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LBX Collective
The LBX Show #30 - Road Trip to Denver, Bowl Expo Preview, New Openings, and more!
Sponsored by Intercard!
On this week's show we catch up on all the news we missed over the last two weeks and take a Road Trip with Clint Novak to 3 awesome venues in Denver, Colorado.
On Open & Shut, Kevin Williams highlights the top 15 from over 40 venue openings in the past two weeks.
• Battle Carts opens their 51st UK facility, using over 40 projectors and 12 electric carts in the venue
• SuperBowl UK opens a 12-lane facility in Wolverhampton with arcades provided by Sega Amusement International
• Malibu Jack's launches a 130,000 square foot facility in Texas with 130 amusement pieces, duck pin bowling, and laser tag
• Time Zone opens a 24,000 square foot facility in India, replacing their older 2004 location with upscale amenities
• Clay's adds "Clay's Arcade" to their newest shooting simulator venue, expanding their entertainment offerings
• Lane 7 opens a second Newcastle location featuring Moment Factory's interactive floor system
Clint Novak takes us on a tour of Denver entertainment venues:
• Boondocks features innovative soda fountains inside party rooms for convenience
• Ka Ko Joe's mall location strategically places redemption prizes visible through storefront windows
• Winner's Circle includes a hidden speakeasy bar accessed through what appears to be a photo booth
Adam Pratt celebrates Atari's 53rd anniversary while previewing Bowl Expo offerings:
• Missile Command Recharged Arcade now available to order from Alan 1
• Goldstorm Pirates from Bandai Namco is shipping with upgraded visuals and golden guns
• Andamiro USA teasing a new light gun game called "Marksman"
Chuck DeMonte shares three expert-level marketing strategies: conversion-focused paid advertising, automated email marketing campaigns for birthday and event reminders, and professional website design optimized for mobile users.
Visit us at Bowl Expo in Washington DC where we'll be recording live from the show floor on July 1st and 2nd.
All right. Well, welcome everybody to the LVX show for June 29th 2025. We've got a great show lined up for you today. Today we're going to kick things off with a shortened News, you Should Know. So just keep it a little bit short here, because we're going to roll into an extended open and shut with Kevin Williams, where we're going to learn about the latest openings, trends and closings. But we also didn't have a show last week, so there's a bunch more to cover, and so that's why it's going to be extended. And next we're going to travel to Denver on road trip with Clint Novak, and so we'll hear all about his trip and some of the places he visited while he was in Denver. And then we're going to hear from Adam Pratt at Arcade Corner, where he's going to celebrate a little bit of the 53rd anniversary of Atari, but then also dive into some pre-Bowl Expo coverage. And then, lastly, we'll round out the show with promo pro tips from Chuck DeMonte, and he's going to focus on the three expert level marketing strategies.
Speaker 2:All right, that being said, let's dive into some news you should know. All right, so we didn't have a show last week because I traveled to Eugene, oregon, on Thursday and was in a three-day regatta. So, for some of you who have listened to the show, I may have referenced the fact that I row competitively and this isn't like little rowboats, right, this is, like you know, the typical, if you've seen boys in the boat or you've watched the Olympic rowing, that kind of thing. This isn't kayaks, this is a. This is like you know, this is rowing, and so, anyway, all that being said is I had a three-day regatta. It was our you know we'll pull this up here. This was our US rowings Northwest Masters Championships and it was a great time, had a lot of fun with the team and you know, we've got, uh, just uh, this is a little picture of me in a boat with my double partner for my mixed double partner. So we rode doubles um, this is my friend, christine, in the back and, uh, we kicked some ass and took silver on that race after two heats. So we had to win a heat and then took a silver on the on the final and, uh, so that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:This is, uh, my group, my group here. This was our quad, our mixed quad. We took gold on this one in our final. Uh, so very excited about that and uh, yeah, you know what got to? Just uh, you know I had a good time. A couple of uh you know some several silver, several golds, lots of races, lots of heats.
Speaker 2:It was crazy cold and rainy on Friday and Saturday, like literally. I was like in the boat, like at the line, just like my hands were shaking and it was so cold and this rain is coming down I'm soaking wet. But then Sunday was beautiful and just the you know the sun came out and the clouds are big and puffy and the water smoothed out and we had a you know great races on Sunday as well. So anyway, it's one of my personal passions and loves. I'm on the water six days a week, every morning, before everybody else is even awake. We all get out there very early and practice, and so it was a lot of fun. A couple more regattas still later this year and actually later this summer this season. So anyway, keep you guys posted on that one.
Speaker 2:But that was why we didn't have a show last week and ended up going really well and has just a ton of fun out there, all right. So this week we are going to have a show, but we're actually going to be doing a hopefully recording live on the show floor at bowl expo. So I will be heading out to bowl expo flying in Tuesday morning, going to spend all day Tuesday for the trade show floor. That is July 1st, and then the second day of the trade show floor is July 2nd. It's bookended by education on both sides. So July 29th and 30th there's some education, some events and opening receptions and all that good stuff, and then the third is also some more education, some special keynote speakers. So if you're not already planning to go out there and you want to go out there, flights are still obviously available. I don't know that you can get into the Gaylord Hotel, which is where it actually is located, but there's a bunch of other hotels within walking distance and so I'm staying at the Westin, if anybody wants to stay at the Westin and hang out with me. So that is Bull Expo. So looking forward to being there, going to be walking around, obviously seeing what's new and Adam will be talking a little bit about in Arcade Corners, about what's new coming out on the arcade and amusement side at Bowl Expo that we should be expecting to see there. So anyway, that is Bowl Expo and so we'll have some special coverage on Bowl Sound Off. We'll cover some of what we've seen at Bowl Expo the Sound Off for the following week, not the one coming up this Tuesday, and then also, obviously, the LBX show will be a Bowl Expo-focused show, all right. And then we also had this week the I IAPA Expo registration opened.
Speaker 2:So if you are planning to go to IAPA Expo, this is the trade association, the global association for the amusement industry and the attractions industry. Their Expo is running November 17th through the 21st. They have education that runs from the 17th to the 20th and then their trade show floor runs 18th to the 21st. So it's a four-day trade show, very large, and if you haven't ever been, I highly recommend going. If you're in the attractions industry, most of you who are listening to this have been there many, many times and have been there for decades, even some of you. So there's over 1,100 exhibitors across. Right now. The trade show floor has been completely sold out.
Speaker 2:As a result, next year 2026, they will be expanding into the West Concourse, so it'll be both the North, south and the West Concourse to just make more room for more exhibitors. There's obviously going to be a big education conference and covering things from AI to sustainability, to safety, to guest experience, and then they have edgy talks as well, but then they also have edgy tours which will take you around to different places. So when you go to register, you'll see a whole list of different things that you can go and register for. And one of those things I'm super fucking excited about is the IAPA celebrates, which is always a members only and usually limited and not usually it's always limited capacity event. That happens thursday night of iapa expo.
Speaker 2:This is going to be at epic universe, so universal's new theme park in orlando, epic universe. And I'm just super fucking, fucking excited because fulcan, you know, just super excited about this because it should be uh, it should be epic. It should be great, because I don't think I'm going to be able to get out there and see it before it, actually before I don't think I'm just going to be able to get down there and see it. All right, I'm getting verklempt. Okay, that wraps up News you Should Know, coming up after the break we're going to dive into Open and Shut with Kevin Williams to the amusement industry and have been leading the way for over 30 years. Cashless systems from Intercard increase customer spending, guest satisfaction and boost revenues by up to 30%. Intercard is so proud to be serving the amusement industry and, if you aren't already, part of their global family of customers they hope you will doing well.
Speaker 4:Uh, hotels, hotels, hotels for me, but, brandon, you're back in the usual location oh yeah, and it feels.
Speaker 2:It feels feels good just to not be in an airport. I just don't want an airport recording this anymore. So, all right, we're good. We're good to go though. So that being said, yeah, dive into some openings.
Speaker 4:Let's do it and start off. We are now doing something which is a little bit condensing all of the last two weeks of events going on, because we had a pause due to various reasons and so now I have to do these in two parts. We're talking over 40 different venues that have opened over the last two weeks. That should kind of tell you where it's going. There is a little bit of a theme here. It would be interesting to see if you spot it before we get to the end and, as always, pause if you see something and I zip past it, because I'm only going to pick out 15 of the key openings from this list.
Speaker 4:So let's jump straight into the first of the openings of interest. Not saying that all of the other openings aren't of interest, but please, our friends at Battle Carts, they've just thrown open their latest UK facility, their 51st facility, if our calculations are correct, in Sheffield in the UK. No naming or information on the size of the venue, but it is clear to see that they have a form factor. They've gone into a warehouse facility. They've applied their multiple projectors over 40 projectors into one of the facilities the electric carts 12 carts at a time was their previous operational run out and I'm not sure at this particular facility if they have any additional entertainment component to it F&B or any amusement. But you know Battle Carts is traveling on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they have. You know, I think the one difference here well, I mean there's gameplay differences, but I mean the one business difference between Battle Carts and Chaos Carts really the two players that are most similar is that Battle Carts is followed the franchise model and Chaos Carts seems to be working more about running their individual locations, or at least working with Fever to run their locations, and so obviously Battle Cart, as a result, has been able to expand so much more quickly. Obviously, you've got down here, there are 51 different locations, but many of those are franchises, obviously.
Speaker 4:I would expect with the opening of Chaos Carts. So we say a new London facility. I was actually lucky enough to attend the opening of their temporary test facility for Chaos Carts in London Brick Lane. Now they have picked a permanent facility which they're going to be opening up later in the year. I would expect with the opening of that, incorporating also the Pac-Man live experience, that we may see our friend Fever apply some pressure to the Little Lions operation to maybe go down the similar franchise model. But hey, let's not count our chickens before they're hatched, shall we say.
Speaker 4:Moving on and bowling, bowling, bowling.
Speaker 4:Yes, that was the trend.
Speaker 4:We're recording this or you'll be watching this around the same time as we're enjoying the pleasures of the International Bowling Expo in the US and bowling is a major component of all of the venues that are opening up in this list.
Speaker 4:If I collected all of the companies from this list, the ones I'm talking about as well as the ones I'm not talking about, the majority of them have some kind of bowling dynamic to them, which is a very telling aspect of our entertainment mix, which is a very telling aspect of our entertainment mix, which is we are a secondary entertainment component where bowling maybe dedicated, mixed in Wolverhampton into one of their 12-lane facility, again with the incorporation of amusement. Both of these sites, as well as many of their other sites, are partnered with our friends at Sega Amusement International to have Sega Prize Zone arcades, where the cluster of machines are deployed into the facility, where the cluster of machines are deployed into the facility, and they have 15 sites out there and they've turned the key to add their name to the list of location-based bowling entertainment facilities in the UK. We've big plans for rollout.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is interesting too, because they have actually two levels of soft play. I think they have just the regular little child soft play for little kids, but then they also have what they call a ninja active soft play for adults. And so you know there's, there's the devices they got to run around and tag as well as like climb around, and so it is still definitely targeted at full families. Right, Got the small ones and got for the adults as well to go and have fun play.
Speaker 4:I would argue that Super Bowl UK has turned up the heat on its competitive, socializing component, and so we're now seeing the reinvestment and redevelopment of their existing sites, and their new sites now include the interactive darts, they will include shuffleboard, they will include other aspects. So they're looking at their after dark market as well as their children's market. We need to get in front of one of these. I am revisiting, so if you'd pause the video a couple of opens and shots back, you would have seen Malibu Jacks zip past as one that I didn't cover. Guns have been applied to my forehead. Tell me that it is worthy going back and actually revisiting and saying that this is an important opening. It is a 130,000 square foot facility and it claims the record of being the largest indoor entertainment facility in texas, so this is a very important one for malibu jacks, who have about seven facilities out there. Currently this is a warehouse of entertainment.
Speaker 4:I've been looking at the fly-through videos that were supplied to me uh, thank you guys, uh of the venue just as they were getting ready to do their first soft openings, full openings, and they have placed amusement across the whole of their floor space and they have built a model for this facility that it can be updated. Simply, it has about 130 amusement pieces in there, prize as well as video, as well as redemption. It's got duck pin in there, it's got laser tag in there. It's got everything. Really, this is more than a spaghetti and this is more than a mixed-use entertainment. This is a real entertainment destination hub that they're trying to develop here, and this is the beginning of a considerable rollout for their operation. That said, I'm not sure that there are many localities where they can drop 130,000 square into that are available to them. But hey, this market is constantly growing and there are lots of empty department stores out there. That said, I still am not a fan of their tagline. Fun's up just doesn't tickle me. But anyway, brandon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, okay. So let me come back to the branding here in a minute. But I will say that I'm surprised that only that this is the largest one in Texas at only 137,000 square feet. I mean, I know I say only that as a very large family entertainment center. But when you think of Scene 75s and some others that are just in other states that are pushing 200,000 square feet, obviously multi-level, taking over almost like a full wing of a mall, then it's just as surprising that we haven't seen anything larger than this in Texas so far. So kudos to Malibu Jacks for at least grabbing this for a little period of time.
Speaker 2:But my biggest issue with Malibu Jacks, beyond their branding, is and yes, I do agree with you with the tagline although they're trying to be cheeky, I get it Surf's up, fun's up, sure, okay. But my biggest issue is that they like to call themselves an indoor theme park and they are not a theme park, right? So if you look at their branding, they basically put some logos and some well, we'll say vinyl prints on the walls. Otherwise it's just a big giant warehouse with a bunch of games and a bunch of entertainment and attractions, very much like an amusement park. So I would say, if anything, you could be in an indoor amusement park or carnival or something like that, because they have carnival style rides, which is awesome that you can go and do those indoors you don't, and you can do it anytime you want. Obviously they have tropical, they have they have mini golf and laser tag and go-karting and all the other typical FEC things you're going to see alongside all the rides.
Speaker 2:But that doesn't make it a theme park just because you put some branding on your walls right, everybody should have branding on their walls it doesn't make you a theme park. A theme park is when there's an immersive story or connectivity to a overarching theme that everything is tied to, and it is not right. It's just a bunch of things thrown into a warehouse and with some branding slapped on it. So let's be careful with the terms that we're using here. We've talked about that before with other things. If somebody walks in expecting an immersive theme park and they walk in and it's basically a big carnival inside, okay, call yourself a carnival if you want to.
Speaker 4:I totally agree 100% and you've actually jumped the gun on what we're going to be discussing in one of our coming up sound offs regarding managing of expectations. Knowing a little bit about the Malibu Jack history, I know that the original executive team, especially on the marketing side, came with a little less knowledge of the sector, less knowledge of the sector, and they went for the lucky dip approach which was go for the surfboards, go for the laid-back attitude, call yourself a theme park, where really they should have called themselves an attraction venue or even an attraction themed entertainment venue. Many things other than calling yourself a theme park, because of all the problems that that will encourage your sector to fall, fall into your audience's perceptions. But anyway, it is a large one, though I expect its record to be beaten very soon. Watch this space Moving on.
Speaker 4:And an interesting addition to the list of simulator racing centers we have Shift Arcade you have to say that carefully and the operation has just opened up in California. They're opening up in a mall or a retail unit and they've dropped nine of the latest simulators. They put in a bar. They're, you know they're. They're opening a facility that's going for that lounge simulation offering, second in their chain. So again, where I created that long list of all the golf simulator centers, we're getting quite a long list now of the race simulator centers with that hospitality component, Time Zone our friend in Asia, the Atlantic market. They've just opened their latest Australian facility in Victoria. Quite a nice facility, though an interesting one that they've mixed both the time zone amusement component with the zone bowling component, zone being their operations bowling-only operation, 19 full-length 10-pin bowling lanes deployed here. So that's the gravity systems. Get your maintenance team out. They have quite an extensive amusement rollout, as you would expect. They have attractions, as you would expect. But the interesting addition to this is they've dropped in something called claw time, which is their interpretation of what this new wave train facility addition would look like. We'll be hearing a lot more about operations, especially sectioning off the areas within their space, if they have the capability, and creating their own dedicated claw crane UFO areas We've already talked about in the previous sound off our friends at Unis with their concepts and we'll be seeing other companies doing this.
Speaker 4:But this is TimeZone's attempt to enter this. Remember, timezone represents about 300 facilities within the Oceatic area, including India, and they've just launched their latest facility in India. This is a large one, 24,000 square. For me it's a little bit of an interesting one, not just because of the size of it for the territory, but it is located where one of the first Indian time zone sites opened, so you could kind of say that this is a refurbishment, even though it's in a brand new building. They've closed down the older facility that was opened up in 2004. They've now built this much larger, much more high scale up market facility. Again, going back to what I was saying previously about you can't sit on your laurels. You have to be constantly moving forward.
Speaker 2:Do we know if time zones's ClawTime, crane experience, crane arcade that has the same type of trade-up concept that Unis launched a few days ago?
Speaker 4:I don't think it has. From the research I did, they are still experimenting with their ClawTime operation. Obviously there's a strong Adriatic audience there who are already familiar with this kind of approach, Though I don't know if TimeZone are employing that upgrade capability. Worth doing some research, if I could be bothered. Oops, I mean it's worth doing some research.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, right. So just real quickly. For those listeners who didn't catch the opening shot where we discussed the Unis launch, it is the ability to take the smaller crane prizes that you want on the crane, put them together and then upgrade them to larger prizes at a counter.
Speaker 4:And that seems to be the rule of thumb for most of the North American new claw slot venues that are opening up, Moving on and we have an existing facility, a go-karting facility. Under the team sports chain they have about 41 facilities in the UK and they have decided to inject some redevelopment into their operation and part of that redevelopment is that they parachuted in a Sixes social cricket simulation venue. You can say they kind of dropped a franchise into their sights. It is now interesting to see that Sixes, the cricket sports entertainment hospitality venue, competitive socialising venue as it were is now parachuting themselves into existing facilities. One of the things we touched upon previously was we were waiting for these venues to move away from just being a standalone one entertainment venue to now being incorporated.
Speaker 4:We have shooting now as a very strong addition to the competitive socializing mix. You've got your golf simulation bays, you have your sports simulation bays, the tucker social type, you have the racing simulation systems and now you have the sports shooting like Clay's, and we have a couple of companies that throw their hats into the ring with their interpretation of hospitality shooting. We have Pan in France, Clay's obviously, who are going for an international coverage, and we have now Top Shot, a brand new facility. They're using BB, what I would call soft air weapons, though they're a much more higher quality metal weapon shooting, much more accurate. But they also have an archery-based system as part of this, which is also supported by their axe throwing. So a little bit of sport across the line here, with the obvious bar component. Thank you, Brandon. Yeah, full-scale weapons, the company that manufactures these weapons. These are systems that are used for training and law enforcement training and sports shooting, and they've now applied this to an entertainment mix turnkey touchscreen, alcohol and firearms Always fun.
Speaker 2:I mean, at least they're airsoft guns, so you know, but it looks like at least the pistols are wired.
Speaker 4:We're not going to get beaten up by the airsoft team. Yes, we know they're not plastic airsoft, these metal pneumatic bb fires. Stop it guys.
Speaker 2:Leave the comments on that um, yeah, well, and it's interesting too, because I mean, they have the full ars, they've got, uh, you know, all different types of guns that have the bbs in them. And yeah, they're shooting at a light board. For those of you who aren't able to, I'm watching this right now. They're shooting at a light board. For those of you who aren't able to are watching this right now. They're shooting at a light board, basically against the wall, and they're trying to hit different lights along the way. So, pure shooting. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:But with realistic weapons, with realistic weapon handling. And this is not the only one. There is Point Blank in Glasgow, if my memory serves me right. There's quite a few other tactical shooting venues, and I believe that this is an important addition to the simulation sports entertainment sector, especially with their archery components, along with their axe throwing, along with their shooting Carrying on, and we come to pins.
Speaker 4:Pins mechanical, one of those stealth companies. I've talked about them a number of openings and shots where they have gradually been rolling out steadily, convectively. Their operation, uh, this latest one in daytona, 11 000 square, which is, uh, you know, reasonable size for this type of setup, eight lane duck pin. So they're, you know they're going for their social entertainment very heavy, but it also has retro pinball, it also has amusement, they also have some bashy ball and you know they have outdoors, they have a patio kind of area, they have social indoors. The F&B. This is part of an 11 chain and, unlike another company that has pins in their name, these guys have been seeing a reasonable store-on-store return on their investment in sales. We will be touching upon the impacts in this type of market later on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sorry, no, I was just. I mean, this is a concept that I'm actually surprised has done as well as it has, and I think they've done really good in selecting key locations. I think in their location scouting they've been very selective around where they've dropped these Now, dayton, ohio, I don't know the population or the density of the particular area they're in, but I do know they try to go into a little bit more affluent, higher net worth spaces and I think that's really what's helped carry them. Higher net worth spaces and I think that's really what's helped carry them, because at the end of the day, several lanes of duck pin bowling and some retro pinball and a few games isn't a lot right. You basically end up being a restaurant with some duck pin bowling and, yes, they do have some yard games and stuff like that and it's a nice social environment. But that's really what it is right. It's social environment first, and then the entertainment is a small little offering in addition to that.
Speaker 4:Anyone that comes to the presentation that I'll be doing at Amusement 360 in a couple of months time will hear me use the phrase the social lubricant, and what I mean about that is that social entertainment needs to have a social component for that repeat visitation. You can't just drop in some amusement pieces and hope that they will come, as we will see in a couple of minutes' time, Clays we touched upon Clays, the shooting concept, continuing along. But this is interesting. Our friends at Clay's have finally made or I could say, bite the bullet if I really wanted to go for the puns here. The company has finally done the thing that they said to me that they would never do, though I'm sure they will suffer amnesia on that meeting.
Speaker 4:The issue is here, now that they have added Clay's Arcade. So this facility that will be opening up in Soho, which I'm looking forward to visiting in a couple of days' time, will have an arcade component to it. So very similar to what we saw with Swingers, where Swingers had their Carnival component that had off-the-shelf rebranded arcade machines in their own unique area to support their mini-golf. We now see this clay pigeon shooting simulator facility now adding a secondary entertainment revenue component to their mix, a secondary entertainment feature, an additional to dwell time through Clay's Arcade. They really burned the midnight oil coming out with that brand. But the issue here is that this is trying to increase the entertainment offering from the facility.
Speaker 2:I'm on their Soho website right now and obviously it's a coming soon landing page, so I haven't been able to see what they have in their Clays Arcade right, Because all they're showing here is just stuff from their standard Clays experience, which we visited and actually, again, I'm really a big fan of their aesthetic and everything else they have going on there. Just curious if you've seen pictures of their Clays Arcade at all.
Speaker 4:I was given a rundown of the machines that are going in there, but I haven't seen the themality yet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, got it yeah.
Speaker 4:I will stand outside there with a gin and tonic in my hand and give the full rundown as soon as I can. And again, another new entrance into the UK. Wow, the UK has really dominated this two-parter and we have an operation called Simworks. Now, not to be confused with the Simworks theme park roller coaster sorry, simparks, the dark ride and ride simulator manufacturer this is a totally different operation. Just opened their first site in bristol and they have really gone for the standard.
Speaker 4:You know, 101 build me a competitive socializing venue. They have, uh, the ar darts, they have the shuffleboard, they have the amusement, they have the golf sims. The one new inclusion to this is they have the shooting bays. So they are a clays-light approach and this is an important area that we need to be mindful of. What is your mix? If we had jumped in the time machine and gone back maybe three years, we wouldn't have seen the shooting bays, we would have seen the beer pong or the shuffleboards being more prominent than the AR darts or the other components. So again, the competitive socializing market is fashion-led, as you would expect, and we have a new entrance and hopefully we will get more information about this new entrance into the market and to see if they're looking at world domination like everyone else. Yeah, yeah, the shuffleboard, by the way, is provided if they're looking at world domination like everyone else.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah. The shuffleboard, by the way, is provided. It is a. It's not fully augmented reality, the way that the 501 darts there are, that you've got there, but the they're using Hudson Neo shuffleboards. I have not heard of Hudson Neo shuffleboard before, so it is a new, maybe a new entrant, the. The experience looks a little bit like the Shuffley, but it is Hudson.
Speaker 4:It looked like Shuffley to me. I made the mistake originally of thinking it was Shuffley. Yeah, and I also made a mistake on who was providing their shooting sim, but I have rectified that point as we will touch upon in sound. Their shooting sim. But I have rectified that point as we will touch upon in sound. Moving on, and again more bowling lane seven opening up their second facility in Newcastle.
Speaker 4:So here is an important metric to bear in mind. Not only do you roll out your facilities in areas that you find fits your calculations of what your target audience is, you also work out if you're achieving your targets, and if you're not achieving your targets, you expand on them. So you have two choices you either build a bigger facility or you build a second facility. And our friends at Lane 7 feel that they haven't eaten all of the cherry that is the Newcastle market and so they're going to well. They have opened up a 23,000 square foot boutique version of their operation. It is a normal Lane 7. As far as I can tell, the only major change here is that they have incorporated the Moment Factory interactive floor system, which has now been branded Playground. Again, for transparency, we have involvement with our friends at Moment Factory, we're looking forward to seeing them deploy their technology into the competitive, socializing as well as the amusement side of this industry into the competitive, socializing as well as the amusement side of this industry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was trying to find here what their slick darts are, so I was trying to find that here on their website to understand what the slick darts is.
Speaker 4:From the video that I was looking at, it just seems to be augmented reality darts system, which wasn't badged 501. So I'm just wondering if our friends at Lane 7 has found a proprietary system which they've developed themselves.
Speaker 2:Yeah, interesting. And for those of you who are curious and want to do some further research in the Moment Factory floor here, this is their augmented games product. So even though Lane 7 seems to be calling it the playground arena, this is Moment Factory's augmented games floor.
Speaker 4:And this is the version one of this. There's a new version of this floor system which will be revealed in due course. King pins More bowling Can't get away from it. 12, 12 pin bowling lane. Here are kingpins in glasgow, uh, and you know, along with the tech darts, we've had many a name called for these interactive dart systems. Uh, along with the american pool, along with the amusement and the F&B, we also have another shooting simulator set up. So bowling, shooting simulator and AR darts seem to be becoming the dependable revenue generators for the boutique approach to the market. Kingpins is a chain of about four facilities and again, they have received investments to start rolling out more sites.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do we think that the shooting is just novel right now? Is that why we're seeing this dropped into some of these mixed-use entertainment facilities? Is this the novelty of the shooting sim?
Speaker 4:The shooting sim has been available. For those of you that were unlucky enough to attend my presentations during eag at the beginning of the year, we had a point of having simway as one of our exhibitors at the event. There are a number of sports shooting simulator systems out there that haven't been getting the love that they deserve in location-based entertainment. They are in many cases, better than having a dart system, because you have a physical device that you're firing and you know that gives a tactality and a unique experience, especially in the uk, where shooting isn't that prevalent, and especially in europe as well, where sports shooting and wild game shooting is still popular. But an older generation sport and these kind of modernize the approach. I am a big fan of sports shooting systems being deployed in location-based entertainment. It's just sad that there was a poor thought process by many of our operators towards what was available. Some of them don't have the capability to do the type of research we do. What are the many, many, many game experiences out there that could be deployed in a competitive socializing rather than just doing beer pong, rather than just doing shuffleboard, rather than just doing hoopscapes, just doing beer pong rather than just doing shuffleboard, rather than just doing hoopscapes. And then we come to Meow Wolf.
Speaker 4:Now this is a difficult one. Is it interactive? Is it experiential? Is it an exhibit? I'm including it because it's a hospitality interactive experience. So our friends at Meow Wolf have opened up their grapevine facility. It's been going for a period of time and they have announced the addition of a brand new interactive space in their site, which is a mixture of cocktails and game experience. I haven't done it myself. I'm looking forward to giving it a go when we're in Texas. But again, it shows our friends at MeoWolf are constantly iterating and experimenting with applications to keep their venues and properties fresh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think this one obviously the grapevine has been open for a while now, but they've just recently installed their bar and I think this is just a pure per-cap play, right. I mean, it makes sense to keep people obviously in the venue for longer, but there's really no reason to stay in the Myanmar venue for longer from a per-cap standpoint unless they have some drinks. Right, it should have been done a long time ago.
Speaker 4:They should have had a landing component. They should have had hospitality. I know the previous management was dead set against that because they were more set on the experience and the exhibit approach and the artisan concept of Mio Wolf. Now the realists in the board have decided that they do need to have a landing pad, a hospitality, a dwell environment, as well as an opportunity event for people that don't really know what the Meow Wolf walk-through experience is. They can go have a drink in this area, maybe suck it in to try the experience once they've had a few libations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I hope that you can take it throughout the entire facility. I know when I was in the great vine location, they had a corporate event that was going on when I happened to be walking through and they did have drinks with them, but obviously it was a corporate event. I wasn't invited to share a drink with them but, um, but I would have. Uh, I would love to be able to walk around. I know, in Meow Wolf, uh, Omega Mart so the one in Vegas they have the bar but you're really locked into the bar. You can't go and feel, go and participate in the rest of the facility while you're carrying your drink, and I think that's a big miss actually is, uh, you know, keeping them in the you know you basically cause the bar is not that interesting. I mean, they have some good drink. You're basically sitting in there while, like, you're already paid to be in this big, beautiful space and you can't walk around with your drink uh, the hospitality component is a difficult one for some operators.
Speaker 4:They they don't like mixing the entertainment with the hospitality. They're worried about glasses spillage and all of those aspects. I I point people to the fair games scenario where originally fair games kind of stopped people from walking through with their drinks and then suddenly worked out that there's something called plastic glasses and they suddenly got over that problem. You know, mixing the hospitality with the entertainment experience can increase the amounts that the individuals consume and spend and also can make the experience much more enjoyable. But anyway, for another time, moving on to the shots, and we will go into much more detail the situations surrounding pinstripes, it's not a surprise to many of us in the sector that they are now looking at entering into bankruptcy protection. The one thing that the current management has been very adamant about is that, whatever the situation of their final disposition is that they will keep open their 18 facilities and that they are working very hard on a possible infusion of additional capital as well as possible acquisition. But this is information that's only broken within the last two or three days that they were considering going for Chapter 11, and we'll have much more information, I'm sure, once they know exactly where they're at this position One that we talked about. This is the first. Well, the second, to be honest, first for me, independent of the companies where we do cover them in an open and shut and then we cover them from birth to sadly death and then we cover them from birth to sadly death.
Speaker 4:So Kelso in Leicestershire opened, taking over a nightclub. They stripped it out, they turned it into a competitive socialising venue. They've had eight months and now they're closing. There are only three reasons why you would go through this metamorphosis. Number one problems with the management and the financing. Option two is you have no one turn up to your facility. And option three problems with the leaseholder or the venue property. I'm putting my money down on option two, where I think that they had great aspirations of what they wanted to do. They'd heard about the opportunities that existed in competitive socialising. They just didn't understand what was the customer journey, the pricing model and the repeat visitation needs. They thought it was just another nightclub. Opened it, no one came. They're closing it down. If there's more to the story, uh, I would be willing to rectify and correct my observations and everybody knows my email if they'd like to give us more details on that yeah, I mean this.
Speaker 2:It was basically a pub. I mean a pub with a few games in it. I mean that's, there wasn't really much differentiation here. I mean, yeah, they had some interactive dart lanes, but they're just four and a couple of shuffleboards. I mean like, literally, the rundown is exactly what you would find in a pub.
Speaker 4:Yes, there are some people in the hospitality market that think that competitive socializing is beer games with a bit of polish and, as we can see here, that is a very difficult lesson to learn when you're wrong. We have a facility up for sale in Blackpool, so if you've got three hundred and eighty thousand pounds UK burning a hole in your pockets, you too can buy a tired, out of date bowling facility that's seen better days. I'm sorry, sorry. I'm sure blackpool bowl is a fantastic venue. I haven't had the pleasure of going in there. I'm sure it has done sterling service to the tourists and the locals in the area. But it's up for sale and, from the pictures of what I've seen, it needs some work to bring it up to the qualities to stay relevant in the market. But hey, this could be a fantastic find for someone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I guess it definitely is tired and it's 3,000 square feet, I mean that is a big facility.
Speaker 4:And from the pictures I was looking at, I don't think they use all of the space, so maybe this is a hidden gem where you could sort of break in upstairs or use some of the space that they're not using. Though, I get this awful feeling that when they say it's 30,000 square, what they mean is the facility can accommodate 30,000 and that the bowling area is very open and they haven't put a meson in it. But again, we need more detail. So if you go off and buy this facility and need some free consultancy on how to turn it into a venue that can survive in blackpool in the 2020s, uh, I'll gladly take that on as a contract yeah, uh, and you get one of the wackiest um websites.
Speaker 2:you've, uh, you've ever, you, ever, you know, get as well Yahoo.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was getting flashbacks when I was going through that website. It was painful. The virtual reality sector it's very hard for me to track down the closings in VR arcade facilities. They have been going through quite a transition. A lot of the older VR arcades that went for the more traditional approach have closed down and moved on, and my database stays open.
Speaker 4:I have to keep on going back every now and then and checking with some of the venues to see if their links are still active. But there's also a double problem, which is the internet is renowned for having dead links that don't tell you that the facility is dead. So you have to then double check with TripAdvice excuse me to make sure that the site is still open, even though their Web page makes a claim that their doors are open, and Fireloop VR is a perfect example. Fireloop actually closed its doors in December last year and I've only just found out about their operation not functioning anymore and that the operators have moved on to other aspects of the XR landscape away from operating facilities.
Speaker 4:The dinosaur syndrome you shoot it in the head but you don't know it's dead until it falls over and one possible positive scenario for the adult entertainment facility that I had mentioned on previously. Our friends at Hooters had gone through their own bankruptcy problems and were closing down sites and were talking about removing themselves from the market. Well, a white knight has appeared on the horizon Hulk Hogan and his operation is looking at possibly acquiring the 200 Hooter facilities and taking it under his wing. So those fantastic wings and service will be embraced by the wrestling community. I'll keep you posted on this one.
Speaker 2:If there wasn't a better match made in heaven, I don't know what is.
Speaker 4:I think it's a perfect match. I really do. It's a no-brainer. Everybody comes out a winner and no one can complain about Hooters anymore because it's a Hulkster venue. Anyway, for further updates, we've just released some new Stinger. We're going to be releasing some new entertainment social arena issues soon. Thank you, brandon, for your hard efforts on all of that there. Please jump on to subscribe. If you're not already subscribed and I noticed some of you boys in the Facebook sites just reading the version off the Facebook please subscribe. It fits into your email posts so easier. But again, if you have any questions or any updated information, please hit me up on email. Is there anything that you want to touch upon that I've missed Brandon.
Speaker 2:No, I think we've covered quite a bit in this open and shut.
Speaker 4:Well, I wish everyone a good one, until the next one.
Speaker 1:If you run a location-based entertainment brand and want to attract more visitors, check out Radius. They use real-time location data and customized marketing strategies to help brands like yours stand out. Radius can boost your foot traffic and build a loyal customer base. Plus, they're offering a complimentary local market analysis to show you exactly how they can help you grow Curious, visit Radiusco and ask about your free market analysis. That's R-A-Y-D-I-U-Sco.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, I told you it was a long one, it was robust, but we covered a lot of good stuff, and so I know that there's just so much going on in this industry. That was just the stuff we didn't. I mean, that was just stuff we talked about that we like left off over half of them that we didn't talk about. So definitely, if you want to get in further, you can go back to the beginning of that open and shut, pause it, see the different venues that we didn't cover and do a deeper dive there, if you want. All right, next up, we've got Clint Novak on his road trip to Denver.
Speaker 3:Hey, what's going on everyone, and welcome to this edition of Road Trip. My name is Clint Novak from ANA Global and it's time to road trip to Denver, colorado. A few weeks ago I was out there checking out some FECs and I want to give you guys a tour of the locations I had a chance to check out. So first up is Boondocks, which is a family entertainment center that's indoor, outdoors. They're getting ready to kick off their summer and this summer and, uh, this is a really cool place. They have a two go-kart tracks, a rookie track, a road track. They have an RCI ropes course. They got some J and J go-karts there. Uh, they got, uh, some bowling full-size bowling. I love the lane markers here with the boondocks logo on there and just marking every lane. Uh, they also have outdoor mini golf as well. Go on there and just marking every lane. They also have outdoor mini golf as well. Bumper boats, a big bumper boat pond here you can see that RCI ropes course there with the shade, which makes it really nice for the summertime, and, of course, a really big arcade redemption center. That's their bowling. Check in there. They also have a full scale restaurant. And one thing I thought was really cool about this location. One takeaway was they have Pepsi machines inside their party rooms so their party hosts don't have to run back and forth to fill up the Pepsi products that they have or the Coke products. They can do it right there in the room. The parents can help themselves, so they don't have to run around looking for their party hosts. I just thought that was a really cool thing that not a lot of people are doing.
Speaker 3:Up next is Keiko Joe's. This is a mall location. This is in a mall that's doing fairly well, I would say over 90% occupancy, so there's not a lot of vacant stores. I love the wrap that they do on all this, all glass, so you can see in everywhere there. They've got the Redemption Counter. They've got some glow black light mini golf there. They've got the Highway 66 mini bowling. They also have VR and some VR games as well, and it was just a great location. It's a pretty big arcade for a mall. And then, of course, they have those added attractions as well, and one of the final stops I stopped at was Winner's Circle.
Speaker 3:Now this is a brand new FEC not even a year old and they have a lot of cool things here. First off, they have an arcade. They have a couple of bars and restaurant areas. This is definitely a place to socialize. You bring your friends and have a drink, have some food. Here you can see some of the free games they have. They have some teeter-totters there in the background. Those are actual teeter-totters the Big Jenga, of course, cornhole, and then they have the traditional duck pin bowling, which is the really small lanes there. I love how they have also the lighting in the background with a see-through so you can see all the mechanics of what's going on with your duck pin bowling. They see-through so you can see all the mechanics of what's going on with your duck pin bowling. They have Lucky Putt from Creative Works as well.
Speaker 3:Along with this is you know what this is? This is curling, yes, curling, the Olympic sport. You know the curling? Yeah, that's what this is. Right, here is a curling board that you can play on, and then they also have some axe throwing as well. Like I said, very heavy in the food and beverage.
Speaker 3:Their bar area looks amazing. One thing I have to show you, though this is phenomenal. It is well, let's just go to the video and show you. So we're in this, uh, upstairs bar area, and this is just something that I I it's too cool to pass up. I have to show a video of this.
Speaker 3:They have a photo booth over here in the corner, have a photo booth over here in the corner, and so you can come over here and get your photo, and so we're going to go in. And so right now the photo booth is under construction, but you'd get your photo, hi. But what's over here? Oh, it's a hallway where you can take your photos and put them on the cork board. There's also a bathroom here and then just an area where you can do your photos. Dead end here, or is it a dead end? And if you go through here, you are then in a speakeasy bar area with upgraded food and beverage options aviation theme called the Hanger. They do the smoke old fashions, they do bubble drinks. This is super cool. What an imagination. And that is a look at their speakeasy there, which I thought was really cool. Thank you guys, so much for road tripping with me. My name is Clint Novak. We'll see you guys on the next adventure. Have a good one.
Speaker 2:All right, well, that was awesome. Thanks so much for that, clint and man. Okay, a couple of quick takeaways there that I have. I just want to summarize. First of all, I loved the fountains, the soda fountains. I don't see they happen to be Pepsi, but it could be Coke or whatever, but they love the soda fountains in the party rooms at Boondocks. So great idea. They obviously had all the catering stuff there, yeah, and it looks.
Speaker 2:It depends on what you're trying to do for the look and feel of your party rooms. If you want those pictures and you want to maybe a little bit more upscale, you don't want the sort of fountain hanging out there. That's fine. But from a convenience standpoint, especially depending on how far away your party rooms are from your host station, then it makes a lot of sense, especially if you offer free refills anyway, then there's a whole lot that has to be going on there. And then I also love the redemption counter.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you noticed it in the picture that Clint had on the screen that there was the redemption counter for Keiko. Joes was actually right by the glass. So you look in the glass, you're in the mall, you're walking by and you see some of the games in there. But you also see all the prizes lined up in the redemption counter. They're right visible through the glass, all the prizes lined up in the redemption counter there, right Visible through the glass, like a lot of times the redemption counter is a little bit further back where when you walk in you can see it, but you don't see it necessarily as you're walking past. And what a great draw to just get people in so very well positioned there with Keiko Joes.
Speaker 2:And then, of course, I'm a speaking, I'm a cocktail guy. We literally have a speakeasy at IAPA Expo in the lbx collective booth, uh, throughout the week. So, like I love speakeasies, but I love the fact that it's just right through the photo booth and but I think also, in addition to the speakeasy there you're through, the photo booth was just you know, this is something that anybody could do is like there's a place just to put up all the different photos from the photo booth wall or from the photo wall for all the different photos taken in the photo booth, and I thought, thought, what a great idea and having that in that hallway that leads to the speakeasy, kind of a cool thing. So, anyway, great job. Thanks so much, clint, for doing that. Next up we've got Adam Pratt with Arcade Corner.
Speaker 5:Greetings. It's Adam with Arcade Heroes for the LBX Collective. Welcome to this edition of Arcade Corner pre-Bowl Expo edition, which of course the show's been talking about a bit already. I have a little bit of things to discuss when it comes to Bowl Expo, because of course it's not just bowling, it's arcades as well. And before I get into that, pointing out my Atari hat, atari shirt, atari on the screen, atari in the background there, that's because this past week, back on Friday, june 27th, it marked the 53rd anniversary of the founding of Atari Incorporated and Atari would be one of the most significant companies to come along within the amusement arcade space.
Speaker 5:Yes, the industry did exist before Atari did. It's Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell who founded that company. That created the company that would essentially bring video games to the public. Of course, video games, I think, have existed sometime since the 1950s, but it was very, very rare to come across them like a museum or university sort of stuff museum or university sort of stuff but they made it so that anybody, no matter what their income level was, could play and experience video games. And of course that started with arcade games and growing up, atari was the first one that I'd be a fan of. I mean, I love Nintendo and Sega and Sony and all those companies too, but atari was, uh, my first gaming love, if you want to call it that, which is really cheesy and incredibly nerdy.
Speaker 5:But anyways, um, for the news that we'll be discussing so, uh, bowl expo, of course, is top of mind for everybody, and while missile command re Arcade is not going to be there, soda Slam by LN1 will be. Soda Slam does not have anything to do with Atari, but just would point out that at the AVS company's booth I know that the Soda Slam game will be there. Avs will have some other products from, I think they were saying, bandai, namco, and I can't remember if it also mentioned. Sega Amusements would be there too, but as far as I'm aware, they won't have Missile Command Recharged Arcade. However, one reason why this is on the screen is because this is available to order now, and I'm not 100% sure at this moment. I wasn't able to confirm that it is going to be shipping out immediately. It might be a couple of weeks, and so alan one is producing missile command recharge, which would be the follow-up to or the second recharge game that they've done after asteroids recharge back in november of last, and I guess for full disclosure, I am doing a bit of consultancy work on Alan 1, and that's sometimes why I have a bit of information here to share.
Speaker 5:But here is a new photo of the game cabinet with the final artwork on it, and now this is different than what had been shown earlier in the year. What had been shown was a concept for an FEC model, but I've been told that that has actually been canceled, and so I'm not sure what form and missile command FEC model might be making here in the future. But at the very least, this version, which is great for routes, smaller arcades, retro arcades, free play arcades, all of that. You have this here. What they call the Pro model or the Pro Plus, is the one that has the RGB LED T-molding there, that has the RGB LED T-molding there, and in my guesstimation or opinion, I could see this particular game doing a little better on the market than Asteroids has. Granted, I don't know exactly. I should have asked somebody at Alamo how Asteroids has done, but at least when I was testing in Asteroids out, it didn't do as well as I had hoped.
Speaker 5:One of the things I've been pushing for was a different type of controls, but they stuck to using the original five button setup. To me, gamers these days need something that's more unique than, say, just buttons, and so in this case where you have track balls that's novel, I mean sure you have them on golden tea, but that's about it, and golden tea is not in every arcade anyways. But then you also have this, what they're calling the big red button, which is kind of like a super zapper or a smart bomb from classic games, so you push that and then it'll blow up everything on the screen and then have a cool down sort of thing. You have limited use of that as well, but yeah, the this one had a great price, under six thousand dollars then, oh yeah.
Speaker 5:And I should also say one thing with asteroids that I think might hurt it a little bit on today's market. Granted, again, I need to double check and see how it's earning in other places that aren't mine and whatnot, which I did not find out before I started recording here. But at least I think in my arcade situation, asteroids is a little bit chaotic for somebody who's never played asteroids before. They don't know what to do and it's the the learning curve on that. It's not very friendly, whereas missile command is a bit more straightforward. Sure, it gets tough, but the chaos is not quite, as, say, random as what you get with asteroids, where you're literally getting attacked from all sides, and whereas in missile command getting attacked from all sides and whereas in Missile Command it's from the sky.
Speaker 5:But there are some changes to this from the home edition, and so I would say that there's really not much there. That's the same between the home version of Missile Command Recharge and the arcade version. The arcade version is absolutely superior and has a lot more exclusive content to it, and so, from in that regard, then I would say, yeah, you probably want to check it out and give it a play or two, and if you operate a location, maybe see about going and maybe grabbing one, because because, again, there's not many games that are under ten thousand dollars these days, much less closer to five thousand, and so that's where it's really nice to see them, uh, offering something along those lines. Now, that's not the only game that uh. Oh, I, before I move on really quick, uh, with alan one, they will be at California Extreme in Santa Clara, california, san Jose area, and so that's July 19th and 20th, and they will be unveiling a new Atari Recharged cabinet at that show. They'll also be giving away a Missile Command Recharge cabinet. So if you are an arcade operator and you're planning on going to this CACS event, or if you hadn't been and you want the chance to win a almost $6,000 machine, then there you go. I think they're also doing a show special where they're selling these for less too. So if you are interested in this game at all, I would highly recommend going to CACS and, as they call it, california extreme, and checking out there. I will be there and so perhaps meet up and chat.
Speaker 5:All right, moving on to more bowl expo stuff, we have Bandai Namco amusements will be there and they will have their upcoming shooter which, from what I hear, it is actually in production and shipping now. I don't know if any locations out there have received it yet, but Goldstorm Pirates, which is the sequel to their 2010 shooter, deadstorm Pirates, is available now. This one, from a price perspective, unfortunately, it's quite a bit more expensive than the Dead Storm Pirates was and got a lot of inflation over the years. But the game it's fantastic. From what I played at IAAPA, I didn't get a chance to play it at Amusement Expo and in fact, I need to get an updated photo of the game cabinet, because one of the things that is different is that they've made the guns on it golden, which also reminds me of an obscure Sega game that was released, oh gosh, over 10 years ago called Sega Golden Gun. If anybody remembers that one, where it did have this gold-plated obviously not real gold, gold chrome look to it. And so that's what they're doing with Gold Storm Pirates, really leaning into the whole idea of the gold stuff and this one has some great gameplay elements to it as well and put some video on here.
Speaker 5:This was from my APA, and so the graphics on it look fantastic. I don't know. I assume they're using a pc to operate it. In the past, the dead storm pirates had used a playstation 3 to do that, but not actually. Now that I think about, I should ask if this is using like a PS4 or PS5 to produce its graphics. But 75-inch screen, 4k still has the steering wheel, has a motion seat.
Speaker 5:It does have a different cabinet for North America and Europe compared to the Japanese version. The Japanese version has actually been out since last year around the time of IAPA. It launched over in in Asia and from what I've heard, it's performing exceptionally well, doing very, very good. Of course, japanese arcades don't tend to have a ton of space and so they don't always grab like these environmental, american sized cabinets, but I can certainly foresee this one doing very, very well and showing up at a lot of fecs out there, and for me the the price is a little too high to uh to grab it for my small arcade, and I guess I should mention I.
Speaker 5:Right now I'm from my facility. I'm grabbing a new air hockey table, because I've been without one for over a year and that's's way too long. I shouldn't be without one at all and also selling off a couple of my pinball machines and getting a Dungeons Dragons pinball, which I've heard through the grapevine of other operators. They've been stating very consistently in completely different parts of the country that that particular game from Stern is bringing people in and making regulars, and so I'm looking forward to that. I'm also getting a new fighter for my Ex Arcadia machine called Omen of Sorrow. I'm not aware of Ex Arcadia going to Bowl Expo and also, speaking of that, I haven't heard a whole lot other than Bandai Namco confirming that Goldstorm Pirates will be there. Then Bandai Namco, confirming that Goldstorm Pirates will be there, and Miro USA has put out a teaser showing that they're going to unveil a gun game which, from going on to Discord, found out that it's likely something called Marksman, which is a light gun video game which is within the vein of all those gallery shooters or shooting gallery style video games that have been very popular in recent years.
Speaker 5:Jet Games has their mega shot and their big shot game versions, and then Coastal Amusements had one as well, which name is escaping me right now. It's like there's several companies that have come out with these ones where they have a more realistic gun. Say, with Jet Games, they have a metal casing. The Coastal one actually used plastic because they felt that the metal would get too easily scratched and too expensive. But if you've been to an IAPO or an amusement expo or if you're operating out there, maybe you already have one of these games already. Uh, but it looks like andamero is going to jump into that and there's a little bit closer to the mega shot by jet games, but it still uses a pistol as opposed to the big rifles that mega shot used. But yeah, that pretty much covers what I know is coming to Bowl Expo Rothwells is not unveiling anything new that I've heard that we've not seen before.
Speaker 5:Of course it would have. The latest levels are all six chapters from Godzilla, Kaiju Wars, vr and of course they'll have their Wizard of Oz redemption game there. Don't know if Adrenaline Amusements is going to be there and if they'll show off their new Hot Wheels game, which we had mentioned in the past, which is still at Dave Buster's LAI. I haven't heard of anything new that they might be bringing to Bowl Expo either, but I would assume they would be showing off Cyberpunk 2077 Turf Wars, which is still the Dave Buster's exclusive until August 1st. But of course they'll be taking orders and such. Yeah, I'm sure it'll be a fun Bowl Expo. I won't be there myself. I just felt like it wouldn't be. I wasn't sure if there would be anything worth going out there to check out, but probably I don't know. Sometimes I end up regretting missing these shows. But anyways, thanks for watching Arcade Corner and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2:And I'm still muted. All right, here we go. All right, so we got promo pro tips with chug tamanti. Before we get into that, I mean I just love everything alan one is doing with the atari recharged arcades. I mean, in goldstorm, pirates is still one of my favorite games that's come out in the recent years. Uh, we, recent year really. Um, and so also, you know, to celebrate atari, I've got my little atari console here. I don't think, oh, you can't see it because my name is in the way. It's all right, it's there. I promise it's there. Let's just dive into Promo Pro Tips with Chuck DeMonte.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to Promo Pro Tips with Chuck DeMonte. That is me. Today I want to talk to the people who want to improve their marketing strategies. Okay, so I want to give you three expert level marketing strategies you should consider doing. If this is a big, if you're already doing the basics and by the base I mean, like you're posting content on social media, you're sending out emails, maybe working with local you know media groups or I don't know Facebook mom groups or sponsoring the local high school team, right, some local stuff that you could do. That doesn't necessarily require an expertise or knowledge or a robust amount of knowledge to execute a strategy. Okay, and so the reason why this has come up lately. I've been speaking to some people and I've honestly never heard this up until really recently. It's kind of weird Speaking with people about potentially doing their marketing and they're like, well, why can you do Google Ads better than I could do it? And listen, I'm a big believer you could learn and do anything you want in this world, but have you really put in the time and the dedication to understand something as robust as Google Ads? It is a complicated platform. They are decently complicated to run If you want to get the most out of them. Anybody can go put them up, I mean they're they're fairly easy to put up, right. But if you want to optimize, get the most out of it and all that they are, they can be very complex, like many other marketing strategies. Okay, so, you know, I want to discuss three expert marketing strategies. That, again, if you have, you know, I want to discuss three expert marketing strategies. That, again, if you have, you know, maybe an internal marketing person, if you have a marketing agency, things you should consider. Now, I don't necessarily suggest you running them on your own unless you want to take the time to learn how to do them, but I would probably suggest or believe that your time could be better spent elsewhere if you are running, owning, operating the business, right.
Speaker 1:So strategy number one paid advertising, and paid advertising as it relates to conversions, right. So what does that mean? Typically, booking events, buying tickets, right. Booking a time to come into an escape room, laser tag, trampoline, booking tickets for trampoline parks, birthday parties, right.
Speaker 1:So you want to attach it to conversion tracking and there's a lot of complexity there, right? Not only with setting up the conversion tracking, you need to know how to you know, put the codes on the websites and talk with your CRM. Some CRMs and technology aren't even built for this, right, so it can get very, very, very complex and then maybe you want to bring it back, you know, up the funnel, where it's just, you know, tracking a button click, right. So not as good, but again there's, there's options to track what people are doing once they click on your ads. Okay, so that is really complex and you should have somebody that knows how to do that and how to implement that for you. So not only just implement the conversion tracking, but then the running the ads to get those conversions right. So you're going to tell Google or Meta or TikTok, right, when somebody takes this action, that's a conversion. That's what I want, right, and you'll be able to optimize and improve your ads that way. Okay, so you know, if you think you can do it better than an expert. This is 15 years plus of digital marketing telling you you probably can't again, unless you've taken your time to learn it really well, right, but I'm going to bet that you probably can't run it better than an expert. So, if you want to take your marketing to the next level, paid digital or paid advertising is a phenomenal.
Speaker 1:Next step, it will, without a doubt, increase your event bookings. It will, without a doubt, increase your ticket bookings, you know, adding a sort of asterisk to that. That is, if you have a good location and a product and a service people want, right. So that is number one. Number two I would love to see you be doing email automations, okay. So email automations are not. You know, there's manual campaigns you could send hey, we're doing a promo. Or hey, you know, check out this new event we have, or right.
Speaker 1:You could go and create and do one-off emails like that sort of emails, the email automations I'm speaking to, especially if you have collecting sort of first party data from people and understand when, where their birthday is or special events, or if they did an event last year, right, creating automations around certain um criteria that automatically sends out emails to people. For example, if you are a location that has people signing waivers and you know when their birthday is, or when their children's birthday is, or they had a birthday there before, you know two months leading up to their birthday coming up and email automation can start saying hey, you got little Timmy's birthday coming up in two months. You know why don't you book a birthday with us? Right? 15 days later, another email hey, do you got a chance Any make any plans for Timmy's birthday? Right, here's a 10% discount code, or you know. Eventually, maybe they don't book a birthday. It's like hey, you know birthdays, you know this week maybe just buy some tickets here, right? So just those automations will get more people to convert and come into your location and buy tickets, buy, you know, book an event or whatever, right? So email automation is also decently complex because you got to have it talk to your CRM and talk to certain data points and, you know, create those emails and create that automation. It can get decently complex. You should be working with somebody who knows how to do that, okay.
Speaker 1:And then last, now, this isn't so much a strategy, but it is a discipline and something you need to know how to do. You need to have a good looking website, right. Your technology for your POS and all that should be integrated well into the website. Your website should represent you as a business and put you in a good light and put your brand in a good light. If I go to a website that looks, you know that it's not, you know, up to par, or especially not on mobile right. Most people are going to go to your site via their mobile phone. If it's not optimized for that, they're going to bounce off or they're going to. They're going to relate that your website looks bad. So how good could your location be? Okay? So I can't stress enough.
Speaker 1:Now, could you do this on things like Wix, which are drag and drop, absolutely.
Speaker 1:But one Wix designer or developer is not like the other. It's just it's it's just like anything else. You could be really good at stuff, or you could be okay at things, or you could be terrible at something you've never tried, right? So just because it's drag and drop, and, yes, it makes it easier to build a site, it doesn't mean it's going to look nice, okay, there's so many tricks and tools and tips and you know design, um, just best practices for user experience, right, that you should know what you're doing when you implement this. So you know, if your website is not up to par, get it. You know, improve it. If, again, if you do Wix website you could, it wouldn't break your bank, right? But I guarantee you it'll help improve your revenue if you have a better website. Okay. So those are the three things I really want you to think about if you want to improve and sort of level up your marketing. Paid ads really connect to conversions, email automations and improving your website. So go out and get some of those things done.
Speaker 2:All right, all right. Well, thank you there for that, chuck, and with that, that just about wraps everything up here. Thank you there for that, chuck, and uh, with that. That just about wraps everything up here. That's a? Uh, stay tuned for a sound off number 80 with kevin williams on tuesday, july 1st, and uh, you know what that's a wrap for this week's lbx show. This is brandon wiley signing off. Stay tuned and keep kicking ass.
