Krazy Darts Update
Below is a quick update on the operation of Krazy Darts in our Rochester and Buffalo, New York venues.
For the first time since installing Krazy Darts in our Rochester, NY venue 16 months ago, Krazy Darts has had more plays than Axe Throwing during our first holiday week break (337 Krazy Darts plays to 287 for Axe Throwing plays – revenue was at 78.4% of Axe Throwing revenue).
Depending on which of our two most popular offers are purchased, we charge $20 to $25 dollars for 85 minutes of Axe Throwing and $15 to $20 for 55 minutes of Krazy Darts.
As I mentioned above, it took 16 months for Krazy Darts to get to this level of utilization compared to our Axe Throwing!
To date, Krazy Darts has not beaten Axe Throwing based on total revenue earned; however, over the last 4 weeks Krazy Darts has averaged about 83% of our Axe Throwing revenue. If you factor in the extra labor for an Axe-Pert for Axe Throwing and other maintenance costs, it generated approximately the same amount of net cash flow.
Krazy Darts is NEW and Unknown
Krazy Darts is becoming a solid Social Gaming experience for our two venues; however, it has taken some time for people to understand what it is and, most importantly, how much fun it is to play with friends, family, and coworkers.
We are seeing the same increase in plays at our Buffalo venue, but Buffalo is about 9 months behind. This is due to the fact that Buffalo only had 2 Krazy Darts to start – one was the prototype and the other was our pre-production model. We added 4 of our Version 2 Krazy Darts in May 2024.
As you can see below, all 4 Krazy Darts are lined up in a row. One of the keys to making Krazy Darts work is making it look super impressive as well as grouping them together for larger groups to be able to play in the same space. It’s also helpful to see one or more lanes already being played – it gets other guests to watch and become interested in reserving their own Krazy Darts’ lane.
We kept the pre-production model operating in another area of our venue, but removed the prototype Krazy Darts and replaced it with our Krazy Axes VIP (Version 3) pre-production model.
Krazy Axes VIP is being used for real-world ongoing testing by our guests and our guests are paying full price to play it. We should have a total of 15 updated and new games with more advanced graphics and game play by the end of January. We will also be installing our first 2D physics engine game, which will be a Plinko game.
Important note: In our Buffalo venue we are also testing a new software feature requested by one of our newest Krazy Darts’ operators. This new feature displays a message that says, “Your time has expired – If you would like to extend your play time please see a Staff member.” A countdown clock also appears showing how much time they have to add more time before the game will reset. We just started using this feature in our Buffalo venue and multiple groups have already paid to extend their playing time.
Krazy Darts Needs to be Experienced
Once we get a group of people to try Krazy Darts, they REALLY LIKE it! BUT, they have to experience it to know how much fun it is to play. Nothing like Krazy Darts has ever existed before, which means there is an awareness learning curve. Playing the game is actually pretty easy, but we have to help our guests get over the first hurdle of “What is it?”
A few Krazy Darts’ operators have been providing their guests with the opportunity to try it for free for 15 minutes. Once their guests experience how much fun it is to play, many purchase a session immediately. We have also started to do this at both of our venues as much as possible.
At our Rochester venue, our Krazy Darts’ revenue in year two is growing at over 50% compared to the first year, but it could be growing even faster if we put more effort into promoting it. Other than weekly email promotions and promoting Krazy Darts on our website along with all our other experiences, we haven’t done much to promote it. The fact that it is doing significantly better in the second year demonstrates its ability to promote itself via our guests’ positive word of mouth.
We don’t know what is going to happen over the next 16 months, but we can assure you that we will continue to make improvements that will make both our Krazy Darts and Krazy Axes even better.
Coming Soon – New Social Gaming!
We are also developing two new Social Gaming experiences that we will be testing in our venues.
Our third Social Gaming experience will be called Krazy Arrowz VIP, which is a real bow and arrow target shooting game with a giant 7.5 foot by 7.5 foot target area. We will be installing (4) Krazy Arrowz VIP lanes in our Rochester, New York venue by the end of March. The goal is to introduce Krazy Arrowz VIP to our guests to validate its ability to generate profitable revenue.
Krazy Arrowz will utilize the same software and hardware platform we developed for Krazy Darts. It will only be available to purchase in our VIP format. The goal is to only develop Social Gaming experiences that far exceed “good enough”.
Our fourth Social Gaming experience will be Krazy Talk’n Blox, which is our unique take on a gamified version of a block stacking game. This game will begin live testing in our Buffalo, New York venue this coming summer.
Our goal is to provide our Operators with the very best Social Gaming experiences – ones that far exceed what is currently being offered.
Update: Krazy Darts – New White Dartboard Panels
Our new dartboard panels are lasting far longer and look dramatically better than the original panel design. These new panels make Krazy Darts a very low maintenance attraction.
As always, we are going to continue to improve what’s working the best and we are going to do it as fast as we can. If that means taking a big leap in design or adopting new technologies that significantly upgrade the experience, then we will do it to make sure we maintain and increase our lead for the sake of our clients’ venues as well as our own.
Best Owners/Operators
Our mission is to work with the Best Owners/Operators by providing them with truly unique and proprietary Social Gaming and Attraction experiences that can only be found in their venues.
Our Responsibilities
Our Manufacturing company’s task is to create the best Social Gaming and Attraction experiences – ones that are truly unique and 10x better than what exists today and hopefully far into the future.
Our Operating company’s focus is to figure out how to operate our Social Gaming and Attraction experiences at the highest level possible. Our Operating company provides ongoing, real-world operational feedback on how our Manufacturing company can improve our Social Gaming and Attraction experiences so they can perform even better.
Finally, our goal is to offer our Social Gaming and Attraction experiences to the Best Owners/Operators and provide them with the same opportunity we provide ourselves, which is to operate them exclusively within their own protected market areas.
Partnership Opportunity Details
Basic
Purchase 4 units of our new Krazy DartsTM or Krazy Axes VIP and receive a 6-month exclusive radius protection for up to 150,000 in population or 5 miles, whichever is reached first.
Silver Partnership
Purchase 8 units of our new Krazy DartsTM, Krazy Axes VIP or 4 of each and receive a 2-Year exclusive radius protection for up to 300,000 in population or 10 miles, whichever is reached first.
Gold Partnership
Purchase 12 or more units of our new Krazy DartsTM, Krazy Axes VIP or a combination of 4 or more of each to get to 12 units and receive a 5-year exclusive radius protection for up to 500,000 in population or 15 miles, whichever is reached first.
Ability to protect (1) additional market area for 12 months
Platinum Partnership
Purchase 16 or more units of our new Krazy DartsTM, Krazy Axes VIP or combination of 4 or more of each to get to 16 units and receive a 10-year exclusive radius protection for up to 750,000 in population or 20 miles, whichever is reached first.
Ability to protect (2) additional market areas for 18 months
Radius protection extensions can occur when an Operator purchases (4) additional units of a newly released or existing Social Gaming experience (which is not already protected in the designated area) prior to the expiration of their current radius protection. The owner operator can do this every year, which will enable them to maintain their Radius Protection perpetually for all of their Social Gaming and Attraction experiences.
Important note: when we introduce a new Social Gaming experience (for example, Krazy Arrowz or Krazy Talk’n Blox) and an operator decides to pass or hold off on a purchase, the new Social Gaming experience can be offered to other operators within their protected area, which means it may no longer be available for purchase in the same market for (x) months or (y) years
Social Gaming Evolution is Accelerating
Social Gaming has been around for a long time, but the variety and quality of what’s available and what’s coming next is changing rapidly. There are going to be ones that last a very long time and others that will be here and gone in less than a few years.
If we want to stay viable in an increasingly competitive market, we need to be operating the best mix of Social Gaming and Attraction experiences that are exclusive to our venues in the markets we serve.
Only by operating the best perennial Social Gaming experiences can we fully understand what is required to succeed over the next 5 years and beyond.
If you would like to have a conversation about how we can work together more effectively or you have any questions at all, please reach out to me at my email address below or give me a call.
Thanks for reading!
Jim Kessler
Cell: (716) 830-5086