Bowl Expo 2024 has wrapped up, with the bowling-industry trade show offering a useful look at new redemption, videmption, crane and arcade attractions. Although the planned visit fell through after a missed flight, photos and video from Brandon Willey of LBX Collective provide a broad view of the event.
What Bowl Expo 2024 revealed
Bowl Expo is built around bowling-alley operators, so its arcade presence is more selective than at dedicated amusement trade shows. The 2024 exhibition nevertheless included several new prize and video attractions, alongside established products from major manufacturers and distributors.
The supplied show-floor footage brings together several featured exhibitors:
Amusement Source International
Amusement Source International, or ASI, partnered with Chinese neon-crane manufacturer Dreamfuns to present its crane range and new videmption and redemption products from other Chinese companies. One of the most distinctive displays was Zombie Rolling, an augmented-reality alley bowler that projects animated characters across the holes used for ball rolls.
ASI also showed Burger Mania, a redemption coin pusher made by Palm Fun. Other products included Firestone Amusement’s Thunder Attack, first debuted at Amusement Expo, and Wahlap’s Thunderbolt Shot, previously seen at IAAPA.
Additional ASI booth coverage and footage of Zombie Rolling were supplied for this report:
Dreamfuns’ crane machines formed another substantial part of the ASI presentation:
Raw Thrills and NBA Superstars
Raw Thrills’ newest releases appeared at the Betson booth, as is customary, with NBA Superstars receiving its industry debut. The game had been available to Betson through a timed exclusivity arrangement since the end of May.
To capture gameplay away from the exhibition floor, a local Dave & Buster’s location permitted footage of NBA Superstars. The resulting session lasted longer than originally planned:
Here is the supplied view of the Raw Thrills and Betson booth:
TouchMagix
TouchMagix presented a new software build for its Pudgy Penguins videmption game, alongside an official Pudgy Penguins crane. Unlike some modern crane products, the machine does not include video features; its purpose is to dispense Pudgy-branded plush.
More Bowl Expo 2024 exhibitors
No official attendance figure was available. Informal impressions suggested the show was not especially busy, potentially because it took place close to the United States’ 4 July holiday or because some operators are reducing expenditure.
Bandai Namco Amusement, ICE and Team Play
Moss Distributing represented a selection of Bandai Namco Amusement, ICE and Team Play products. Bandai Namco’s presence did not bring many new announcements or a large range of existing machines; visible examples included Animal Kaiser Plus and the original Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash.
Team Play was able to attend after the equipment truck involved in an accident before Amusement Expo had prevented its earlier display. Its Bowl Expo products included the new Pixel Pix Gen 4 photo booth and version 2 of the Photo Motion kiddie ride, game and photo booth. The updated model uses purple and yellow finishes and includes other subtle changes.
Bay Tek Entertainment
Bay Tek’s booth was more compact than AEI’s, including a generally smaller selection of machines. Goatz ’N Ropes was the only notably tall attraction in the display.
Coastal Amusements
Coastal Amusements placed its new redemption game, Level Up, at the front of the booth, with further products arranged behind it. The pink-and-black machine known as Slide Up was also visible, although its status remained unclear: it has appeared at several Coastal trade-show booths but was not listed on the company’s website or distributor websites.
Elaut USA
Following its new Popeye boxing machine, Elaut extended the licence to a coin pusher. Instead of using the now-familiar coin-tower format, the machine drops a large bag of coins onto the playfield. The company described this as a mechanic also first seen in medal games by the likes of Sega out of Japan.
LAI Games
LAI Games brought a reduced version of its Amusement Expo presentation. The display included two SMASH machines rather than four, one pair of Asphalt Moto Blitz DX units and other products.
Player One Amusement Group
Player One Amusement Group showed existing products from a broad group of manufacturers, including Andamiro USA, ICE, Kalkomat, Rilix and UNIS.
Sega Amusements
Sega Amusements’ booth was relatively sparse. Its previous Bowl Expo presentation had contained more equipment, although the company has also used smaller displays at other shows while placing greater emphasis on IAAPA.
The display included Mission: Impossible Arcade DX, Skill Fall Revolution and a Capto Candy crane. Sega signage and game artwork also appeared around the booth, including artwork on several tables.
UNIS
UNIS appeared both within the Player One display and in its own booth, where cranes made up much of the presentation.
Prize equipment was not the entire story, however. UNIS also displayed its two current major licence attractions, Bigfoot Mayhem and Godzilla Vs. Kong Smasher.
What the show means for arcade operators
Bowl Expo 2024 appeared strongest as a showcase for redemption and prize equipment rather than a source of major video-arcade announcements. The event still offered useful variety, from augmented-reality bowling and sports games to cranes, coin pushers, photo booths and licensed attractions.
For Australian operators and collectors assessing equipment for a venue or home setup, the broader arcade news archive and arcade-machine buying guide provide helpful next steps. Readers comparing home-friendly cabinets can also explore arcade machines and racing arcades.
Thanks are due to Brandon Willey for supplying the photographs and video used to document the exhibition. The next major events on the calendar included California Extreme later in July, followed in September by IAAPA Europe and GTI Expo in China. IAAPA and Amusement Expo Japan were scheduled for November, offering further opportunities for new announcements across the arcade and amusement sectors.
Did you attend Bowl Expo 2024, or was there a product from the show that stood out to you?
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