As the industry continues to focus on providing family orientated fun that's value for money, InterGame looks at the family members holding the real power…the kids!

Anyone involved in the pay-to-play industry will tell you it’s all about drawing the family in to a location. While there has always been a focus on this key target audience, since the recession, which saw disposable incomes slashed for many families, it has become even more important that the industry markets itself as providing value for money fun that everyone can enjoy together.

However, while we can all sit here and tell ourselves it’s all about providing those games that families can “play together,”  attracting the young and old, male and female, all at the same time, if we’re honest the real power lies with the children in the family,  particularly when it comes to redemption.

Taking older children out of the equation (who, by the age of about 14 generally are far too embarrassed to be seen out with their family), children hold all the cards when it comes to family entertainment - keep the kids happy and the parents are happy - simple.  Yes it is even better if, once inside, rather than standing on the sidelines acting as a coat stand, the adults can enjoy themselves as well - a drink at the bar, a nice bit of food or even joining in on some of the games perhaps - but at the end of the day, it is the child that generally dictates how long the family will spend in the venue. If it doesn’t provide the necessary variety of entertainment to keep them amused, they will get bored, grouchy and want to go home and that’s exactly what will happen, regardless of how nice a time mum and dad are having.

##quote##"Operators should make sure their prize counter is front and   centre,  that it is well organised, brightly lit and offers a wide   variety of prizes for both genders, all age groups and different values."##/quote## 

Appealing to the children in a family is vital to any FEC. In some cases it is the only reason a family is visiting the location at all. “We have to accept that a minority of parents are in the FEC under sufferance,” LAI Games’ Marshall Ashdown tells us. “Some don’t enjoy or want to play the games but they are happy to see their children having fun and will join in when necessary.

“Also, very young children want to see games targeted at them.  Otherwise they can get bored and fractious and this will significantly reduce the time and spend of a typical family in the FEC.”

So which games do operators choose?

What do they need to look for and how do they get the right balance? Children are attracted to the same things that adults are, just on a bigger scale. It’s all about satisfying their senses, so colours need to be bolder, lights should be brighter and sounds louder.

UK-based distributor UDC has a wealth of experience in what works and what doesn’t as far as children’s games go and the company’s Matt Bland tells us: “Younger players are attracted to what they recognise and find appealing so attract sounds and music are as important as engaging designs. Increasingly we’re seeing the use of integrated video displays where the video has no bearing on the game (such as cranes),  just to attract players. It provides an extra way of promoting the prizes/plush inside the crane that can be more eye catching and can also be accompanied by recognisable jingles, music and other audio prompting customers to play.

“Young kids are drawn to bright coloured cabinets but you also need to ensure that the playfield and controls can be seen and operated by smaller children,” Bland adds, “and the option for ‘steps’ so that kids can reach or see is always worthwhile.”

Evidence of how important easy access to a playfield is to a game’s success is reflected in Coastal Amusements’ Operation game. While based on a child’s board game, according to Bob Boals of US distributor Betson, this game did not perform as well as expected. While it is a kid’s title, the children could not see the game play very well based on the way the cabinet was configured and so it under-performed.

Going back to Bland’s point that children are attracted to things they recognise, you would think the obvious choice when it comes to designing games would be to focus heavily on a licence of some kind.

“While many games do use licensed characters, the process of getting approval from licence holders often results in expensive and time consuming delays and charges,” says Bland. “Manufacturers would prefer, if they’re able, to create their own IP, but the chances of a hit are greater with a licence,” he said. “While brand recognition can help with video games such as Terminator and Rambo and AWPs like Pub Landlord, relatively few redemption games opt to go down this route.  There have been success stories with SpongeBob and The Simpsons, but they make up a tiny fraction of the overall market for this type of game.”

While there is plenty of licensed product in the industry, they tend to be saved for the prize area of a location rather than the games themselves as a lot tend to be ‘fleeting licences’ rather than evergreen ones, which will stick around for a long time and always do well with players, as Harry Levy of Harry Levy Amusements in the UK, explains: “A licence such as Batman is always popular and this did very well as a whacker game for us. But then there are those that are not around for as long but do very well for a season or two, such as the Meerkats from the car insurance advert in the UK. It is a hot licence right now but may not be around in a few years’ time. Similarly we did very well with Crazy Frog back in the day, but it is clearly not as current now.”

For Ashdown, the licensed games sector is very fickle as well as congested and fast changing. “For a plush manufacturer with a short development/sales cycle this is not a problem,” he says. “But as a manufacturer of games we prefer to focus on our own generic designs for children’s games in order to maintain longevity of appeal as operators expect our games to generate good returns for 10 years or more. The danger with licensed games is that the character has a short life span and one year down the line it has no appeal to the target audience.”

LAI’s Willie Wheels and Little Masterpiece games are directly targeted at children rather than families and, according to Ashdown,  this has been the main element of their success. “Many operators have commented that the variety of games for very young children is limited and when good, appealing games are provided within a location the revenues are often excellent,” he says.

This does not mean that games developed for the whole family to enjoy together do not appeal to children. Of course, the interaction between them, the game and their parents will keep them suitably amused,  which is why you will see a lot of redemption machine manufacturers targeting their games at the wider family audience.

Conversely, licences in children’s rides seem to offer more appeal than other segments as children can interact physically with characters they’ve seen on television, they can sit inside, next to, or on top of something that they can make an emotional connection with.  “This ‘touchability’ and closeness isn’t provided in quite the same way with games,” said Bland.

“Even today, Thomas the Tank Engine,  Postman Pat and other old favourites continue to be popular with parents and children alike when it comes to children’s rides.”

For UK children’s ride manufacturer Northern Leisure, while licensed product remains popular, the manufacturer must constantly evaluate the market and try and find new twists and concepts which will capture the imagination of children. The company’s Wendy Townsend tells InterGame: “We try to deliver rides that have a mix of movement. Instead of just moving forwards and backwards, we manufacture four different types of rocking bases, rotating bases and a mechanism that swings as well.

“However, brand awareness and character recognition can be very effective when trying to target young children and even parents too. In saying that, we have also manufacturerd a number of generic rides that can definitely hold their own against licensed rides. Without a doubt,  statistically our Peppa Pig ride performs phenomenally well, but our generic bus ride is certainly on a par. Rides are colourful and attractive pieces of equipment that grab children’s and parents’  attention and can draw them into premises. A ride can offer a new dimension to any operation looking to engage the child in safe and fun activity while stimulating their imagination.”

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For Bay Tek Games’ Holly Miedl, to stay on top of which licences are popular, the industry should keep tabs on Hollywood and the blockbuster films. “So much money is spent marketing these films to children and families that it’s the obvious choice for redemption prizes,” she says. “For instance, the Smurfs is a huge summer blockbuster that will draw in large crowds.”

Along with The Smurfs, licences proving popular with kids in the prize area at present include Hello Kitty, Kung Fu Panda, Spiderman,  Transformers and, as ever, The Simpsons. Surprisingly SpongeBob SquarePants, Pokemon and Barbie, which have been popular for a very long time, have dropped off the radar. “Angry Birds is extremely strong in the US at the moment,” Betson’s Bob Boals tells us, “as are Disney Cars items.”

And in the UK, while Angry Birds is also performing well, Monster Jam and Ed Hardy, Mr Men & Little Misses are proving popular with the kids, as are confectionery brands Swizzels and Matlow. Instance Automatic’s Ian Eason says: “We recently added a surprise egg to our range of prize every time stock. This is like a lucky bag inside an egg,  suited to the grabs of the small prize every time cranes. We supply this with a counter top POS display, which is aimed at getting the kids’  attention.

“We also developed a range of prizes to go into Stacker type machines that target the younger audience. As the original higher value prizes are beginning to struggle, with this range of young kids’ prizes we have seen the machines go from strength to strength, giving them a longer life.”

But which comes first, the game play or the prize?

Do children just care about walking away with something at the end of the day or can game play on its own be just as rewarding? Could it be that the pay-to-play industry has become obsessed with offering prize every time,  perceived value for money games, when in actual fact it might not be as important as everyone thinks?

There are arguments for both…some in the industry see the prize at the end to be extremely important, while others believe children are happy to just play, as Harry Levy tells us: “The prize is the icing on the cake. Children love to play first and foremost. A prize is not only an added bonus, it makes the parent feel they have got value for money.”

For Ashdown it is more about rewarding their achievements so they can show off to their siblings, friends or parents, whether this is through a prize, numerous tickets or just being top of the leader board.  “Young children love to emulate their older peers or grown-ups so games that allow them to do this in a fun way will be very appealing,” he says. “But they also love to take something away from the game, so instant redemption can be important. With Willie Wheels a child reeives a collectable driving licence card at the end of each game and with Little Masterpiece, they receive a colour print out of their drawing with a photograph of their face in the corner.”

This idea of self-fulfilment is reiterated by Cynthia Lai of Injoy Motion, who says: “Children like to play games which are interesting and they can understand.  Winning a prize is one of the methods of responding to players’ needs but children also like things like card systems so they can keep a record of their achievements and show them off to friends and family. Our Dido Kart 2 game (launched this month) allows players to use the saved up points to purchase items and equipment add-ons to upgrade their character in the game. As it is also a linked game with adjustable seats, the family is able to play together if they so wish.”

For UDC’s Bland, it all depends on the age group. He said: “Very young children, say under fives, want the bells and whistles of the sounds and the flashing lights and bright colours which parents will find keep them happily occupied for a few minutes. After this age they learn the game mechanics very quickly and are able to discern whether or not a game is engaging enough to hold their attention for a repeat play with reference to ticket and prize games.”

Baytek’s Meidl adds: “The prize is a very important part of ticket redemption centres. It’s the reason the kids are playing. Sure they enjoy the games and the entertainment, but they really want to win bucket loads of tickets so they can enjoy some of their first ‘shopping’  experiences at the prize counter.

“Operators should make sure their prize counter is front and centre, that it is well organised, brightly lit and offers a wide variety of prizes for both genders, all age groups and different values.  Enticing kids with those attractive items like bikes, scooters,  televisions and so on will hopefully bring FECs repeat business as they’ll strive to win the big prize.”

SL Kids, based in the UK, brings something different to the children’s market. It specialises in games where the reward is the enjoyment of play for play’s sake - nothing more and nothing less -  supporting the argument that good game play is the most important element in all of this.

“Our philosophy has been that reward of any other kind can be fully justified but it is just not a part of the market in which we see ourselves being active in the foreseeable future,” says the company’s Nick Chandler.

“Our products are used by children ranging in age from six months to 12 years so we have to incorporate a huge variety of aspects that will keep all of them interested every time they visit a site. Subsequently the equipment includes a variety of elements: from the incredibly simple, push button games to the more complex electronic systems that incorporate big brand names such as Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

"Now, what started out as products specifically aimed at the upper age range are being played by some of the youngest in our audience, so it is apparent that we can be incredibly inventive, including just a button that moves around a play panel or the widest selection of play elements on any of the games -  they will receive attention.”

So, we have established that games for children need to be eye-catching in the first instance through colour, size and sound. Game play obviously has to be engaging and if they can involve other family members at the same time then that’s even better and it doesn’t harm if the prize on offer has a licence attached to it.

But what about the technology used in today’s games?

Children of today are far more comfortable with technology and are surrounded by it in the home entertainment sector, from the Xbox Live to Kinect to the Wii. They are also getting more used to 3D through the cinema experience and the newly released Nintendo3DS. But is it essential to include similar technological traits and ‘features’ in arcade games?

The answer is no; good game play will always come first and a good game will work just as well with the minimum of technological tricks and gimmicks. So including a title in your game mix, based on its technological advances alone, is not the way forward. However touch controls are starting to make a move into the arcade more and more,  adding another element to the game and incorporating something that children recognise and relate to, so there is some benefit to games with new technology, if used correctly and supported by good game play.

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Commenting on the use of new technologies in children’s amusement products, SL Kids’ Chandler tells InterGame: “Children are so savvy.  Our design team has to look at redesign on a shorter cycle after each new product is brought out. If it is an electronic game, for example,  aimed at the younger age group, a set of 12 games going into a PlayTouch system is now going to need updating every two years, whereas when they first launched five years ago, it was every four years. That is solely because the way children have access to computer systems now means they pick up the rudiments of a game far quicker than they used to.”

Quanmax (formerly Funworld) makes use of touchscreen technology in its Touch Toy game, an amusement terminal offering eight games of high entertainment and educational value. Designed specifically to appeal to the three-to-eight age range, the Touch Toy is suitable for restaurants, hotels, shopping centres, doctor’s waiting rooms and so on,  anywhere with a waiting area or place where a child might become bored and restless.

For Quanmax’s Markus Weissenbrunner, it is important to attract children directly to play, but also convince the parents of the benefits of the game. So on the one hand children have to be interested and on the other, parents have to see that they will get a bit of much needed stress relief.

The Touch Toy terminal does this through the games it provides; it is colourfully designed and meets the children’s requirements of ergonomics, size and usability. The menu and games are easy to handle thanks to the touchscreen and voice support leading the children through the game programmes.

And it seems as children become even more familiar with the touchscreen, this idea of providing parents with some ‘stress relief’  will continue to grow, with Weissenbrunner saying: “A trend right now is offering special game content targeted at children as an App on a smartphone, meaning parents can keep their children busy while they run their errands. Children can play their favourite games while their parents are busy; as a result of this children will become very closely knitted to gaming and amusement from an early age, becoming the operator’s customers of tomorrow.”

There is no doubt that the use of technology that allows enhanced interactivity will continue to be used in the development of new children’s games. “Children of today are exposed to a world of highly advanced technologies and they are extremely influenced by these hi-tech resources, such as 3D/VR simulators and touch panels,” says Injoy’s Lai. “Integrating these resources into games will make children relate and enjoy these games and more and more will be produced in this way,  leading the industry forward.”

This confidence in the use of new technologies successfully in children’s games is reiterated by Bay Tek’s Miedl, saying: “Children are very tech savvy. Card swipe systems were a little nerve racking at first; we wanted to make sure the kids know how to use the system, but they are very comfortable with them. They have all had gift cards before and they’ve been around systems like these in everyday life. Games are going to continue to get more interactive and use touchscreen technology. We need to continue not to forget about the kiddie corner in a games room - they are an important market.”

Thanks to the success of the Wii and Kinect systems in the home market, the children’s sector of the pay-to-play industry could also see an increase in more fun and physical games coming to market, according to LAI’s Ashdown. He told InterGame: “These types of games will also have parent appeal because of the concern that many parents have about the reduced activity of modern children and the perceived childhood obesity problem. We have a game in the pipeline for IAAPA which will certainly tick this box.”