Here’s the Ticket!

The key to making money in this industry is to have prizes that the public wants and have high perceived values. Choosing the right prizes (and displaying them properly) takes guidance from people who spend full time in this sector and enjoy staying on top of the latest trends. The other key is to purchase these top prizes at fair prices.

Rhode Island Novelty

Rhode Island Novelty is providing a list of their new and top merchandise and plush items for the season.

Small Quantities – Quick Processing – Excellent Prices
Promote YOUR facility, special events, birthday favors, hand-outs, prizes to offer….there are many more ways to take advantage of our in-house imprinting service. Ask for this catalog, all the print details and pricing is included.

Custom 18” Knobby Balls
Since making this product available in March, the YOUR 18” Knobby Ball has been purchased by more than 100 facilities and re-ordered by some. Take advantage of the small quantity required and the fixed $1.75 cost per ball. Delivery is approx. 90 days so plan ahead.

Top 10 Sellers since March, 2015:

1. TY-DROCA 13” Remote Control Drone w/camera
2. GW-MOBLU 19.5” Blue Moon Blaster Gun
3. EC-HEAOE Blue Over the Ear Headphones
4. EC-HENGR Neon Green Headphones
5. NL-LDUSA 14”x19” USA Flag Light up Sign
6. PF-PCP30 8”x6” Pixel Plush
7. PA-SNPIG 8” Pink Snorting Pigs
8. GA-PINPO 24”x12” Pong Game
9. PF-STR40 15” Stretch Baby Giraffe Plush
10. GW-MOOPI 19.5” Pink Moon Blaster Gun

Visit their website at www.rinovelty.com for more information, or call them at 800-528.5599.

Here’s the Ticket!

The Top 60 Redemption & Merchandiser Games Combined List is put together from actual collections from games owned and operated by Alpha-Omega Amusements at two locations so I know that the data is correct and is not changed in any way. The purpose of the List is for you to see where your current games place or rank and see where other games that you do not have would rank in your facility. And also to pick out trends and stay on top of your game. Video games are not included but all of them would be at the bottom of the rankings with only Typhoon Lagoon ranking around the 25th position. A 3rd Test Location (seasonal that is just getting started in June) shows that Jurassic Park video is performing very well as is Yahtzee and Black Hole.

New Test Games Included in the rankings in order of earnings: Fishbowl Frenzy, Grand Piano Keys, Whack n Win, Ocean Pearl, Gold Fishing, Black Hole, Kung Fu Panda, Gear It Up, and Full Tilt. Shown in a 2nd and 3rd Test Location are Full Tilt, Black Hole, Fishbowl Frenzy, Three Stooges, and Yahtzee.

Trend Analysis of Top 60 Redemption & Merchandise Games Combined

The May-June 2015 the data shows Fishbowl Frenzy as the only new game ranking in the combined Top 10 (#10 overall, #6 in redemption). Grand Piano Keys just missed out by less than $15/week less than Fishbowl Frenzy.

Grand Piano Keys 2 Pl (BayTek) was installed on 4-8-15 at $1/play. In its first seven days it grossed $1687 with a ticket payout of 26% and ranked #10 overall. For May-June it ranked #11 overall (#7 in Redemption), falling out of the Top 10 below Fishbowl Frenzy by only $91 over a 6 week span. Players are competing for high scores with spectators gathering watching the competition just like when Dance Dance Revolution was introduced years ago. Another comparison: It is like Guitar Hero except the players get tickets. We placed a Grand Piano Keys at another Alpha-Omega Amusements location and it ranked #3 out of 47 redemption games.

Grand Piano Keys is TRR’s #2 pick for The Top Games to have among all of the new games.

For long term success the AEM Team is recommending that Bay Teck remove the high score limit for any setting. Currently a talented player attains the high score and another player can only tie that score. The highest ticket payout win is currently less than 100 tickets. For a new game to initially rank #10 at our highly competitive test location is fantastic, especially at $1/play.

Knock It Off Rotary 4 Pl (Elaut) with ticket rolls as prizes and a Toto card priced at 50 cents/play once again ranks #3 overall and #1 merchandiser with an average 30% win %. For WE 5-22-15 KIO ranked #2 overall, beating out the Monster Drop Extreme.

Ticket Candy Crane with ticket bundles ranks #8 overall and the #4 merchandiser with an average 26% win %. The Ticket Candy Crane would rank higher but we have added ticket bundles along with hard goods to the Big Choice Double Crane (one bay) and Mega Triple Crane (one bay) to stimulate competition for the Ticket Candy Crane. Note that both the Mega Triple and Mega Double Cranes (rank #7 overall, #3 merchandiser) have moved up in the rankings and again indicates that the players like to win tickets and choose their own prizes.

AEM recently recommended a client install a Ticket Candy Crane into their game room that has 25 games currently grossing $2500/week. The first week the Ticket Candy Crane earned $286 and was the #1 ranked game, beating out the Big Bass Wheel.

Fishbowl Frenzy (Team Play) – Our company has placed Fishbowl Frenzy in several other locations and it ranks higher in the Top 10 because those locations do not have a Wizard of Oz 6 Pl, Monster Drop Extreme, Knock It Off Rotary, or a Ticket Monster.

Fishbowl Frenzy is TRR’s #1 pick for The Top Games to have among all of the new games.

Here’s the Ticket!

Monster Drop – Balls Jam on Belt Lift
Ray Dachik, Game Technician/Manager – Alpha-Omega Amusements

The balls jamming as they ride up the lift belt is an annoying high frequency problem that needs to be repaired once and for all. Monster Drop (1 player, 2 player, & Extreme) are all high earning games.

One ball jam causes the belt to twist and repeatedly drop the balls back to the next pickup saddle. The cause is that the upper and lower lift belt pulleys are not positioned so that the left side of the lift belt will run parallel to the left sidewall. Note that the lower pulley has a smaller diameter than the upper pulley, and should have originally been mounted slightly to the left of its current position.

Instead Benchmark added ½ of a belt guide closest to the ball lift point, but ½ of a guide is not quite wide enough as the belt is still able to twist slightly and drop the ball back. As the belt twists it flips out of the ½ belt guide.

I initially tried to increase the diameter of the lower pulley by enlarging the distance between the 3 spacing bars on the lower plexiglass pulley from 1” to 1.5”, but this did not draw the lift belt close enough to the left sidewall at the bottom point. However, it did take a lot of the slack out of the belt.

Next I inserted a tensioned at the bottom, made from a 3/8” diameter 5” long bolt, inserted through a core sleeve left over from a ticket eater paper roll. [I save these rolls because they are very useful in situations like this]. The tensioner keeps the belt parallel to the sidewall for the entire ride up the wall and at the same time reduces any twisting force where the ½ belt guide is positioned.

Another potential solution might be to move the mounting axle for the lower pulley about an inch to the left and move the drive motor assembly to the left the same distance. However, this looked to be more difficult and I was very happy with my original solution. So far, we have not had a ball jam for this past month.

Cleaning a Water Redemption Game
Tony Bari, Warehouse Mgr./Technician, Alpha-Omega Amusements

Thoroughly cleaning and flushing the pump filter and fittings once per year goes a long way to keeping the water clean and reducing maintenance time for the next several months. Pull the pump out of the game and remove/clean and flush out all of the fittings and the pump filter. I highly recommend using a product called CLR, which is excellent for removing calcium, lime, and rust build-up. CLR and fresh water are then run through the game for several cycles, draining after each cycle, until the water flow is clean. CLR can be purchased at Home Depot, a 28 oz. bottle costs $6.00. We use Novus #2 and #3 plastic polish to remove the calcium built-up on the plexiglass and plastic components. Note: When putting the pump fittings back together, make sure to use thread tape to insure water tight connections and also make it easier to thread the connections together. A roll of thread tape is usually under $2.00. A clean and sparkling water game does earn more revenue. And make sure your game technician has a line item on the weekly maintenance checklist to add a chlorine tablet once a week to each water redemption game (per manufacturer’s recommendations). 

Where is the Toto Card?…It is in the Knock It Off Rotary
Edwin Rodriquez, Alpha-Omega Technician  

To add more excitement, our Team decided to add another dimension of play to the Knock It Off Rotary. A Toto card (from the Wizard of Oz 6 Player game) was placed on top of the 1000 ticket circular form, that is the highest value form on the playfield of the Knock It Off Rotary.  Our Toto card is valued at 4700 tickets. 

The idea was to see if we could further increase the revenues of the Knock It Off Rotary and move it up from #3 overall to #2 overall.  That is what happened during the first week. Four players would work as a ‘team’ to go after the Toto card ticket form, which is fairly difficult. We were amazed that the buzz throughout the game room was ‘Where is the Toto card?’ And play on our Wizard of Oz (#1 ranking) increased as well. We are all excited that we can cross promote these two games and will be trying new cross promotion combinations between other games. Check out the Test Games Spreadsheet and review each game’s revenues and win %.

Benchmark Games – How to Clear Forgotten Password
Ramon Vivar, Master Tech, Alpha-Omega Amusements

A password is required to access the programming mode for all of the newer model Benchmark Games. The default password of ‘0000’ is factory set. However, a technician who is not familiar with a Benchmark game could accidentally push the wrong buttons and inadvertently punch in a new password and not realize it. This happened with one of the Benchmark games that we supplied to Vietnam that required a price/play change and other difficulty level programming changes.

When this happens, the programming mode cannot be accessed and the situation appears to be hopeless.  Luckily we have had this problem occur in the past and discovered that the code ‘4393’ can be used to override any password. Once you gain access, I advise that you put back the factory default password of ‘0000’. Changing the password is not a good idea as technicians change and passwords are often forgotten. The industry is thankful that a Benchmark programmer put in this special override code.