The 2024 IAAPA Expo Europe event has concluded in Amsterdam after setting new attendance and exhibition records. The show covers the wider attractions industry, but its arcade and amusement-machine displays provide a useful preview of products expected to reach European venues and of themes likely to appear at IAAPA Expo in Orlando in November.
Coverage from the show floor highlighted new releases from Ace Amusement, Raw Thrills, Bandai Namco Amusement Europe, Sega Amusements and numerous manufacturers and distributors from Europe and Asia. For Australian operators and collectors, the event also offered a snapshot of where coin-operated entertainment is heading: toward social play, compact redemption concepts, motion attractions, VR and high-return crane machines.
Amsterdam follows a record-breaking show
IAAPA’s European exhibition moves between cities. It was held in Vienna in 2023, returns to Barcelona in 2025 after the Spanish city hosted the event in 2021, and has also visited London. The United States exhibition remains in Orlando until at least 2030. IAAPA has additionally announced a Middle East event for 2026, as reported by has just been announced for 2026.
This Amsterdam edition was described as the largest IAAPA Expo Europe to date, with records broken for attendance and several other measures. That wider-industry result is an encouraging sign for arcade businesses, although revenue pressures remain a concern across the sector.
Arcade and redemption highlights
Ace Amusement
Ace Amusement had a broad presence through its own stand and European distributors. Its new releases included Fast Racing, a motion driving game with a presentation reminiscent of Fast & Furious.
The company also presented Rush And Catch, a safari-themed animal ride with echoes of Jambo! Safari and Ace’s earlier children’s racer, Surf League.
Skull Of Shadow appeared in tethered four-player and mounted three-player configurations. The environmental two-player motion theatre version seen at GTI Asia was not present in Amsterdam.
Amusement Source International has confirmed plans to carry all three versions in North America, although only the four-player edition was shown on its IAAPA booth. The other configurations may still appear on Ace’s own stand in November.
Bandai Namco Amusement Europe
The main European launch on the Bandai Namco Amusement Europe stand was Angry Birds Boom!, distributed in the region as part of the Raw Thrills catalogue. Its presentation prompted one observer to describe it as “Angry Nerf!”.
Other Raw Thrills machines included the standard two-player versions of Fast & Furious and Minecraft Dungeons Arcade, along with the VR attractions Godzilla Kaiju Wars and T-Rex Safari.
Distributed third-party products included JET Games’ Mega Shot and Triotech’s Super Blaster. NBA Superstars was also displayed, despite football arguably having stronger regional appeal.
A Namco-branded product was visible behind the other machines: the Gator Panic kiddie ride, previously seen at Chinese exhibitions.
Epark
Chinese manufacturer Epark displayed a range of familiar-looking amusement products, alongside the more distinctive multi-puck hockey table Speed Hockey.
ELAUT
ELAUT’s display covered established redemption equipment, including E-Claw cranes and Superman Worlds United. The newer Popeye pusher, first seen at Bowl Expo, was also present.
Electrocoin
Electrocoin showed its regular redemption range together with Dance Dance Revolution A20+. The rhythm machine now looks dated beside regions that have moved two versions ahead.
ELMAC II
Italian distributor ELMAC II brought several games previously seen at the GTI Asia China Expo, primarily for its domestic market. These included IGS and Wahlap’s Monster Eye 3, although wider distribution remains unclear.
The game’s multi-barrel LED gun design recalls the chain-gun treatment used by Raw Thrills in Godzilla Kaiju Wars.
ELMAC also displayed Ace products, including Fast Racing and Skull Of Shadow. Its advertising had recently shown Ace’s Air Combat, but that title was not seen at this event.
Crazy Car from Tecway/Mecpower was another attraction on the stand. It appears to be a multiplayer children’s racer in the style of Hot Wheels: King of the Road. Tecway is scheduled to return to IAAPA in November after a long absence.
Game Castle
Dutch distributor Game Castle occupied a sizeable stand with products from Bandai Namco Amusement Europe, Sega Amusements and Chinese manufacturers, as well as Bay Tek’s Goatz N Ropes.
JNC Sales
UK distributor JNC Sales continues to handle a selection of Chinese products, many from Nitto Game. Crazy Drone by ZS Cheer was presented as a drone-racing game, although its design closely resembles Sega’s Drone Racing Genesis.
JNC is also carrying Leon Amusement’s card-and-gun title Thunder Attack in Europe. Its stand included the trampoline attraction Let’s Jump, which follows the broad concept of UNIS’ older Pogo Jump.
Magic Play
Magic Play returned to the European show circuit with Ace’s Super Wings and a selection of newer redemption products.
Arcade Quest was one of the relatively few conventional joystick-and-button cabinets at the exhibition. Its exact game content was not clear, but the cabinet appeared to be a multigame system and used artwork strongly resembling Pokémon-style character design. Magic Play was not listed on the IAAPA 2024 map, suggesting its current focus remains Europe.
LAI Games
LAI Games maintained a smaller independent stand while displaying more of its catalogue through Sega Amusements. The only physical new product noted on its own stand was Ace’s Air Strike.
Leon Amusement
Leon Amusement is a significant supplier of shooting-gallery attractions from JET Games and other manufacturers. Its range includes video games and large electromechanical machines. OnTarget is now confirmed for distribution by Sega Amusements, although it was not displayed on Sega’s own stand and may instead appear in November.
PrimeTime Amusements and Subsoccer
PrimeTime presented Subsoccer Arcade, the coin-operated and pay-to-play version of the bench-football game. The non-coin model debuted at PrimeTime’s stand in 2023 and has reportedly performed strongly, helped by a price below $3,000. The commercial version’s price was not confirmed.
Players keep score manually rather than through sensors. That approach avoids false scoring when a kick travels beyond the goal area, although it relies on player honesty.
Retro Arcade Remake
Retro Arcade Remake made its first overseas trade-show appearance, bringing its existing Ice Cold Beer remake and two newer products. One was the officially licensed remake of Taito’s Zeke’s Peak, which uses a similar skill-based concept without the alcohol theme.
The stand also included two cocktail Atari cabinets. One held the newly unveiled Food Fight Frenzy, first shown in April, while the other was believed to contain the Warlords remake. Availability had not been confirmed; appearing at the exhibition does not necessarily mean either machine was ready to ship.
Sega Amusements International
Sega Amusements’ principal new displays were High Five, a multi-claw crane developed by Playmore, and Allstars Ultimate Shot, a disc-toss redemption game. Much of the remaining stand focused on existing ICE and LAI products distributed by Sega across Europe.
Other displays included Sega’s Zombies! Ready, Deady Go!, IGS/Baohui’s Hyper Cross and the 3MindWave collaboration Apex Rebels. Sega generally saves its larger unveilings for the main IAAPA exhibition or EAG, so the quieter European presentation was not unexpected.
Stern Pinball
Although Electrocoin represents Stern in Europe, Stern also operated a compact stand featuring its existing line-up and The Uncanny X-Men.
Superwing
Superwing showed Skywalk, an Air Strike-style game, and Marksman, which follows the shooting-gallery format seen in Bullseye Crack Shot and Mega Shot. The older fishing videmption game Happy Ocean was also displayed.
The number of shooting-gallery attractions now appearing at trade shows is notable. Whether the category has reached saturation or still has room to grow remains an open question.
TouchMagix
TouchMagix attended the exhibition, although no new product was reported from its stand.
UDC
UDC, another close Ace Amusement partner, displayed Rush And Catch as its only highlighted new product. The rest of the stand featured established offerings, including StepManiaX with the Step Revolution team present.
UNIS
UNIS operated its own stand despite not yet having a formal European base, with distributors such as Instance Automatics handling much of its regional business. The exhibition focused on existing products rather than the new machines seen at GTI.
The smaller, cost-reduced version of Bigfoot Mayhem, shown at GTI, was not present.
Valley-Dynamo
US manufacturer Valley-Dynamo travelled to Europe with Jet Hoops, Jet-Pong and other social-entertainment products. No new machine was identified, but the company’s presence reflected the growing European interest in group-play attractions.
Wakee Amusement
Wakee displayed duck-themed neon cranes, part of a wider wave of Chinese “new wave cranes”. These machines are increasingly competing with video games, immersive attractions and traditional ticket redemption, helped by comparatively low costs and strong potential returns.
WIK
WIK remains one of the European manufacturers producing its own amusement equipment. Its products include ball-roller games sold by Bandai Namco as Pac-Man Roller, along with the air-hockey tables displayed here.
Immersive rooms and VR
Immersive Reality Rooms
The show also provided examples of what some exhibitors are calling Immersive Reality Rooms. INOWIZE reported strong results with its QBIX platform and has additional experiences in development.
NeoXperiences presented another approach, including an Angry Birds ball-toss experience and a second Angry Birds-themed example. These attractions demonstrate how familiar entertainment brands are being adapted beyond conventional video cabinets.
Virtual reality attractions
VR announcements increasingly focused on arena and location-based attractions. Hologate showed a wireless headset system, while Mack Rides introduced Coastiality FLOWRYDE, combining VR with a new motion platform.
VEX Solutions also exhibited its VR arena system, which has been available for some time. Outside selected Raw Thrills products and occasional releases from other manufacturers, arena-based experiences appear to be where VR is gaining the strongest foothold in the amusement market.
What the Amsterdam show tells us
IAAPA Expo Europe 2024 presented a healthy and busy picture of the international attractions business. For arcade operators, the clearest themes were the rapid spread of neon cranes, the continued growth of social entertainment and the popularity of branded family attractions.
Angry Birds Boom! was one of the most prominent new arcade releases, while Ace Amusement stood out for the quantity of new equipment entering its pipeline. Shooting galleries, motion racers, redemption games, pinball, VR and immersive rooms all had a place, although cranes appeared particularly widespread.
For Australian operators considering equipment, the event is a reminder to assess more than a cabinet’s visual appeal. Venue footprint, service requirements, player throughput and the availability of arcade parts all matter. Those planning a home installation can compare formats in the Arcade Machine Buying Guide, while commercial buyers can browse racing arcades and other arcade machines.
The next major checkpoint will be IAAPA Expo in Orlando in November, where several manufacturers and distributors may reveal further products or expanded versions of the machines shown in Amsterdam.
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