Wednesday’s Park Avenue Open Day in London was blessed with fine weather and a strong turnout.
Hosted by Electrocoin and United Distributing Company, the event is a relatively informal affair that provides an opportunity to mix with suppliers and operators from across the UK. The showcase usually attracts a significant crowd, irrespective of the conditions, but, as one exhibitor remarked, the sunny weather is what seaside operators have been “crying out for.”
Both companies reported that the Open Day attracted key clients who, it seems, are in a mood to purchase equipment. The reasons for this are twofold: pubcos – who were out in force – are seeking solutions to the potential changes in stakes and prizes that may come into place, while elsewhere in the industry ticket redemption is proving to be a major revenue driver.
“There has been a good turnout and, crucially, it’s been the right people,” said Electrocoin’s Kevin Weir. “We’ve had a good turnout every year but at the moment there is a sense that things are happening in the industry.”
With the prospect of the reinstitution of the Triennial Review and new stakes and prizes, he explained, people “want to talk.” The headline figure is of a £100 jackpot, which many consider to be an attractive option. Designing games for this new regime requires creative thinking but it is a “challenge that the industry has risen to in the past” when new stakes and prizes have been set, Weir said.
On Wednesday, Electrocoin presented what it describes as the “perfect vehicle” for meeting this new challenge, Vegas Strip. A strong performing Category C compendium, Vegas Strip was quick to win the praise of the Independent Operators Association.
“While it is a compendium, there are also features that enable us to deal with win distribution in a different way,” Weir said. “We believe that Vegas Strip can satisfy the demands that result from an increase to the stake to prize ratio.”
Interestingly, it also includes a community feature – a first for the pub market – that enables all players playing on the machines in one location to benefit from the same bonus features. “There has been a huge amount of interest,” added Weir. “Our customers have been asking for something different and we’ve given them something different.”
For Michael Green of UDC, the coin-op sector is clearly split into distinct categories. His company focuses on FECs and seaside arcades, he said, where value for money is a key priority for families. Operators have responded accordingly.
“The price of play has gone down but income from machines has gone up,” he said. “2p pushers are of course a way of life and redemption is a must-have. The price of play for redemption now, compared with three years ago, has gone down but the selection of equipment has increased.”
All of this, he said, has resulted in an increase in dwell time in locations, where the attraction of new game experiences and the possibility of a prize of a gift to take home is proving compelling.
As such, UDC was demonstrating a host of ticket redemption and prize merchandiser equipment, from major international hit games Monster Drop Xtreme from Benchmark and Black Out by Adrenaline to newer titles such as Turtle Adventures from Chinese games designer Wahlap and the iCube and Winners’ Ringer prize machines from Andamiro.
The company’s Matt Bland suggested that there has been a shift within the family arcade sector away from AWPs to more family-orientated ticket redemption because such locations are struggling to compete with the machines in betting shops and adult gaming centres. Redemption, rather than a concept that customers were demanding, has helped these locations differentiate themselves and attract a new audience. “At UDC, we saw the landscape changing and have adapted,” he said.
More news from the Park Avenue Open Day will be included in the July issue of InterGame.
