IAAPA 2018 Preview: Arcades

It’s that time of year again, not when we come together as families to give thanks and feast (that’s the week after), but to see what the latest, greatest and newest products that will grace the amusement business are. IAAPA is essentially the E3 of the amusement industry, but it has been around for 100 years while E3 only a little over 20.

Conferences and seminars begin on Monday the 12th, while the trade show floor opens on Tuesday Nov. 13th and goes through Friday. Here’s a “trailer” that covers what it is all about:

I almost made this post a video, but I’ve been super busy with show prep (plus, it seems this is the week when several of my games at the arcade decide to have a game-killing fault) and a lot of announcements/reveals are taking place very last minute. So, this is easier to update.

If you’re so inclined, last year’s preview post can be found here. I will also be creating a post that focuses on AR/MXR/VR amusement products. Per usual, I’m going to list them products by company, starting with the A’s:

Adrenaline Amusements

Adrenaline tends to bring surprises to IAAPA, but you can rest assured that the recently announced Rabbids Hollywood & Tomb Raider 65″ models will be on hand. They also posted a video of a new videmption title called Blox Breaker, which is below the TR vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWrzifa-7A0

Andamiro

The main video focus for Andamiro will be the Pump It Up Prime 20th Anniversary, while they will once again have a strong showing for videmption and redemption products. Those will include the new Safe Cracker merchandiser and the WWE Superstar Rumble redemption piece.

There has been some discussion online about a new Jurassic World redemption game that has been seen on test by the company, but Andamiro tells me that it will not be coming to the show as it is still an early test model. We’ll look for it at Amusement Expo next year.

Bandai Namco Amusements

Bandai Namco has been a little quiet about their plans, so I won’t venture to guess what they might bring (this means no confirmation on Maximum Tune 5DX+ or MT6). For what I do know will be there:

Joker Vs. Batman: Laughing Madness: Giving the Pac-Man Smash slimline air hockey table a new look and theme, this table is replacing those models with the familiar DC Comics license. The only place I’ve seen this table listed at so far is on another advertiser’s site, this listing at PrimeTime Amusements.

Jumbo Jumpin’ – The sequel to Jumpin’ Jackpot was first shown at IAAPA last year, going through some revisions before launching this year.

Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash – First shown off at Bowl Expo, this replacement for Pac-Man’s Arcade Party will be on hand to enjoy. It would be cool to see the Chill version that has a built-in fridge.

Barron Games International

Barron sent out this banner to show off their IAAPA line-up, which is curiously missing Tap That and World Tour Foosball. I’ll drop by and see if they have any video/videmption

Bay Tek Entertainment/Skeeball

Note: Bay Tek Games has changed their name to Bay Tek Entertainment. Thanks for the tip on that Jordan! I’ll still leave Skeeball up here, in case any new readers are unaware of what happened there a while back.

If you didn’t make it to Bowl Expo, then rest assured that Bay Tek’s giant piece, Connect 4 Hoops, will be there to impress. It will be joined by Piano Keys (a single player version of Grand Piano Keys) and the new Willy Crash videmption game that we’ve mentioned on here previously. I will not be surprised if another surprise videmption or redemption game appears that the company has been keeping under wraps makes an appearance; but just because something shows up at IAAPA doesn’t mean it is coming to the market. Games like Battleship or Steer Clear come to mind.

If you are looking for the latest Skeeball productions, then keep in mind that they are also to be found at the Bay Tek booth.

Benchmark Games/Elaut/Coast To Coast

You can always count on Benchmark to bring several redemption games to the show, although they do not really dabble with videmption very often. They will be showcasing the new Space Jump, among other redemption titles such as Total Eclipse (which was at the show last year in early prototype form) and a new Ticket Station. I thought that Space Jump was a videmption title, but in taking a closer look, it appears to be electro-mechanical.

Benchmark is now a division of Elaut, who focuses their attention on cranes; news came along through Replay Magazine today that Elaut and S&B Toy Company settled a lawsuit over patent infringement on LED tech used in cranes. I don’t expect to see any video titles at the Elaut booth.

Chicago Gaming Company

This manufacturer always has a booth at IAAPA, where they’ve been showcasing their remake pinball machines for the past few years. This year, the expected star of the show is the Monster Bash remake, while I’m sure the Attack From Mars and Medieval Madness remakes will be joining in the fun. For the past few years I’ve heard rumor about Arcade Legends 4, but until we see it in the flesh, we’ll just assume that 3 is fitting the bill just fine.

Coastal Amusements

For the past several years, this company out of NJ has shown at least one new game every IAAPA event, with last year the company showing up with several new titles. They’ve put a strong emphasis on App-To-Arcade titles, being responsible for the Temple Run, Subway Surfers, Breakout and Qubes videmption games. So far they’ve been very quiet about their IAAPA plans, with no widely public announcements on anything other than “shipping to IAAPA,” but according to their IAAPA profile, they are introducing “…Dragon Hunter, Zombie Land Battle, Bug Cruncher…” with the first two possibly being similar to their popular Ice Man game that was developed in China.

Golden Dragon Amusements

In the past, this Chinese company has appeared with some rather interesting creations(geez, it’s already been eight years since I made that video), albeit nothing that would really work for the US market. I’m not sure what they plan on bringing this time, although it will likely be one of those oddball “9D-VR” Egg Pod simulators.

Exa-Arcadia

I originally had mentioned that the newcomer Exa-Arcadia was going to be making an appearance at IAAPA for the official launch of the platform, but plans changed due to some logistics issues. The platform has not been canceled…be on the lookout for more info between now and JAEPO in February.

Family Fun Companies

UPDATE: This is one that I forgot to add – my sincere apologies to FFC. They introduced the River of Riches videmption game at IAAPA last year, and have also been at the forefront of creating interactive video kiddie rides. Their newest one is Big Bug Blaster (video below); they will also be introducing a new multiplayer redemption game called Cyclotron.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lHhnGf2PLE

ICE

Last year, ICE introduced Super Chexx Pro and another new take on The Wheel of Fortune, this year I am sure that those will be showing up again. But one new piece we’ll get a look at is Tomy Waterfuls, a game that we’ve discussed here on AH from the location testing previously. Site writer SaraAB87 is also telling me that the company has a new version of Super Kixx, a bubble dome soccer game that was released back in the ’90s.

Imply

Here’s a Brazilian company that I didn’t expect to mention as they usually stay focused on bowling lanes, but this year they do have a video arcade game making a debut. Named I-Bowl Dinos, this expands on the company’s I-Bowl series of alley bowler style bowling games, looking to compete with the likes of UNIS’ popular Lane Master. It should be interesting to see how their take on it goes, given their experience in making professional bowling alleys. This game is shipping now.

InJoy Motion

Here is an entry I am surprised to see on the exhibitors list, a company that we’ve covered here various times in the past when they were active making video arcade games. In 2016 they shifted focus to VR and I had not heard of them since that IAAPA, the company being absent from the expo last year. They are touting a new “VR simulator line” as coming to the show, no indication of new video arcade games otherwise.

Jersey Jack Pinball

I expect to see a repeat of last year’s booth, with at least one of every JJP game made so far on hand. The star of the booth will certainly be the production version of Pirates of the Caribbean, while previously released titles will enjoy new code.  Here’s the latest code for Dialed In!:

LAI Games

Last year saw the debut of Virtual Rabbids: The Big Ride and earlier this year the company released a smaller version of the same game. While I have confirmed that the more compact edition won’t be at IAAPA (the software is the same anyways, and you want to go big for a show like this), there will be a special announcement regarding the game – new “ride films” is my guess, but it could be something else.

I also confirmed that a light-gun game that LAI was testing out earlier this year, Outnumbered, will not be at the show, so we’ll have to look to 2019 for that one.

Magic Play

This European manufacturer showcased a few videmption titles in the past – Timberman, Fly O’Clock, Drifty Chase and Car Mechanic Flipper – but this year, they are mainly promoting new redemption and air hockey pieces. That said, they still might have a new video piece to surprise us with.

Raw Thrills

Once again, Raw Thrills & Play Mechanix are going to have a big presence at the show, combining (as usual) forces with Betson. While I’m not expecting something different from these games below, it has been common for RT to sneakily introduce a game that they’ve been working on at a partner booth (World’s Largest Pac-Man was one…Play Mechanix also tends to show off something new at the ICE booth).

Halo: Fireteam Raven (2-player): If you missed the news on this one, click here. Betson will also have Master Chief on hand to promote the game.

Mario Party Challenge World: The latest version of this multiplayer videmption game that was first seen at IAAPA last year. The game has been on test recently, so we’ll see just how much it has changed.

Slither.io: This app-to-arcade port was a surprise, and I’m sure it will be taking up a prominent space on the booth.

Super Bikes 3: Another title we had the privilege of revealing, the sequel to the popular SB2 will be rounding out the booth.

On top of that, Raw Thrills will be showcasing a number of titles seen in previous years, the oldest of which is Aliens Armageddon.

Sega Amusements

You can also always expect a big showing from Sega, with video games being the stars among the videmption/redemption pieces they bring. Those will include:

Daytona Championship USA Standard: The standard version of the Daytona remake that we saw earlier this year at Bowl Expo.

House of the Dead Scarlet Dawn: The long-awaited and highly anticipated return of The House of the Dead that we have spoken about on the site several times this year.

Transformers: Shadows Rising: The sequel to Sega’s popular Transformers: Human Alliance that was also released earlier this year. Here’s a spoilery video that shows the final level of the game all the way through:

Hot Racers: Last year, Sega brought a kidtainment game to the show by the name of Baby Swat, but I didn’t hear much about it afterwards. This year, it looks like Baby Swat has been re-christened as Hot Racers. This comes witrh two screens, one side with a steering wheel, the other with handlebars.

Sega issued a press release about their redemption and sports games line-up today, which included the announcement of Ball Runner and Pixel Chase redemption (non-video) games and a new double-hoop Sonic The Hedgehog basketball game.

NOTE: While Sega did reveal ATV Slam through a press release a short time ago, I’m hearing that it may not be making an appearance, which is why I don’t have it at the top of the list. It has not been canceled, just pushed back for additional completion time. We’ll update this as more info is made available.

Stern Pinball

UPDATE: I have confirmed with Zach Sharpe of Stern Pinball that a couple of Gold Units will be on-hand for The Beatles

In the past, I had assumed that titles like Batman ’66 would make an appearance at the Stern booth, but it didn’t. With that in mind, I’m not expecting to see The Beatles on-hand; so if it’s there, that will be a nice surprise. The game is in full production right now, but being The Beatles, I imagine that orders are filling up fast and they want those to get out to distributors as opposed to making the journey to a trade show. Otherwise, Deadpool and Iron Maiden should be around to enjoy.

Team Play Inc.

Last year, this company introduced Family Guy Bowling at the show, which was subsequently released this year. The release version of that will be joined by titles like the popualr Fishbowl Frenzy and a newcomer that we spoke about back in the Spring, Spins Ahoy! I’ll be trying to get a separate post on Spins Ahoy! up here before the show, but for now, here’s one part of the flyer; this one has reportedly been a huge success on test (and, Team Play has another surprise in store regarding it, but we have to wait for the moment before discussing that):

Touch Magix

I mentioned the latest developments from this manufacturer in a post earlier this week, so click here if you would like to catch up there. I believe they will have a full showing of all of their currently manufactured titles: Magix Floor, Mannequin Challenge, Mystery Island, Dicey Jump, Hop ‘N’ Stack and a bowling alley enhancement tech called Magix Lanes.

Triotech

We haven’t seen much in the way of coin-op games from Triotech in recent years, as they have expanded into dark rides and have been enjoying healthy growth among their motion theaters while beginning to experiment with VR. But they did recently announce the 10th Anniversary Edition of the Typhoon, so expect that to be on-site among their other big attractions.

Unit-E Technologies

The creators of NEON FM and World’s Fastest Drummer will be at the show, with a possibility that a new version of NEON FM will be seen. Outside of that, the company has been diversifying their services to include other amusement support products, such as custom designed LED tech as shown in their most recent video:

Universal Space

Universal Space has become one of those companies who we always expect to see plenty of products at, the past few years they have featured massive booth spaces. Their products have a strong focus on redemption/videmption, but can cover video, EM games, motion theaters, VR and more. While they have not announced a full IAAPA list, I do expect to see:

Atari Pong coin-op: As previously mentioned on the site, this will appear in two flavors. If you really want a piece of hardware with the Atari logo on it, then this is a far better product than the Atari VCS(as this one actually exists).

Fantasy Soccer: The spiritual sequel to Namco’s World Kicks, this one has been testing out East and this image shows that it is headed to the USA.

Night Hunter Upright: An upright, more compact version of the After Dark-sequel that debuted at IAAPA last year.

Omni Arena VR: I’ll cover more about the new “eSports” version of this that will be at the show in the VR post.

For more redemption-specific games, expect to see Lane Master, Coconut Bash, Pin Setter, Dizzy Lizzy and more.

Wahlap

This Chinese company has been sticking to alliances made with IGS, so while the past few years have seen anything new from them, this year might yield Monster Eye 2 and a couple of other games that we discussed recently.

*Whew* – So that should cover what to expect for IAAPA 2018, at least by what we know. I will be posting the AR/MXR/VR preview relatively soon. If something big comes along in the next few days that I have time to post about, I’ll mention it here; I also should have more info to share on specific games like Spins Ahoy! here shortly. If you are headed to the show then safe travels; if not, stay tuned to Arcade Heroes (I will likely be using Twitter the most) for more news!