September saw the official unveiling of Gamestate, a new concept in Dutch amusements. Simon Liddle caught up with the man behind the project, Roger Tubée, to find out how the location is set to change the face of family entertainment in the Netherlands.
IN September, the LeisureDome complex in Kerkrade, Netherlands, officially opened its doors.
Located close to the stadium of Dutch Premier League team Roda JC, the leisure and entertainment destination houses a JT Group cinema, a Bowlo tenpin bowling centre, GlowGolf golf and a Darteldome indoor children’s playground. Completing this exciting new destination is the Gamestate arcade, a landmark amusement centre in that – unusually for this part of the Netherlands – it features ticket redemption games and a debit card play system. The venue is operated by Alrecrea, a subsidiary of the Veltmeijer Group, which has arcade operations primarily in holiday parks across four European countries. It is, in the words of company director Roger Tubée, a “pilot” project that could signal a shift in the way pay-to-play amusement venues look and feel in the Netherlands in the future.
Tubée, the son-in-law of Joseph Philippen, who’s own father-in-law was Arnold Veltmeijer, runs Alrecrea with Ad Veltmeijer’s son, Roel Veltmeijer. The pair has been developing new opportunities for the business in recent years and, during a visit to the IAAPA show in Orlando, Florida, hit upon a new idea.
“After being advised by my suppliers and visiting the IAAPA show in Orlando in 2011, we looked at the latest Dave and Buster’s venue in Orlando and I convinced everyone that this will be the future for the amusement arcade operators in the Netherlands and Belgium, and that the European market is ready for this approach,” Tubée explained. “We kept thinking this over and looking for the right location and opportunity to start a smaller pilot, which might finally lead to what we saw in Orlando. That is our vision.”
Read the full article in the October issue of InterGame.
