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William T. Glasgow, Inc.

Amusement Showcase International 2005 – Wraps It Up In the Windy City

Orland Park,IL – From the Grand Ballroom to the “Big Bar,” the Hyatt Regency Chicago rocked from morning tilmidnight during last week’s Amusement Showcase International.  ASI, last held at the Hyatt in Chicago in 1990, brought with it a leaner, meaner coin-op industry compared to 15 years ago, but plenty of new product; fresh, new faces; plus the before, during and after-hours networking that a self-contained show offers, made for plenty of happy customers on both sides of the aisles.   ASI exhibitor, Andamiro USA Corporation, stated on their exit survey, “It was a nice change of venue.  Centrally located in the heart of the coin-op business.  Nice choice …change is good!”

WhileChicago’s unpredictable March weather was left in the hands of Mother Nature, it was not by chance that the unions were extremely cooperative during ASI.  AAMA Board Chairman, Frank Cosentino (NAMCO America Inc.), who’s company exhibited, applauded the efforts of ASI Show Management who met with union leaders several times prior to the show to ensure a positive show experience for ASI exhibitors. Cosentino remarked, “The high level of union cooperation was significant and made a difference.”

While booth space was up 12%, the first increase in years, attendance was down 14%.  Lower than expected operator attendance from the West Coast was disappointing, but Chicago did attract new customers who have not been attending the Vegas shows.  Show Committee Chairman, Sal Mirando (Coastal Amusements), commented, “Speaking for myself, I would rather see “fewer” but “newer” faces.  This sentiment was echoed frequently in a survey taken on the last day of the show by W. T. Glasgow, Show Management. More than 50% of ASI Exhibitors rated “Quality of Traffic” as “Good” or “Excellent”.   Hometown exhibitor, Stern Pinball, reported on their survey “they saw more export customers and operators from the East Coast and Midwest than at previous shows.”  A similar reaction came from the Fun Company booth. Their survey response read, “Chicago is an excellent location. It’s central for East and West Coast vendors.”

Pre-show activities kicked off on Wednesday with factory tours to Grand Products and Stern Pinball.  Forty people, including international visitors from as far away as Australia and as close as Mexico participated in these behind the scenes tours that provided an in-depth look at game production, from design and engineering, to assembly. 

Opening Day ceremonies included the presentation of AAMA’s Lifetime Achievement Award to industry veteran, Bill Cravens (Team Play, Inc.); Manufacturer of the Year Award to Merit Industries, a five time consecutive winner in this category, and AAMA Distributor of the Year Award to Shaffer Distributing.  Steve Shaffer was also the recipient of the Ralph P. Lally Operator of the Year Award presented by Valerie Cognevich, Play Meter Magazine.

The Crystal Ballroom was jumping along with ‘Joliet’ Jake Blues and Elwood Blues as the Blues Brothers sounds filled the room Thursday night at the traditional Operator’s Cocktail Party. It was well attended by over 1100 coin-op industry participants. Delicious food, drinks a plenty and the valuable opportunity to network with industry professionals was offered to all who attended. A very special thank you to the party sponsors: American Amusement Machine Association, Betson Imperial Parts & Service, Cadillac Jack/Lazer-Tron, Firestone Financial Corp., Global VR, Namco America, Inc., SEGA Amusements USA, Inc. and Valley-Dynamo.

ASI Best Booth Awards were presented to: International Currency Technologies (1-3 Booths), Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corp. (4-8 Booths), and SEGA Amusements USA, Inc. (9 or more Booths). Criteria for this award are based on functionality, attractiveness, originality, technology and extra flair.

More than 300 participants attended six free seminars on topics related to video monitor repair, redemption, creating brand awareness, promotion of locations, basic management skills in a service industry, and an introduction to video amusement tournaments presented by industry experts Randy Fromm, Frank Seninsky, Ben Jones, Michael Getlan, Kama Reed, Mark Koking, Kevin Williams, and Todd Cravens.

The American Amusement Machine Charitable Foundations (AAMCF) held a variety of fundraising activities benefiting K.E.E.N., Children’s Miracle Network and UNICEF.  All bets were on at Wednesday night’s Texas Hold ‘em Round Up,  ( sponsored by  AAMA, AMOA, BMI Gaming, Cadillac Jack/Lazer-Tron, Fannie Farkles, Firestone Financial Corp., Grand Products, Happ Controls, Inc., ICE, JVL Corporation, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, SEGA  Amusements U.S.A., Inc., W. T. Glasgow, Inc.) where Tom Kiel walked away with the grand prize, a $2,000 Best Buy Gift Certificate courtesy of JVL. Other Texas Hold’em winners of Best Buy Gift Certificates included Brent Dusing, Brad Sotoloff, David Swafford, Gil Pollock, Jeff Prescott and Tim Dwyer.  The annual AAMCF Silent Auction was a huge success with donations from over 55 companies.  The AAMCF Big Raffle drew big crowds to the AAMA Booth on Saturday.  Fred Wood of Mid-State Amusement won Merit’s MegaTouch e.V.o.  Replay Amusement’s David Stegman was the proud winner of NAMCO’s 3-in-1 Donkey Kong home video game.  AMOA’s very own Nancy Gigac took home the 60” Zenith High Definition Television donated by SEGA Amusements USA.  And the grand prize went to Coastal Amusement’s Sal Mirando who so generously donated his Rowe StarGlo Jukebox back to the Charitable Foundation.

At the closing ASI press conference held Saturday, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Jerry Roper, told trade press in attendance how appreciative the City ofChicagowas to host ASI and the business it represents.  Roper remarked that the Chamber was instrumental in defeating proposed hospitality tax increases that would have imposed a $200 per machine tax on amusement devices in Cook County.  The Chicagoland Chamber serves as the 'unified business voice of greater Chicago’ representing business interests at the city, county, regional and state levels.

ASI, now in its 21^st year, is the annual spring trade show for the coin-operated amusement industry.  It is solely owned and operated by the American Amusement Machine Association, the international trade association for manufacturers and distributors of coin-operated equipment, located in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.  For more information about exhibiting or attending, contact ASI Show Management, William T. Glasgow, Inc., Tel:  708.226.1300; Fax:  708.226.1310,

E-mail:  info@wtglasgow.com or visit the website at www.asi-show.com.