Ticket redemption has been a shot in the arm for the international amusement business, offsetting ailing video game revenues and creating new ways of targeting a wider, more family-orientated demographic, writes Simon Liddle.
ITS popularity, or at least its presence, varies between territories but in those that ticket redemption has taken hold, it has transformed the amusement experience. The big question now is whether it can continue to be a relevant entertainment option in the face of increasing pressure from home consoles and mobile gaming. As one manufacturer put it, coming up with a fresh new angle on redemption gameplay is “very hard.”
At a time when the amusement industry seemed to be losing the battle against increasingly sophisticated home console games, ticket redemption came along and transformed the business. It is without doubt the fastest growing form of amusements thanks to both the resources manufacturers are pumping into the design and development of new equipment and the amount of floor space operators are willing to give to these machines.
“It wasn’t long ago where game rooms were 70 per cent video and 30 per cent redemption, today that mix is reversed,” said Anthony Maniscalco of Benchmark, a leading force within the redemption field. “Players want something that they cannot play at home. In addition, they also want something - tickets - as a reward for playing or achieving a high score. Traditional video games do not offer that.”
Today, chains such as Chuck E. Cheese’s and Dave and Buster’s in the US – two of the largest businesses in the entertainment industry – utilise the redemption concept to great effect, attracting both families and adults. Chuck E. Cheese’s amusement games generated sales of over $400m in 2013, for example.
Joe Coppola of Innovative Concepts in Entertainment, or ICE, estimated that redemption games can be found in more than 75 countries today. His company was responsible for some of the industry’s biggest titles, such as Cyclone, which can be found in 6,000 locations worldwide, Deal or No Deal and the new game, Down The Clown.
“The redemption concept has been evolving and growing due to the tremendous amount of entertainment that it provides for families,” he said. “For the last 10 years the redemption concept has been trending upwards as family entertainment centres and arcades continue to be developed and opened in new facilities around the globe. The concept of redemption is simple yet very effective and provides players of all ages with fun and entertainment that can last for hours.”
Read the full article in the July issue of InterGame
