InterGame discovers how photo booths are providing the amusement operator with so much more than just a pretty picture

The biggest development in photo booth technology, that has allowed it to branch out as an entertainment vehicle, is digital technology that is reliable. It has allowed software to be developed that offers a variety of choices for the consumer and not just film strips.

The numbers of different photo booths now available for the operator to choose from is evidence of this and major manufacturers such as Fantasy Entertainment, Digital Centre and Apple Industries, to name but a few, as well as more traditional amusement manufacturers such as LAI Games, are seeing great success with their novelty booths.

For Josep Tarres of Digital Centre, which has been involved in the photo booth sector for over 10 years, the use of customisable photo booths has been crucial to the sector and opened up opportunities as to where booths can be placed. There are also strong differences in how photo booths are used between countries, as Tarres explains: "In Asian countries such as Japan, China, Taiwan and Indonesia the photo booths are radically different from the western style of booth as they are very sophisticated and have lots of functions allowing the user to spend a long time PhotoShopping the original picture," he said. "In markets such as North America, Europe and the Middle East the photo booths need to be a lot simpler in order to be successful.

"Previous to the introduction of digital technology photo booths used chemicals which were very expensive and high maintenance, meaning they were limited to big corporations," continued Tarres. "Digital technology is chemical free, fast, easy to use and low maintenance, making the booths much cheaper to produce than previous models."

According to Tarres, the biggest improvement since the implementation of digital technology has been the quality of print-outs, which has moved from acceptable to high and an average print time of 60 seconds to 15 seconds.

Digital Centre’s New Generation photo booths are compact and designed for a lifetime. They are small enough to fit into any restaurant, club, bar or theatre lobby and require no set up - simply plug and play. There are five software packages: black and white strips, colour strips, fun backgrounds and borders, hairstyles and heads on different bodies. Other operational features include: a reliable Mitsubishi printer, free upgradable software, the ability to capture photos on a flash drive, the ability to customise the logo on the photo strip, caster wheels for ease of movement, 600 vends to a roll of film and double sets of prints.

Today’s photo booths don’t stop there though and with the release of Fantasy Entertainment’s Blaba Booth - the first internet-enabled photo booth with integrated social networking - the sector is really starting to cater to its core target audience - teenage girls. Social networking has become a phenomenon and incorporating this element into the Blaba Booth makes it one of the most modern and entertaining photo amusements available in the market. Fantasy Entertainment’s goal is to unlock the photo booth experience and extend its entertainment value for its customers, while generating significant revenue and opportunity for the operators.

Each BlabaBooth session begins with the selection of novelty graphics and ends with video playback of the captured session on exterior monitors so the fun experience is re-lived while photos are printing. At the close of each session, photo and video content is uploaded to the internet. At the bottom of each photo strip there is a unique code allowing them to view and claim their individual photos and videos from the website as well as sharing them via social networking sites Facebook and MySpace, blogs Blogger and WordPress and instant messaging such as AIM, MSN and Yahoo.

In addition, the BlabaBooth website provides additional content and activities for its community of users. Photo strips remain private until owners choose to make them public - public strips are eligible to participate in various competitions and win prizes.

Sega Amusements Europe has recently started working with Fantasy Entertainment and is now responsible for spares, consumables and repairs on all its products throughout Europe, Russia and the Middle East. For Sega’s Justin Burke the social networking side of things is quite a big jump for the photo booth sector and provides it with a unique feature over other booths available.

"The appeal of a photo booth to an operator is that it provides an additional spend," said Burke. "Families don’t go to an FEC specifically looking for a photo booth so it is an unexpected added bonus that has broad appeal. The core target market is teenage girls but photo booths are renowned for appealing to everyone and anyone. BlabaBooth has the ability to draw people back again and again and a whole network gets built up around one set of photos. This move has been a real push for the industry and I expect we will begin to see wireless technology introduced, moving forward."

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Fantasy Entertainment’s Bernie Difloures, international trade and technical sales manager, adds to this telling InterGame: "The photo booth has always performed well in both Europe and the US, but for very different reasons. In the UK and throughout the EU, photo booths are quite common for passport photos - but they’re purely functional. They must be used by only one person at a time and adhere to a strict specifications since the photos are used for identification purposes. In the US however, they’ve been a popular amusement throughout their entire 85-year history and are especially entertaining when used by groups of people.

"Because of Fantasy Entertainment’s innovative new products and enhancements, we’re seeing perceptions change as the rest of the world comes to see photo booths for the entertaining, social experience that we in the US have always known them to be."

Apple Industries, based in the US, also offers photo booths with amusement options. Its Fashion Fun program for example, puts faces on different hairstyles and its custom software programs include colour, black and white strips, borders and more.

"Operators are choosing photo booths because not only do they offer their locations substantial and consistent long-term revenue, they also offer the location the ability like no other amusement device, to promote their business," said Apple Industries Allen Weisberg. "This is done by using the photo strips that come out of the photo booth as an advertising tool with corporate logos and customised messages. The income over the years will be incredibly steady and photo booths do not depreciate like some faddish machines. Placing a photo booth in a location is a one-time event - the machine stays there - it is never rotated like other types of amusement games and it earns money consistently year after year."

Apple Industries offers a variety of cabinet styles and colours to fit in any location. The auditing system contained in its photo booths gives the operator all the information needed regarding number of vends, which programs were selected and so on. With a continued focus on re-investment in software development, Apple plans to release four new products this year and showcased its new patent pending Face Place Double Take photo booth at the Amusement Expo in Las Vegas. Two booths in one, the customer may use the traditional photo booth by entering the booth and closing the curtain to take their photo or they can have their photo taken on the outside of the machine.

The photo booth recognises when a customer walks past the machine - it then speaks to the customer asking if they’d like to take a free picture. The Face Place Double Take has cutting edge technology that allows a customer’s image to be taken while they are walking by the machine. The image is the manipulated into thousands of different photographs and displayed on the monitor for the customer to choose from - creating multiple sales rather than just a one-photo sale.

The photo booth sector is expanding at a fast rate and as technology improves it will continue to push the imagination of the manufacturers to provide innovative and exciting product that captures the attention of the sector’s target audience.

As suggested by Sega’s Justin Burke, we could well begin to see wireless technology incorporated and there is no doubt that new features and add-ons will continue to add value to the product, providing another reason for the operator to choose a photo booth for their location.

First published May 2010