Big Bass Wheel Volume Adjustment
(Paul and Warren, Alpha-Omega Amusements)

Getting the proper volume on Big Bass Wheel does increase the revenues. Any time a new motherboard is installed the volume needs to be adjusted. Here are the steps:

• Turn off game.
• Plug in the keyboard and mouse.
• Turn on game.
• When system is up…..Press “Q”. This will bring you to the next prompt…
• Type “xwin jwin” then ENTER.
• Menu comes up asks you to make choices….just hit ENTER.
• Another menu comes up…hit ENTER again for defaults.
• Now you got a desktop that looks like windows….(linux)
• Move mouse to the lower right corner and click the sound bar….try increasing it all the way….when you 1st see the sound bar…it will probably be in the middle like ours was…….Bay-Tek said to take it down half way…but both times we had to do this…it was already half way….so I increased it all the way to high.
• Save and reboot……..there is no actual save button…just select reboot options in menu.
• A post script with some encouragement wouldn’t hurt. I’ve had two Big Bass Wheels that took more than one try to get it to save the volume. The second try on both worked though, which coincidentally were way too loud at minimum. So the process is correct!

Hoop Fever Basketball sometimes not giving out the proper amount of tickets.
(Chris Martin, Alpha-Omega Amusements)

Several weeks ago there would be a few complaints and I went through the ticket dispensers and checked all of the connections and never found anything wrong.  As time went on the complaints increased. Of course I changed out the ticket dispensers. Last week the tickets won by one of the Hoop Fever’s stopped reporting to the EMBED system. Upon testing, I noticed that the ticket meter was not working.  I installed a new ticket meter.  The game now gives the correct amount of tickets every time. It never occurred to me to keep checking the ticket meter as it was always increasing as tickets were won but as time went on it missed more clicks. With a debit card system we do not check the ticket meter against the EMBED reports but now when I start to hear ticket award complaints, I will make sure to check the ticket meter first.

Circuit boards made in foreign countries can drive a technician crazy.
(Dave Forlano, Alpha-Omega Tech)
More frequently these days we have to provide service or advice on how to hook up circuit boards into games that are manufactured in foreign countries and instructions (if there are any available) are not in English. In many instances the board has writing indicating which designations the connections correspond to (i.e. motor, lights, display, bill acceptor, coin door, sensors) and of course the harnesses are not labled but they are easy to follow where they go to.

NOT to worry, http://translate.google.com/ to the rescue.

Easily, I typed these foreign words printed on the board into the very user friendly windows and “tout a coup”, I now knew where to make the correct connects.

Did you know there are 2 kinds of Loc-tite?
(Todd, Fun Spot)
Loc-tite is the perfect liquid to place on screw threads and on the inside of nut threads to keep them from loosening from vibration. Blue Loc-tite is used for applications where you may in the future need to remove or loosen the screw/nut to make a repair.  Red Loc-tite is used for permanent applications. Best bet for our industry is to NEVER use the Red Loc-tite.

How to get the best sound out of game speakers.
(Dave Forlano, Alpha-Omega Tech)

When it comes to Dance Dance Revolution games, jukeboxes, video games, and even some redemption games, to get the best amplified sound (especially in the lower frequencies), the speakers need to be hooked up in phase. Generally, even if the speakers are hooked up with the wires reversed (out of phase) the amplifier will still work but the lower frequency sounds can cancel each other out.

Many times the speaker lugs are unmarked or even marked with incorrect polarity designations. Here is a simple way to check:

Take a standard 9 volt battery and place its terminals across the speaker lugs. If the speaker cone moves ‘outwards’, the +v (smaller terminal) of the battery is touching the positive speaker lug.  If the speaker moves ‘inward’, the +v would have to be touching the negative speaker lug. 

Simply attach the red speaker wire to the positive speaker lug an the black wire to the negative speaker lug.

Slam-A-Winner Wheel Stops Spinning
The first step was to jiggle the harnesses and connectors and see if there was a loose connection. The next step was to replace the motor. This worked but only for a few hours and the wheel stopped spinning. Then I replaced the stepper controller board and the wheel started spinning again, but stopped spinning in a few hours. Now I fully realize that I missed something obvious and wasted a lot of time (now more than a week the game has been down).  But what was missed?

Next I went through all of the connections between the stepper board and the motor and checked the harness wiring thoroughly. Every pin was checked to see if any were loose or continuity could be broken by jiggling. The last thing was to slightly close up each female pin to tighten the pressure connection grip on the male pins. Benchmark suggested inserting a sewing needle of a smaller diameter than the male pin diameter into each female connector and gently squeezing the female connector around the needle. When the male pin is inserted, a snug fit results. This solved the problem. There must have been more than one bad pin connection but it is still strange that the first step in jiggling the harnesses and connectors did not restore a connection.  I will surely add the sewing needle to my tool kit for future use. 

Here’s the Ticket

I am a big fan of noticing new technologies and how they are used in our industry and more importantly how they can affect our industry, both positively and negatively. Here is a brief summary of those that caught my eye over the past two months and a response from my NFC technology article:

Reader Response to ‘Smart Cards are Rapidly Replacing Magstripe Credit Cards’

Frank, good article of the NFC technology. It should be noted that currently it will only work with the Android type phone. Apple will not adopt the NFC for their platform and they are testing a low frequency blue tooth as their solution. Until our industry gets more congruent with the public’s preferred way of paying for goods and services, the performance of our products will continue to wane. AMI and Touchtunes have developed their own App’s and the performance as a % of revenue is amazing. It has rendered the direct credit card play as inconsequential. Bob Geschine, President, Betson.

Bob, I stand corrected as I was unaware that Apple is heading in a separate direction. Our industry can only look towards a payment solution that works on all cell phones and all wearer payment applications. AMI and Touchtunes have taken a big step forward and their Apps are a big plus for their jukeboxes and related games but I do not believe that having each game manufacturer develop its own payment app is going to help our industry. What we need is the old AMOA/AAMA Industry Standardization Committee to get back into action. Or we can leave it to the vending industry to find the best payment solution and our industry will sit back and wag its tail awaiting the bone to be tossed our way—at a price of course! –  Frank

PayRange has a Mobile Payment Non-Network Simple Solution for Coin-Operated Machines

Vending industry wizard Paresh Patel, CEO PayRange, has developed a wireless Bluetooth (‘Blukey’) hardware device that enables a smart phone to activate a within range (about 2 feet or less) coin-operated device of any type and have the payment transaction processed by the user’s cellular network. The system includes a mobile app and processing service for the machine operator. The customer/player needs to have a prepaid balance (like a debit card) that is more than the current purchase to be made.

The Blukey is currently designed for vending machines but can be adapted for coin-operated games, laundry, car wash, parking, transit turn styles and the list go on and on. The Blukey is easily installed in minutes. For coin-op games a 4-wire PayRange harness uses 2 wires to connect to the coin switch terminals with the other 2 wires connecting to the game’s +12 volt power supply.

The cost of a Blukey is $49. Currently there is a 3.95% fee per transaction. There are no other fees or monthly fees. For more information go to www.payrange.com.

What this could mean. This is a very interesting solution for the coin-op games industry. At $50 per Blukey (assuming that one Blukey can handle multiple player position games) this is a reasonable amount to get started in locations that have a small number of games. However, the 3.95% transaction fee seems high when considering locations with 20 or more games. For example, an FEC that has gross game revenue of $250,000 annually would pay about $5,000 in transaction fees (assuming 50% of the players made mobile payments) plus $50 x 25 games = $1250 minimum for Blukeys. It might make more sense to install and finance a debit card system and recover the investment through the float (credits and points left on cards) and 15%-20% increased revenues. One could always just install PayRange on one of the Kiosks or on one of the token dispensers in a token operated location for those who insist on paying with their smart phones. I had always figured that a company like Visa or American Express would take over the vending and coin-operated mobile payment industry when they finally noticed us and they would make more money in transaction fees then we make. But I am happy to see one of our own, Parish Patel, take the lead so I can see it happen in my lifetime. Kidding aside, this is a great new technology.

Intel Corp’s RealSense 3D Camera Enables Devices to Perceive Depth.

Can you imagine a video game or videmption game being able to recognize your forward, backward, up and down body movements and gestures including facial recognition? Add this to a player being immersed into a game and interacting with that 3D environment. This is now possible with the RealSense 3D Camera that can recognize depth almost like a human eye does.

PHOTO: Intel’s Mooly Eden holds the Intel RealSense 3D camera, the world’s first and smallest integrated user-facing 3D camera. The technology enables devices to perceive depth, much like the human eye can.

What this could mean. This type of technology can raise the bar on what game players expect. Each player becomes a unique player to the game. The game recognizes everything visual about the player and can react accordingly. A blink of the eye, a smile, a look up or down, a quick breath, or a thumbs up gesture could each have an effect on game play. The gestures and movements are infinite. Each game will be a different experience and repeat play could be irresistible. Even emotions can be learned by the game. In the future I can imagine the game being able to capture specific heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure during a game and these could have an effect on how the game progresses.

Several companies are currently working to incorporate this new technology into their future products. As reported by Vending Times, computer/laptop/tablet manufacturers include ‘Acer, ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo and NEC and third-party collaborations in the works with Autodesk, DreamWorks, Metaio and Microsoft Skype.’ Wouldn’t it be great if one or more video game manufacturers take a try at integrating this technology into one or more of their games? To have this first, before the consumer market, would create quite a buzz. I can already imagine applications for videmption games as well! That could be a far less expensive undertaking than would a video game.

Here’s the Ticket

Foundations Entertainment University (FEU) presenters were invited to provide a two-day program in conjunction with the Dubai Entertainment Amusement and Leisure Show (DEAL), the largest amusement and entertainment show in the Middle East, which took place April 8 – 10, 2014.

The seminar program, scheduled one day prior to and on the first day of the trade show, was organized and presented by the Association of Amusement and Leisure Equipment Suppliers (ALES). Industry veterans, Randy White, Frank Seninsky and Kevin Williams presented the two-day FEU program alongside the Middle East Safety Forum (MESF), on April 7th and 8th as part of the educational programming offered to attendees.

This year, the DEAL show welcomed over 300 exhibitors from across 33 countries and was said to attract more than 7,000 visitors. This three-day event was held at ‘The Arena’, World Trade Centre, Dubai, and marked the 20th edition of the show. Thirty-three people, representing 14 countries, participated in the Foundations class.

Joining the FEU presenters were several of Foundation’s sponsor representatives, Rob Lothian from Orca Coast, Glenn Keenan from US Bowling, and Andrea Bisi from Embed. Each representative provided the audience with a short presentation covering topics from designing the best soft play area to planning the best of bowling experiences and enhancing site revenues through the use of cashless payment systems.

Upcoming Foundations University Classes:

July 15-17 – Chicago, IL
August 19 – College Park, GA (Special on-day program in conjunction with Birthday University)

Click here for the full press release.

For more information, visit www.FoundationsUniversity.com or contact Frank Seninsky at [email protected] or +1.732.254.3773 or Randy White at [email protected] or +1.816.931.1040.

Here’s the Ticket

Amusement Expo 2-day trade show format took place March 26-27 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The one full day of educational seminars (with lunch included) on March 25 with all sessions located in one section of the Hotel was well attended by approximately 275 people. There were several new games that impressed the AEM Team and they are all listed in the Test Game and Top 50 Redemption & Merchandise Sections below.

I spent one full day looking for new ideas and play features that could have a positive effect on our industry. Here is a list of those that impressed me:

• Incredible Technologies Loony Tix is a videmption game with a 6-Point touchscreen. This means that 3 people with 2 hands each can all help play one interactive game. Of course one person could try to use their 2 hands, head, elbows, shoulders…or depending on how the screen is placed, perhaps in the future feet and knees or stomach can be used. Also Incredible Technologies plans on using this platform as a kit system and will be releasing other games at around $1000 each.

• Benchmark’s Monster Drop X-Treme Ranks #1. For its first complete week on site, Monster Drop X-Treme earned $7,554 and ranked #1 in the Top 50. Wizard of Oz 6 Player fell to #2 for the first time in 2014. TRR will have more detailed information on Monster Drop X-Treme in the next TRR #24.

• LAI Pinata is a videmption game that has 4 stages. Most players can get to the 2nd stage with a little practice, but for those who are having difficulty, there is a ‘Continue’ payment option that will take the player to the 2nd stage. This new concept can be used to keep players from being discouraged from not getting to play at the advanced levels of many games and add additional revenue as well.

• Coast to Coast Side Box (Winner of AMOA Innovator Award) can be added onto to any type of crane, merchandiser, or bulk vendor. Side Box ($825) has five locked locker compartments, each opened with a specially labeled key.

  A key is won from the original game merchandiser and is used to unlock locker A for example. The key stays in the lock until staff can fill up Locker A and remove the Key A and place it back into the merchandiser to be won again.

  This simple concept can be used in unlimited creative ways. I liked the idea of filling one compartment full of ticket strips or ticket bundles. Players could even win 2 keys at a time. For more information, call Jim Chapman (800) 224-1717, ext. 726; Web (www.cranemachines.com).

• Smart Industries Fright Night is a whack a mole type redemption game with an optional add on prize dispensing side cabinet. The player can choose to receive tickets, use points to go towards a pre-selected prize, or play for a prize and receive any additional points as tickets. The game tells the player how many points is required for each prize. This concept can be adapted for any redemption game and opens the door to placing redemption games in many locations that do not have space for a redemption prize center or automated RPC.

• New Concept Not Yet Fully Implemented—Redemption game where a current or new player has a choice to start at the place where the previous game ended or reset the game back to its original starting point. Of course the player does not earn the tickets that would have been earned reaching the level he/she starts at. This concept will permit players to get closer to higher ticket payout and jackpot levels. Innovations like this are made possible by videmption applications.