I first discovered Arcade Heroes back in January 2007 when the then UK-based crew attended what was called ATEI. I was amazed to learn that there was anyone covering the arcade industry, then I was also surprised to discover that there were still tradeshows which focused on new coin-op arcade games.
Unfortunately the UK-based writers to AH have since moved on but the tradeshows still continue, with ATEI having turned into what is called EAG International Expo (EAG being short for “Entertainment, Attractions, and Gaming). Both ATEI and EAG are traditionally held in London, UK and at some point in January. Being US-based, I’ve been able to attend expos here in the States but unfortunately I have not had the pleasure of being able to check out events like EAG, JAEPO, DEAL, GTI Asia, etc. (one of these days, when the arcade strikes it rich, lol). Thankfully, given how connected we are in the world plus having some personal connections in the UK who are attending the show, allowing me to cover it almost like I was there in person.
Also in case you missed it, here is Kevin Williams’ report from the show that I posted yesterday; he was there and was kind enough to share some pics and info. I also have to give a big hat tip to Ted on the Arcade Heroes Discord for providing many links. The rest I saw on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.
Just note that there is one little issue when you have tradeshows fairly close to each other – IAAPA tends to be the event where all brand new stuff gets a debut, so often shows close to it have many of the same products. Granted, for those who couldn’t make the trip to Orlando, it’s a first-time opportunity to see many of these games in-person; Also, EAG will generally show updated cabinets or more complete software on those games. This is often the case with Amusement Expo as well. That said, there’s always some little surprise to be found here and there among the booths (often from European developers who don’t attend the much-more-expensive IAAPA).
EAG 2023
If you’d like to also see some of what was there in a video, check out this one from Namer Merli:
Or if you prefer a longer tour, then Pinball News posted their 17 minute video. They also did a detailed write-up on the show which you can read here, including an exclusive look at Bitronic’s offering in Pinball (Super Hoops) and other areas.
Bandai Namco Amusement Europe
As noted with IAAPA, BNAE is a distributor in Europe, which is why they feature many non-Bandai Namco products at their booth. Operators across Europe and some other supported regions interested in BN’s games, as well as Adrenaline amusements and Raw Thrills products would go through them.
With that, BNAE had a very strong showing with: Big Buck Hunter Reloaded (Raw Thrills); Dead Heat Unleashed; Fast & Furious Arcade (Raw Thrills); Halo: Fireteam Raven Assault Model (Raw Thrills); MotoGP VR (Raw Thrills); NFS Heat Takedown(Adrenaline); Pac-Man Baller; Pac-Man Battle Royale Chompionship; Pac-Man Power Pellets; Pac-Man Roller; and QUBE (Trio-Tech).
Crown Leisure
The exhibitor map says Crown Direct but the company name is Crown Leisure; They represent LAI Games among others. They showed off Asphalt 9 Legends Arcade DX & Angry Birds Coin Crash from LAI Games; Axe Master and Big Ticket Drop from Bay Tek Entertainment; Demolition King (mentioned in Kevin’s article yesterday) and AR Sniper from some Chinese companies.
Electrocoin
A long time fixture in the amusement business for Europe, Electrocoin traditionally had a very tight relationship with Japanese companies outside of Sega and Namco like Taito, but as those have reduced their arcade output, they’ve become known for other products. Still, they continue to sell the occasional Konami piece officially like DDR, and they are also the official Stern Pinball distributor. They were supposed to unveil James Bond 007 to the world at a show last year but that was scheduled right after Queen Elizabeth II had died, so out of respect Stern & Electrocoin postponed it. Here’s a broader list of the games they had:
Instance Automatics
This UK company has a lot of focus on prize machines and they also represent UNIS, thus you could find their latest products such as Sailor’s Quest VR, Wicked Tuna, and Power Puck Fever. UNIS sent out an email mentioning that PPF is doing very well on the market right now.
JNC Sales
This distributor is where the Chinese-made game Zombie Crisis was found; After some digging, I found this video of it on JNC’s YouTube channel so you can judge for yourself. Per their website, this one was made by a company called Nitto Game, which we’ve covered before. They also list a lot of redemption pieces on their site, many of which were also present at their booth.
Sega Amusements
Much like BNAE, Sega Amusements International also operates as an equipment distributor in Europe, so in addition to Sega Amusements’ own product, you also saw games from ICE at their EAG booth. Their EAG booth is essentially a repeat from IAAPA, allowing many operator buyers the chance to see their selection. These would include games like Drone Racing Genesis, Storm Rider 2, VR Agent and new redemption like Bop It!. Sega posted quite a few clips and pics to their social media accounts about it; I imagine that they will have an EAG review up on YouTube within the next week or so.
UDC
This UK-based distributor will often debut some new video games or videmption titles that come from China before you might find them in the States. They are also the exclusive European distributor for Step Revolution, Team Play, and Touch Magix. Either way, they were showing off their latest products such as Step ManiaX DX, Carnival Wheel, Carnival Cups Crane, respectively). They also carry many of the latest games coming from Ace Amusements, such as Dinosaur Era and the new light-gun game Bullseye: Crack Shot that was mentioned in Kevin’s story yesterday.
As EAG has come to a close, a tradeshow in Turkey called ATRAX has just started up – Sega is there but I haven’t heard much else about it. For now though, which of these new arcade games shown off at EAG 2023 interested you most?
