Next month sees arcade trade show action heat up again in the States with Amusement Expo, but between that and IAAPA there are always a few more events on the international stage to speak of. EAG in the UK and JAEPO in Japan always tended to be the biggest of those; however with the latter’s newer incarnation now awkwardly being held close to IAAPA in November, there are plenty of shows taking its place in other countries. Here we have three to round-up from this month; one in India (IAAPI) and then a couple over in Italy (Rimini Amusement Show, Family Entertainment Expo).
IAAPI Expo (India)
India’s amusement industry is still on an upward trend, as evidenced by chains like Masti Zone rapidly expanding and even Dave & Busters joining the fray there, so with all that comes greater prominence for its trade shows. Of those, the IAAPI (Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries – not to be confused with IAAPA, despite the similar acronym) Expo has always been one of the biggest, with this year marking its successful 21st edition.
In terms of who and what is usually at the IAAPI shows, they have their own regional sales channels who represent product from all around the world. The biggest of those is CSML, distributors for the likes of LAI Games, JET, ICE, Bandai Namco Amusement Europe and Sega Amusements, among others. This year those others notably included exA-Arcadia, who came along with an ARC-32 cabinet playing The Kung Fu Karate Champ, as can be seen below here.
As an unfortunate sidenote, exA has pulled out of Amusement Expo and it looks like they won’t be returning for future AEI shows. Hopefully they still do a reveal of some level online around that time.
CSML also had a new product from one of India’s very own homegrown arcade manufacturers – AH site advertisers TouchMagix. Here, Minions Bullseye Mania appeared for the first time since IAAPA, after it failed to materialize on Bandai Namco’s booth at EAG last month due to some unfortunate shipping delays. The build shown off by them and CSML has likely progressed from the prototype that was seen at IAAPA; it should be at Amusement Expo next month too.
Some of the big companies represented by CSML had their own booths at the show to boot, although with product already being shown on their stand, a lot of these tended to be small. Whilst Apex Rebels was available over at CSML, Sega Amusements had a understated space to show off just Big Sea Fishing and Hyper Cross. Bandai Namco Amusement Europe were there too, although it looks like most of their product and those they distribute (e.g. Raw Thrills) was also at CSML.
UPDATE: FOG Technologies reached out to me on LinkedIn, where they celebrated two show awards – one for Best Booth and another for Best Manufacturer. They also posted a fast-action video that provided a quick showcase of their booth, which you can see on LinkedIn. Their flagship product is the ColourGrid, which has seen installation at some TimeZones.
For other smaller companies, GTI has uploaded a big photo album onto their site that you can check out.
Rimini Amusement Show, Family Entertainment Expo (Italy)
Now over to Italy, which has the unusual distinction of having two trade shows in relatively close succession to the other this month. Italy’s amusement industry has been around a lot longer and is more developed than India’s, although it has definitely been through peaks and troughs over the years (in part due to unstable regulation). This seems to represent good growth for them however, with both of these shows being relatively young in the scheme of things; the second is even only on its third ever edition.
The first of these two expos, the Rimini Amusement Show (RAS), was held alongside the Enada Primavera event earlier this month, which incorporates the gambling/gaming side of things that we don’t cover here. That took up more space from the looks of all the promo, but some prominent Italian arcade distributors could still be found there, representing manufacturers such as Ace Amusement (whose latest titles can be seen in the below photo). A few Asian companies like IGS and Yuto Games also had their own small booths.
Then the third Family Entertainment Expo (FEExpo) in Bergamo has only just wrapped up. Being only focused on the FEC side of things, this one had a bit more amusement representation; several companies came along for their distribution partners in the country, including UNIS, who posted a photo album showing their spot on one booth. As well as their Sailor’s Quest VR 2, you can see GoldStorm Pirates and Mission Impossible Arcade DX from Namco and Sega here too:
While we’re on the topic of UNIS, they have just been the first to announce their Amusement Expo International line-up, which you can find here. They finally sent through some pricing details on their new games as well, which may be worth its own post at some point. This is a good place to note that through those details, we can confirm that both Neon Rush and Dino Storm are shipping out to North America in March.
Also making a prominent appearance at FEExpo on Harding Trading’s booth were the Step Revolution crew, who commemorated their attendance with StepManiaX’s 59th content update. They didn’t have the only dance game on that booth though, as can be seen in this photo from the expo’s official Facebook account… since Harding distribute Pump It Up Phoenix 2024 into Italy as well. No sign of DDR A20+ though, despite it also being sold in Europe.
Other interesting snaps on FEExpo’s official account include one showing Ace’s Magical Truck Adventure clone Fun On Track (which released a good few years back now in China but never really got any wider representation over here), and another with a background appearance by one of the oddball highlights seen at least year’s GTI Asia China Expo – the two-screen Running Ostrich racer by Joint-Fun. Who knows if this will be releasing elsewhere…
Finally, this video from the FB account shows a few neat things that haven’t been photographed so far, including a corner with some old ’70s machines from Spanish companies like Segasa. It’s cool to see more expos have that historical remit following the attempt we saw at EAG.
Stay tuned to the site for more trade show news in relation to Amusement Expo as the show edges closer, as well as some additional content (there will be a Location Watch post going up here very soon). Until then, which of the arcade games shown off at IAAPI, Rimini Amusement Show, and Family Entertainment Expo interest you most?
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About the author: arcadehero View all posts by arcadehero
I’m a lifelong fan of video games and I have been operating my own arcade, Arcade Galactic in West Valley City, Utah since 2008. Soft spots in my heart for Atari, Sega, and Nintendo.
