BANDAI NAMCO Amusement Europe will once again exhibit on one of the largest booths at EAG.
The manufacturer will introduce a number of its products to Europe, as well as products from companies for which it distributes, at the London, UK, show from January 16-18.
“EAG provides the opportunity for us to set out our stall for 2018,” said James Anderson, sales and commercial director for BNAE. “We have tested a number of the new releases seen at the IAAPA show, which we felt would be ideal for our markets, and these can be found on our stand alongside some brand-new developments, which we are very excited to show for the first time.”
Site testing has already begun on Spinner Frenzy, new from Adrenaline, which develops the global “fidget spinner” craze into a skill redemption game, where players must find the right speed to spin in order to win tickets; if the player gets the perfect spin speed they win the bonus tickets.
Also from Adrenaline is a new centrepiece game featuring the increasingly popular Rabbids characters. Rabbids Hollywood is a four-player video game title with a massive 120ins screen. Players must try to stem the invasion of the crazy creatures in three different movie sets in a tin-can alley shooting style.
From Raw Thrills, BNAE will show Injustice Arcade, which features the characters from the recent Justice League film. This game is licensed by Warner Brothers and is a classic button style three-versus-three tag team fighting game with a twist, as it offers a collectible card after every play featuring one of the characters in the game. The player can then use the card the next time they play the game and the character will appear in the game.
Also from Raw Thrills is the new snowboarding game, X Games Snowboarders. Featuring a snowboarding experience in a stand-up cabinet, it even includes wind effects and five action-packed tracks for players to try.
SpongeBob Pineapple Arcade from Andamiro has a massive following and now will be joined by SpongeBob Soccer. The attractive branded cabinet features a large lever topped with a football. Players must flip the lever at the right time so that SpongeBob can kick the ball into the goal.
Visitors to EAG can also expect to see the Triotech Typhoon simulator ride, which continues to be the top coin-op ride of its kind on the market involving motion, wind and high-quality movies.
Apple Industries’ Scene Machine Version 2, which embraces green screen technology to deliver an interactive photo booth, will also feature.
Virtual reality will take a leading role on the BNAE stand this year with its own section of the stand. The AiSolve WePlayVR attraction will be available with the Mayan Adventure Software and the company will also show the first update software called Alien Adventure. “The reaction to WePlayVR at IAAPA was off the scale - we had thousands of people play on it during the show with queues throughout and are still following up and finalising the sales leads,” said Matthew Bradley, VR project manager.
Prize and plush continues to grow in strength for BNAE and the market-leading DC Comics range is expanding with a new “Villain Mix” which is due for release in February. “Everyone loves the villains and so we have created our own special mix, which will sit alongside the popular Justice League and Super Girls character mixes,” said Darrell Simmonds, EMEA sales manager.
“Big news for us on the plush side will be the range of Early Man characters which we will have at the show,” added Simmonds. “Early Man is the latest Aardman movie which is due for release on January 26 in the UK. Publicity is already everywhere, with high profile advertising tie-ups over the festive season and a massive marketing push. This is the licence that everyone is talking about.”
The company will exhibit cashless and loyalty card systems from leading global supplier Embed that are available exclusively in the UK and Ireland. The team will be on hand to discuss the many benefits of going cashless with customers on stand 620.