Here’s the Ticket!
Two events took place at the AAMA Gala that can have long lasting positive effects for our industry.
1. A new Standardization Committee was formed to be made up of game manufacturers and suppliers to be headed up by Adam Ambroisius of Bay-Tek. Adam presented a session about ideas for debit card reader/kit standardization. Adam has been working on a method that could make the installation of card readers as easy as plugging two labeled connectors together in much the same way as ticket dispensers are connected. Mounting the reader to the game and drilling a hole for the plugs may still be required. Adam said, This is only going to make the business better and help customers with set-up.”
What This Could Mean
This is the first mention of standardization in our industry in quite a while. Standardization of certain aspects of debit card systems can save industry technicians hours of labor during not only installation of the readers, but also make it easier to swap readers during game rotations or converting a game back to regular operation for sale or trade-in. This is one way to reduce the overall cost and encourage more debit card system users. Industry standardization has helped our industry in the past and my hope is that it can be a jump start movement for other aspects of our industry to get us ready for new technology usage. Getting the manufacturers together to discuss technical issues is important. I also hope that AMOA can be included as operators have a lot of important input.
2. A new FEC Committee has been proposed as a means to give FECs a voice in AAMA. Four FEC guests were invited and attended the Gala: Jim Bennington (Lucky Strike), Brian Cohen (ITZ), Jeff Peveler (National Entertainment Network), and Steve Veatch (Bowlmor AMF).
What This Could Mean
The amusement game industry and the FEC industry have a lot in common. Game revenue is a major revenue source for FECs and many game manufacturers are designing games more for FECs these days. The two sectors have regulation issues in common. Both are made up of small businesses. This new FEC committee can focus on these common issues. My hope is that AMOA will also be invited to partake as AMOA is already entrenched in fighting state and local game regulations at the grass roots with its many related state associations. FECs are quite different from large amusement parks and have concerns that sometimes conflict with the big parks. I see far less conflicts among game manufacturers and FECs. So, yes, having an FEC Committee within AAMA is a good thing. The next step is hopefully to expand this FEC Committee to include smaller size FECs and not just the large chains.
