Most people have no clue and most business owners are even more clueless.  For years it was somewhat commonplace to go into a major retail shop to be asked questions upon checkout.  Usually you were asked for your zipcode.  Problem is that many states in the US and many other countries have outlawed this practice.  Why?  The main concensus is that you are collecting, storing and using that personal identifying information to track and “spy” on your customers.  We all know about club cards and memberships at most major grocery food chains.  The reason they get away with it is that  it is voluntary and not forced at the checkout line.

I just today received an email from Bed Bath and Beyond about a class action lawsuit specifically regarding the collection, storage and tracking of your zipcode.  Here is the official email that was sent out.

So the moral of this story is that you need to make sure you follow your laws.  If you want to collect and analyze personal information, you need to do so in a completely voluntary manner that will NOT get you sued!

PartyCenterSoftware.com is sponsoring (and attending) the LaserTag 360 event happening right now, August 7th and 8th in Indianapolis.  Another a

mazing event put on by Creative Works (The Wow Effect) to help new and existing lasertag operators.  Right now Jeff Schilling is walking through over 40 people on how to analyze a lasertag or family entertainment facility and its feasibility.

If you ever wanted to know all the details about operations and development of a lasertag anchored or attraction based facility this is the event you need to attend.

For a list of the upcoming LaserTag 360 event click go to their website at www.LaserTag360.com.

Thanks Jeff and CW gang for putting on another ROCKIN event!

The title of this email was intended to catch your attention. With such a sue happy world we MUST do everything we can to protect and insulate ourselves from those “particular” types of attorneys. Most operators would agree that music is a key component to creating the atmosphere and experience we want our customers to have. Using high energy and popular music helps keep people entertained and keep them spending money at our locations.   I know for myself, before the internet radio became popular, we used Sirius Satellite radio, the personal version, to play music at our location. Our customers could choose whatever station they liked in their private areas although we had ones we would not allow to play as there is NO filter on those stations so the words and content were often questionable.

Interesting fact, one of our customers is friends with Right Said Fred out of the UK. You may recall they had the hit song “I’m too sexy”. While the song was a mega hit internationally and in 1992 hit big on the US charts the internet and smart phones were not even in our normal vocabulary. Once smart phones, and the iPhone in particular, hit the scene, the popularity of custom song ring tones exploded. As you can imagine the hook of the I’m Too Sexy song was just too much for the consumer to resist.   Now Right Said Fred makes more in royalties from the ring tone royalties than off the songs rotation when it was popular in the US (according to our source).

Now on to the heart of this email. Being SUED… I’m sure many of you know that artists and musicians make their livings mostly off of royalties from when their songs are played on the radio or on TV.   As consumers we can listen to the radio, play our CD or iPods and even play music off the internet for personal use. The businesses that provide those tunes for us to listen to are the ones who are responsible for the royalties. The key to this entire equation, and why so many people are getting sued, is that if you are using a CD, iPod, Internet Radio, Satellite radio (Personal or home subscription) or playing the local radio station in your facility you are BREAKING THE LAW. You are not allowed to play any song or portion of a song requiring a royalty payment in a commercial setting without paying the appropriate organization like ASCAP or BMI. While the chances of someone coming into your center and suing you is remote, it is happening all over the country in other industries. Larger franchise locations or chain stores are being hit with lawsuits for playing local radio stations or using cd or iPods. Some people say “But I paid for the CD or I paid for the song online”. Even if you purchase the CD or music online this does not exempt you from paying a royalty when playing it in your facility in a commercial setting. The reason is that you are granted personal use of that song and can listen in your personal office or car but not in a commercial setting. You need to first check with your attorney on what your government regulations are and then find a service that will pay those royalties for you.

How to protect you and your business….

One such product I found is called ControlPLAY (http://www.ControlPLAY.com). They are also known as Bowling Music Network for those in the bowling business. One of the best features or functions that they have is not just to play the music or music videos for you, but they offer “PARENT APPROVED” stations so that all questionable language and video content is edited out. This is to assure that you can play the hottest music without coming under fire from the parents concerned about the content of the music. Later in the night, you can switch to the regular station when the younger crowd is gone.

Obviously ControlPLAY and the other commercially available music or music video systems will pay any and all royalties that occur while using their service. This allows you a care free and potentially lawsuit free existence when it comes to playing music and music videos in your facility.

The biggest feature that comes in the ControlPLAY suite actually has nothing to do with royalty payments at all. This feature is the personalized marketing feature. You can set audio or even full video marketing commercials inside your own personal radio station. That means you can promote upcoming events or even when a meal time hits you can suggest that they get a mouthwatering burger with gourmet French fries… The customers have no clue they are listening to a personalized station except that all the commercial breaks are focused solely on promoting sales within your own company.

The reason for this article was not to scare you but just to make you aware that you might possibly be violating the law and putting yourself in a situation that is not necessary. Find a solution that will pay your royalties and one that will help you filter the content of what you are delivering to your customers. This will release a burden off of your plate while allowing you to create an amazing atmosphere for your customers.

FYI Similar laws also apply to television and sports games shown in your faciilty.   Some people try to save a few dollars by paying for TV or Satellite TV as if they were a home or personal account as often the commercial TV accounts are two times higher than a personal account. Why are they higher? They get charged more and have to pay different royalties when being rebroadcast in a commercial setting.

So I don’t get sued…..I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice. This is an opinion and I do not claim any of the above information to be factual or without error. Consult your own attorney and local government for the rules and regulations you must follow in regards to paying royalties or using a service that will pay the royalties for you…

Well folks we have come to that time of year where we host our spot at the worlds largest trade show for the entertainment industry… The IAAPA Attractions Show. Come see us at booth #4006.

Written by RePlay Magazine

Namco America issued a warning today about all games that have hanging prizes within them. Advancements and cost reductions in laser technology have created a new problem to those who operate games with hanging prizes whether the prize is hanging from a string or a spindle, the factory noted.

Hand held laser pointers with enough power to burn through colored string or a colored tie-wrap are now available for purchase from China at a fraction of the cost of what they were a couple of years ago. These devices are illegal in the U.S., but still find their way here via the Internet. A criminal armed with one of these can steal a number of prizes from a merchandiser in a short period of time, Namco noted.

The lasers have no affect on the white strings that currently ship with the Namco America games. The factory has been shipping BarBerCut Lite games stocked with white strings for around a year now.

“If you are currently operating a BarBerCut Lite game using orange strings, we strongly suggest you start using the white strings,” Namco stressed. “Also, as many operators use plastic tie-wraps to attach their prizes to the strings or the spindles in all merchandisers with hanging prizes, we strongly suggest you only use white tie-wraps as well.”

If you have any questions, or need any further information, contact Namco America at 847/264-5610, email arcadeinfo@namcoamerica.com.

No this is not a joke… Gift cards are DANGEROUS! Why you ask? At the IAAPA FEC Summit earlier this year, Gregg Borman, Senior VP Palace Entertainment, warned the audience about how unused gift cards or gift certificates will soon be seized by our desperate and over reaching state governments. The first state to try this move was New Jersey. Last year their law makers approved the seizure of any unused gift card or travels checks that had went unused for more than two or three years. While a federal court blocked their bid to seize these assets from businesses, it is only a matter of time before they are allowed to take your unused gift card or gift certificate funds. New Jersey is attempting to balance their out of control budget by taking the estimated $80 million in unused gift cards in the state. The fiscal ramifications to the businesses that lose these cash reserves will be catastrophic and the short-sided view by the state government will send shock waves through the already hostile business environment.

WHAT CAN I DO? Borman in a recent meeting with Party Center Software suggests that each facility contact their attorney to find out how to protect their funds from being seized. Borman says his in-house counsel had suggested the first step is to completely remove the word GIFT from the product name. They will most likely be going to a more generic “play card” or “game card” name. The theory behind this move is that if they can show that the monies paid were for the purchase of a “play card” then the fund were fully used and allocated to the play card and most likely will not be subject to the unredeemed gift card laws. On the accounting side you will need to verify and check with your accountant as this may change how you account for those cards and the value on them within your books. You may be requiring to show them no longer as a liability but now as an asset which can change your tax implications.

An additional step is to provide a policy for those play cards and have that policy printed on the back of the card as well as posted on your website and on location. This policy may include details about how the card value can be exchanged for other goods and services and also to put on an expiration date for the card. Under certain state laws, such as California, if you issue physical gift certificates as opposed to gift cards, they may never expire and are consider identical to cash. This makes is difficult to balance your books with years of unredeemed gift certificates. All in all the actual Gift Card is not dangerous but the fact that a state can, by the barrel of a political gun aka threat of prison, seize your hard earned cash right from your bank account makes them a huge liability. So this is just a warning to those of you who still issue gift cards or gift certificates. Get with your attorney and find out how you can start to transition your gift card program to a play card or other system and start protecting the hard earned revenue from the hands of often over reaching government.

Mum’s the word on a new ride slated to join Dorney Park‘s lineup of belly-dropping, giggle-inducing thrillers, and park representatives say enthusiasts will have to wait until summer 2012 to try it out. Dorney Park’s parent corporation, Cedar Fair L.P., submitted a plan to South Whitehall Township for a new 138-foot-high amusement ride. But the plan doesn’t mention what kind of a ride it is, and the park’s general manager, Jason McClure, said his lips are sealed.

“We are keeping our focus on 2011 and all the new things we have in store with Planet Snoopy,” McClure said.

The park’s opening day will reveal the results of an $8 million top-to-bottom makeover of 10-year-old Camp Snoopy, the 3.5-acre children’s area named after the too-cool beagle from Charles Schulz‘s “Peanuts” comic strip. The renovation will bring six new rides, an amphitheater, a souvenir store and a “soda pop shop” featuring root beer floats. Dorney representatives will take questions about the proposed 2012 addition from the South Whitehall Planning Commission on Feb. 17, but even that won’t demystify the new ride. ”The Planning Commission can ask us a variety of questions… but it’s premature to get into a lot of detail,” McClure said.

That hasn’t stopped people from speculating that the incoming ride will be a coaster from California‘s Great America called Invertigo. The coaster happens to be 138 feet tall and is being relocated to another park within Cedar Fair’s amusement park empire, according to a Great America news release issued last week. Invertigo takes riders sitting face to face up a 138-foot-tall tower, then on several loops and twists both forward and backward through three inversions. The rumor of the swap surfaced last week on a theme-park fan site called Screamscape.com, but Dorney spokesman Chuck Hutchison said the rumors are just that — rumors. Invertigo reopened in July almost a year after a mechanical failure left two dozen people trapped 80 feet in the air for at least three hours, according to CNN. All of the trapped riders were rescued and no one was injured.

Under Dorney’s proposal for a new ride, several kiddie rides would be removed, as well as a basketball game, concrete midways and a portion of a paved service drive, affecting about 1.7 acres of the 187-acre property zoned as commercial recreation. Three Dorney rides are listed for sale on Ital International LLC, which dubs itself as the amusement industry’s most comprehensive new and used ride brokerage source. The Antique Cars and Dune Buggy rides are both listed for $18,000, and the Kiddie Merry-Go-Round is listed for $25,000.

The ride is slated for the western portion of the park, just north of Lincoln Avenue and Dorney Park Road and south of the mammoth Steel Force coaster, where the old Laser coaster used to be.

The Laser was removed in 2008 after 22 years of double-loop thrills. The portable coaster, anchored by tanks of water, was originally named Colossus.

The site of the new ride, where Laser stood, is on the edge of a 100-year flood plain. The location caused heated debate at the township level when Dorney sought approval for Laser. It was eventually approved with a host of conditions attached.

If Invertigo greets fans in 2012, it would be the park’s third inverted coaster, making Dorney Park the only amusement park in the country to have three true inverted coasters, according to a post on Screamscape.com.

McClure said the park will release more information on the ride this summer.

Nov 01, 2010 – The award winning Lazer Frenzy lazer maze has been added to Alley Cats, the popular bowling and family entertainment center in Arlington, Texas.  Each participant is on a mission to navigate through the maze as quickly as possible which gives most everyone a sense that they are a secret agent on a top secret assignment.  This arcade style lazer maze is a hit with young and old alike as it involves both mental and physical agility to weave around several lazer beams as quickly and accurately as possible to obtain a high score.  It’s almost as if placing the player in their own version of the Mission Impossible movie!

Alley Cats Center is no stranger to Creative Works.  Creative Works has had the privilege of working with Brian Smith, owner of the facility, in building their 4,500 square feet space themed laser tag arena in 2006 and then returned in 2009 to enhance the look of the arena to a high tech space adventure.  The team at Alley Cats contacted Creative Works to add the Lazer Frenzy attraction to a space in their arcade that wasn’t producing the revenue needed.  Lazer Frenzy is a great game to add to any arcade as it produces a great return on the investment.  “We’

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an 10, 2011 – Fitness is an integral part of everyone’s life.  Consumers join and frequent fitness centers every day in order to get in shape.  Usually each fitness center has the same basic components to offer consumers:  fitness equipment, classes, weights, a track, and childcare services.  Bodyworks is a fitness center in Lubbock, Texas that decided to think outside of the box regarding what they could offer their customers.  Last month they added a laser tag arena to their facility to spark new interest in their club as well as to outside customers.  This is one of the few laser tag arenas to be located inside a fitness center, but the first to incorporate an immersive atmosphere for a more authentic playing experience.  The end goal was to create a visually stunning environment that would create a buzz about their existing facility and cause people to think differently about the capabilities of a fitness center.  Bodyworks succeeded in doing so through their partnership with Creative Works for designing and building this attraction from the ground up.

Creative Works, the world leader in creating themed laser tag environments, started with a blank slate and customized one of their Jungle Quest style arenas to fit within the area allocated as part of the new center.  “The height of the space allowed for us to design and build one of our steel play structures for the client to ensure their guests had a great multi-level playing experience,”

STAR WARS™ Miniland Area Planned for March Opening!

The Force was strong at LEGOLAND® California Resort when General Manager Peter Ronchetti announced that a new STAR WARS™ Miniland area will be opening at the family theme park on March 31, 2011. The announcement came when a Jedi Knight – flanked by stormtroopers from the 501st Legion – interrupted the Resort’s annual press conference in a maelstrom of darkness and lasers. Before the interruption, Ronchetti reviewed LEGOLAND California’s 2010 business results and announced the addition of Octopus Garden at SEA LIFE™ Aquarium; Splash Zoo at LEGOLAND Water Park; a LEGO® Hero Factory Experience inside LEGOLAND California and the re-launch of Park favorite Fun Town Fire Academy as Fun Town Police and Fire Academy.

“I am thrilled to be able to report that LEGOLAND California’s stellar growth streak has continued,” said Ronchetti.

“2010 was the most successful year in the history of LEGOLAND California Resort!” 2010 marked the seventh year of continuous growth for LEGOLAND California with double digit percentage growth in attendance over 2009. “Many theme parks across the country have reported difficult trading as a result of the challenging economic climate in recent years. So we feel very fortunate to be able to report that our attendance continues to grow,” Ronchetti continued.

Ronchetti attributed the Park’s success to continued expansion of Resort properties, specifically the addition of LEGOLAND Water Park, which opened in May 2010 and has already received many accolades including the World Waterpark Association’s prestigious Industry Innovation Award. The Industry Innovation Award is judged based on how the organization has set itself apart from others in terms of moving the industry to a new or higher plane

“More than just a year of exciting growth for LEGOLAND California, 2010 marked an exciting year for Merlin Entertainments Group here in the states,” Ronchetti continued. The second SEA LIFE Aquarium in the U.S. opened in Tempe, Arizona in May and it was announced that the second U.S. LEGOLAND Park, LEGOLAND Florida will open in Winterhaven, Florida in October of this year. Additional LEGOLAND Discovery Centers and SEA LIFE Aquariums are also cropping up across the U.S. with openings already planned in Texas and New Jersey.

“We expect continued success in 2011 with a multi-million dollar investment into expansions planned for all three Resort properties,” Ronchetti said as he went on to describe each of the new additions.

On March 31 LEGOLAND California becomes the first of three LEGOLAND Parks to launch a new STAR WARS Miniland area. Guests can enjoy seven of the most famous scenes from the six live-action STAR WARS movies, as well as a scene from the animated series STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS™  all made out of 1.5 million LEGO bricks and built in 1:20 scale. Guests will be further immersed into the STAR WARS experience as they pose with life-size LEGO models of Chewbacca, R2D2 and Darth Vader. LEGOLAND Billund and LEGOLAND Deutschland will launch the STAR WARS Miniland area later this year.

Following a chronological path through the STAR WARS timeline, LEGOLAND guests retrace the major events of the beloved Saga. Some of the 2,000 LEGO models will be more than 6-feet-tall. Interactive buttons will allow children to activate animations throughout the scenes.

The models for the new STAR WARS area are being developed and built by eight model designers and two animation electricians at our sister park, LEGOLAND Deutschland. It will be up to Master Model Builders at LEGOLAND California to bring the scenes to life with the help of animation electricians, technicians and landscapers all working to ensure the LEGO models appear as realistic as possible with special effects and landscaping.

On February 17, a new LEGO Hero Factory attraction opens in the Imagination Zone. Here, young guests will be able to build and create their own heroes (or villains) and meet and greet their favorite Hero Factory characters. And from Feb. 17 through 27, guests will have the opportunity to build the largest LEGO mosaic to ever be built at LEGOLAND California. The 6-foot-tall, 26-foot-wide mosaic made of 298,368 LEGO bricks will depict an iconic scene from the Hero Factory saga and will be a permanent part of the new Hero Factory experience.

On April 12, one of the most popular rides in the Park – Fun Town Fire Academy – is being re-launched as the Police and Fire Academy. On this classic LEGOLAND ride, families pile into a fire truck and power it by pumping levers up and down as they race other families to put out the “fire”. The first family to make it back wins. Now the fire trucks are being joined by police vehicles and families race to put out fires and stop robbers.

On May 6, SEA LIFE Aquarium Carlsbad launches Octopus Garden, an interactive exhibit introducing families to the amazing world of cephalopods. From octopus and cuttlefish to nautilus, these distinctive creatures have almost supernatural abilities including camouflage, ink clouds and jet propulsion, that will surprise and delight adults and children alike. Octopus Garden replaces the Sharks Revealed exhibit that opened in 2008.

On May 26, Splash Zoo, a brand new area for toddlers, opens inside LEGOLAND Water Park. The DUPLO® Zoo themed area, located next to DUPLO Splash Safari and Kid Creek, features giant DUPLO Zoo animals – including a lion, a giraffe and a zebra – plus interactive spray pads, fountains and a teeter totter, all geared specifically for guests ages 1 to 3.

All of the new guest experiences are included in the cost of admission to LEGOLAND California Resort properties. For ticket prices, operating schedule and additional information, visit www.LEGOLAND.com or www.sealifeus.com or call 760-918-LEGO.

*** STAR WARS™ and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS GROUP is the leading name in location based, family entertainment, and has seen the most successful and dynamic growth of any company in the sector over the last five years. Europe’s No 1 and the world’s second largest visitor attraction operator, Merlin has 69 attractions, 6 hotels and two holiday villages in 15 countries, across 4 continents. The company aims to deliver memorable and rewarding experiences to its 38.5 million visitors worldwide, through its iconic global and local brands, and the commitment and passion of its managers and 15,000 employees.