The "pure amusements" market will sit up and take notice today of Bell-Fruit Games' largest-ever booth at the EAG trade show in London when it opens its doors at 10am.
The supposedly single-minded dedicated-to-AWPs manufacturer has entered the redemption games market.
And as one might have expected, the Novomatic UK subsidiary has done it in style, with no fewer than 17 amusement devices aimed directly at the family seaside arcades and FECs in the UK and in the wider international markets.
Using the new brand name Bulldog Games, driven forward by newly-appointed managing director Peter Collinge, Bulldog ticks many boxes for Chris Butler, managing director of both Bell-Fruit and Astra Games. With a UK Category C (AWP) market constantly eroding for a number of factors, Butler has two large factories to "feed."
“I have to keep those factory production lines (60,000sq.ft in Nottingham and 45,000sq.ft in Bridgend) turning out quality machines and bluntly, it is becoming more difficult to do that with a contracting domestic market for gaming machines.”
Butler turned to amusements for a number of reasons. It will help keep the production lines moving, broadens the group’s manufacturing base and makes better use of the creative juices of its R&D teams.
The Bulldog brand will be aligned with both the Bell-Fruit and Astra product lines and their development subsidiary Harlequin Gaming.
The line-up of redemption and pusher machines will have the international market sitting up and taking notice and the doyens of the redemption sector will be hot-footing it around to the Bell-Fruit booth at EAG this morning to take a look at the range, many of which will be on show.
It includes several pusher machines, led by Deal or No Deal, in an eight-player (or four-player) configuration with a ticket payout feature that may be disconnected; eight-player (or four-player) Monopoly pusher; What’s in Your Box? eight-player pusher; Monopoly coin roll-down two-player; Beat Ben, a four-player mechanical ticket redemption skill game; Bullion Bars, a three-player slot-type ticket redemption; Emoji Fun Factory, a ticket redemption fruit machine for three players; Sweetz, a single-player video redemption game; Ben Bones, another single-player video redemption; Zombats, a one or two-player video redemption; Farty Animals, a one or two-player video ticket redemption; Hamster’s Ball, a single-player video ticket redemption; and Monopoly Skyscraper, a one-player upright video ticket redemption.
The new managing director of Bulldog, Peter Collinge, is keen to demonstrate the entire range to EAG visitors and to sign up distributors in different countries.
He said: “Joining Bulldog Games and unleashing such an awesome line-up of showcase redemption products at EAG is just staggering. There are new and old concepts with strong brands such as Deal or No Deal and Monopoly, quality British manufactured games supported by that all-important after sales, spares and technical support infrastructure providing customer assistance 364 days a year. This level of proven new quality showcase games is unprecedented and just what the leisure sector needed - an injection of excitement and I feel privileged to be part of it.
“We have seen extremely strong results from all the site-tested machines often with double digit income growth; we have conducted numerous positive customer surveys and player feedback sessions, all of which clearly underpins the strength and player demand for these new games.
“There is a solid pipeline of new games and designs already coming through and while Bulldog Games may be new an entrant to this market we are supported by a team of the most talented, respected, innovative and creative development people in the industry.”
