The importance of the hospitality sector in shaping the amusement scene has been brought home to the amusement trade this year. While the Stinger's special ‘HOT TOPIC' feature looks at how conventional amusement works with TSR has covered the very real possibility that the amusement industry may be sidelined completely by the international bar, club and restaurant industry.
The European scene revealed an alarming trend in the sector that could literally circumnavigate the conventional amusement hardware for a hospitality-specific version of hardware – created literally for the needs of this market. This was best illustrated by what took place in London during April. While a large contingency of the amusement industry rushed to the Middle East (Dubai), the hospitality industry gathered in London, to see a European spin on Nightclub and Bar launched concepts.
What seems to be the driving force is connectivity – the development of broadband enabled infrastructures that ushered in the new electronic payment and registration systems from most bars (the electronic touchscreen till) have attracted developers to the possibility of delivery of entertainment via a connected system. Where the pub industry once saw music and television piped to their facility the opportunity of interactive entertainment systems come down the broadband pipe has created a startling selection of new systems.
For the conventional jukebox and terminal market these new systems could totally change the business landscape. One of the first of these new developments on display was ‘COMPendium', a multiple entertainment system developed for the hospitality sector, touchscreen system that is relayed through the bar or club on the venues screens. The system offers ‘Quickqiz' a trivia system, Jukebox, Karaoke and Bingo content all supported by television channels.
Another system offers a more complete content service. ‘IntaTV' proposes a delivery service for the venue in a deliverable package. Five year's in development, the system shown to the UK audience came with a Samsung LCD screen deal for the customer's venue. The system offers video jukebox, which is accessible from a special kiosk that hopes to expand into a full-content terminal incorporating printer and a new Barcode reader from mobile phones so that the venue can deploy SMS messaging to offer complimentary services. The mobile phone barcode developed by Trinity ‘Intatv Card' system. The service is broadband-based and hopes to offer quiz and gaming features, and already has over 150 systems in the field. The company also hopes to be a hotspot for Wi-Fi users, with free connectivity.
Also on display was ‘Buzztime Interactive Entertainment', the new name for the NTN Communications service. Previously covered in the Stinger Nightclub and Bar coverage (Stinger #397), the company has been spending its time find itself and developing new content. The company has built on its bar side wireless game decks for the trivia sector and looks towards a faster system with more complicated games such as ‘Cutthroat Pool' and their previously demonstrated ‘Texas Hold ‘Em' card game.
The need for new content to support the downloaded music and quiz gaming was evident at the event, with Felix Entertainment (famous for their ‘Everyone's a Winner' system) showing new applications of their service, previously demonstrated at ATEI.
The deployment of entertainment systems into the hospitality scene is driven by a need to plug an expected hole in the revenue stream of the pub and bar sector. That hole is represented by the banning of smoking in these venues from the middle of next year. With the 2007 smoking ban bar games are back in vogue as venue operators envisage a shift in audience activities – the loss of the cigarette machine revenue needs to be reversed.
The equivalent of the pub games are now appearing, to support the previously mentioned trivia and terminal games, the high-tech equivalent of skittles was on display at the exhibition.
Of the products on display that actually came from amusement scene to be recognized by the hospitality sector included Digital Tables and their series of retro and SWP touchscreen tables. The hope now that independent operators looking for machines for their venue will move away from the conventional upright AWP or SWP and look at more stylish designs to suit their venues layout; also a smattering of Sound Leisure jukeboxes.
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