The latest city visit sees Kevin Williams walk around the Big Apple. One of the most well-known cities in the world offers some unusual surprises that proves amusement, rather than being a dead prospect, is alive and very much kicking

In this latest coverage of the world’s cities’ cohabitation with the amusement dimension, we visit the frantic metropolis of New York City - the Big Apple.

The City of New York covers over 6,720 square miles with a population in excess of 19 million and has a varied mix of office space, residential and some of the most exclusive stores in the world. For the sake of the venue report (as with the Paris coverage), I have focused on four square miles of Manhattan island. 

As with a number of the cities visited in this series, the more prominent tourist destinations comprise a number of franchise venues that combine an amusement component to entertain high foot-traffic. A city that is seen as second only to London as a major tourist venue (New York entertaining 40 million foreign visitors a year), the need to offer a strong entertainment component is never greater.

The majority of the popular media would consider amusement as a dead duck, with no relevance in the modern scene, but within the four square miles of the city centre covered a number of prominent locations could be found - the amusement mix often underestimated in the hospitality and entertainment sector.

Dave & Busters’ - 42nd St
A prominent location just off Time Square and sandwiched between Madame Tussaud’s NY and Theatre Land, this is one of six Dave and Buster’s located in the area and is basking in one of its best years of attendance.

This particular site comprises an extensive themed bar and restaurant format that sees most of the traffic through the evening sessions - while the rest of the site across the glass divide offers an eclectic mix of a midway redemption zone and a more conventional amusement system. The venue has a smattering of the more deluxe systems, including a Jessler motion racer, along with dedicated network driving games, the newest of which includes a networked Global VR NASCAR Racing.

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The games are fuelled by the Dave & Busters ‘Power Card’ and the lunchtime visit saw some players making use of the off game price that the system offers - able to switch at a click-of-a-mouse back to standard pricing. The whole concept of the popular place to hang out is receiving greater interest as young adults looks to add a social element to their leisure time.
 
ESPN Zone - Broadway
On the main drag of Time Square, the ESPN site is in good company, with all of the major American chain eateries within close proximity. The popular sports bar chain takes its name from the sports fan television channel, part of the Walt Disney/ABC empire, with this venue a heavily themed Mecca to all things American sport.

The three levels of drinking, dining and gaming fit into the small but expensive real-estate of the Time Square location, offering dedicated floors to unique elements of the venue franchise. It is primarily a sports bar, with a first floor full of televisions tuned to the latest sports games and an appropriate sports bar layout with comfortable seating. The second level includes more viewing and a dining area, while the top level houses the video games, in the majority sports themed, along with some sports redemption games.

The venue even during the weekday lunchtime period had some people watching the latest sports play-off, or walking the amusement zone. Like many of the popular themed chains with an amusement component, the site uses a swipe card payment system. One of the many ESPN Zones located in a prominent US city, it offers a strong place for sports fans and casual drinkers to gather.

MARS 2112 - Broadway
One of the more unusual entertainment venues in the catchment of this visit, the site is a heavily themed location that offers a bar, restaurant and attractions. Upon buying a ticket and entering the venue the visitor is transported to the caves of the Red Planet. Traveling around the location the guest is led through one of the site’s multiple seater motion simulator film experiences.

In the centre of the venue is a dedicated dining area with an interesting menu in keeping with the location. Off one of the caves is the ‘CyberStreet’, an area offering an arcade venue for the guests to play at. This area includes redemption and video amusement, heavily themed to the off-world experience.

The site was first developed as part of plans for a chain of venues, but this is the only property developed. New York has become a key territory for the testing and establishment of new location-based entertainment concepts. However, in the late 90s the drop-off in interest in these concept stores saw a high attrition rate of concept brands opening and then closing in the NY venue - brands that failed such as CyberTainment and Laser Park.

Nintendo World Store - Rockefeller Plz
While many see the death of amusement sites in the market, a number of retail outlets have been created that borrow heavily from arcade theory to create compelling repeat visitation. One such example is placed in the centre of New York. The mega consumer video game corporation opened the first of its flagship stores in the city that never sleeps. This new style of retail experience is part of the ‘shoppertainment’ concept.

The Nintendo World venue comprises an extensive selection of the latest Nintendo branded software, hardware and peripherals - but more than just selling the games the site allows guests to "try-before-they-buy". Clustered around the two floors are free play terminals running Nintendo Wii and Dual-Screen machines, the way that they are operated and laid out borrowing heavily from the rule book of arcade placement.

The venue also includes a specific attraction called the Pokemon Center. Based on the phenomenally popular card collecting game and television and movie franchise, this component of the store makes the site a tourist hotspot for young families. The shoppertainment retail concept looks towards achieving an entertainment anchor that encourages repeat visits through gaming.

Video Game Land - Chinatown
Outside of the expensive retail and hospitality area of New York, we relocate to Chinatown. And here we see a glimpse of the underbelly of video amusement, a style of site that harks back to the original arcade style of location, but also looks towards the amusement industry’s future. This venue appeals whole-heartedly to a growing fan base of what many in the industry call ‘hardcore’ players.

This fan base finds it impossible to satisfy their hunger for video amusement gaming on the more traditional genres. Where most amusement installations have migrated to the more popular driving and shooting dedicated cabinets, these hardcore gamers want to play the latest BeMani or beat-em-up titles. Popular in Japan, these are ignored by the mainstream amusement industry in America.

Where amusement distributors will not import the latest beat-em-up game from Japan, venues like Game Land are prepared to accommodate its audience. This ‘old-school’ venue contains a smattering of the popular retro titles, but the bread and butter is the placement of DIY built cabinets to house the games that players want from Japan - a single Tekken 6 cabinet with operational IC cards and Joypad ports next to four ‘Street Fighter IV’ cabinets.

These machines are so popular that the venue has given up taking single quarter payments with the machines only set to take dollar bills. The internet acting as a beacon to players the city and country over, it is a regular venue for tournament meets. This application of what we would call a traditional arcade-centric venue is not a one-off example; a second site - recently opened is located just outside of our catchment.

Faber’s Fascination - Brooklyn
The final venue for this report is outside of the four-mile catchment area, but represents a landmark for amusement and attractions in the industry’s history.

Off-season, the New York Coney Island seaside venue can be depressing at the best of times, the cold and overcast November weather adding to the feeling of desolation. Though most of the parks and arcades were closed there was one example of the classic Coney Island arcade site. The Faber’s Fascination venue’s distinctive frontage hides the dilapidated site within.

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It is a confusing mix of retro-age video games, recent drivers and redemption, all showing the wear of intensive play. The location is a sad testament to old school amusement thinking, an example of this being an illegal Pac-Man kit in a cabinet looking sorely over used and neglected. The site has a redemption area; Coney Island is the home of the Skeeball concept and four examples sat in a messy and sorely neglected ‘Dump the Creep’ area.

But not all is gloom and doom in this location; private land in the Coney Island amusement park district is being acquired by the city with a budget of $200m set aside. $11m has already been spent for one acre near the famous Deno’s Wonder Wheel, bought during October 2008. This underlines the hope to stop the neglect of this important and historic area of amusement culture before it is left to collapse.

What this could all mean

This feature has offered an example of the changing fortunes of the amusement industry as a whole - the Coney Island area a picture of the old school thinking of amusement, the "if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it" mentality. The Nintendo store is an example of how consumer gaming has borrowed heavily from amusement. But it is the new hospitality venues, with a highly social element, that point to the future for the mainstream of the sector.

All this said, there is the alternative opportunity that the hardcore venues listed give to those that want to follow a new route. In following the player’s wants, those that still love the experience of arcade, there is the chance to bring new thinking to the social aspect of amusement, with the use of new social networking features to help marketing and encourage player support.

The changing economic climate is a factor helping shape the way amusement is redefined as a revenue generator. The aspects of all economic downturns is the strength of amusement - the ‘StayCation’ methodology claiming that rather than taking long trips or spending on expensive electronic goods, the customer looks for entertainment closer to home.

The popularity of family entertainment centres and party rooms have already started to increase in city districts in America and Europe and amusement needs to be ready for this changing market.