The EAG Expo is held every year, in January, and showcases all the latest products and services in the amusement and coin-operated industry. The Excel Exhibition Centre in London is where the show is located, providing an excellent venue, if a little tricky to reach by car or train when travelling from Bristol.
We visited yesterday - 18th January, meeting many of our suppliers as well as clients. In previous years we have been able to shoot a video, which has always given a great deal of insight into what is on show. However, for the second year running, the organisers sadly declined our approach to film, saying that the exhibitors have requested that there be no filming.
So, here follows a short run-down of the key products that caught our eye...
Pinball Machines:
The Electrocoin stand had the newly announced Aerosmith pinball machine, in Pro format. It is due to be available in March and we are taking pre-orders. It is their second game to feature the new HD LCD screen, the first being Batman 66, which was situated to its right. For full details on both machines please see our Stern Pinball Machines page. Last year's release, Ghostbusters, was also on display.
Heighway Pinball were showing their Alien pinball machine, which was getting a huge amount of attention from attendees. They had suffered some technical troubles, but had managed to get it back fully working by the Wednesday afternoon. We love the license - who doesn't love Alien, and are looking forward to getting some serious play when our display model arrives in the next few weeks.
Heighway's previous release, Full Throttle, was also on display in standard and LE variants. Another popular pin amongst our team due to it's fast and flowing gameplay. Of course, the benefit of Heighway's innovative design is that you can swap out the playfields within the same cabinet, saving space and reducing the cost of owning two games.
Jukeboxes:
On the Sound Leisure stand they had two new machines - the touch screen digital Rocket jukebox, aimed at the commercial market. The large amount of glass on this model affords space for a truly huge display, which was very eye-catching. Digital models have proved increasingly popular, but I'm not convinced too many home customers would prefer this to the wonderful design of the 1015. Surprisingly they didn't have the new vinyl playing Rocket on display. Have starred at CES at the start of the year, it was a shame it wasn't here for all to see.
Talking of the 1015, they had a CD version on display, featuring a new grey finish which looked surprisingly good. Coloured finishes are proving increasingly popular, with this model showing what can be done. If you'd like a certain colour just let us know and we can get that specified for you.
Arcade Machines:
Given this is an amusement show the majority of the floor space is given over to arcade machines and fruit machines, plus more and more stands selling prizes for grabber machines and for ticket redemption. With the announcement of the change of the pound coin, there were even more companies offering new change machines and services to update existing coin mechanisms.
The real fun to be had was on the video games!
It's become popular to convert phone app games into arcade experiences. In previous years we have seen these simply magnified, using huge screens to display the action. This year, in a new twist, there is an Angry Birds machine where you actually knock down their precariously constructed towers using a ball.
Crazy Tower mixes an innovative projection screen system, allowing four players to play at a time. It's like video Jenga, where a storey of a building slides across the screen, with the player pushing a button to stop it. Do it at the right time and you will build a biger and bigger tower. Mis-time it and each of your storeys becomes smaller. Build a big tower and receive tickets. If you see one give it a try.
On the Namco stand they had the latest offering in the Cruis'n series - Cruis'n Blast. An incredibly well designed and built machine, it featured super slick graphics and gameplay.
Keeping with racing I was delighted to find that Daytona is back! Here you can see the 8 player linked set-up which was packed with players every time I walked past. Daytona has always been a favourite arcade driver and this didn't disappoint. Smoother more detailed graphics, driver photos, coupled with a overhead screen and very elaborate seat designs. We loved it.
There was a new design for Ghostbusters, aimed at the younger player, dispensing more tickets than they can carry to get a pencil sharpener...
Space Invaders was the first video game I ever played. I was hooked, instantly. There was no better use for a 10p. Nealy 40 years later the invaders are back, on their biggest screen ever. Stomping left and right as usual, but with frantic gun based action to cease their ever descending attempts to conquer human kind.
Beside the world's biggest Space Invaders is, of course, the world's biggest Pac-Man. Debuted last year, Pac-Man was again chomping his way into player's hearts.
Let's Go Island is back again, with another new cabinet design.
Despite the Olympics being sooo last year, Sonic and Mario were keen to get you running and jumping and generally looking rather silly. Employing a number of disciplines to attract and test players. Show-goers however didn't really fancy giving it a try. I'm sure it will be a different story for seaside arcade visitors.
Pac-Man now has a standard air hockey table, to complement the super-crazy Pac-Man Smash (which we can't get enough of!).
Saving the best until last, we have the awesome Walking Dead. It was first shown at the Florida show before Christmas to rave reviews. Gamplay is somewhat similar to House of the Dead, but sports better graphics and great interaction with fellow survivors. You save them, they help you dispatch walkers, giving a real sense of team play. Brilliantly themed and sporting variable settings to allow for plenty of gore or to cater for the younger player. We highly recommend you track one down and experience what Rick and his group have gone through for the last 7 seasons.
