The LBX Show #80 - China’s Phygital Active Play, Park Avenue Open Day, & more! Artwork

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The LBX Show #80 - China’s Phygital Active Play, Park Avenue Open Day, & more!

June 07, 2026 • Brandon Willey • Season 4 • Episode 80

0:00 | 1:02:46

Episode Kickoff And What’s Ahead

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Turning you in now to the LBX show. With your host, Brendan Wyatt. What do you buy the LBX collective? Your community to connect, engage, and inspire.

SPEAKER_06 0:22

All right. Well, welcome everybody to the LBX show for June 7th. This is number 80. So we are making our way through up to those triple digits. I'm going to get to those triple digits. All right. Anyway, uh, we have a great show lined up for you today. First, we're going to dive into some news you should know. Got a few things to cover, and then uh we'll go into a robust open and shut with Kevin Williams to review all the opening and closing trends from the last week. And there are more and more opening trends, and we will talk about that uh that that coming up. Uh finally, Adam Pratt is back with Arcade Corner, and he covers Park Avenue Open Day in London. And uh this is hosted by UDC and ElectroCoin. And uh, and in fact, actually, Kevin Williams will go a little bit deeper into that in Sound Off as well, uh, because he was actually able to visit there. Um, but Adam's gonna cover a few key things from that event. All right, that being said, let's dive into some news you should know.

Where To Find Intercard Next

SPEAKER_06 1:22

All right, well, we've got our InnerCard lineup. This is a meeting with the experts for uh wherever InnerCard is, and they've got a couple of shows coming up. So uh some of them I'll be at, some of them I won't be at, uh, but uh we've got Asia Expo actually this week. So coming up this week, uh the ninth to the 12th, they are in Hong Kong, and uh you're gonna be able to catch up with InnerCard there. And uh, you know, again, if you have any questions beyond even just cashless systems and gaming, you can absolutely go and find them and uh talk with them. They have a lot of great experts, former operators who are working for them, etc. So, anyway, definitely a great resource. Uh, so then you've got Bull Expo, June 28th to the 2nd. I will be there in Nashville to uh hang out with you for uh, you know, for anybody. I'm just walking the show floor, seeing what's new in both the bowling industry, but also the attractions industry in general. And then they'll be at IAPA's Latin American Summit. This is in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and that is August 18th to the 19th. Uh, been to Latin American Summit in the past in Guatemala, and it's always a great event. And uh, I'm sure this one will be just as good. Then August 18th to 20th, the same time, not the same people, obviously. Uh, they will be at the Southern Amusement and Entertainment Expo, and this is in Duluth, Georgia. So uh that is where you can find Intercard over the next few months during the summer. Obviously, summer is a little bit slower uh because the events take off the you know, usually through kind of that July-August time frame. But uh, this is where you can find Intercard. So that is the Intercard lineup for 2026.

Roller Capital And Embedded Finance

SPEAKER_06 2:52

All right. So wanted to talk about a new announcement this week. Uh, Ad Yen, which is a global financial technology platform, uh, announced that Roller, a point of sale system for our industry, uh, has uh launched Roller Capital and they're using ADN as the back end platform for that. So basically, what this is going to do is provide uh Roller's users with really interesting, fast, flexible business financing directly through the roller platform using um uh you know ADN's embedded finance offering. So already, I guess, the partnership has seen about a million dollars in uh US dollars in basically business loans provisioned during the initial rollout to a select group of customers. Uh, this uh basically enables roller customers who you know are obviously like family entertainment centers, trampoline parks, et cetera, uh, to access really easy financing to invest in upgrades, staff, inventory, without like the hurdles you would get through uh legacy banking. So roller uh um basically I'm gonna dig into this a little bit further, actually, with a guest gab next week with Chris Rich. He's the VP of financial services from Roller. He's gonna be joining me on the show during a guest gab to discuss this new roller capital product. Uh, find it really interesting. This strikes me very similar to the Stripe capital uh components. So if you ever use Stripe to process your credit cards, they have a capital program where if you have subscriptions or you have things that, you know, memberships, et cetera, that have recurring and very regular, predictable capital and cash flow cycles, then they're able to give loans based on those cycles. And so my guess is and my understanding is that this is very similar product to that Stripe Capital product. And so excited to have Chris on the show next week to talk a little bit more about that. All right, this one is a little bit different.

Upla And Outdoor Trampoline Innovation

SPEAKER_06 4:38

Um, you know, I don't normally cover venues on the new uh news you should know, but I just thought this one was really interesting and beautiful and uh unique. Uh so there is a park called Upla in uh in just outside of Montreal, Northern Canada, and is the largest outdoor trampoline park in North America. Uh so they have uh a suspended trampoline course, they have slides and swinging vines and all sorts of things. They have welcomed 300,000 visitors since opening in 2022. Uh, so not a great high number of visitors, really, uh, when you consider the fact that they're actually surprisingly for Montreal, Canada, open year-round. And so they have different experiences. They have a fall experience and a winter experience. And if you go on their website, you see their pictures, you see you know, kids and adults and parents jumping in like full parkas um in the snow. But what's unique about this is it is one of those um soft play experiences, but it's the you know, the heavy corded and super colorful um things. So the snow might fall in, but then it soaks and and filters right through and onto the ground. And so you're actually, because you're elevated up in the air, you can have this type of outdoor experience. And it's really interesting. So uh there's ramps and vertical tunnels and slides. Uh, there's a whole dedicated area with uh slides and uh you know balls, and they even have a lounge that they've added recently that has uh you know that's suspended 40 feet in the air. And you can just basically sit on these cushions and just look out at the trees and the forest. And I'm sure in the fall, like there's so these examples on their website, just the colors of the trees are just phenomenal. Um, this part of Canada. And um, you know, and so they actually have a controlled rolling zone, they have um, you know, other walkways and connections, and so they've got these cool little like wooden cabins with like funky crawlways that go and connect them, and then slides that go back down to the ground, and then you've got you can climb back up, and uh, so all really super cool stuff. And they have a little place for kids, um, so it's dedicated space for kids five and under to enjoy alongside their parents, and um, then they also have a range rainbow tree village. These are that's what we're looking at here, which is the colorful tree houses, and uh, you know, they can walk from cabin to cabin. And then what's really cool is when the sun, I mean, you just see this just beautiful and vibrant and among the trees. And I just think it's a gorgeous core um trampoline park and course and ropes course and um and soft play, right? So it's like it's kind of a mixture of all those things combined. And um, what's really cool is at nighttime they transition and it becomes all these really bright, colorful lights. And they uh the evenings tend to attract teenagers and young adults. Uh, there's upbeat music that fills the forest. So they've got music pumping and they've got all these really cool lighting. And uh, you know, it's just a really interesting and innovative space and just gorgeous, right? Like it's just the photography is phenomenal. Anyway, it's $35 per person. If you're just kind of wondering, okay, well, what does something like this price out? If you're looking and considering doing something like this in your area or even inside of your facility, this type of uh ropes course, $35 per person. It's free for children, zero to two and adults 65 and over. Um, and then uh $10 for non-participating visit uh visitors. So, anyway, that is UPLA in this is their third location in the Canadian market. Uh but this one is just outside of Montreal. So uh anyway, just cool things to just wanted to cover. And uh again, here's like a little picture of them in the fall with those bright colored trees, uh the reds and the oranges, and uh it's just phenomenal. So, anyway, all right. So

Disney’s Muppet Motion Capture Robot

SPEAKER_06 8:01

I want to just touch on um, so some of you are maybe familiar with the uh the the changeover at uh at Disney World, um, the rock and roller coaster at Disney's Hollywood Studios um moved from it used to be Aerosmith, and just recently they were it was been remade to be the Muppets rock and roller coaster. And it's about the the band Electric Mayhem that is uh you know is trying to get to an a limousine, trying to get to the venue, and you go on this you know, crazy roller coaster. And and the coaster itself hasn't changed, but the theming and the storyline and everything else has changed. The music has changed as well, and so obviously, then the overall experience. Um, but the reason I bring this up is uh I thought it was really interesting what they had done to uh capture their uh uh audio animatronics. So obviously, Disney has uh has pioneered in audio animatronics uh figurines, like this was something that uh the Walt originally brought to the theme park industry, and its latest robot is probably the most unusual that I've come across. Um and it's the first one that made that used motion capture technology on a Muppet. So uh this is Scooter. So if you're not familiar with Scooter, he is the um uh he's kind of like the the geeky guy who like keeps the whole you know Muppet show and and you know typically is like the back behind stage manager who's the one that keeps everything running, the whole ship running. So he's used the right-hand man at Kermit the Frog. And um anyway, they wanted to build an animatronic version of Scooter for this uh for the rock and roller coaster. And um, they actually, instead of using, you would think, okay, they're gonna go about using a robot and make that shape like scooter, they actually did the opposite. So they actually did a uh they they recorded the real life movement, the movements of a real life Muppet performer. So they took scooter, they they put hand tracking, but they also put hand tracking on the hand of the the Muppet performer as well, and they created a robotic system that actually mimics the hand gestures using control scooter's mouth and arm stick. So it is uh, you know, so instead of it being a robot actually making scooter, it's actually a robotic hand and a robotic hand that's actually controlling a Muppet uh instead. And I thought that was really cool because then you're gonna get a very similar feel as you would of a Muppet. So I thought that was pretty cool. And uh, you know, whether it's news you should know or not, ah, you got it because that's me, and this is the stuff I like. So anyway, you had to listen to it. That is news you should know. Coming up after the break, we've got open and shut with Kevin Williams. Intercard

Intercard Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_06 10:40

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SPEAKER_00 11:19

Hey,

Openings Trend Snapshot With Kevin

SPEAKER_00 11:20

a big hello to everyone uh to this latest open and shot. How are we, Brandon?

SPEAKER_06 11:26

Um doing well, doing well. Looking forward to seeing you in uh in just like a week and a half.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

A week and a half time is has accelerated to great lengths. Indeed. Oh, and there's been a lot of acceleration in other ways as well.

SPEAKER_06 11:39

Yeah, absolutely. Well, let's dive into it.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

So, jumping straight in, and we can see that that blip has disappeared. Uh, and for consecutive weeks, we've had a good roundup of venues. Uh, I would point to a trend that I'm noticing. I'm already halfway compiling next week's uh uh coverage of new openings, and I am seeing a kind of a pivot towards a certain type of direction of new openings, but I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. For those of you that love the uh Taurus of Pain, there it is, and you can again see the slight skew uh in the new openings. Many of these are chain openings, so uh you know it is just more of the same, as it were, to expand your operation. So let's jump straight in.

The Cost Of Skipping Food And Beverage

SPEAKER_00 12:28

And our friends at Time Zone have two facilities uh opening franchises.

SPEAKER_06 12:33

Time mission just to be time.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

I have Time Zone on the mine for another reasonable. Um Time Mission, and you know, their uh 10,000 square foot of uh multiple uh active entertainment in arenas are rolling out. They seem to be a companion piece, as we were talking about in uh one of the last uh talks about this. LOL, one of their larger franchises, uses these as a cluster support. Um, where you know our uh the Chicago facility, from the information that was given over to me, I wasn't aware that it was part of the LOL uh franchise, and it may be another company, but again, that could just be an omission to a quickly rushed-out press release, again the same size, and again no F and B component. So this is kind of a escape room surrounded by other franchised entertainment.

SPEAKER_06 13:33

Yeah, and it's interesting because they're actually located in the I don't know if they're in the same facility, if it's next door, but there's a slick city right next to them, uh, according to the map. And so, you know, that's not a bad thing. Um, they are definitely non-competitive as far as the type of attraction mix, but um, and and you know, obviously we know that clustering is valuable when it comes to entertainment, uh entertainment options. Uh, I do think it's always a miss though when you don't take advantage of food and beverage. Um you know, you don't have an F component, even if it's uh uh, you know, even if it's just a uh a bar or something, you know, with some basic bar snacks or something like that, but just to boost both the per cap but also the dwell time. Um it just blows my mind when we see this. We see this with things like time mission, we see this things with like sandbox VR um and escape escape rooms, especially as well. Like this, for whatever reason, they don't see the value or the opportunity in putting in F and B. And I think it's a miss. I love the Time Mission brand. Um, you know, LOL Entertainment does a good job with the with uh you know their operations and all of their different models, but they really shy away from F and B, and I think it's a big opportunity uh missed.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

They're scared of F B. It is a subject that uh we're going to touch upon in a future sound off. Um, and it is a mentality, not just having a food or drink component, also means that you're not equipped to have a dedicated party room component. And as we've said previously, the party room uh sorry, the party group higher social engagement is a major factor in uh driving the current audience as well as achieving repeat dwell and repeat presentation.

Peter Piper’s Growth And Franchise Logic

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Moving on, and the um the ugly duckling. I I don't find them ugly, but they are the uh the sister that is never talked about, locked up in the attic. Uh, Peter Piper's Pizza is part of the CEC Entertainment chain uh that also has their chocolate cheese, and they've been quiet of late rolling out new facilities, but uh we've suddenly seen a spurt. And that spurt, I think, has been uh orchestrated by the new management of the C-Suite group, you know, sort of doubling down and ensuring that they have a broad mix. For me, Peter Piper pizza is a vanilla compared to the pistachio that is uh Chuck E. Cheese and uh and the Tuti Fruti that would be uh Chuck's arcade if we're gonna take that analogy to new height. The the issues are for me here, it is a pizza facility first with an entertainment component, and I can show you a number of venues in traditional uh out of the sort of the core city areas in the entertainment sector in North America that fulfill this. 123 facilities is nothing to sneeze at. And I would advise greatly the new C-suite at uh CC takes a cold hard look at what they're trying to achieve with Chuck E. Cheese, as well as what they're trying to uh achieve with uh Peter Piper.

SPEAKER_06 16:50

And I think one of the key differences with Peter Piper Pizza versus Chuck E. Cheese, at least in the North American market, is that Peter Piper Pizza operates as a franchise system. Uh, they have a couple of corporate-owned locations that obviously Chuck E. Cheese Entertainment or CC Entertainment uh owns, because you have to, as if you're running a franchise. Um, but the uh but I think maybe that is also one of the differences. Maybe they've brought on a new franchise director who is really driving franchise sales for Peter Piper Pizza and C Entertainment decided, hey, like we've got this thing, like why not boost it if there are people out there who want to own and operate these these types of chains. So uh that may be why we're seeing that boost as well. Um, and it could be just a focus, uh a new focus from the new management, as you mentioned. And so anyway, I grew up on Peter Piper Pizza. It was a very prominent, uh, it was a prominent facility here in the Phoenix market. And so uh, you know, there's actually there were more Peter Piper pizzas than Chuck E. Cheeses, actually, at the time. Uh, that's not the case anymore, but uh when I grew up, when I was growing up many, many decades ago, uh, that uh that was the case. And so, you know, it's nice to see that they're still continuing to move on.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Pizza Hut for your books, Peter Piper for your entertainment.

SPEAKER_06 18:04

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

The last time I had a Pizza Hut, and the last time I had a Peter Piper, I think I was surprised by the quality of uh Peter Piper. Um, especially uh one of the venues that was close to me in California in uh Los Angeles, uh they had quite a broad um pick your own selection when you come to pizza pizza buildings. We'll

VR Pop-Ups Invade Arts Venues

SPEAKER_00 18:30

touch upon this just more in sound off, but we are now seeing the virtual adventure VR free roam, multi-audience uh arenas, now not just looking at entertainment locations, but dedicated towards what I call uh flexible space galleries, flexible space, um not just galleries, but museum locations, as well as science centers and facilities like this. There's a quite a large selection at most major cities of venues that have been set up to offer exhibition, uh pop-in exhibitions. They're there for nine months, six months, whatever. They open, uh, they attract an audience and then they move on. Many of these now are looking at these sites are being attacked or uh approached towards whether they want to uh jump on the gravy train that is the virtual adventure large audience business. Again, I will actually uh go into the financials of operating one of these over a period of time. Uh, and you would you'd argue that the the financials have to be good because if you're opening now it uh end of May and you're going to be closing in September, and you've only got about 150 odd going through every hour, then you're you're really going to want to see some uh return on investment. But we'll go into that a little bit more in detail.

SPEAKER_06 19:57

So, what for those of you who are not familiar with The Shed, they are a uh performing arts and uh visual arts venue that is just really meant for uh bringing in artists uh to come and create things in the space, to uh have exhibitions, uh, they have actual studio space as well for artists to do the creations and to actually create their stuff that the artists can rent. Um, but it's an amazing facility. And I think it's really interesting that they're now looking at not just uh you know pure art, you know, creation, but they're actually looking for these types of pop-up experiences, like the Black Mirror experience, which is, you know, has a pop culture component to it as well as a visual art component. And it's like blurs the lines, I think, between pure art and entertainment. And it's interesting that you know, we're seeing this across the board for other museums and other types of cultural institutions where they're bringing in these types of immersive, quote unquote immersive XR experiences in addition to their classic art. And uh, I think this is something we're gonna continue to see on a regular basis, especially from venues like The Shed that are so innovative and cutting edge.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

This isn't new, uh, the first of the backpack uh free roaming VR experiences in the early days back in 2018-2019. There were a number of companies that experimented with an artistic feel to this. Uh, Backlight did uh a very popular um uh dancing VR experience that was actually held within the Barbacan uh theatre facility here in London. So it's not new, but it is now profitable, I think, and it is easy to operate. The other thing to bear in mind with these kinds of installations is that they are also riding off of the back of the immersive projection experiences that have also been used in these spaces. Moving on, and another venue that. In the art and the exhibition sector, this time in Taiwan. They have uh parachuted in a Wii VR. This is a mix. This is both a seated experience in VR as well as a roaming experience, as well as projection mapped. Um it's a part of Vive Land, uh, which is a division of HTT, the headset manufacturers who have been supporting a number of these uh kinds of virtual adventure systems. And I would actually say that these kinds of um relationships between a head-mounted display manufacturer uh as well as the content developer and the venue is something that is very lucrative, especially when you're dealing with high-level IP.

SPEAKER_06 22:48

Yeah, I mean so I certainly think it's it can be lucrative. I think it's interesting that they're actually partnered with the Taiwan Ministry of Culture. So this isn't just a partnership between a creator, you know, a visual creator and and the actual vendor. This is a three-way partnership between Weaver, HTEC, and the actual Taiwan ministry. Uh, so in the government uh partnership. So find it really interesting and um you know would love to actually experience this.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

I would yes, I would love to do this. There is something about what is going on with HTC and their focus now on location-based entertainment and enterprise going forwards that we can uh address after AWE in a couple of days' time when we'll have a lot more information to talk about. They are one of the companies that will be presenting uh at the event, and I think they're going to be dropping the microphone on their future plans, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Japan Arcade Refresh And Vertical Layouts

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Silk Hat staying in Asia, this time in Japan. We talked about uh Silk Hat taking over the Aki Harbor uh famous uh facility. Uh again, they're taking over a multi-level traditional uh Tokyo amusement facility uh that was well known. They've now spruced it up, they've applied the magic they did to the Aki Harbor facility, and they have now five floors of amusement and you know over 170 uh machines, medals, prices, videos. Um, from the video, I I would say that it's more of the same, but with cleaner floors and less ashtrays. One of the problems we've had with uh the amusement sector in Japan back in the day is that they were a haven for the smokers. And you know what cigarette smoke does to nice white walls and white machines. And now that the world has changed uh and you know, post-COVID smoking has gone away. These places look dirty, they need sprucing up, and I think Silk Hat is doing agenda uh and seeing a great opportunity to clean up, shape up, and increase your audience as well.

SPEAKER_06 25:04

Well, you say they're doing agenda. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up uh being uh becoming a part of Genda at some point in the future. But uh for those of you who are listening and who aren't familiar with just in general the Tokyo landscape and not it's not the amusement landscape, but just their actual physical infrastructure and architecture. You know, you think of 170 pieces of amusement, but over five floors, that is pretty much how everything operates in Tokyo, is it's vertical. So uh you have uh you know, you may have 20 pieces per floor, or you know, you have a cluster of cranes or mini cranes or gasapon or whatever on a particular floor, and then as you move up, uh you you have uh you know fewer pieces as the floors get you know, the floors change. So you think of a five five-story thing, this is not uncommon in Tokyo. This is how your their shopping malls are, this is how all of their uh types of um you know types of facilities are just multi-floor stacked on top of each other.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Tokyo, Osaka, um, Hiroshima, you know, they all follow this kind of verticality. And as one that's had to follow this market very closely, I can in my sleep see the layout of what this silk hat will be. On the ground floor, there will be UFOs, uh unidentified furry objects or crane machines with a couple of photo sticker editing pilots behind that. Second floor, uh, depending on the layout, they will have put the candy cat, there were the fighters. Third floor will have the DX, the simulators, and the dancing machines. Fourth floor will be interesting, that will be metal uh machines, and fifth floor will be the kluge of all of the others to try and encourage people to go from the fifth floor and work their way down. Uh I'm I'm sure someone will be able to walk around with uh a video soon and uh prove me wrong that they've just totally done it in the opposite. But that used to be the standard, uh, but in this case, minus the uh reams of smoke on the second, third, and fifth floor. Moving

Fidgetal Active Play And Wristbands

SPEAKER_00 27:10

on, and we have uh venture or ex venture. Interesting Hong Kong opening, active entertainment, but active entertainment with uh some gamification, some exagaming. So you've got the slides, you've got the trampolines, but you've also got the digital uh gamification, the big ball, the um the enclosed arena, the projection map, uh, and this also includes F and B within it. So there's 26, so kind of a scaled up or scaled down approach to what we were talking about a few sound-offs ago about um our friends at Joyopolis Sports. The interesting thing about this for me is that this is the breakaway from Kid Sania. This was the project that uh, you know, uh, as with Peter Piper, it was one of those projects that didn't get as much limelight when they broke away. Um, and now we're three facilities in. I think this is the first Chinese facility, if I'm correct. Uh, and it is again going back to what I keep on going on over Sporttainers and Active Entertainment. This is a model of what we're going to see appearing in the uh wider Western market very soon.

SPEAKER_06 28:30

Yeah, we're definitely seeing in the Chinese market more than uh you know, more than other markets, the integration of digital active play alongside traditional active play. So trampolines, climbing walls, but integrating much more of a digital experience, uh, whether it's uh from from uh LED floors to I don't know if that's an actual sissy fox or some ripoff of sissy fox, but it you know, some some alternative.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Coloring makes me think that it's the uh uni.

SPEAKER_06 28:59

Yeah, yeah. Uh but anyway, I mean they're they're just integrating so much more on a digital level than we're seeing an active play in adventure parks here in the North American market or even in the European market. And I think it's inevitable that ultimately we'll see this come uh flowing into these other markets, the Western markets.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Yeah. Uh it is it is uh a tidal wave that no one's going to be holding back. And if you're operating a trampoline facility right now that's looking a little tired, if you're not thinking about pivoting in a fidgetal sports tame and gamification direction, with wristbands, with repeat visitations, and in this case with FB, then you're going to have a very big surprise next year.

Minecraft Pop-Ups And IP Touring Models

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Moving on, and I was surprised at the number of Minecraft experiences that have popped up and moved on. Uh, again, kind of similar to what we were talking about with the um Black Mirror kind of experience going into available exhibition space for a short period of time. And so far, this uh 20,000 square foot uh experience has um turned up in Dallas, it's turned up in London, we talked about, it's turned up in Chicago, it's also done um, I think a European uh city or two, and now uh it gets its German uh installation. It's popular uh if you look at the uh TripAdvisors, and uh they're making uh Hey, while the sun is shining on this. How long this will stay like this, and whether we will can expect in 2027 Minecraft experience the return or the uh the quickening or the Christmas special, building upon the digital interactive elements of the projection mapping of this space, will be telling.

SPEAKER_06 30:57

Yeah, as we talked about before, this is uh, you know, we we have covered the Minecraft experience villager rescue in the past, and they're using these physical cubes, again, this digital type experience. There's uh and they're moving to different rooms and playing different games, and there's different interactivity with their devices. Uh, and so you know, I think that it definitely fits the pop-up, uh, the pop-up concept. This is not something that could survive over a long period of time, um, potentially in an uh like standalone uh unless you're in a market like a high tourist flow market, a high turnover market, like a Vegas or you know, a Chicago, right? The the Dallas market is a little bit confusing to me, but uh London could work as well. Again, high turnover potential uh places where uh you're gonna get that consistent foot flow.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

Toronto, London, New York, easy, no, you know, low-hanging fruit. When you start talking about Chicago and uh Osterhausen uh in Germany, then you know that they're now pushing it out to the areas that don't normally get the love from the big IP experiences. I would argue with you that if you had a decent content update path, you could drop in one of these experiences linked to the Cube and would have a compelling experience. And companies like Immersive Game Box and even our friends at VeloMotion are kind of going down that path. Uh, but this is on a much higher level of uh pop-up engagement and a bigger, bigger spend.

Gaigo Expansion And Sandbox Franchises

SPEAKER_00 32:34

Moving on, and it's that Gaigo moment. Uh, I actually had the chance to have a chat with uh our Gaigo friends uh in London uh during an event that we'll be touching upon in Open and Shut. And they continue, and we have another Chinese facility now. They're uh according to my records, their second Chinese facility uh in Shanghai. Um when I looked at the walk around video of this, uh, and I'd like to thank those that shared it, uh, I was surprised at how much retailer tame, Japanese-themed retailer tailment was at the front of the venue. It felt very much like a mall, a cross uh Bandai Namco cross store at the beginning, before we got into the crane machines and then the traditional amusement. Very high uh development factor. They're having to keep up with a very sophisticated Shanghai amusement market if you're not familiar with the Not just Shanghai, but other parts of China. Uh, then please uh have a look at uh Brandon's uh breakneck tour of uh some of the mortals there to see what they're going up against. And I think that they've stuck their flag uh in the in the ground uh at a relative quality.

SPEAKER_06 34:08

Yeah, yeah, I would I I would agree without having actually been able to visit one of these locations, it would have been great to uh, you know, I was in Shanghai, it would have been great to pop into a Gaigo uh to and obviously it's the second one, so there's not very many, and Shanghai is a massive uh city, but it would have been great to see their differentiation. And it looks like they are clearly trying to differentiate themselves from the other uh brands and uh that are there already in the market.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

I'm hoping uh that they'll open one up in Gender soon. So when we next are uh out there, we'll get a chance. I I'm very bad uh regarding the AAA show. I I usually stick to factory visits and the exhibition. I don't actually do field trips. So that's something that's gonna have to change with my itinerary going forward. And then sandbox. Um we have another sandbox open. It is getting us to that magic 90 number. Um, according to my files, this is the 89th facility. Uh a new one in uh Florida, another, another one in the Florida area. And I again I don't know that much about Solaris Solis Entertainment as the franchisees, other than that they didn't want to do F and B in there for any reason.

SPEAKER_06 35:23

It's another sandbox, another small box with no look, even if you're not gonna do food, do some beverage, get their little Tony the Tony robot thing or whatever if you need to, but do something. Uh, you know, anyway, it's just such a big missed opportunity. And uh, you know, that that they've they've got their model they're trying to stick with uh from a franchisee standpoint, so I hope it works for them.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

I saw robots at the Chinese show that could be dropped in as of entertainment, uh, and they would give them a coffee or a cocktail component without the vast expense of the previous robot cocktail robot they used. I know that some of the franchisees burnt their fingers using that high-level first generation uh robotic arm cocktail maker, but though, you know, sticking with one mentality, they're going to become a cropper. And it could it could be interesting when we get closer to the next financial round for sandbox, how they look at their franchise models. One thing we know about them is that they're very good at uh finding franchisees to uh uh operate their uh venues.

Closings Lessons From Flight 509

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Going to the shots, we have some shots. Um this was a uh uh a little bit of an unhappy one for me. Uh I knew the Flight 509 uh couple that uh had uh instigated this. Uh I was then a senior presenter with the uh FE uh FEU, the Foundation's Entertainment University. Um and they were one of those companies that came to a number of uh the FEU events uh that are run by uh you know uh uh our friends at uh AME, and they they kind of had a dream and an idea written on the back of a napkin, but they were adamant and they rolled it out, and there was a backstory to the Flight 509 branding, and the area was themed, and they worked very well with uh AEM, sorry, AEM, uh to get uh the funding uh and the right build and the architects and everything. And they rolled out their facilities two years ago, and then we knew something was up because suddenly, a couple of months in, we saw that they'd spent quite a large amount of money on rebranding. And sometimes when you're developing a facility for yourself, it doesn't necessarily follow that it's going to be appealing to the target audience that uh you're going for. We gave them a lot of advice and from the videos I've seen of the rebrand of the rebrand of the facility that some of those ideas were uh thrown out with baby uh and the bath water. And sadly, we now get the news uh from their social media field that the 22,000 square facility is closing after only 24 months. Uh, I am interested to see if someone else will take a punt at this purpose-built facility that they have created, or whether uh the reality of the catchment of this particular region was just not enough to sustain what I would call a new Orlando Leisure Entertainment.

SPEAKER_06 38:47

Yeah. Yeah, it's disappointing. We talked about this on Sound Off almost two years ago, uh two years ago, almost to the uh not quite to the day, but uh we did cover them. And you know, I had some concerns at the time around their name and their branding, and there was going to be some confusion, especially when you get in and you see their attraction mix. You know, it's laser tag, spin zone, velocity, mini bowling. They have a doff hurricane and then arcades. Like that's it. They call themselves they call themselves an adventure park as well, which is also a misnomer. We tend to think of adventure parks as things like climbing walls and ropes courses and trampolines and slides and everything else. That's a standard adventure park. And uh, this is not. This was a uh, I would argue a sort of like quasi. I mean, it's an FEC for sure, but it it basically is um, you know, they don't even have full bowling, it's mini bowling, it's it's it's a strange mix of things um that just does not really drive that level of repeat visitation and dwell time that you really want to see from your uh from your your guests that are coming in. And so uh I'm not I'm I'm a little bit un unsurprised, unfortunately. Um, but uh but it is always sad to see this this kind of thing happen, especially when so much love was poured into uh an idea.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

Uh hopefully not uh divulging any confidences. Um the Foundation's entertainment universe uh does a number of days of it's a boot camp for companies getting into uh the FEC market. It's a boot camp that actually tries to kick people out. We try and dissuade people from developing uh concepts because if you shake them hard enough and they're still game to develop it, then you've got a company that will go through the slings and arrows of developing a facility like this. And we also do on the uh next to last day, we used to do, I don't know if they still do this now, but you know, it was Ask the Expert, where you get a one-on-one uh with one of the experts. And as I was the XR uh and the Mercedes Entertainment and Amusement Expert in attendance, um, these guys sat down with me and they you know asked me questions, I gave them answers, and then I gave them the list of my concerns. Concern number one, Google search. When you type in Flight 509, you'll find out how to get to Cincinnati from the local airport, but you may not have uh an entertainment facility popping up. Number two, your name of what you're offering is not broad enough, and you're mismatching what an active entertainment is with a location-based store an FEC. The big one for me, really big one for me, is where are the bloody simulators? If you're if you have such a passion for flight, and there was a backstory that was very passionate about flying, why didn't you have flight simulators? You know, it's just set up. Why didn't you have a much more flying entertainment mix? And I was given a lot of reasons why, and it looks like those reasons one, uh, and now sadly, 24 months on, that price has been paid. I'm not suggesting that I'm a font of all knowledge or uh that everything I'm saying is gold, but if if a thicko like me can just spot those early uh uh issues uh without the operators having a clear um reason why they don't want to go down that path. What's the point of having nearly 40 years of experience to apart into people? But the couple, the family behind this are very strong, tight-knit, and they have a fantastic relationship with their audience as well as their employees. And I wouldn't be surprised if we see them bounce back.

AI Managed Coffee Shop Goes Sideways

SPEAKER_00 42:31

Moving on, and an unusual one for us, uh Andon Labs, uh getting close to closure of an experimental concept. We'll talk about this in much more glorious detail. But uh Andon Labs, who are pushing their uh Noma AI tool, has been experimenting into the vending industry and now into the bricks and mortar coffee industry. And the whole of that operation that was opened in Sweden uh was run behind the scenes by AI, by uh Noma, uh sorry, by uh Mona. And Mona was setting the prices for the coffee, ordering the uh the food, uh well, not food, but uh the coffee in these uh the supplies, as it were, uh was also handling uh the app communication and just being a manager. Mona actually hired human being employees to work behind uh the counter. You'll have to watch Sound Off to find out how much of a hole uh the AI system put that facility in after only a few weeks of operation. And if you look back to what happened with their AI powered vending machines, loyalty vending machines, in a number Of New York and LA facilities. We're seeing it happen.

SPEAKER_06 44:06

I'm really looking forward to this discussion on sound off. I will hold all of my comments until then. But I think this is the one thing I'll just say is I think this was the Anon Labs having some minor success in San Francisco with their Andon uh their Andon store, their Andon market, excuse me, in San Francisco, and thinking, all right, let's go and see if we can do this in an entirely different European bureaucracy and market and uh and and see what happens. And we've seen what happens. So anyway, looking forward to a further discussion in Sound Off.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

Ouch. Well,

Listener Tips And LinkedIn Requests

SPEAKER_00 44:44

that's it. Um, of course, hit us up on LinkedIn. Uh, we have some stinger reports coming out. I promise, I promise, I promise, sadly, being a little bit under the weather, but uh, we will get those finished for you. Uh, and if you have any questions or information, again, a big thanks to all of you that are pointing out these new facility openings ahead of the press releases. It's really helpful. Uh, and also it gives us a little bit of an eye-opener to what the press releases say and what the reality is. But greatly appreciated.

SPEAKER_06 45:14

Perfect. All right. Well, a great open and shut, Kevin, and we will see you on the next one. See you then.

SPEAKER_04 45:30

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SPEAKER_04 45:31

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SPEAKER_06 46:02

All right, so excellent open and shut. And coming up next, we've got Adam Pratt back with Arcade Corner, diving into all the great stuff from Park Avenue Open Day in London. Let's take it away.

Arcade Corner At Park Avenue Open Day

SPEAKER_05 46:28

That's because just news in the industry has been pretty dry for the most part. Uh, I mean, there have been things going on, um, mainly to come out of the AAA expo in China that took place a few weeks ago. And uh, we discussed that already. Uh LAI Games had announced that they are carrying Asphalt Nine Legends Arcade DX Plus, quite a mouthful there. And uh been following up or trying to follow up on a bunch of other games, but uh just so much of it's been hurry up and wait. And I suppose if I trafficked in rumors, I could uh keep clicks flowing and whatnot. Uh, but I just I hate that. Um and uh nobody nobody, at least on the video side of the industry, seems to like rumors, anyways. On the pinball side of the industry, it's uh big and oddly enough, a lot of rumors turn out to be accurate. Um the unveil of Steve Richie, aka the king of pinball. Uh his next game is supposed to be unveiled sometime this month. Uh is uh Jersey Jack themselves have stated that. The rumors have all been stating that it would be Sonic the Hedgehog, and a teaser poster that they put out seems to indicate that. Uh, however, um Jersey Jack's done some head fakes before, and uh I I was joking online that it'd be kind of funny if it was a head fake to a Lord of the Rings pinball, because the way that they put that the king returns, uh, and they had a circle behind his head in blue with the Sonic the Hedgehog blue, uh kind of referring to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie posters, but the language is the Lord of the Rings sort of thing. Um yeah, that would uh throw everybody for a loop. But anyways, as of uh this recording, that hasn't been announced yet as to what it is exactly. Um as well as I've been trying to get information on a bunch of games that were promised to start shipping in May and they didn't. And I believe that's due to uh parts delays and things of that nature. As anybody in manufacturing knows that even if you're lacking one part that it takes to put an arcade machine together, it's not going to ship out. And so if there's delays on any particular components, then that can push things back. And so I know uh Disney Speedstorm Arcade by Adrenaline Amusements is one of those cases. I'm not sure about Nickelodeon Cartracers Arcade by Andamero USA. I know that uh was also promised for May, but I've been trying to get an answer on that one. Haven't heard anything back yet. And we also have uh things that are shipping out in a limited sense. There's the John Wick Continental Pursuit by Blue Motion games, which hit Dave and Busters and is available internationally, basically available everywhere except for the United States. United States, it'll start shipping in August. Um, but uh I from what I've been hearing, that game is a little bit incomplete. I have talked with Blue Motion about that. Uh, they're going to be rolling out updates on that very soon, and it should have all three levels, but at least the ones that first arrived out there only had one level. And then um Stranger Things Arcade by Raw Thrills is uh as far as I'm aware, that is all complete. Uh, but just the way that they announced that is a little bit unusual. Where uh the announcement and the press release made it sound like it was available, but when I talked to them, they said it wouldn't be for a little while. And so I know you can pre-order it. Uh you know, same thing with all these other games that I've mentioned up to this point. You can contact your preferred distributor and place an order. It just may be weeks or even months before any of that stuff ships, which to me that's always a little bit frustrating to uh as an operator, uh, because with pre-orders, you don't get to only pay like a small deposit, you have to pay 100% upfront for something, and then you have to sit there and wait for weeks or months on end to get your product and for it to start generating revenue, and you know, that's just kind of sucks, especially for a lot of us who may not have a large buffer of capital to rely on uh to be able to get things uh or to be able to wait on things like that. But um, all of those things aside, uh, Kevin Williams sent along this uh Park Avenue opened a photo album, and so we will go through that together. And so this is a tradition that different distributors, such as Electrocoin and UDC, have held for many years. I believe this is in London, but uh Kevin can correct that record if it's wrong. But uh, this is basically a showcase of the latest equipment that they have available uh for their customers and clients over in the UK and across Europe. I've never heard of them shipping stuff out to the States, but uh still, if uh you find yourself operating in the European theater somewhere, then one of these products are available now. I'm not sure what their pricing is, just contact one of them directly and you can find out. And sometimes there are indicators here of other things that will head further west over to North America. Um, but from what I've seen, a vast majority of the content that we're gonna be covering today is um Chinese and right as that was thought was uh formulating in my brain, I'd move over to this very American product, pinball. Um, but uh Retro Arcade Specialist UK Limited had uh these three stern pinball machines, uh including the brand new Transformers, and so that's one of the few games that uh did actually ship in May, as opposed to uh something that was promised and didn't ship out. Um, but uh Pokemon, I've heard lots of things about that one uh performing very well in sales as well as on location. Haven't heard yet on Transformers. At first, when I heard it would be Transformers, I was kind of not excited at all. But once I saw the game and the different features, I was like, ah, yeah, this is actually pretty cool. It's definitely a strong fan service game. Now I watched Transformers as a kid, but I barely remember it because I haven't seen any of the episodes again since I was a child. Uh, but still just uh the they put some innovative features in it, including a uh what's called a split flipper mode, where one player plays on one flipper and the other player plays on the other, but it's a competitive mode, and so uh uh that that's pretty cool thing. Now, I'm sure you could implement that into pretty much any game, uh, but still that was uh a nice little touch that they added to things. Uh, but a lot of fans were also perplexed by the uh Optimus Prime toy, which doesn't really do anything, it's just what's called a bash toy where the pinball just hits it. Uh, and he also has tiny arms, almost like a T-Rex, uh, where he didn't have tiny arms in the cartoons, as far as I remember. And uh, and so like that that's just the only thing that seems disappointing about that particular game was the Optimus Prime toy. It doesn't transform, uh, it's not animatronic. The Megatron toy is animatronic. Uh, if you get the premium or LE models, and it'll move around and fire a pinball out of its cannon and such, but um yeah, but those things aside, it looks like a great game. Not sure when I'll be able to come across it. Looks like Retro Arcade is also representing Polycade, and uh, this is the first time that I can recall that uh Polycade has shown up in Europe, perhaps it has before, and I just missed it. But I haven't heard of Polycade doing anything different in a while. For a time, they were actually trying to add exclusive content to their platform. Um, if you're not familiar with them, it's essentially like I guess you could if you're familiar with Steam on PCs, uh, they have their own kind of licensed version of that and it locks things down. It's to uh curate, particularly curated games that they've licensed. So like a bunch of Atari IP because this is done by one of Nolan Bushnell's sons uh and some other games, and then it just runs on a timer as opposed to uh games specifically tailored for a coin op experience. This can work uh for coin op or pay-to-play uh or free-play sort of thing. Uh it's just in my opinion, I I've never really I can't recall a time uh other than maybe the 1970s where time to play worked, uh, where it made a lot of money. And then, of course, in a multi-game sort of thing, and you have that control panel that just has a ton of buttons on it. Uh, you know, for a lot of uh people that's just not very appealing uh when you're in an arcade setting. But you know, it may work in the right space, particularly a free-play arcade. Now, Electrocoin, this is uh they've long been a partner with Konami, and so Konami has been making some strides out west again, uh, but they've been very quiet about it. They haven't uh been set up with any distributors outside of in Europe with Electrocoin with that. But here in North America, I am aware that they are selling equipment to operators, but it seems like they're doing it directly as opposed to dealing with a distributor. Now I could be wrong about that, but unfortunately, just Konami's very quiet. And um, I'm aware of one person out there uh who I need to talk to and get some more official details. I know that they actually do have an IAPA booth, uh, like IAPA in November in Orlando, and uh they're gonna be in the West area. The maybe you could call it we could call that the doldrums from what I'm hearing about it. Um but regardless, if you're over in Europe and you want the latest dance dance revolution, go to Electrocoin, they'll be able to uh help you out with that one. And I can't remember what the subtitle is on that um one in particular. On uh we have uh football champ, which uh this is being carried over in the States by Jet Games USA, and it's called uh Football Frenzy, if I recall. This was that uh amusement expo. Um, but uh here it is where it looks like through Electrocoin and available just in time for the World Cup to be happening. Good luck to all those involved. Uh, have a number of redemption games available as well as uh crane variations, looks like egg cranes and capsule cranes and other things, and a variety of Chinese-made equipment, which uh UDC has been carrying a lot of stuff from various Chinese manufacturers for a while now and offering those into Europe. You have these uh very popular high-earning coin pushers, uh, where pop-by Disney divers, that's available through Elot, and uh looks the same here, Tornado, which over here in the States that's available through LAI Games, but UDC's version is uh a little bit different as far as the art package goes, but I assume that the gameplay would be the same. Uh Galaxy Hunter, I've heard a lot of things about this one that's also available through LAI here in uh the states, that uh is a very high-earning title. And uh some pay FECs are very, very happy with that one. Uh UDC's also worked a lot with Ace Amusement, and here's a few of those games from them, including Shooting Carnival and Biker's Madness Jet Ski, I believe that was. I think there was another photo of that. Uh, the latest version of Step Maniacs and uh Step Revolution, who makes this, has a new game on the way. It told me a little bit about it at Amusement Expo, uh, but um probably either IAPA Europe or IAPA itself is when we'll most likely see that. And just another angle, the Ace Amusement titles that are available to him. Oh, yeah, and the Elaw EClaw 2.0, which debuted at IAPA 2025 last year. And some bigger mechanical gun games, such as Gun Saloon by uh IFlying or A-Flying, I guess is what that company is called. Um, but uh it's kind of cool to me to see more of these electromechanical games make a comeback using newer technology. And uh there's probably a lot of stuff that can be done there. Uh some capsule machines, uh, those have been popular in throughout Asia and be becoming more popular in the West as well. Some redemption games, puck off. This is uh kind of looks like the zombie, is that zombie invader, I think that Katokata does, but uh with a hockey thing. Instead, another review of Racing Extreme, uh jet ski racer, that's what that one was called. Uh which we have not seen either of these ones out uh in North America yet. Um, so I'm not sure if anybody will be carrying those or not. But if you're in Europe and you're and you're interested in games of this nature, you're in luck. And uh this is something they've had for a while. I think the company's called Archer Amusement uh out of China, which is this is like My Mai, as big as My Mai, um, but is a variation uh or it's a unique thing uh based on that. I think mostly Chinese music, but I'm not 100% sure on that one. But dance show that's been available through UDC for a while across Europe, and some people giving those coin pushers a try and transformers and a ticket game, Colorama Plus. I remember Colorama from a long time ago, back in the 90s, as a redemption game, and uh so I guess this is a new one. But, anyways, uh we're a little bit uh past uh our time here, but that's the latest of what's happening. Hopefully, we'll have some more news here to talk about next week. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:57

Well, thanks

Sound Off Preview And Sign Off

SPEAKER_06 1:01:58

Adam for a great arcade corner. And uh as I'm on this week's sound off number 124, uh Kevin covers the recent Park Avenue open day as well as uh you know that Adam just did um and more on Tuesday, this Tuesday, June 9th. So that is coming up June 9th. And also, as you mentioned on News You Should Know, next week I'll have a guest gab with Chris Rich, the VP of Financial Services over at Roller to discuss their new roller capital product in partnership with Ad Yen. All right, that is uh this week's LBX show. Brandon Wiley signing off. Stay tuned and keep kicking ass.

Brandon Willey

Host