I just got back from heaven: acres of games, toys, candy, pizza and wine, a fantasyland that combined Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island and Peter Pan’s Neverland.
The International Fun Expo and Amusement Showcase, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, is pleasure disguised as business. Arcade game, tabletop and coin-operated game manufacturers, video game developers and toy and candy companies from across the country gather to show off their latest and greatest inventions, as buyers for family entertainment complexes and amusement parks sample their wares.
Graying, soft-bellied, buttoned-up men swarmed over the games: golf, basketball and bowling games, Guitar Hero, DDR, pool, table ice hockey and darts, pinball machines, car and motorcycle racing video games, violent shoot-‘em-up virtual reality games and more.
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In the room next door, miles of pizza and wine were free for the taking. The International Pizza Expo sets up shop every year at the same time as the Fun Expo and large pizza manufacturers churn out hot and cheesy slices with every topping imaginable.
Score.
As I wandered through the aisles Quick n’ Crispy greaseless fryer vendors handed me hot mozzarella sticks and funnel cake. I rode a giant robotic panda around and tried out the inverted therapy massage chair.
Automated pirates, cowboys and monsters called out to me as I walked past. I rode a virtual reality rollercoaster, climbed a coconut tree and a met a cute video game distributor from Illinois.
Out of the endless entertaining delights, here are a few standouts, coming soon (hopefully) to a theme park near you:
UFO Stomper: This 12 foot tall UFO-shaped interactive game from Triotech is programmed with 12 different games. One is based loosely on Guitar Hero and comes with 13 different songs—but you play only with your feet. Another game involves hitting and stomping on aliens. One to four players can play at once.
The patented technology uses dual-imaging and 288 sensors, sensing body electricity like an iPhone, but you only have to wave your hand over it, not touch it, for it to respond. But giving ETs a Will Smith-eque beat down doesn’t come cheap. Stompers retail for $29,000 and supposedly generate revenues of $3,000 per week. Over 1,000 are projected to be sold in the next three years, but you can try it out now. New York-New York Hotel and Casino already has one in stock.
Typhoon: Also from Triotech comes a ride that makes you feel like you are on the ultimate roller coaster without ever leaving the ground. Each Typhoon comes with six different adventures of which the Canyon Coaster is the most popular. As you sit on the chair and watch the coaster-eye view on a screen, it moves and jolts you in coordination with the movement of a roller coaster that barrels through a canyon and runs off the tracks to fall into a treacherous cave. Air blasts out to blow your hair back and complete the effect. Everyone disembarks with a giant smile (and maybe some shaking knees.)
Coconut Tree Climb: The Coconut Tree Climb is the newest offering from Spectrum Sports Int’l, which also sells rock-climbing walls and go karts.
These 26-foot tall trees come in clusters of three, complete with green fronds and harnesses. You climb all the way up, push a buzzer and belay down.
You’ll have to cough up $25 grand to install one in your own backyard, or you could just try to climb that real tree planted out back. Note that the real tree, however, does not come with a harness, buzzer or automatic belay, so it won't be as safe.
Walking Panda: Forget pony rides. Taking a lap on a giraffe, elephant or tiger would be way more fun. Barron Games makes twelve different walking animals, including a pig, dinosaur, tiger, giraffe, zebra, panda and leopard for $4,000. Coin-operated and with a weight capacity of up to 250lbs, they take 12 volt batteries and can run for up to 8 hours straight. Great for exploring malls and amusement parks and scaring little sisters.
Razing Storm: When it comes to firepower, Razing Storm doesn't skimp. This game was the main attraction of the convention, for me, because of the aforementioned hottie and for the crowds of men surrounding it because of a 60-inch DLP flat-screen with crystal clear graphics, surround sound, interactive foot pedal and two heavy recoil machine gun controllers.
Produced by Namco , the company that brought us the classic arcade game Pacman and the violent Time Crisis series.
With Storm, the brochure explains, you can “destroy countless enemies and demolish the fully interactive environment with a variety of heavy firearms. “Enemy Al” always reacts differently, creating infinite replay possibilities.” Death to many, planetary destruction and a chance to take out that bastard Al? Sign me up.
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