Show planners WT Glasgow have released the most-recent stats from the Amusement Expo, reporting that numbers are up across the board.
At this year’s show, there were 195 exhibiting companies with 576 booths sold (up from 165/513 in 2022). Of those, 46 were new exhibitors (compared to 32 last year). Registrations were also up, numbering 2,267 compared to 1,698 in 2022. There were 1,984 non-buyers and exhibitors to date, compared to 1,603 (final) in 2022.
Organizers also offered a discount to registered Pizza Expo Bar and Restaurant Expo attendees allowing them access to our show for a discounted, $30 rate. Most recent numbers show there were 56 Pizza Expo attendees and 41 from the Bar and Restaurant event. Glasgow said AEI will again overlap with those events in 2024 and they look forward to offering a similar program.
New this year was the co-location of the BCA Expo, joining the NBVA event (with 13 exhibitors and 33 booths in their pavilion, up from 27 in 2022) and the Laser Tag Convention (14 exhibitors and 19 booths up from 12/18 last year). For those interested in VR, 12 exhibitors took 50 booths at AEI with a strongly attended VR Arcade Summit education program March 27-28. Their VR Reception, sponsored by HTC, was held at Area 15 on Monday night, March 27.
Foundations Education University also joined AEI this year having a sold-out program on March 27-28 with close to 100 participants.
AEI itself also ran an exceptional lineup produced by the 2023 Education Committee with a new format that included general and “breakout” sessions. The program kicked off with a half day on Monday and full education day on Tuesday, beginning with a keynote session titled “Lessons Learned from my Father” that was presented by Jarrett Walter Payton. This year’s AEI Education Day had 403 registrants. Their $129-per-person rate included the AEI Sessions, the VR Summit, the luncheon and the all-industry gala. That latter event had 1,400 in attendance (up from 1,286 in 2022) including the 488 in attendance of the VR Arcade Game Summit. Sponsors of this year’s gala were AMI Entertainment, Arachnid 360, EMBED, Incredible Technologies, Ivey Promotions, Prominent Games and TouchTunes. In addition, they had support from the top three VR summit sponsors Hologate, SpringboardVR and HTC.
Awards:
AMOA Innovator Award Winners: Barron Games and Team Play
AMOA Operator’s Choice Award Winners: LAI Games, Team Play, Elaut and Pipeline Games
AAMA Manufacturer of the Year: Raw Thrills
AAMA Distributor of the Year: Betson
AAMA Supplier of the Year: Rhode Island Novelty
AAMA Allied Member of the Year: Creative Works
AAMA FEC of the Year: Rev’d up Fun
AAMA Lifetime Achievement Award: Allen Weisberg
AAMA Hall of Fame: There were 31 inductees to this inaugural class of the Amusement Industry Hall of Fame (for the list, click here, plus look for related news items posted on the RePlay website and coverage in the May issue).
Best Booth Award Winners: 1-2 booths – BMI Leisure; 3-6 booths – JK Coin Supply; and 8+ booths: AMI Entertainment
50/50 AEI Charity Fund
This year, the Amusement Expo International announced Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Las Vegas (RMHC) as its 2023 AEI Charity Fund recipient organization. The total donation amount raised was $34,200.
The show’s mobile app once again proved to be a helpful resource to attendees with a Smart Planner feature providing easy access to the exhibitor list, map, educational session lineup and more. Betson sponsored the app’s production.
Mark Your Calendars!
Plans are already underway for the 2024 Amusement Expo International, which will be held at the Westgate Las Vegas and the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The education program will be March 18-19; the trade show on March 20-21. Organizers have already secured a $95 room rate at the Westgate for attendees. Contact Glasgow for particulars on booth pricing (call 708-226-1300).
