Alpha-Omega Amusements

I have seen quite a few spectacular bowling centers but very few of them with equally spectacular game areas. The reason, I believe, is that what has been learned about how to maximize profits in a game zone has been slow to travel from the games industry to bowling centers. I cannot present a detailed solution het to any given proprietors game area problems. You would need to hire a consultant to look over your individual situation. But, I can add to the tip above about placement of the game area in the event you are remodeling or budding ground-up.

These days I am designing game areas at 40 square feet per game and assuming 70% of the revenues are derived from redemption (ticket dispensing) games, 15% from video games, 10% from merchandise dispensing machines such as cranes and rotaries, and the remaining 5% from novelty games such as air hockey and pinball. A proprietor should target $200 per week per game-that is normally well within range for a well designed, well-run game area.

Putting these numbers together with the revenue total you want from your games will tell you the number of square feet you need for your game zone. Where most people go wrong in planning a game area is that they begin with the space they have, then try to figure out how many games they need They should work the other way around, determining how much money they want to make, then how much space they will need.

Some proprietors line up their games along the concourse. This works well for cranes and video games but not for redemption games. The game industry has learned that redemption games should be set up in clusters or as stand-alone games if they are circular, such as Cyclone. Customers will resist playing many of the top-earning woikhorse games-the 20% oIgames that make 80% of the revenue— if they are placed in a line against a wall.

I got the cluster idea many years ago by studying shopper movement and layout at Nordstrom’s. Everything in their stores was laid out in circular display clusters. There were no lines of display cases or shelves such as you see in a supermarket. We used to line up all games that way, but smart game operators no longer use that layout practice exclusively.

We want customers to see the game area as soon as they step through the front door. Then we want them to walk through the game area to get where they’re going. like the reception desk, the lanes or the snack bar. With this placement, you accomplish two things. First, playing games is an impulse action; if customers must pass through the game area, they are more likely to play the games. Second, you can minimize signage, which is to say, you can reduce distraction from the games themselves. Younger children enjoy different games from older kids, who differ in their tastes from teens and adults. A well-designed game zone needs to take each of the demographic groups into account. Moms with small children are usually the most important of the groups as far as leisure entertainment spending goes. Moms control the family’s discretionary spending these days. This demographic of the arcades of years past.

Assuming that your game zone is dominated by redemption games. Let me add some tips specifically for redemption game layout.

• The redemption prize center (RPC), where customers shop and turn in their tickets for prizes, is the magnet and centerpiece in a good design. Its placement within the game zone is critical. It should be the last place a customer passes through on his way out of the game zone.
Smaller bowling centers may have no choice but to make the RPC a part of their front desk. This should not be a deterrent to converting from video/crane machines to a redemption game zone and quickly doubling or tripling game revenues.

• Since the RPC will most likely be the last place a customer interacts with, make sure that the staff that operate it are fiiendty always smiling, and efficient.

• Quick-coin games are those where the player can stand at the machine with a handful of tokens or coins and play about as fast as he can insert them; the play action takes a few seconds at most, and about one second once the player is familiar with the play action. These games should be set to pay off with the highest percentage of tickets. The family will hang around them, trying to get as many tickets as they can (especially the kids). That is why in my designs, I put many of the low quick-coin redemption games in close proximity to the RPC. Games that involve balls, pucks or ocher flying objects need to be as far away from the RPC as possible. I don’t want Mom and the kids to be hesitant about approaching the RPC or the redemption games near it.

• Know what a small child sees when he approaches the RPC. Get down on your knees and walk around. What do you see? Small children will tend not to see the prizes on the back wall but only the prizes that are displayed in the prize display cases. This is where all the low-point prizes need to be displayed. Parents will see the prizes on the back wall first but will tend to bend down and look at the prizes in the front display cases along with the child. This is why I recommend placing some mid-range and even some higher-point prizes in a section of the front display cases. The higher back wall shelves and displays are the place for the more sophisticated prizes that require the greatest number of tickets and attract teenagers and adults.

There is one exception to this general rule, and it could earn some considerable money. Stock the display cases with small items that bowlers always need, tape or inserts, perhaps. In ice and hockey arenas, we feature hockey tape. It costs 50 cents a roll and sells at retail for $2. Customers will spend $2 or slightly more in order to win enough tickets to redeem the tape. They feel good, because it costs them no more than if they bought the tape in a store and they had the fun of playing the game and winning the tickets.

When you are designing and laying out the prize displays, remember the jellybean theory used commonly in both the food and retail industries. The name comes from the way jellybeans are displayed in candy stores. Studies show that people will consume more when they see a larger variety of colors and sizes and when the items are displayed in an organized manner. Variety is important in prize displays, and so is the customer’s being able to see multiples of the same item at different angles.
What about the teens, while Mom and the kids are playing the redemption games? The teens arid older kids should be in the back section of the game area, where the video games and driving simulators should be located. For maximum effect, tailor the area to them with lighting—neon can be terrific here and a separate sound system playing teen/young adult music. A game area customized for them will keep them there longer.

Staffing the game zone depends, of course, on how many games you have and how large the area is, but usually you should have at least one floor attendant for every 50 games. He or she should be in charge of loading tickets, unjamming coins and tickets, putting balls back into games properly, and so on. The RPC may require several people when you get busy. On the other hand. wireless scanner redemption inventory systems now on the market enable one staff person to service more than a dozen customers at the same time while they are choosing prizes. These systems also keep track of inventory in real time and can alert a cell phone when stock needs replenishing.