Social Gaming - Actual Year-End Numbers
LASERTRON Rochester, NY
In our previous newsletter (New Krazy Axes VIP), we mentioned that we were going to provide the actual revenue numbers for our Social Gaming experiences for our Rochester, NY entertainment venue as well as providing more details on how we price our Social Gaming and Attraction experiences using Credits instead of Dollars.
Our Social Gaming numbers for our Rochester, NY entertainment venue for the last 3 years are below:
Social Gaming Growth
Year 1 to year 2 = $88,393 increase over the prior year, which is a 63.9% improvement in Social Gaming Revenue.
Year 2 to year 3 = $119,021 increase over the prior year, which is a 51.01% improvement in Social Gaming revenue.
Note: We don’t have a lot of data yet on Krazy Darts, because it’s still pretty new. We also needed some hands-on operating experience to see what we got right and what needed to be improved. After operating Krazy Darts for several months, we understood what updates and modifications needed to be implemented.
These updates included a new seating design and a new center console. The center console supports the game’s touchscreen display as well as a larger stainless steel darts tray. In addition, we developed a new dartboard panel that is 4x more durable and enables more vibrant and truer colors from our laser projector.
Another new feature was providing operators with multiple Krazy Darts lane divider options including the ability to create a custom option for their venue. In addition, we are developing software that will enable operators to use the Krazy Darts giant laser projector display area to promote Krazy Darts or market other current or upcoming events for their entertainment venue.
These were all important updates that needed to be completed before we could ramp up our production and installation capabilities for Krazy Darts. We have done these updates to our Krazy Darts in our Buffalo venue, but our Rochester venue won’t get these updates till the first quarter of 2025.
Our two venues were the first to operate Krazy Darts and now we have over a year of data and operating experience. There is only one other operator who has been operating (4) Krazy Darts for over 9 months and their venue is on pace to generate $150,000 to $160,000 in this calendar year, which is even better than our first year.
Food & Beverage
The total Social Gaming revenue for our Rochester entertainment venue does not include food and beverage. Food and beverage is at least another 50% on top of our Social Gaming revenue or $176,152+ in revenue for a total of $528,457 in Social Gaming and Food and Beverage revenue.
Food and beverage is a key component to maximizing the quality of our guests’ Social Gaming experiences, which means it’s critical that we continue to maintain and improve the quality of our food and beverage service. In fact, it’s important to note that food and beverage revenue is often well over 100% more than our Social Gaming revenue for many of our Corporate and Adult group outings. Social Gaming has also helped us to significantly increase our Adult Group bookings over the last 3 years.
The above photo is of our Buffalo, NY venue. As you can see, Adults ARE the target demographic for Social Gaming and especially Axe Throwing, but the typical seating design (like bowling and duckpin) is not optimal for group socialization – especially when smaller groups are forced to share the same space with another small group. This seating design is NOT optimal for maximizing our guests ability to socialize with their friends and family! And, that’s why we are going to spend the time and money required to convert our standard (8) lanes to (6) Krazy Axes VIP lanes in the first quarter of 2025. It’s only 2 feet wider, but it gives our guests a dramatically better Social Gaming experience!
As we add new Social Gaming experiences and improve the ones we have, we expect to see our Social Gaming and Food & Beverage revenue continue to grow, but only if we provide our guests with truly unique, superior, and proprietary Social Gaming experiences that are exclusive to our venues.
Important note: We will be testing two new Krazy “TBA” Social Gaming experiences in our Buffalo and Rochester venues. Our first new Social Gaming experience will be installed in 4 months in our Rochester venue, which will be (4) VIP units from day one. The second new Social Gaming experience will be installed within 6 months in our Buffalo venue and we will be testing (2) units of this new experience.
More Numbers – Over 100% of our gains are coming from our Social Gaming Experiences
Our Rochester, NY entertainment venue’s overall revenue has increased by 27.63% over the past two fiscal years (22.02% for 2023 and 5.61% for 2024 – our fiscal year end is August 31st). It’s important to note that over 100% of our 2023 and 2024 revenue increases came from our Social Gaming experiences. The same is true for our Buffalo, NY entertainment venue; overall revenue has increased by 31.28% over the past two fiscal years (23.03% for 2023 and 8.25% for 2024).
For our Rochester, NY venue, we added multiple new Social Gaming experiences at the beginning of September 2023, which is the start of our fiscal year. We have also added additional Social Gaming experiences to our Buffalo venue this past summer.
Above is our first pre-production model Krazy Axes VIP, which is in our Buffalo, NY venue. The 8 Axe Throwing lanes to the right in the photo are going to be replaced with 6 Krazy Axes VIP lanes. Why? Because the New Krazy Axes VIP lanes provide a dramatically better guest experience, which helps to ensure the long-term success of our venue. Another important benefit is that it’s unlikely that our axe throwing competitors will ever think about copying all the improvements we have made and will continue to make. As far as Axe Throwing goes, our goal is NOT to share the Axe Throwing market, it’s to do whatever it takes to OWN IT!
Raising the Bar In Good Times & Bad
The last 8 to 10 months have been pretty rough for many venues in our industry. In fact, some or even most of the gains that were made over the last few years were given back.
The key to creating a better tomorrow is to always be learning how to operate something new today that is going to help make our venues stronger and more resilient tomorrow.
During and after Covid, we significantly reinvested in both of our venues. We didn’t know if adding Axe Throwing and more recently Krazy Darts were going to be the right things to add, but we definitely knew we had to keep creating and testing new Social Gaming and Attractions that can only be experienced out-of-the-home and exclusively in our venues.
The goal is to continuously create and improve our Social Gaming and Attraction experiences in order to help us grow both our revenues and profits. Improving the things that matter most will help us to become more resilient during the tough times, which matters a lot, because the tough times are always going to happen.
Important note: It’s in the doing that we learn the most valuable lessons – these lessons help us to better understand what is working and hopefully why they ARE working. It’s through these real world, hands-on learning experiences that we more quickly and clearly see how to improve what we are currently doing. In addition, it helps us to further understand what types of new or reimagined Social Gaming and Attraction experiences are likely to work NEXT.
The above photo is of our Krazy Darts 2.0 Social Gaming experience in our Buffalo entertainment venue with our new dartboard panels that are 4x more durable and easy to change. The new panels also display more vibrant and truer colors from our laser projector.
Use of Credits Instead of Dollars
This section discusses the reasons we use Credits for our Social Gaming and Attraction experiences instead of fixed or variable dollar pricing. The more Social Gaming experiences we operate the more diverse the pricing options are going to be and Credits are an important tool that enables us to value each of our experiences appropriately.
It’s important to note that our Center Manager Pro software also enables our guests to convert their Credits to arcade value. This change was made at the beginning of September 2023 and actually reduced our Social Gaming and Attraction revenue allocation by approximately 8%, which means our Social Gaming revenue would have been even higher (approximately $28,000 more in revenue) if we didn’t make this change.
Why did we decide to allow Credits to be used for Arcade play? (see below digital signage) The change provided our guests with another valuable entertainment option, which enabled them to utilize their credits for any of our Social Gaming, Attraction, or Arcade Game experiences. Plus, it allows them to fully utilize every credit loaded onto their player card for their current visit.
Above is our digital signage in the lobby of our Rochester, NY entertainment venue. Our goal is to provide our guests with the best overall visit to our venue AND at a price that enables us to make money. We also provide Bonus credits that activate the following day. The Bonus Credits are provided as an incentive to encourage our guests to come back because they expire in 20 Days. Our Center Manager Pro enables all the above options to work automatically.
Based on our 3 options above, the one that provides our guests with the most optimal visit is the middle option, which is called the “Most Popular”. This option provides our guests with enough Credits to experience at least two of our most popular Social Gaming or Attraction experiences.
The goal is to have our guests visit our venues for about 2.5 to 3 hours – longer than that and our guests might start to get exhausted from too much stimulation, which isn’t a good thing. If less than 2.5 hours, our guests won’t get the opportunity to experience at least two of our Social Gaming or Attraction experiences. The goal is to help our guests get hooked-on at least one if not two of our experiences.
By pricing our Most Popular option to provide our guests with twice the fun, it’s much more likely they will get hooked and want to come back again and again to have another fantastic time socializing while playing, eating, and drinking with their friends, family, and fellow coworkers.
Having multiple types of Social Gaming experiences available is very important! Attractions are also important, but Social Gaming experiences are the killer Experiences for drawing people out-of-home and into our entertainment venues, which will ultimately enable our venues to be successful for the long-term.
Okay, but which option is actually purchased the most? Answer = Most Popular!
Most Popular
We help to ensure that the “Most Popular” is the one that gets picked the majority of the time by asking our guests, which two Social Gaming or Attraction experiences would they like to experience with their friends, family, or coworkers? Once they choose the two they want, the “Most Popular” is almost always the one they need to purchase. Plus the Most Popular is only $4 dollars more than the Basic, which is $30 dollars, and they get lots more fun and a much better value for their money.
We also, by design, encourage our guests to select the Most Popular on our websites, via weekly emails, and other promotional methods. We do this by promoting combo packages that require the Most Popular option to be selected.
The option that sells the least is the Best Value. In fact, it’s not our goal to even sell this option. It’s the least profitable for us to sell – so we don’t promote it. It’s purchased most often by guests who already visit our venues frequently. They understand the value that it provides and that’s why they buy it.
Why Use Credits for Social Gaming and Attraction Experiences?
Flexible Pricing Strategies: We can adjust the Credit value for different experiences without changing the actual dollar amount customers see for our three options.
Psychological Pricing: Using Credits can make spending feel less “real” to customers, potentially encouraging them to spend more on various experiences.
Bundling Opportunities: Credits make it easier to create packages or bundles of different experiences, which can help to increase overall sales. Bundling an oldy, but goody, with a new Social Gaming experience at a great price helps to encourage our guests to try the new Social Gaming experience. If they like the new one, they have another reason to come back and visit us again and again.
Membership: Credits can be used in a monthly membership, where guests can purchase the preferred monthly option and then receive (x) amount of Credits per day, week, or month.
Loyalty Program: Credits can be tied into a loyalty program, where customers can earn (x) amount of Credits per visit.
Simplified transactions: For customers, using Credits can simplify the process of trying multiple experiences without repeatedly handling cash or credit cards.
Data Collection: A Credit system can provide more detailed data on customer preferences and spending patterns.
Entertainment Venue Specific: Credits can only be used at the venue purchased or an affiliated venue. This means guests with unexpired Credits must return to the same venue or an affiliated one in order to use up their remaining Credits.
Too Few Credits Remaining: If a guest has remaining Credits, but not enough to participate in another Social Gaming or Attraction experience, they will need to purchase additional credits. This means they may decide to buy another Most Popular option to recharge their card.
Bringing In New Guests: Guests who return to use their remaining Credits often invite new guests to join them. When this happens, the new guests are likely to purchase the Most Popular, which provides them with enough Credits to play two Of our best Social Gaming or Attraction experiences. If they choose to participate in two experiences, the guest who brought them are likely to only have the 6 Bonus Credits that activated the next day after their initial visit. The returning guest will need to buy more Credits to participate in the same experiences. They can either buy a few extra credits or buy another Most Popular, which provides them with a lot more value for their money plus they will receive another 6 Bonus Credits the following day.
Reduced Price Sensitivity: When prices are in Credits rather than dollars, customers may be less sensitive to small price changes.
Prepayment Benefits: If our guests buy a lot of Credits in advance, but they can’t use them all that day, it provides upfront revenue for the business and a strong incentive for our guests to visit us within 20 days and hopefully bring back new friends and family who are likely to purchase our Most Popular option.
Upselling Opportunities: It’s often easier to encourage customers to “add just a few more Credits” to try another experience. This is basically what we do when we encourage our guests to get our Most Popular option instead of our Basic option.
In Summary,
Social Gaming IS the killer Experience for drawing Adults (both young and old) out of their homes to visit our entertainment venues with their friends, family, and coworkers.
And, Credits and Bonus Credits that expire in (xx) days are a great way to give our guests a great reason to return more quickly and bring back someone new!
In our next newsletter, we will be discussing the ultimate goal for Out-of-Home Entertainment Venues, which is to create the best places where Real Humans can gather and socialize with their Real Friends, Family, and members of their Community to share REAL experiences Face to Face.
In order to make it even easier for our guests to socialize, we need to provide them with the very best Real Social Gaming and Real Attraction experiences along with Real-ly good Food and Beverage.
Thanks for reading!
Jim