Londons European Amusement And Gaming Expo Garners Exhibitor Praise

LONDON -- The organizers of this year's European Amusement and Gaming International Expo report that the event was a hit with exhibitors. Sponsored by the British Amusement Catering Trade Association , EAG was held in conjunction with the new Visitor Attraction Expo sponsored by the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions. Both BACTA and BALPPA reported a positive response from their members and exhibitors, who applauded the wider range of prospective customers.

An added attraction at the 2015 London show was the first Veterans' Lunch, held to honor the memory of the late Eddie Moss. It was organized by Stephanie Norbury, the founder of Upgrade PR Ltd., who conceived the Coin-Op Community online forum and operator marketplace, and implemented it with the support of InterGame (Oldham, England).

Moss, who died last year, was a pioneering coin-op equipment distributor and one of the founders of British jukebox manufacturer Sound Leisure, which works with Soundnet, a music provider now owned by TouchTunes.

The organizers of EAG and VAE reported most exhibitors commented on the advantage of collocating the shows. Michael Green of United Distributing Co. Ltd. (London) said, "EAG has really benefitted from the addition of the Visitor Attraction Expo." He reported that UDC's "star piece" has been Team Play's FishBowl Frenzy redemption game.

ALL ABOARD!The Spacebus, a fully equipped mobile indoor play facility, arrived in London just in time for VAE. The double-decker transport is made by Playbus Co., a soft play specialist. The company converted its first bus about eight years ago and has since outfitted all kinds of buses with special effects, video and interactive games, karaoke and other attractions. -- bristolplaybus.org

On the VAE side of the hall, Phil Pickersgill from Innovative Leisure (Oadby, Leicester), expressed his pleasure with the number of registrants who came to examine the company's climbing walls. These included not only longstanding BALPPA members and operators from the indoor play sector, but also visitors from the EAG exhibit.

New products from both repeat and first-time exhibitors were in evidence. Justin Burke of Sega Amusements Europe (Chessington) reported that the "Skill Wall" showcasing redemption games from Innovative Concepts in Entertainment (Clarence, NY) "proved to be a destination in itself," and the new Showdown racing game by Sega and Codemasters (Southam) "totally wowed our visitors." ICE's Milk Jug Toss and Down the Clown are modern implementations of classic carnival-midway pieces.

Chris Black of Sound Leisure (Leeds) also was pleased with showgoer response. "Our newly released HD video jukebox was extremely well received, as was the soundjack phone app," he instanced. Sound Leisure's Happy Little Ted prize-every-time animated novelty capsule vender also got off to a good start, with confirmation of rollout by a major retailer.

As always, Bandai Namco Amusements Europe (London) had a major presence. According to Namco's John Brennan, Star Wars Battle Pod made its European debut and exceeded all expectations. Star Wars Battle Pod is a combat spaceship simulator with an immersive "dome" wraparound screen. At the time of the show, Brennan said Namco had containers "on the water" and would be installing Battle Pods in February.

"Time Crisis 5 [the latest iteration of Namco's perenniall -popular rail shooter] absolutely swept the board," Brennan continued, "and our new partners Adrenaline Amusements [Terrebonne, QC, Canada] had a good show with Flying Tickets and Candy Crush Saga redemption games." Visitors also expressed keen interest in the new Jurassic Park Arcade, developed with Raw Thrills (Skokie, IL), and Ocean Pearl from Jennison Entertainment Technologies (Daytona Beach, FL), a skill game featuring "black screen" video technology highlighting the challenge of guiding a descending "pearl."

Also with a strong presence was Whitehouse Leisure (Basildon), a broad-spectrum toy manufacturer that occupied three separate booths. "A great deal of hard work is paying off with good business being written at the show," reported the company's Ian Whittingham. "The response to our new Frozen and Minions ranges has been fantastic."

Pluses And Minuses

Alan Rogers of amusement-with-prize manufacturer Astra Games (Bridgend, Wales) applauded the positive atmosphere at the show, while expressing some concern about this year's earlier dates. "We experienced a highly positive response to our full product range," he reported. "The ambience of EAG has clearly improved, and the Astra team came away from the show with a 'feel-good' factor that has not been so prevalent in recent years due to the challenging nature of the business." But, he added, he believes the show's organizers might rethink the new week-earlier dates, which may be uncomfortably close to the holidays.

Usually held in the third week of the first month, the 2015 EGA got underway a week earlier, Jan. 13-15, than has been customary over the five years of the show's existence. Organizers said its agreement for mid-month dates with the London Exhibition and Convention Centre (ExCeL), where the show is held has "safeguarded EAG's future" at the popular venue in the historic Docklands area.

Visitors' eager responses to new products were a recurring topic for exhibitors. Kevin Weir of Electrocoin (London) said that he was gratified by the response to the Bar X line of amusement-with-prize games, now available in several formats.

Jim Dunne of Syndicate UK (Coventry) explained that "We operate in a niche market, but we've seen the right people -- they're serious and they make decisions." Syndicate offers many kinds of ticket, from bingo through redemption to break-open, as well as accessories including wristbands and bingo machines.

Heighway Pinball (Merthyr Tydfil, Wales) showed off its British-designed and manufactured flipper games. Founder Andrew Heighway reported that "We've taken orders for our first game, Full Throttle, and received amazing feedback on the new licensed Aliens pinball."

Formula K (Rhyl, Wales) unveiled the Mini-Quad version of its popular Quad driving attraction. The company's Graham Liddle hailed the "great response to our new mini compact cars," which are ideal for indoor play centers because they require only 4 meters (a little more than 13 feet) of track width.

Steve Plimmer of The Playbus Co. (Shrewsbury) also reported strong visitor interest in the company's mobile play centers, which are built into restyled classic buses. "We've had serious enquiries from a wide variety of locations, including Russia and Africa," he added.

At interactive technology-based attractions developer Veqtor UK (Brook), Jonathan Plache lauded the EAG-VAE exposition as "Great shows and a worthwhile investment." Veqtor develops fitness games including laser attractions.

Ben Hoskins of Regency Purchasing (Weston-super-Mare, England), a cooperative purchasing service for site-based locations that exhibited at VAE, reported satisfying results from collocation. "It's been good to meet up with many of our existing customers," he said, "and we've also experienced a lot of interest from startup businesses within the leisure sector."

Leading 3D/4D simulation theater developer Simworx (Kingswinford) also was happy with the turnout. Matt Clarkson summarized, "It's been a good show with a lot of interest in immersive attractions."

This positive exhibitor response to the combined EAG and VAE shows has reinforced the organizers' commitment to the concept, which will be repeated next winter. "We now have much work to do, listening to industry groups, exhibitors, and visitors to gather feedback about the format and organization of both shows, said Karen Cook of Swan Events Ltd. (Harpenden), which manages the shows. "EAG International and VAE are put on by their respective industry sectors for the benefit of those within the sectors and that's why these views are so important."

EAG International 2016 and the Visitor Attraction Expo 2016 will take place at ExCel London, Jan. 12-14. The 2017 program is scheduled for Jan. 17-19. Information can be found at eagexpo.com.

BEST SHOW YET:Innovative Concepts in Entertainment (Clarence, NY) reports that this year's European Amusement and Gaming exposition in London was the best in its more than three decades of exhibiting in the UK. ICE games are distributed in Britain by Sega Amusements Europe (Chessington) and were displayed in Sega's booth at EAG. Above, from left, are ICE's Drew Krouse and Joe Coppola; Sega's Paul Williams and Justin Burke; and ICE's Gene Brogowski and Dave Bartel. They're standing in front of eye-catching "ICE Skill Wall" that highlights the company's "reincarnation" of classic carnival-style games like Milk Jug Toss, Down the Clown and the latest, Gold Fishin', that made its European debut at the combined EAG and VAE event. "We wrote orders for an unprecedented 28 containers of ICE product to ship mainly to Europe from January through April, 2015," ICE's Coppola said. "Our factory in Buffalo is at full capacity so that all product is on location prior to the Easter holidays." ICE is no stranger to British amusement and music trade shows, having been a longtime exhibitor at the old Amusement Trades Exposition International in the days when the British Amusement Catering Trade Association supported ATEI.

The Coin-Op Community and InterGame magazine honored industry veteran Eddie Moss at a luncheon held during this year's European Amusement and Gaming International Expo. Moss, a founding director of Sound Leisure Ltd., died on Jan. 2, 2014. He was 86.

Moss began his career in the music and games industry as an operator in Leeds in the 1960s. He would eventually open an equipment distributorship. Tic Tac Toe sold fruit machines and other amusement games, and introduced the first NSM jukeboxes to the UK market.

While running Tic Tac Toe, Moss was approached with a business proposal in the late 1970s by his future Sound Leisure partner. Alan Black wanted to manufacture jukeboxes in England, an idea that Moss believed had great potential. Moss would finance Sound Leisure, which unveiled its British-made jukebox in 1980, for a 50% stake in the business. Moss and Black became and remained close friends during their 37 years in business together.

Today, Sound Leisure is still owned by Black. Employing more than 120 people, the company assembles jukeboxes in an 80,000-sq.ft. factory in Leeds. It also maintains a hardware and software division in Nottingham. It has sold more than 100,000 jukeboxes worldwide.