Harry Levy Amusements is a name that has long been synonymous with the seaside. And despite the arctic temperatures in the UK this Easter – two redemption titles still sold like the proverbial hot cakes!
 
Sea Wolf was an ATEI show-stealer, with its retro good looks, addictive gameplay and impeccable heritage. For those who can remember, the title is based on the classic title released by Midway in 1976. For those who can’t recall the original, suffice to say it was one of the arcade greats and this reincarnation looks set to follow in its footsteps.
 
The idea is to launch torpedoes from different positions on the screen in order to sink ships. The problem is that only one torpedo can be fired from one spot at any given time, so patience, a cool head and deadly accuracy is a must. Of course, the ships also move at different speeds in order to make the game more challenging.
 
The cabinet features a 32" digital LCD monitor and unlike the original, Sea Wolf uses 3D modelling to produce realistic looking ships with full animation. The fire, explosions, and torpedo action are all enhanced with stereo sound and a sub-woofer located in the seat. Sea Wolf offers such entertainment that some operators have sited it purely as an amusement piece, although it is mostly operated as redemption.

The second recommendation from the team at Harry Levy is Smokin Token Extreme – this is a very fast and furious one or two-player coin roll-down game suitable for players of all ages. Players release coins down a slope into a spinning wheel. The idea is to hit target awards on the wheel, which not only awards tickets but raises the wheel up to reveal bonus targets which double the prize!
 
The real excitement comes when players win the massive Extreme Bonus. This occurs when players hit a bonus target twice before the wheel descends to its original position. Smokin Token Extreme is a stylish piece, loaded with edgy graphics, LED chaselights, adjustable bonus settings and ahigh energy audio package.
 
“We know that in the current climate – both weather and industry-wise – seaside operators need winning machines and these two really do deliver,” says Harry Levy’s Colin Mallery. “We took significant orders for both these games for Easter and we are getting fabulous feedback. I am certain these will continue to be our best-selling redemption pieces well into summer and beyond.”

SEGA Amusements USA, Inc has announced that Paul Williams, the current Managing Director and COO of SEGA Amusements Europe (SAE), will assume the position of President and COO of in the United States. In this new, expanded role, Williams will oversee the entire Western arm of the company, effective immediately.

“Under Paul’s leadership, SAE has grown consistently over the past years, despite poor market conditions in the industry,” said Tatsuyuki Miyazaki – Head of Sega Amusement Overseas Business Division. “We are excited that he now has the opportunity to bring his strong management skills to SEGA Amusements in the US, and we look forward to him guiding the larger company into targeted growth areas.”

Williams’ approach to leadership in the shifting market will have three main pillars:  localizing Sega Japan products for Western markets, developing games locally with local developers that are exclusively tailored for US and European market, and expanding strategically in targeted growth areas. For example, he plans to ensure continued high-levels of customer service in the Spare Parts and Repairs Department, as well as the successful development of product video for the Family Entertainment Centre and Arcade market.  In addition, he plans to expand into development of redemption and novelty products for the US market.

“Sega has long been a market leader in the development of innovative high end video games for the arcade and FEC market; however the operators are having a difficult time at the moment with declining cash box earnings. We need to react to this quickly and develop more cost effective product whilst still being at the very cutting edge of technology. We need to develop product that will give the operators a quicker return on investment and help then drive footfall into their locations. Additionally we need to develop a range of product that is suitable to the bar and street market. It seems to me that Sega is currently only developing product for the tip of the iceberg and we need to focus on the entire iceberg” commented Williams.

Drawing from over 25 years of industry experience – including 11 years at SAE –Williams’ day-to-day responsibilities will include driving the strategic direction of SEGA Amusement’s Machine Sales, Spare Parts & Board Repairs, Customer Service, and Merchandise Divisions in both the United States and Europe.  He will be based in the company’s Chicago headquarters.

In his expanded role, Williams will assume responsibilities previously held by industry-veteran Rick Rochetti, who served as President and COO of Sega Amusements USA for five years, leading the company through the SEGA Sammy merger and a period of rapid expansion and growth.

Elton Games have just received deposits for two Elton Derby’s for Kazakhstan, the nine player games will be installed later this summer in shopping centres in the capital city Astana and Almaty. The Horse and Camel 9 player games are the latest  to be purchased by the “AGAT” Asia company for their operations, after a 9 player Kentucky Horse Derby was installed into the Babylon Magic Park games zone at the Mega Shopping Centre in  Almaty at the end of 2006.

Elton Games Limited are the manufactures and sellers of competitive group amusement games. Our exclusive products include the operator controlled Elton Derby and the 6 Player Automatic Derby.  Established in 1962 in North West, England we have installed  more than 400 games in over 50 countries worldwide.  Elton's existing customers are operators of Amusement Parks and Family Entertainment Centres.  Some of the World Famous locations with Elton Products include; Circus Circus in Las Vegas, Warner Brothers Movie World in Madrid, Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Alton Towers in the UK.

Suzo International continues to place focus on increasing relations with European casinos. Having built very strong business relations over fifty years with European OEM’s, the natural step was to increase Suzo’s presence with the European casinos. Following on from the AESI’s success in the USA (a company within the Suzo-Happ Group), Suzo International has learnt the benefits that can be brought by building direct casino relations.

The first step was to bring together a range of world-class casino products. Casinos can benefit from being able to choose from a very wide product range. The second stage was to create a catalogue specifically for casinos. The Casino Catalogue 2008 from Suzo International underlines this focus. The third step was to create a strong European Casino Team.

Let’s look at this last point first. Erik Wijma leads the Casino Team with many years of experience. His previous position as Sales Manager for France, Italy and Switzerland brought his first steps into the casino market. Erik explains how this came about, “As gaming OEM’s are minimal in France it was natural for me to turn directly to the casinos, given that France boasts the largest number of casino slots in Western Europe. Here I learnt the benefits for both the casinos and Suzo from creating direct business relations. With AESI joining the Suzo-Happ Group, this allowed us to further enhance our strategy”.

Erik has a team of three to help him support the European casino market. Whilst Erik continues to focus on the countries in Western Europe, he can look on the support from two sales colleagues. Mathias Reindl is the Regional Sales Manager for Central and Eastern Europe and Joost van Egeraat is the Regional Sales Manager for Southern Europe. Their professional backgrounds differ but blend in to provide Suzo a whole wealth of experience. Austrian-born Mathias lives in Germany, having had nine years of experience working in Spain. Having gained experience in a global company such as Siemens, he then joined the gaming industry three years ago to become sales manager at Starpoint. With Starpoint now being a part of the Suzo-Happ Group, Mathias has taken on the challenge to support the casino customers in his regions. Thus, Mathias brings a wealth of experience from the components side. Joost, on the other hand, brings a wealth of experience from the manufacturing side. Joost has joined Suzo from Orion and this OEM background brings an essential advantage to the casino group.

A major pillar in the raison d être of the Suzo casino group is to provide professional service. Here Erik has turned to Marc Martens who joined Suzo from the photo-processing market. Marc’s experience has been to offer practical, on-site service to his customers. He relishes challenges and states himself the importance of knowing the customers. Therefore, casino customers can look forward to dealing with Marc’s uncomplicated, solution-oriented approach.

So now we’ve seen the team, let’s look back to the Suzo product range. The casino catalogue is 65 pages long, thus underlining the strength in depth of the Suzo product range. However, offering the right products is only part of the Suzo casino strategy, as Erik explains, “we seek to bring innovation to the market. This, coupled with our outstanding service, is where we see our unique selling point. It is our stated goal to bring benefits to the casino market”.

But how do Erik and his team intend to do this? The example of strategic partnerships explains this. Strategic relationships with FutureLogic and MEI allow Suzo International to bring the benefits of these products within the European casino market. Both companies have proven its technological strengths in their home markets – namely the USA. Suzo is transferring this know-how to the European casinos who are seeing the benefits of having these products fitted as standard within the slots. Casinos thus have direct links to new component technology and with the service that Suzo offers know that they can rely on these components during their life usage within the slots. Many casinos within Europe have successfully trialed the MEI Cashflow SC83 banknote reader in value-added trials (VAT’s). With the increasing importance of TITO in Europe, casinos appreciate the benefits of using the market leader FutureLogic.

The Suzo casino team is increasing its dialogue with casinos in traditional gaming as well. Suzo-Happ is the official distributor for Elixir Gaming so can offer a whole range of table solutions with the Chip Washer, Deck Checker, RandomPlus Shuffler and ShufflePro.

Erik Wijma sums up the new casino group, “we are providing world class products to the casino market. We are constantly looking to improve our products for the benefit of the market. Our toppers are a prime example with new Xenon technology toppers that can be linked together. We focus on market leaders for our strategic partnerships and thus can offer the casino market the excellent benefits in note and ticket handling with MEI and FutureLogic.

The opening of the Amusement Showcase International (ASI) at the Las Vegas Convention Center (March 27-29) brought 134 exhibitors occupying 431 booths and 2,694 attendees, including 1022 buyers, to see "what's hot" in the amusement industry. The show opened to the public for the first time in its history, and approximately 275 people visited the show on Saturday from 12-4 p.m.

 "The 2008 ASI show looked beautiful.  Bill Glasgow Sr. and his team did a great job creating and setting up an excellent presentation for this year's show," Mike Rudowicz, president of AAMA, said. "There were some great new products on display by many of the exhibitors. Having had the opportunity to talk to several of the larger exhibitors, they seemed to have a fairly good show, saying they sold quite a bit of merchandise. 

"The old adage, 'Quality, not quantity is what matters,' certainly rang true at this year's show," he continued. "The only downside to the show was that we did not have the volume of operator attendance that we had anticipated.  Despite their absence, however, many exhibitors still said that they had a good show, especially in light of the current economic climate."

 Allen Weisberg, President of Apple Industries, praised the quality of the attendee at the show. "Even though attendance was lower than in previous years, the attendees who came to the show were serious buyers, which more than made up for the lower attendance."

 The two-night Big Bar & Happy Hour on the Show Floor was a huge success. More than 1,000 attendees visited on Thursday, the first night of the Big Bar, and almost 800 attendees on Friday.