Though the Stinger has not made many friends from covering the N&B event, or even talking about its link to the amusement sector (a recent comment too the Stinger in a BLOG stated “do you have any knowledge of the last time ASI co-located with N&B? It was a disaster. All of coin-op's best ignoring the coin-op show and walking around in a drunken stupor ogling models at N&B…”)

Well it was obvious that those that attended the N&B event this year saw an alternative side of the amusement scene. As was explained to Stinger correspondents who attended N&B, where ASI looks to the distributors and facility operators, the N&B event offers a show space for the developers and their managers; a market that is the strongest for the remaining amusement scene in the adult food-n-fun environment.

A number of amusement companies had to toss a coin regarding sending their valuable resources to Vegas or to Chicago. STERN was one of the few that went to both with their ‘World Poker Tour’ table; but for the second year in a row, Incredible Technologies chose only N&B. IT of course is author of one of the most outspoken complaints about the structure of the amusement industry’s show schedule; the open letter sent last year from IT to AAMA still resonates in the industry; their support of N&B seeing a concretive effort for IT to attract their core audience and operators.

For the amusement industry the omission of IT from ASI was noted, and their loss was N&B’s gain, with the company deciding to reveal much about their amusement strategy to the bar owners and independents attracted to Vegas.

The company confirmed that the ‘Golden Tee LIVE!’ (Proprietary Hardware) system had its credit card payment system operational online. IT had spent considerable time getting this right, to become one of the first game companies to active live credit card payment. Through their relationship with Chase Payment Solutions, online GTL systems can now itemize with full support via email confirmation and through their accounting system on goldentee.com.

To coincide with the bar and beverage event IT announced the agreement with the mega drink company Coca-Cola to product place the brand across the virtual playing field of the game in various courses, and that the new version of ‘Silver Strike 2007 Bowling Club’ (Properties Hardware) - rumored to have full tournament support will also share in this promotion. The new bowler will be fully wire-less, supporting the IT infrastructure developed for GTL.

IT hoping to continue their market penetration with an estimated 12,000 of the current bowler in the field and just over 5,000 of the new golf system; it was this slow penetration that has seen an increase in the investment and development from the company building their Free Automated Content and Tournament Software (FACTS) and in recent operator seminars hoping to address criticism of hardware reliability claiming that new features will improve robustness of the fielded systems.

IT also revealed along with their Coca-Cola product placement that they had instigated a $1million proposal campaign linked to an increased regional tournament scheme. The future of the brand will be increased by the enhancement of the regular player experience; IT revealed that their Gold Card service would be supported by a new ‘Ambassador Card’, to be given out by operators to regular players as a new incentive; IT working hard to rekindle support of their new platform after a fitful start.

Other amusement companies made the trip to Vegas, in particular those that are squarely focused in the pub, bar and club scene such as Merit Entertainment and JVL, but few exhibited beyond what was already seen at Chicago - the majority however went to evaluate the exhibition regarding their future support.

The Trade associations were still extremely positive, stating to the Stinger Report; the ASI show had the same number of exhibitors as last year, however with all the consolidation going on Sega/Sammy, GVR/UltraCade and some downsizing which represented the drop in booth space. Over all most all the exhibitors said they had a great show. And from those spoken too by TSR correspondents a strong selling experience had been felt - though questions still remain.

2006 was a interesting year for ASI, with a strong selection of products as stated above, but the issue of the location, the wintry conditions that hampered air travel and the foreseeable problems of clashing the exhibition with the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the loyal Irish heartland of Chicago (and their effect on hotel prices) all compounded the need to return to the much visited Nevada desert.

In returning to Las Vegas however the argument of whether the amusement scene needs to visit Las Vegas for ASI, Nightclub & Bar, Gentlemen’s Show, Bowl Expo, AMOA and Fun Expo has obviously been questioned in many minds, though not publicly spoken of (the analogy of ‘the elephant in the living room’ - no one wanting to mention the obvious fact!). The factor of ASI returning to Nevada was pitched against the need to be linked to the Nightclub show, and avoid perceived association sulking, trying to distance itself in dates (2007 N&B March 4-7, ASI March 28-30).

Some attempts to deflect criticism saw certain sources suggesting that after 2007 move to Las Vegas the ASI show would become a traveling event, though this was seen by some as damage limitation against admitting the realities. Some of the US cities suggested for future locations seemed ‘interesting’ though the suggestion of New Orleans as being of strong interest from AAMA members seemed bizarre - especially compounded with a slew of downtown hotels, the news that the Six Flags New Orleans theme park would stay closed for the remainder of 2006, in the heart of the devastated city.

This will not be the last time you will read in the Stinger - is it not time that we take all the shows and create one big one - similar to what has been achieved in the UK? And is it not time to rethink the way we publicly present our industry and our image?

Breaking Stinger News - One piece of international news that surfaced while in the flurry of American events, the UK venture capitalist that controls Leisure Link seemed to confirm recent Stinger coverage on the operation (Stinger #456), and announced that they were to drop the price they had valued Leisure Link by a reported £100 million - this according to the London Times.

In an interesting report the phrase ‘Disastrous investment strategy’ was blamed for the drastic decrees in the corporations’ value. This seems to have increased the pace of those within the operation attempting to execute Management Buy-Outs of the key components of the group, though it has been leaked that this process is taking considerably longer than planned.