#1224 – IAAPA 2024 Trade Show Bonanza – Part 4

The concluding coverage of the IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) Orlando 2024 – we wind up the coverage on amusement, and look at robots, and AI seen during the show. We conclude all this with a rundown of developments shaping the trade during the mammoth gathering.

AI Constructed Brief

Part Four – The conclusion of the IAAPA 2024 in Orlando highlighted emerging trends and innovative developments within the amusement and attractions industry, emphasizing increased investment across various sectors. Key highlights included displays from indie game developers like Monkey Splash Studios and Party Time showcasing unique gaming experiences, as well as the introduction of exciting new products from established players such as DOF Robotics and TRIOTECH, which featured advancements in VR and AI-driven technologies. The event attracted around 41,000 attendees, with significant interest in AI applications for guest services and interactive experiences. However, looming challenges, such as regulatory scrutiny over amusement gaming legality and anticipated tariffs on international imports, raised concerns for investors, indicating a shifting landscape that could impact profitability in the sector. Investors should note the growing emphasis on innovation, alongside potential legislative and economic challenges, influencing market dynamics.

Full Stinger Report

Amusement Developments

The great thing about IAAPA 2024 was how it reflected new investment in the industry – not just the explosion in competitive socializing, but also more traditional indie game developers attempting to establish new amusement properties. One such was Monkey Splash Studios, showing their ‘Chef it Up’ amusement piece. The unique four-player cabinet offered a fun game, fresh from loctest, with the game offering innovation into the amusement scene.

Likewise, on the Party Time distributor booth, various versions of the ‘Killer Queen’ multi-player video amusement piece were given pride of place. This offered another example of indie development fighting hard to offer innovation into the traditional amusement scene.  Alan-1 exhibited on the show floor, with latest machine variants – the company promoted FEC (side illuminated) and traditional amusement (non-illuminated) versions of their ‘Asteroids’ cabinet, confirming the successful rollout of the hardware inspired by the ATARI IP. Another indie representation on the show floor was Strange Outfit, a company representing and creating social content. The company is known for its ‘DIY Artcade’ – the indie custom arcade platform for schools and promotional events, equipped with open-source games.

One of the big new showings in the amusement sphere was that from the Player One Amusement Group – now a new independent amusement distributor, the company had partnered with new startup Premier Arcade Games and their ‘Superstar Prize Drop’, the prize game system based on the string cut game, supported by WWF Wrestling stars, with the four versions of the game linked to their IP. Crowds descended onto the Player One booth to get autographs signed by the famous wrestling stars, who made an appearance at the show. The new startup has big plans for their entry into the North American amusement scene.

IAAPA-24 exhibitor DOF Robotics presented many of the platforms that had been revealed at the EMEA show. The amusement trade got its chance to try the production prototype of ‘Angry Birds – Fury Road’. The kiddie-kart game included an active motion base and simple racing controls. This was a 90-percent finished product – with hardware from a Chinese developer working in collaboration with DOF management. The game will be entering a crowded children’s racer amusement scene, with ACE Entertainment, UNIS and WALAP/LAI all with their own offerings – with the Angry Birds IP, and redemption capability, hoping to single this release out.

A crowded DOF booth also presented their ever-popular VR attraction ‘Hurricane Coaster VR’, running on PICO headsets and offering active motion excitement. The company was also promoting their attraction work and will soon be announcing new installations of their unique media-based attractions. One of the big presentations for the Turkish corporation was the reveal and demonstration of their AI-based guest services platform.

TRIOTECH exhibited at the North American attractions show with their full range of products – ranging from their ‘DarkRide’ interactive theater, their ‘Super Blaster’ amusement variant, their VR ‘STORM’ immersive sim, and the evergreen ‘Typhoon’ amusement ride sim. The company had several announcements regarding their larger projects and were the recipient of a Brass Ring award for their extensive work in the international sector – and representatives announced they will have some major announcements to make regarding new commissions and platforms for next year.

One of the big showings on the floor at IAAPA was the perfusion of “new wave” crane games – in particular the extreme neon light and clean line models. Many of the Asian exhibitors promoted these unique lines to the attendees. This popularity in the new look crane prize platforms seems to be gathering international recognition. There was even a backlash to this, with news reports that Consumer Council, a government-funded organization in Hong Kong, was starting an investigation into amusement operators of crane machines in their locality, raising concerns on the reasonable claw setting and clear terms of play at these venues. At this time, it is not known if this overview of the legality of these systems will have wider implications for the amusement trade.

The Rest of the Show

The trending term of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or AGI may have been the zeitgeist for the media but was also very visibly impacting the attraction scene. The Stinger Report had its first chance to try the DOF Robotics ‘AIQ’ – AI-infused smart queue management solution kiosks, taking pictures of the user and then turning them into unique representations (spacemen, pirates, etc.) using AI agreements. The generated images proved very interesting 9-times-out-of-10, and seemed to point to a compelling guest entertainment system.

Exhibitor Forward Thinking Design – a new face to the IAAPA show, and a company that has only been in operation for a few years, revealed one of the most impressive of the AI demonstrations seen at the show. The company ran a mock-up of the new ‘Game On!’ attraction they had developed for the College Football Hall of Fame in Georgia – where the user supplied three images of themselves, and answered some questions on their preferences, and then a video montage of them as a superstar athlete was rendered with images and full video documentary of their fictional career. This was a very impressive platform, and needed serious computer power, but was well worth it. We look forward to seeing advancements from the company’s ‘HyperCinema’ platform.

Another exhibitor at IAAPA’24 with a strong AI showing was exhibitor Karaoke Machines, who also had their “AI Experience” karaoke booth ‘The Voice’ – which we reported on during IAAPA EMEA. We can expect, in 2025, to be inundated with AI terminology – such as at CES in January, with a perfusion of AI-infused technology and, likewise, next year’s IAAPA show will be seeing many more “additions” of this tech. One unusual crossover between robots and AI was seen on the FotoMaster booth with their ‘Draw Me Bot’ – three small robotic arms were drawing portrait sketches of attendees, based on photos taken using their app. The robotic sketch artist was interesting on a novelty level – although will be interesting to see if this goes more beyond a fad.

Drones were part of the makeup of the show’s external events, promoting the replacement to fireworks and with many parks embracing drone light shows. During the days of the exhibition, demonstrations of this approach were held. Regarding other autonomous platforms, there were not as many robots on display as had been expected.

On the show floor we had RobotLAB – presenting their cleaning, service, and information robot platforms. The company was representing third party robots but offering a reliable service and supply component for the entertainment operator to safely deploy this technology. We would like to thank the team on the booth for their informative observations on the deployment of robots in entertainment, and the realities of the need for a reliable service and support architecture to hope to establish this tech effectively.

Other robots on parade at the show included the service systems on the BowlMarc Robotics booth – including the ubiquitous ‘BellaBot’ platform deployed in many bowling venues. Cleaning robotic platforms are also migrating from bowling lane cleaning to full facility cleaning solutions, such as the ‘CC1’ platform displayed on their booth.

A new addition to the crowded IAAPA show coverage was “The Haunted Exhibit” – a session set aside for horror and scare attraction service providers and manufacturers. The space even included its own mini haunted house walkthrough attraction (‘The Haunting Grounds’). This was an interesting addition to the attraction, amusement and waterpark elements of the intense gathering.

Developer of haunted attractions and escape rooms, L3DFX, had a major announcement on the show floor. The company is signing an agreement with Escapology to develop the ‘BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT CHALLENGE’ escape room property. This marks a major move for an IP to jump into completely themed escape properties. This was seen with the ‘Star Trek: Quantum Filament’ escape rooms, developed by Creative Works, but the L3DFX announcement points to a major turning point in the approach.

In Conclusion

The organizers reported a registered attendance to IAAPA 2024 of some 41,000 registered attendees, with some 37,000 confirmed participants (27,000 of which were reported as buyers). Along with 1,100 exhibitors, the show was complemented by some 140 educational sessions. This felt a busy and productive show, but there was a feeling of more operation than innovation. Also, there was a growing feeling of the show being about to go through a new phase of development, as many exhibitors prepared for a coming period of reorganisation and change. Not just from the political upheavals but also due to the resulting financial conditions. We now look at some of the aspects of the industry taking place during this year’s event.

Educational Conferences

We would like to thank the IAAPA organization for the opportunity to present on two occasions during the November event – presenting alongside Bob Cooney on the ‘Reality Bites: How XR Attractions are Reshaping Location-Based Entertainment” session, and presenting on the panel for the FEC Lunch “The Next Generation of LBE Will Be Immersive, Gamified and Personalized” session. Also, we would like to thank those attending, the large audiences were greatly appreciated, as well as their interest and support about Immersive Entertainment, and immersive innovation and design in FEC and attractions. For those unable to attend, we will encapsulate the aspects discussed in future coverage of the applications.

The Expanding Show

Sources close to the convention organizers confirmed rumors that the event was considering expanding, with talks underway towards incorporating the West Hall area of the OCCC into the show mix. Although final confirmation of this addition has yet to be made, the serious overflow of wannabe exhibitors could be addressed by this move. However, the distance between the different halls could bring new issues of their own.

Along with the considering expansion of the Orlando show in 2026, we also need to be mindful of the impact of a brand-new addition to the IAAPA association roster of trade events. This being the announcement made at IAAPA-EMEA, in Amsterdam, of the launch of a 2026 Saudia Arabian convention in May (between DEAL and SEA). As one exhibitor confided to The Stinger Report during a meeting, now with a European, North American, Asian and now Middle East convention schedule, this exhibitor’s ability to fully support other trade events will be seriously impacted, as they must focus on the IAAPA event spend to ensure prominent placement.

Amusement in the Cross Hairs

One of the surprise realisations during the discussions on and off the show floor with members of the amusement trade, was regarding the number of legislators across the fifty states of the USA who are looking at some kind of legislation against amusement and game rooms. It seems that numerous city legislators have enacted for vote attempts to ban the rise in adult arcades and game rooms, and that many of these rulings may impact more innocent amusement permit issuing. One of the most notable was the announcement that Fort Worth City Council had put for vote, by city members, plans to ban all game rooms in their principality. While in Atlanta, legislation aimed at reforming Georgia’s coin-operated amusement machines industry had to pass a vote through the state senate. Not only in the US, but developments are internationally impacting amusement, as seen with Hong Kong enacting consumer laws to investigate the proprietary of crane machine operators.

It was suggested that these two examples were just the tip of a bigger iceberg that would see other states and cities enact legislation to impact the adult arcade landscape. It was also expected that the manufacturers of the gaming machines frequented in these facilities would also fall under section. This will raise concerns on “bleed”, where laws to restrict one group impact another innocent operation. Regarding the innocence of the amusement trade to the illegal activities of some gaming rooms – the trade associations involved in the Las Vegas trade show will have to be mindful of the number of exhibitors at that show who are directly associated, not with amusement but gaming machines for these venues.  The next year will see much of this situation come to a head and will require industry intervention.

The Tariff Delima

The change of political administration in the US was a major topic of conversation on and off the show floor. The political ramifications were countered by the concerns from numerous exhibitors to the financial situation. The new administration confirmed the placing of tariffs on Mexico, and Canadian imports into the States, in the region of 25-percent. There are additional plans for a massive combined 60-percent tariff on Chinese products. At least one Chinese exhibitor spoken with during IAAPA’24 stated they were actively looking for a US partner to open warehouse and manufacturing facilities within the country to negate these expected tariffs.

It will be expected that the dependence on electrical and software development services from Chinese corporations in the amusement and attraction sector will be impacted by these new price hikes. It will be expected that the CES show in January 2025 will illustrate the concerns on the expected price hikes for imported products. Along with the Chinese concern, serious worries were voiced in the food and service industry regarding the impact on fresh produce this tariff would have. In just one example, America sees most of its avocados coming from Mexico, so the price hike on guacamole – for one example of a stable restaurant product – is expected to be considerable and reflect the possible impact across hospitality and entertainment business.

European Mall Show

Some weeks after IAAPA’24 and MAPIC 2024 was held in Canne, France. Attracting some 4,400 attendees (it was stated that the organizers recognized 1,800 of these as being retail representatives), the event for shopping mall operators and owners was supported by the LeisureUp session – offering insight into the entertainment opportunities. The key trend of the show seemed to be the explosion in Social Entertainment spaces – the entertainment anchor concept now combined with a F&B component. Many are seeing these new social venues as the replacement to the failing bar and pub culture. Attendees to this year’s event were reported as stating that they felt attendance was diminished on previous years, but the sector’s interest in social entertainment seems larger than ever, with record openings during 2024.