But the tables have turned and the fourth generation of the electrical gaming life cycle is coming of age. The target age is younger than ever before, and is an example of the clutches that consumer electronics places on pre-school age. A realization that the new consumers need to be captured from the clutches of a sedentary consumer gaming lifestyle has not been fully realized by the amusement industry but some leading lights are showing the way.

Asia
Changes in the financial fortunes of the Asian Tiger economies have seen over the last ten years families favoring single-child patterns, but these individuals are lavished with a level of expenditure unlike any other previously seen. The sales of pre-school toys and clothing are growing exponentially; at the same time development of family-entertainment venues with a focus on young visitation has grown in Asia.

The ‘Hello TAITO’ childrens entertainment facility is an example of the emphasis that the corporation places on the pre-school sector and their parents. The corporation now looks to a strong redemption, and crane deployment of machines bolstered by the support of the children centric Tomy suit of properties. The company has also developed their own video kid vending products using their ZOID’s / Tomy license, but also have licensed ‘Dino-Dual’ (Proprietary Hardware) from D-GATE to offer a children friendly product.

Facility and amusement giant SEGA has established their ‘Sonic Town’ - The family entertainment variant, offering soft play childrens entertainment building on the SEGA Toy brand, the company has invested in a number of children variants on their conventional AM business. The phenomenally popular ‘MushiKing - The Battle of the Beetles’ (Naomi), (Beetle King) is a direct children’s product with 36 different cards building on the popularity of card collecting with the 5 to 12 target audience age.

Attempting to widen the catchments of the Card Gaming franchise SEGA have developed the ‘DinosaurKing’ (Proprietary Hardware) and in a move to attract girls to the popular system developed ‘Love and Berry’ (Naomi GD-ROM). Following announcement in 2005 the company is expected to increase their redemption, UFO / Crane and dispensing systems focusing on the young players of today the companies future brand identifiers.

The other powerful amusement giant Namco has developed their ‘Namco-Land’, ‘PLABO’, and ‘CARROT’ venues that have a strong pre-school following and family friendly layout. Supporting these efforts Namco’s ‘The Idol M@ster’ (System 246)’ shows a departure in a children centric playing model. It is expected that the merger with Bandai will increase the children focus with a strong stable of brands to incorporate into the playing environment.

Finally in Japan Konami has been linked to arcades opening in shopping centers targeting family users, though in an early stage a number of test facilities have been muted to the market as well as the development of children based amusement titles such as ‘Dancing Stage featuring Disney's RAVE’ (Proprietary Hardware). Using their considerable muscle to encourage the dominant pre-school brand to license their products for the game. The popular Satellite Terminal games are to be supported by a number of mini-games that offer family fun beyond more traditional hardcore amusement playability.

The Taiwan based IGS have also strived for a suitable kid’s release. The company has not announced an international distributor for one of their first children centric title. 'Precision Kids' (Ghost) offers a kid suitable rendition of IGS popular drum game series led by 'Precision Master', however due to the legal situation still in place from the fall-out of 'MTV DrumMania' - as Konami have weathered with their own product; thought not everyone cares and Tecway (below) have moved forward in market penetration of this genre.

Konami has established a strong kids’ investment, building on their investment in the toy sector, the company having also found strong success with the trading card game ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ range. It is surprising that this has not instigated the development of a Kiddy Vending system, while VIZ Media stable mate Manga ‘Naruto’ has been turned into a popular DATACARDASS system by Banpresto.

Though receiving limited coverage on the world scene, in Japan Capcom is still pretty active in the AM business. The company’s ‘Plaza Arcade’ venue operation has focused on a family experience, rather than the more upscale adult theme of other venues. The company has also developed a series of children products in the crane and pusher (UFO) scene. More recently the company has developed what they have called storefront kiosks, refereeing to what we now call Kid Vending systems. A rudimentary game and a collectable item dispensed. But 2006 marks a new departure for their version of the concept as the market accelerates, Capcom leading the charge.

Launched in January, the ‘NaviLink’ system is collaboration between Capcom and Takara. Using IC Cards - the ‘Navi Data Chip’ stores the player’s character, which can be shared across different gaming platforms. At present the GameBoy, Electronic Toy and arcade machine are systems supported, Capcom forming an alliance with Takara. Capcom brings to this agreement their popular ‘Battle Chip Stadium’ (Proprietary Hardware), which allows two players to battle their stored characters against each other. The logical progression for the technology has been made for appearance this year, with the use of the NaviLink smart card replacing the more familiar swipe collectors card - but more importantly the interchange of stored characters between playing medium (consumer to arcade) is a major leap in the evolution of the playing experience.

International
The North American market has always embraced the pre-school spending power - influencing parental purchasing. The toddler-dollar a prominent spending tool. For the Out-of-Home leisure entertainment scene the child visitor has been supported since the mid-Seventies by an array of party, and play venues personified by the Chuck E. Cheese brand.

Experimentation in this field has seen concept brands such as Club Disney, Q-City and more recently MagiQuest. This new concept offers a Harry Potter-esque play environment with dress-up and smart cards stored in wands. The Kids Quest concept offers a family-friendly, but child-focused gaming experience, and with over 20 sites is building to compete against the largest of the FEC chains.

For the amusement manufacturers, a simple realization has been that Crane and Redemption is revenue king! Accordingly all machines are manufactured for the market with a young clientele in mind. Video amusement has pushed to a second place regards to investment by many manufacturers.

The development of children’s gaming has been seen from a number of quarters, UltraCade Technologies with their ‘Feeding Frenzy’ (PC Hardware), Tsunami Visuals with their ‘Gone Fishing’ (Proprietary Hardware) JVL game concept has been placed in a redemption package developed by Tsunami, suitable for the upright cabinet redemption market. It was not known if this was the beginning of conversion of other games from the touchscreen specialists. New developer to this field BugEye has put considerable support into their praised ‘Speeding Ticket’ (PC Hardware) redemption driver. While licenses to distribute international for Tecway has seen their ‘Tempo Kiddo’ (PC Hardware) drum game for children circulated outside of Korea, as well as ‘Lay an Egg’ (PC Hardware) children’s redemption units make the trip into American venues.

Other manufacturers with a kid-centric interest include ICE, known for their redemption and gaming range the company has increased its children’s gaming exposure with videos such as 'ZooFari’ (PC Hardware), an eclectic two-player shooter game that has players shooting peanuts to save animals in a zoo in a non-violent experience. Another redemption title, 'Fishin’ Time' (PC Hardware), offers a race against time as the player attempts to hook as many fish as possible.

Other ranges include Team Play and their comical 'Cow Tipping' (PC Hardware), this product has been supported by 'Bopper Ball' (PC Hardware) and with a previewed range of video's in children sized cabinets that play adaptations of popular MB board games, offering a new rudimentary playing environment for redemption. Australian LAI Games has officially launched their Kid Vending game 'Dino-Dual' (PC Hardware), the wholly owned developed version of the genre having to go claw to claw against two other Dino-card vending systems.

Growing market recognition has seen successful agreements signed. TLC Industries known for their cabinet work and the launch of their FlexArcade platform; released their ‘KidKade’ (FlexArcade Hardware) in Q3 2005 and have already announced the placement of a large order by the child-care themed FEC chain, Kids Quest.

Along with redemption games, and the new style crane products the children’s perennial coin-operated attraction - the Kiddie Mover - has seen an insurgence in interest with companies such as in the UK Jolly Roger / Photo-Me expanding the opportunities and creating children’s ride machines that incorporate video and interactive presentation far more sophisticated than seen before.

To coincide with the investment of the amusement scene into child players, the international toy industry started to hold its premier events to mark the latest properties and brands that will hope to dominate the pre-school and pre-teen sector.