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Nearly 20,000 Visit the Highly Successful Shanghai AM Show! |
Dramatic Growth in Visitors Over Past 2 Shows
The Japan Amusement Machinery Manufacturers Association (JAMMA) held the Asian Amusement Machine Show '98, for three days, from December 4 (Fri.) to December 6 (Sun.) last year at the Shanghai International Exhibition Center in Shanghai, China. It was the third show following shows in Hong Kong and Singapore and opened amid great excitement and interest.
The purpose of this show was to foster mutual understanding and partnership between the Japanese amusement machine industry and the countries of the Southeast Asia, to build an orderly business structure (market formation), and to promote international exchange in technology and industrial cooperation. The show was sponsored by JAMMA and Hua Han International Culture Development Corp. of the People's Republic of China. In addition to JAMMA members, the show featured 18 companies and 1 association, America Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) approved by JAMMA in 168 booths. By country, there were 15 companies from Japan, two companies from China (Hong Kong), one company from the United States, and AAMA.
As in the previous shows, 30,000 admission tickets were prepared in advance to promote the interest of latent players, and of these, 25,000 tickets were committed to the Chinese side for distribution and 5,000 tickets were divided among Japanese corporations.
Total attendance during the three days exceeded 19,500 visitors, a sharp increase over the 15,641 attendance posted in the previous show in Singapore. A breakdown by the number of business visitors or visitors by country not available, but many industry visitors could be seen on the first day which was designated as a business day. Although Shanghai is a large city, it has few amusement facilities for children and young people, only about 400 in the entire city, and this accounted for the long line of visitors waiting to enter the show on the general admission day.
Each Game Surrounded by Crowds
The exhibition focused on products that had been exhibited at the AM Show in Japan held earlier and products already sold in the market. Some makers set up booths jointly with local companies. In compliance with a directive from the Chinese government, the exhibition did not show any medal game machines (pachinko, slot machines or other machines of a gambling nature), games featuring horse racing, nudes, or war games based on historical events.
All the games at the venue were surrounded by crowds of people and the favorable response surpassed initial expectations to the extent that vendor machines and prize machines soon ran out of reserve and premium goods.
Although there is great demand for games in China, foreign products are now subject to extremely high tariffs and the import of secondhand products is also banned. For this reason, China will not easily or quickly become a market for Japanese companies, but the desire for new amusement was evident from the enthusiasm at the show. We could only look forward to the further growth of China's economy and the opening of its market in the near future.
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