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THE GALA GOING STRONG The suburb: Itasca. The location: Eaglewood Resort & Spa. The event: the AAMA Distributor Cocktail Gala!
Now in its third year, the gala has enabled AAMA distributor members to have an exclusive sneak peek at the new fall line up for coin-operated products. There were a total of 25 companies displaying 60 new products. Merchandisers and redemption products were popular items this year with Andamiro's Winners Wheel and King of the Hammer, Bay Tek came to play with Super Star and Brady provided the gala with Dr. Monkey and Stickers with Attitude. Coastal Amusements displayed their unique redemption piece, The Annoying Thing, along with their new counter top, Nexus. Even Bozo the Clown came to party, Coast to Coast had their latest Bozo crane machines. Family Fun Companies brought a little one-on-one with Basket Fortune, along with ICE's Chicken Coop and Striker Pro. Namco had the ballroom jumpin with Jumpin Jackpot and Comet, along with their tournament version of Rockin Bowl O' Rama. OK Manufacturing showed off Duckin Around and their Nascar piece. Smart Industries had plenty to show with their Prime Time Laser  Jewelry and Toy Chest cranes, accompanied by an impressive Prize Center with database. Finally Skee-Ball was sittin' pretty with Sittin Ducks and Riden the Rails.
Suppliers were also on hand. Happ had a table full of goodies including a 25" Tri-mode monitor plus 17" and 19" Happ LCD monitors to name a few. Pyramid Technologies enjoyed their first gala while displaying a bill acceptor. Plenty of video games were showcased starting with Global VR's anticipated Aliens Extermination, followed by Sega previewing After Burner Climax, Virtu Tennis 3 and Ford Racing Twin driver among many other products. TLC was ready to display Silver Strike and Flashpool while Triotech launched their dual driver, Wasteland as well as new rides within the Motion Theater. And Visual Sports added a taste of the world cup with Real Soccer. No party would be complete without countertops. JVL  made their presence known with new games and functionality with Vortex. Merit also had something up their sleeve with their Music on Demand (MoD) Jukebox and the latest Megatouch Elite Edge Ion.
You can't have a bash without music. Rock-Ola showed off their touchscreen jukebox powered by Ecast. TouchTunes was proud to display their larger wall mounted jukebox, Ovation; and Wurlitzer took in their first gala with their 60's iconic Classic 2100 and OMT CD Special Edition made for Ipod jukeboxes. Finally, Stern launched the Pirates of the Caribbean Pinball while Face Place said "smile" with their Photo Booth to capture the night's event. For detailed information on all the products shown at this year's gala, log onto AAMA's website and visit our member's individual web listings. During the gala, the AAMA also presented deserving individuals  with awards. Jeff Blair, Ron Carrara, Rick Kirby, John Margold, Bob Mills, Neal Rosenberg and Ed Urich all received an outgoing board plaque for their services to the AAMA Board of Directors from 2004 through 2006.
Rock-Ola President, John Schultz was the recipient of the 2006 AAMA President's award. The award is presented to the individual who has gone above and beyond to assist the association and its staff. The award is given and chosen by AAMA President Mike Rudowicz and AAMA Team, Vanessa Cabrera, Tina Schwartz and Christy Maes. Way to go Schultzy! 2006 served as an interesting year as there were two winners for the Joe Robbins award. Congratulations to Frank Cosentino, Namco's newest Senior VP, and Gary Stern.The award is given to an individual in recognition for outstanding participation, contribution and service to the coin-operated amusement industry. Gadgets galore! The AAMA once again offered six lucky winners with door prizes. And the winners were: Firestone President, David Cohen; Lupe Corona of Video Chips; Global VR's Darren Decatoire; Jeanette Marofske, wife to David Marofske of Grand Products; and Linda Schultz, wife to John Schultz of Rock-Ola. On behalf of the AAMA, we'd like to thank all the member sponsors for displaying their products. We'd also like to thank all of our guests for attending and supporting the AAMA. We hope you had a wonderful time and we'll see you again next year!    date |
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