so just a couple of days. And so that is that you know, that's on the triple A expo. Obviously, this is Iappa Asia Expo coming June 9th to the 12th, and uh that is going to take place in Hong Kong this year, and then Bull Expo. I will be in the Bull Expo. This is coming up June 28th to the 2nd in Nashville at the Gay Land, the Gaylord Opry Land uh resort and hotel and uh in conference center and is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful facility. Uh, it's gonna be a great bowl expo. I'm really looking forward to it, and uh hopefully also the last one that is bookended by 4th of July. But that is uh nothing to do with InnerCard, just uh has to do with Bull Expo scheduling uh really bad dates. Anyway, June 28th to the 2nd, I will be there in Nashville, and uh so will InnerCard. So hopefully we'll see you there.

Epic Universe Builds Original Characters

SPEAKER_02 2:58

All right. Well, the next thing I want to talk about on News You Should Know is uh Universal Um Orlando's uh has their first anniversary coming up for Epic Universe, and as part of that, they're introducing an original character uh for some of their first uh first anniversary celebrations. And this character is Captain Kakao. He's the original bear character who, if you're familiar, if you've been to Epic Universe and into the celestial uh area of the celestial park area of of the Epic Universe, you'll maybe have gone into the moonship chocolates and celestial sweet shop. This is uh he is the bear character who has served as the face of that uh, you know, that sweet shop for us since they opened. Um but uh they now say that Captain Cacao is ready to meet new explorers as he travels the cosmos seeking the best treats to sell in his store, uh, moonship chocolates and celestial sweets. So one, I love that they didn't just open up a chocolate shop, but that they actually had a story and lore behind it. And now they're really taking the first opportunity to introduce this new character. And with the introduction of new characters, what do you have? You have merchandise now, you have plush, and uh, you know, he's a sweet, cuddly little guy. They, I'm sure, have had a chance to like, you know, test them with consumers over the last year. And if they're realized, you know, they think they decided, like, okay, you know what? He's gonna be one of the first like actual real life characters in this space that aren't you know tied to some of the universal IP. This is obviously like a custom-built character just for this park. Um, you know, the other all their other lands they have you know characters to meet with, but they're tied to the IP of those particular properties in those lands. This is specifically for uh for uh uh you know celestial park. And so uh previously when you know talking about him, uh there's this guy, they've explained that the lore behind this uh uh Captain Cacao. And there's another celestial park inhabitant as well. This is Maya of the Skies. Uh so I didn't actually know about Maya of the Skies. So this was a new one for me. I only knew of Cacao, which I'm having been obviously into the sweet shop. Uh but Maya of the Skies, apparently, is a young girl who travels across the cosmos on her moonship. Um she met Captain Cacao on an adventure and he became her navigator so that he could keep traveling with his best friend. So that's super sweet. And so now Maya of the Skies and Captain Cacao travel together and they travel across the cosmos in search of the best ingredients to bring back to Celestial Park and the moonship chocolates and celestial sweet shop, which uh you know has doors. If you've noticed that, uh doors there that are dedicated to the pair of them. So anyway, you can now, if you go to Epic Universe, you can now meet and greet Captain Cacao in the Celestial Park area, and hopefully you get a chance to do that. I don't know though yet that they've had uh that they will be introducing Maya of the Skies as a real life character in person, but uh you know, we'll see. Uh it is a young girl, so maybe not. I think the intention is like for you as a young guest to like put yourself into Maya's shoes and uh you know really connect with the bear. But anyway, that is it. Uh the reason I bring that up is funny as you should know, uh, because you know, one, you know, I'd like to talk about some of this stuff sometimes. Uh but also like these are these are great opportunities to introduce some of your own IPs and characters tied to yours, right? Like so you don't have to have just an FEC with attractions or just an active play park, uh, you know, or an adventure park with some things for for kids to do. Um, you can create lore and storyline and narrative behind it and create unique opportunities to one, not just find a way to engage additionally with your guests, but also to create other revenue opportunities. When you have a bear like this, you're gonna have things to sell, sell mugs with his face on, and so little plushies, like so those kind of things. Like there's other reasons as well, but it gives also some depth to your uh to your facility, depth to your experience, depth to your experience, and uh you know, another way for guests again to really interact, engage, and connect, and then potentially think of your facility when they see that little plush sitting on their bed or on their desk. So, anyway, this is just a great example. Obviously, it's universal, and you might want to say, oh, well, universal, they have all the money, they can create all this stuff and they can do it. No, anybody can do this stuff. So you can definitely find a way to potentially introduce a mascot of some kind and uh, you know, or some storyline or narrative or lore behind your park.

PopStroke’s $50 Pass Pricing Lessons

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Uh all right. So the next thing up on our news you should know is Popstroke. Popstroke has a 2026 uh summer pass. This is a hundred days of golf, they're saying. So it runs from this week, uh May 25th. So it starts on Monday tomorrow, um, all the way through no uh September 7th. Uh so it's a hundred days of golf, they say. And it is uh pretty it's a pretty impressive summer pass, actually. And it actually begs a number of questions here, but uh it is an it is a pretty significant summer pass. So for $50, you get unlimited putt putt at any pop stroke location all summer. So like for $50, doesn't matter where you are, you're gonna get at all pop stroke locations a unlimited golf. There's no blackout dates, there's no time windows, you just show up and you can play whenever you want. And uh it is again $50 per person. It's unlimited at all pop stroke locations. They have 21 locations currently. Um, and uh there's no uh restricted hours, and then you even get free scoop of ice cream when you sign up. So $50, a scoop of ice cream is probably five bucks. So for $45, you get unlimited golf at all pop stroke locations across their across their portfolio for um you know with no with with with you know unlimited golf with no with no restrictions. That seems pretty insane to me. Um also tells me that they may have uh somewhat of an issue with their moth hole, given the fact that they are again exclusively outdoor mini golf with some indoor FNB, you know, obviously indoor F and B and some TVs and entertainment and that kind of stuff. So like you know, they've they're a bar and restaurant, uh, but their entertainment's all outdoors. And uh depending on their locations, I know we have a couple of locations here in Phoenix, it's fucking hot outdoors, and yeah, you can go there at nighttime after the sun goes down, it does cool off here in the desert, but uh, you know, they're trying to get people out there to go and golf. And hey, wow, it's uh I do think it's an issue. But at the same time, look, for 50 bucks, if they can sell a bunch of these and get that cash flow up front, uh could be really valuable and really good. Summer passes are always great, right? Annual passes, member passes. Like if you don't have a membership program or a pass program of some kind, it's something certainly to think about depending on your model. But uh just thought this would be worth bringing up because one, if you have a post-work near you, it could be a just really good deal for you. Uh, but two, this is something to think about yourself. If you uh need to boost income and boost cash up front, but also help potentially drive foot traffic through the door, because obviously once they're here, they're gonna play golf. What are they gonna do? Get a beer or a cocktail or food, and they've already paid for paid for quote unquote golf, then they're more likely to go ahead and get that uh get the that F B and spend maybe a little bit more than they would have um on that F B. So they're gonna make up that per cap on the repeat visitation. So certainly something to think about if you haven't really contemplated a summer pass or some sort of like larger annual pass for membership, something to consider. And this is one good example and model uh to take a look at. All right, that is news you should know. Coming up after the quick break, we'll dive right into open and shut with Kevin Williams. Intercard makes cashless easy with award-winning readers, self-serve kiosks, real-time reporting, and flexible guest payment options. From plate cards and credit cards to mobile payments and QR codes. Intercard is the world leader in cashless technology. If you're already part of a global family of customers, we hope you'll become one soon. Visit innercardin.com to learn more.

Open And Shut Starts No Closures

SPEAKER_05 11:12

I hope I find you well, Brandon.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Doing well, doing well. Hope you are doing well. Uh hope you are doing well as well. Is that can we say that? I guess we can say that.

SPEAKER_05 11:22

I think I think that works. Uh yes, well, everything's fine here. Well, we're jumping into yet again another uh laden uh selection of new venues. We're going to uh zip through these ones pretty quickly, uh, I think, as uh we're not seeing major uh change. So a little bit surprised that we're not seeing any um pivots or shuts or resales at the moment. And I I I think that that for me is something that is concerning because I I like to see the churn. And not seeing the churn kind of tells you that there's a bottleneck somewhere. But anyway, we'll we'll we'll get to that when we move through. So jumping straight through for all of you that like the Taurus of Pain, there it is, updated with the new openings, and we jump in straight to Dave and Busters. We will be talking about Dave and Busters later uh in uh sound off, but uh really at this moment in time, we're now seeing all guns firing towards their plans for five brand new Australian facilities by opening their first flagship Australian facility. Uh you know, it it seems to, from the videos that we have of the venue um opening ceremony as well, it seems to be really a very bog standard Dave and Busters, not as much uh thality as we're used to, a lot of colour themality uh there. Um it has uh a bar, uh as you would expect, the sports bar, large dedicated screen. I didn't see any competitive socializing, I didn't see any social bays in the zip round in this particular video. Uh, and also hearing that there's only 74 uh amusement pieces as part of its makeup kind of also raised another flag. We usually see uh 140 to 200 machines placed in a Dave and Busters uh facility. This is the first one uh of their movement into uh Australia under Night Owl. And um, you know, we've we've hit the magic 180-ish number of Dave and Busters out in the market. We we can touch a little bit more onto what this means uh for the brand uh when we speak about it later.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

Yeah, I think the one thing I'll just call out because obviously we're talking more about this on Sound Off, but on their site, it took a it took a minute to try to get there, but under their our um under their play section of the specifically the Australian and in this particular location, a Clarkson and Perth uh Australian uh site, they have a picture of a conductor arena. So not your social base, uh, you know, definitely not the other social base, but the conductor arena, but they have it under redemption games. So they have that that's the picture that's above the category for redemption games. So I don't know if like somebody just doesn't know what they're doing who built this thing, they don't know what the the arena is, whether or not the arena is actually in this location, nobody's checking, but it's certainly not a redemption game. So it could just be either the fact that it's miscategorized or uh and they actually do have an arena, but I couldn't see it on the fly through either, or they do have uh, or you know, or they've they've found a way to make a redemption. And I was

Dave And Buster’s Australia Flags

SPEAKER_02 14:50

actually able to find uh another spot on their homepage. Actually, I was able to scroll down and it's again took a bit to get there, uh, but they do have another picture of the arena. So that does tell me that at least they have one conductor arena. Um, at least if uh if not two. I mean, again, they could have just grabbed a picture from one of their generic stock photos, but you know, presumably they're trying to at least show what they actually have.

SPEAKER_05 15:15

Yeah, I I just wish Dave and Busters was a little bit more um map-like in showing what's at the venue rather than you having to play the great game of guess, but uh it is what it is. Yeah, agreed. Moving along, and we have the rush funplex. And I am I'm in I've kind of grabbed a couple of uh the new openings of facilities that are over the normal number um of uh uh of locational space uh coverage, so we say. And 70,000 squares, nothing to to sneeze about. Utah uh gets gets its latest uh entertainment facility. I I'm suffering deja vu now. I don't know if it's the senior moment that I'm going through or whatever, but um I have we talked about Rush before? I don't think it's appeared on my radar before.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

No, which is well, so there's I mean, first of all, I think Rush, I know there's Rush Extreme, which has actually a number of locations here in Arizona, and also they've got some opened up in Texas, like in the San Antonio area. So I know that the Rush name is uh we may have come across, but I do not recognize this logo at all, nor do I recognize any of these locations. They're in a lot of Utah, Kansas uh locations right now.

SPEAKER_05 16:39

I I'm beginning to, I suppose, when we get to this kind of number of new facility openings over the last few years, you kind of get that deja vu moment. But this is this was a surprise one. Uh um, and you know, it it seems to be a competent bowl and uh attractions and uh you know the usual amusement mix. Nothing really jumped out of me from the research that seemed uh uh extra special. Uh and as you say, it's part of a nine facility business which hadn't really appeared on my radar. But again, we'll look forward to see how they uh succeed in Hurricane.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

Yeah, and you know, they do really have one of those uh spaghetti type attraction mixes. So everything from laser tag, mini golf, bumper cars, roller skating. They have a roller rink as well, uh to you know, go-karts and kitty carts, and then even some active play besides their arcades. So some foam pits and climbing walls, etc. So again, just sort of like a a really interesting spaghetti uh and and you know, they clearly have found what sticks, I guess, if this is their ninth location opening.

SPEAKER_05 17:45

Well, yeah, nine facilities can't be wrong. Let's let's see what the tenth one's like, eh?

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Right.

SPEAKER_05 17:51

Moving along and thrills, uh again, another kind of uh cookie-cutter approach, though, from the visuals uh that I've seen of this uh active entertainment facility

New FEC Playbooks Rush And Thrills

SPEAKER_05 18:05

as well as component. Thrills in Georgia look you know, it it looks interesting to use that phrase. Uh they are part of a three-chained operation, they are uh also trying to add a little bit more than just be a slide or a trampoline or an active play facility.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

They're offering a better yeah, and you know, they do they do have um I mean they have gone. I mean, so I'm I should be very clear, I'm I'm very familiar with this Thrills location, um, very familiar with the Thrills brand in general. Part of the reason is this location is actually implemented in teleplay, so they have the smart bands that are tracking not only their session time, their active play, so tracking activity, etc., but then also using the bands to um pay for all the arcade games, so so tap to pay, but then also uh a number of things that they have here, which I think is unique to most family entertainment centers of this scale, is that they actually have gated access to some of their rides. So they have some Dolph Robotics rides um that are there, like they have the monster truck, um, they have a couple of hurricanes, and they're they're actually the gating those um, you know, with some turnstiles, etc. So um, you know, it's a pretty impressive facility. The one you know thing that I'll I'll one ding I'll give them is uh, and you know, they they really pretty much hit their their actual go live date as well. But the ding I'll give them here is that they are opening, um, you know, they're in their soft opening right now, and um they don't have their their specific website up for this location. So when you go to this location and you pick it, it goes to a Google form that has just some information about uh, you know, if you want to um, you know, work, be you know, notified when ticket sales go live, etc. So to me, they should have obviously we've talked about this. A website should be live before you're sending out any press, before you're having any soft opening, you should have that. And obviously the other two other locations you can get a sense for what's there, but this location is significantly more robust as far as the attraction offerings. And I think they could be uh more ahead of the game when it comes to their marketing.

SPEAKER_05 20:18

Yes. Uh I I noticed that they also were pushing heavily, uh heavily in their marketing that they have a truck facility, but uh the uh simulator uh attraction there, which is one of the few installations that I actually have uh come across in North America. But anyway, yeah, absolutely. We wish them well. Yeah. Moving on, and we jumped straight into a cluster of sandboxes. We have uh our first Georgia sandbox that was bringing the uh operation up to uh 86 facilities, and then we also had on top of that the announcement of their latest Floridian uh facility. Uh fascinating that this particular information uh gave us a little bit more of a snapshot to uh this particular new operation. So the 87th site under their uh counting. This has five private rooms uh uh in support of their arena. It is 7,000 square feet, which uh I'm I'm trying to work out if that's the average size of one of their facilities, especially this. But the biggest thing that uh caught my eye with this is this facility will have some level of F and B. What that level is, I don't know. The press release was very sparse.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

Yeah, I mean it is tough to say. I mean, and when it says operated by Solus Entertainment, I'm assuming that

VR Growth Sandbox Smithsonian Laser Limbo

SPEAKER_02 21:50

is the franchisee in this particular case for this location. Um, and and maybe they have some background already in F and B because you know, really we don't ever see this for Sandbox VR location. Other than uh the robot cocktail maker. And so, you know, I I want to say that they're typically around 5,000 square feet. So that may be the extra square footage is for that VIP room and then also the F and B potentially.

SPEAKER_05 22:16

Yeah, it was the inclusion of that uh F and B that raised my eyebrows. Hopefully, we'll get a little bit more information when someone's wandered around uh this particular moving on, and you know, edutainment as it were, uh rather than being a dedicated uh entertainment venue. The Smithsonian has opened up uh an exhibit within their uh uh interactive uh area, uh what they call their immersive experience area uh at the Smithsonian, and they have uh dropped in a what I would call a uh a virtual adventure system. We've talked about this before on uh sound off with the utilization of you know a large area with multiple people wandering around uh that particular space wearing head-mounted displays, this particular experience developed by and uh uh also being supported by fever, which is very telling.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Well, we know that fever's been trying to get more and more into these types of virtual experiences and creating them. Uh I do wonder if this is uh you know how closely fever really uh I guess helped create this, or if they left it in virtual world's hands in order to uh, you know, basically in order to uh develop it, and then fever is just handling the ticket in the tickets in administration.

SPEAKER_05 23:53

Yeah, we we don't really have that much uh transparency towards if this is a direct fever involvement or if this is maybe with uh universe or with uh uh eclipso. But uh again, this is kind of following a pattern of those edutainment virtual adventure installations, and the Smithsonian installation is no slouch. Moving along, and putting your money where your mouth is would be the best way to uh uh describe uh the Laser Limbo uh installation. You know, for the sake of transparency, I have been speaking to the Laser Limbo's content developers. They have developed what they feel is a unique laser tag experience that uh uses mixed reality. Uh so there's physicality, there are physical obstructions in the arena space, but uh the the you know the shooting, the guns that you're holding, the drones that you're shooting at are all represented through the headset. Um the company is very new to the location-based entertainment sector. I I'll be blunt, they they made some uh schoolboy errors in assuming that they could do certain things with certain hardware and you know that you know they couldn't quite understand why the uh location-based entertainment industry hadn't fallen upon their feet and uh worship them as a new god. Uh said, you know, bringing new thinking to the market is not something to uh to sniff at, and you know, we wish them the best of luck. They tried actively to find buyers to install this into facilities, they found it difficult. Uh, and so now we suddenly see that they have put their money where their mouth is. They've actually purchased a space in Berlin uh within a mall location, uh, populated it with their entertainment system uh as kind of a proof uh of the concept. This will be incredibly interesting to see how this works. Um I I'm having my I Told You So t-shirt laundered as we speak. Uh, you know, I'm gonna stick my neck out and say that they will now understand from the coal face a lot of the aspects that we were trying to advise them at the time. Uh, that you know, are the hindrances and the issues uh regarding this kind of approach to the product at the market. I understand that a lot of the, let's call them phase two and phase three VR arena operators felt very strongly that they couldn't understand why location-based entertainment industry wouldn't just say, wow, this is fantastic, we'll drop it straight in. And why there were certain requirements. You know, this is a product where the operators, uh the developers actually thought at first that it would be uh self-service, that there wouldn't need to be uh an attendant. That has changed, obviously, and now they're going to run an operation.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

Yeah, I mean, this has uh is a little bit reminiscent of the Creative Works Limitless VR, uh obviously a larger arena. Um, but uh, you know, you've got the AR laser tag, they're you know a little bit more visually uh, you know, they're trying to do more with the visuals versus what you get with uh limitless. Um but uh I yeah, I struggle with this being a standalone location, especially given the fact that you're you're you're paying for this experience by the hour versus per game. And I think that is the one differentiator between limitless VR and uh you know in a laser limbo system, because you know, limitless, you're playing for a game, which could last five, you know, five to ten minutes, so it's fast play. You can justify having the attendant there. Um, and then you know, you've got the um, you know, and then you've got the this full hour, which is I think you know, untenable.

SPEAKER_05 28:03

And then moving on, we have uh game orbits. This one was a surprise uh to me again, uh another surprise it's a a very professional uh looking installation. It is heavily leaning on the competitive socializing side in uh in Italy. Uh I had to do a lot of research to try and find out exactly where uh in Napoli this was, and you know, was it coming from an established developer? Um but anyway, 3000 square, um, an eight-lane bowling facility uh component, VR attractions, amusement, redemption. I couldn't see F and B, uh, and the website is still at that kind of early stage of uh installation. So hopefully we'll get more information

Competitive Socializing And IP Attractions

SPEAKER_05 28:55

going forward.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

Yeah, and you know, to that end, look, okay, I guess if they're just opening, you know, uh some pictures are better than no pictures, but you know, as we've talked about before, um, you know, I have a real significant issue when you're using AI generated images for your own facility. Obviously, these are these are not even current gen AI generated images, these are like some old model uh AI. And uh so anyway, I think just some always cautionary tale, try to get real pictures of your facility and put those on your website instead of AI generated images.

SPEAKER_05 29:32

Yeah, it it's uh I get the feeling this is a new operation. And uh for me, those are schoolboy mistakes, but we will have to wait and see how the Italian market takes to this. Uh adding to the build-up uh of uh the World Cup previously about uh Tokosocial's Mexican and American openings. Uh, you know, they've really uh got a pace going now. Uh their sixth facility uh is opening in the glories of Paris, a very strong football nation. Uh, and so it would be fascinating to see how the Parisian market takes to uh the Turkosocial mix. Again, we looked at the uh imagery from the soft opening that they're currently under, and I couldn't see any major changes from uh the London venue uh approach, so I think that they really feel that they have a model that is worth rolling out. I personally uh feel that that is dangerous. There were a number of things that we saw when we first did the TOKA Social facility all those years ago now, um, that we would have hoped uh they would have uh addressed or uh added to. Um the secondary spend situation, um, the game presentation and their game bay uh situations have not been addressed. Um the only thing I think that they've been focusing on more is the hospitality and the pricing model that they've been uh trying to sort out amongst their partner venues. We will just have to wait and see. So we're at six venues. I know that we have another two venues uh planned for this year, and then they will be at a position where uh you know we will have to see the ROI is working the way that they're hoping.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

Yeah, they've really come out of the gate haul and ass this year with opening up new locations. I think this will be what uh like five if they open the two that they're planned to, five locations opened this year or six. Um, but you know, they've really scaled up this year. And yeah, I do have the same concern, obviously, as you do about uh their scaling a little bit too quickly with uh things being overbuilt more than you know, with 19 soccer bays, but no secondary spend.

SPEAKER_05 31:59

That secondary spend omission um is uh is going to bite them. I I'm I'm sorry, it's just the way nature is. This is their sixth venue now with the opening in Paris, and so we've seen them open three uh venues in quite short succession, if I can say that term. Uh, and we will just have to watch this very closely. We still don't know uh how their relationship with Sandbox went in the UK, uh, but this particular venue uh that's opening up in Paris is part of the relationship that the operation has with Westfields that they announced in 2024, where they felt that they were going to be rolling out five venues in Europe through this partnership. Uh I uh I am interested to see if Westfields is the uh the logjam in uh rolling out uh their European venues, or if it is just the market situation, or if it's even Toca Social that is uh looking at a little bit of a slowing down and then the speeding up of their rollout. Moving on, and this is an example of a popular IP uh being parachuted in uh as a kind of uh entertainment experience. The uh if you're not familiar with uh Miracles, the um uh what uh animated music, a little bit kind of uh K-pop, uh a little bit of Demon Hunters kind of approach. It has its own uh streaming series, uh, and this particular uh property has opened up its first uh facility. I am getting the Minecraft kind of uh uh uh feel of the live experience where you can walk around a number of rooms and you get various experiences. I'm also getting vibe from this kind of uh approach that they're doing here. Again, Paris, uh so the French market is definitely collecting uh location-based uh entertainment and experiential immersive entertainment venues. Uh again, this hadn't popped up on my radar. It actually opened up in April and has now uh fully got into its stride. So uh again, is this going to be a semi-permanent facility or is this going to be traveling the same way that the Minecraft experiences travel?

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Well, I would have said that their partnership again, another fever uh sighting, but their partnership with fever to handle their ticketing would have told me that this is a pop-up uh type installation, but that was before Fever really started doing more permanent installations and getting involved with those. So uh, you know, it's hard to say now. You can uh I feel like I can no longer just say, oh, fever's doing it, so that means it's just temporary. Um no, they're definitely involved heavily in ticketing for these types of attractions. And again, you know, here's more of that immersive entertainment that uh fever is really getting um getting their hands into. And it's a pretty significant collection of partners besides Fever to put this together. But uh it will be interesting to see if they decide to roll out this in in other locations.

SPEAKER_05 35:33

I'm not sure how popular this particular brand is outside of its uh uh European connotations. You know, it's not not on my radar, but I'm not their target demographic. But again, uh you know, this is the Monopoly Live, this is the um Minecraft, as I said, you know, the these are the kinds of pop-up uh high IP attractions that uh really define that transmedia uh sector that I keep on going on about. Moving on to the end, and uh as as you can see there, there

Why Missing Closures Matter Plus Next Steps

SPEAKER_05 36:10

were no shuts. I am skeptical that there ain't any shuts.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:18

So that's that's that's the reason why my skepticism is uh uh at an all-time high regarding why no shuts appeared on my radar. Is this uh is there a log jam? Is it because my bots were busy uh doing uh other stuff? Or is there a number of uh closings that have happened that are being sat on by administration or whatever to try and keep this uh quiet? I I will point back to the sixes uh information that I gave uh over two weeks ago about, you know, hey, we'd heard news that uh the venues had been saved and they'd found a buyer. When I come came back from my China trip, I hadn't received any information regarding that. Uh so that kind of raised alarm bells, and I am also worried that maybe some investors that have put uh funding into certain projects are going to be a little bit more draconian about allowing information out. The hackneyed phrase that I always whip out is success has many fathers, but a failure is an orphan. And I'm wondering if we're at that orphan stage where the messengers are being killed off uh regarding commenting on that. But again, you know, hopefully this is an example of success in our sector that there are no closures uh compared to if you look back at past opens and charts, you will kind of see a steady pattern of uh openings, but also with closures. We will have to wait and see. Anyway, there's our LinkedIn information. Uh we also have some Stinger reports coming out and some entertainment social arenas coming out. And if you have any information about closures that should have appeared on my radar, you can hit me up on email.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, uh great open and shut, and we'll see you next week. Have a good one.

SPEAKER_01 38:22

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SPEAKER_02 38:54

All right, well, that was a great open and shut. And uh for this week, we are back with an extended sound off. Remember, we took last week off since Kevin had traveled to the AAA Expo in China. And uh so we are back though with an extended one this week. Uh he uh you know, we'd cover the normal things, the normal trends and insights we typically do on sound off, and then he will go into his talking point segment and really cover a lot of the trends and things that he saw happening at the AAA Expo. And there's a lot to cover because there's a lot of really uh interesting, uh fun, cool things happening out there in China and the Chinese market and the broader Asian market. And so it'd be really good to dig into that. So stay tuned for sound off number 122 with Kevin Williams on Tuesday, May 26th. And that is a wrap for this week's LBX show. This is Brandon Wiley signing off. Stay tuned and keep kicking ass.

Brandon Willey

Host