Last year at IAAPA, we saw the arrival of a few different “LED Tile” gaming platforms. These are a part of of what I like to refer to as Immersive Reality Rooms or Floors, serving as small-scale attractions that work great for FECs to offer something that is a bit more affordable and space conscious than say a ropes course or go kart track.
Most of the options in this particular class of product use giant RGB LED tiles, that serve as color-changing tiles that can be stepped on or pressed. We did see one example last year of microLED tiles, where each tile is a display, and now we have a new arrival by the name of Battle Arcade, by CONDUCTR & Game Volt. Let’s see what it’s all about
Battle Arcade – Hardware
Based out of Manchester, UK, this company has some other products in their roster, including Supercharged Shuffleboard, among some others.
As mentioned, the primary benefit of this system is that every tile is a full color HD display that can be stepped on, making the entire floor – or wall – an interactive display. As per this render here, it primarily ships as a floor, but the product page mentions games that use walls too. Unless I’m mistaken, the system is not a fully enclosed room (with a ceiling), but it is a turnkey operation, so no attendant nor wearables are required. Here is what is a “typical” installation without any special customization:
The kiosk there would be where payment and game selection is handled, while there is another display to show game info and scoring. Per the site’s FAQ: “Venues can begin with the interactive floor and onboarding kiosk, then add features such as a graphic back wall, score screen, bar tops or interactive push-button walls.”
If you have the wall, these are not setup as a straight flat wall; here is an example:
They have already installed one at an undisclosed North American location, where they have gathered data to proclaim a six month ROI from that, although you’ll have to contact them directly for pricing. Since customization can be involved, that can change depending on what else you want to add to it.
Battle Arcade – The Games
Here are the games available for the platform, with more to be made available in the future. They are fairly simple (Backfire is essentially Pong, as one example) and are all multiplayer, tracking movement for what is needed:
- Retrace
- React
- Stomp
- Backfire
- Barrage
- Pulse Pace
- Quick Draw
- Word Rush
- Symbiosis
The last four require the wall, so if you don’t have that then it will have less of the potential selection. That said having too many games also tends to be a problem as people don’t like to be overwhelmed by choices in an arcade environment. This image below has a game called “Clash of the Stache,” but I’m not sure how it plays. It does show that up to eight people can have at it though (number of players would also be game dependent).
If you are looking to see one in person, then they will be at IAAPA Expo Europe here in a month at booth S3627 (look for the name CONDUCTR); then they’ll be IAAPA this November, booth S5869 in the FEC Pavilion (not far from the exA-Arcadia booth, at present – there have been A LOT of changes to the map though, so who knows if this present version will hold).
Interested in the press release? Check here.
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