The vast halls of the Amusement Trade Exhibition International (ATEI) 2007 filled with the beeping and flashing of row after row of arcade machines and fast-paced videogames could have come directly from any hyperactive teenage boy's dreams. The coin-op and amusement exhibition, held at London's Earl's Court arena at the end of last month, was also the place to go to find out the latest trends that licensees will find in AWP and SWP machines in 2007.
With the opportunity to play all the latest games for free, I racked up a million on the latest version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and tried my luck on a vast array of fruit machines. I also managed to find some time to speak to gaming industry insiders to find out the major issues currently affecting the AWPs and SWPs in pubs.
Multi-function machines
Andy Egan, chief executive of Felix, which provides the multi-function 'digital retail' and games machine Max Box, believes kiosks such as this will eventually replace more traditional cigarette, quiz and fruit machines as UK pub culture evolves.
The first Max Box was launched at ATEI 2006, and an updated version with new software was on show this year. Its features include Felix's own Everyone's A Winner quiz game, printable sudoku grids, an ATM, digital photo printing, a digitally networked jukebox and a mobile phone top-up facility.
Max Boxes have been installed in some Punch sites and a number of freehouses. Pauline Williams, licensee of the Mancunian, in Hyde, Greater Manchester, says of the Max Box: "Lots of customers suggested we get an ATM, but I thought, if I'm going to get a kiosk then why not have one that offers lots of different services that my regulars actually want?
"The digital jukebox is very popular, as is the instant photo-printing. Already I've seen takings go up as customers are getting out cash and spending it over the bar, rather than setting off down the road to find a cash point."
Digital jukeboxes
It seems that the age of the iPod has ushered in jukeboxes with digital content, and that they're here to stay. Felix used ATEI to launch a text-messaging jukebox service, under which customers select tracks by using their mobile phones to text a number corresponding to each of the songs listed on the jukebox's screens.
It can be hooked up to standard TV screens or plasma screens, and Andy Egan anticipates interest from pubs that want to display the jukebox selection in the periods between broadcasting football matches or other sports events.
Operators Broadchart and NSM Music have also recently launched similar jukebox systems.
Server-based gaming
The resounding message is that server-based gaming (SBG) represents the future for AWPs and SWPs. These hold several key advantages over conventional machines. New games are downloaded remotely over the internet, giving you access to a huge range of games that will continue to grow and removing a necessity that will no doubt soon seem ridiculously antiquated - waiting for a machine operator to come around and switch a machine every time you want to update your games.
Faults can also be monitored remotely on SBG so that the operator will know as soon as it breaks down. This will, of course, reduce costly down time.
Roughly half of all faults will even repaired over the network, without the need for a technician to come out to your pub.
Gamestec was showing off a number of new games on its SBG machines Gamesnet FiVe and Eclipse, including a sequel to the hugely successful Deal or No Deal? Inspired, meanwhile, was holding demos of its rival SBG AWP, The Player.
Tournament gaming
There was cautious optimism that tournament gaming could be developed to be more successful in 2007. Holding competitions on SWPs across multiple sites has been a reality for some time, but has so far met with limited success.
Gamestec's managing director Rolf Nielsen describes them as "additional points of interest, rather than something that's going to double take" because they tend to be dominated by a select bunch of players who win all the prizes and deter broader customer interest.
However, Paul Terroni, Inspired group strategy director, says it was looking into ways of splitting tournaments into leagues.