30 Coinslot June 14 - June 20 , 2013
Comment
2013 - the year coin-op fights back
“ alex lee comment
I t only seems like yesterday when UKbased coin-op trade shows were packing up for good and being consigned to the ‘ late and lamented ’ file .
It ’ s actually more like five or six years since the likes of Preview and the Blackpool show at the Norbreck Castle hotel bade their final farewells .
A lot has changed since then , of course , and despite this being my twelfth year in UK coin-op , during my relatively brief career on this side of the pay-to-play fence I have not yet experienced any ‘ non-challenging ’ times !
Having viewed the industry from a number of angles - as a keen AWP and video game player , as an inventor and content provider of SWP games and of course my current role as editor of the longest-standing coin-op publication I feel as if I have only scraped the surface of what is clearly an enjoyable , friendly , yet doggedly competitive industry .
This element of competition , and , whisper this , positivity and hope for a more prosperous future , has manifested itself in the number of independent trade events popping up all over the country in London , Skegness , Chorley , Kings Lynn and Exeter to name but five . Call me wildly optimistic , but surely a regular smattering of provincial events throughout the year in 2013 as opposed to just a couple in the immediate aftermath of Preview and Blackpool packing up and clearing off has to be a good sign ?
Any visitor to the most important show of the year , the EAG , will see some of the greatest characters , innovators and , of course , products that have helped shape coinop as we know it today as well as , hopefully , some brand spanking new machines that , if not reinventing the wheel , will go some way towards tightening the nuts and changing the tyre .
To a lesser degree , however , the same can be said about the country ’ s evergrowing provincial shows hosted by distributors who believe that there are compelling business reasons to put on such events beyond having a drink and chewing on a kebab .
I firmly believe that these are exciting times for the domestic pay-to-play industry . Why else would so many people turn up to all these events ? While the future direction of coin-op is never certain , for a sector that hinges on the success of its products ( and what the government allows it to do ), it ’ s the people working within it that count and it ’ s precisely that strength of character and camaraderie that can help drive the industry and , as a natural by-product , this publication , onwards and upwards .
Norfolk seaside resort comes
alex lee media watch
Writing for the Huffington
Post online , John Osborne has slated Great Yarmouth and its arcades . In an uncompromising article last week , he stated : “ My sister lives abroad now , and when she came to visit me for a few days in Norwich we decided to go to Great Yarmouth , half an hour away on the train . This was the closest I ’ d come to the widely regarded dirty seaside town : out of season , raining and deserted , it was a line-up of pub , amusement arcade , pub , arcade , pub , and barely a person in any . Walking down the Golden Mile we passed the once great Empire Theatre , now a nightclub premises to let . Then , after a row of steak houses and cafés , we hit the amusement arcades .
“ In recent years a combination of the decline of the British seaside holiday and the development in home gaming consoles means that arcades aren ’ t making anything like the amount of money they did in the 1970s and 80s . Some say perhaps this decline is a good thing ; seaside amusement arcades should die out , they would be no loss , they breed gambling and greed and they are unpleasant places for children to spend their time . Away from where Karen and I had been playing the penny pusher machines sat the more sinister part of the amusement arcade . Roped off with a different coloured carpet , this was where the fruit machines stand proud , with people playing on them with the concentration of surgeons .
“ Arcades are often perceived as glamorising gambling to children , it ’ s what gives them their first taste of the potential of prizes , and from that moment on a habit can be formed . However , there is also another view . There are others who say that arcades are the perfect antidote to gambling and that they have positive
Great Yarmo thief is caugh
effects on the psyche of children , who go in there at a young age to grab a stuffed Eeyore on the claw machine or to play on the Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine rides . At an early age the noises of the arcade and an understanding of winning and losing become indoctrinated into the brain .
“ Of course , there are similarities with the high-end casinos ; the mesmerising flow of the arcades , the music jingling like dollar signs , the sense of every machine about to pay out , a cash win imminent . But these 2p pushers could almost be said to epitomise the right way to gamble . Only putting in what you can afford to lose , never walking away with a big dent in your wallet ; a good way to put children off the idea of gambling , that the certainty that the ‘ house ’ always wins is as engrained a rule as that your pet rabbit will die .
Osborne ’ s bleak view con-