Chairs may appear to be everyday, mundane items, but they are designed and built to contain complex human bodies, which means that science is a major part of the equation.
The layman may think that a chair is just a chair: there are big ones and small ones, hard ones and soft ones, etc.
The people who specialise in designing and producing seating, however, know that there is very much more to it than that. The science and technology involved is extremely sophisticated. After all, the human body, which chairs are designed to accommodate, is complicated.
Also, chairs have different purposes. The seats in a cinema and those in a fast food restaurant are entirely different. The former need to be comfortable for hours while the latter only need to be so for 10 minutes. In fact, fast food proprietors would probably prefer their seats to become uncomfortable beyond that time in order to encourage turnover.
Seats for gaming need to be of the cinema variety. What operators want is for players to be as comfortable as possible so that they will stay at the gaming machine or table for longer. Most of the companies that specialise in casino seating work with the slot machine manufacturers in order to come up with premium ergonomic solutions.
These collaborations have led to huge improvements in the quality of gaming chairs. In fact, in many instances chairs have been designed especially for particular gaming machines. It is a prime example of different sectors of the industry working together to create innovative products that enhance the casino experience.
UK-based Prestige Seating Technology has been manufacturing chairs since 1966. However, its first gaming chair wasn’t manufactured until 1988. Development from a basic chair through self-return swivel to a gas lift and now on to the emphasis on total comfort have been the major milestones along the way.
The company is very strong in Europe, but also has chairs in faraway places like Las Vegas and Macau. Design features like stability, durability, ascetic appearance and comfort all have to come together in the design of PST’s chairs.
Read the full article in the July issue of InterGaming
