1) How did Park Ave receive the launch of the Aurora Noir cabinet and the Black Edition menu? What features/games in particular do you think impressed attendees?
Both the Aurora Noir and Black Edition Menu were extremely well received at the Park Avenue Open Day. We had a substantial amount of interest from operators, retailers, game developers and of course our competitors!
2) What inspired these new design and features, and why do you think Park Avenue was the right place to reveal it to the industry?
The Black Edition Menu was designed to deliver an innovative and flexible approach to game delivery and player interaction with the platform. Our Content Manager and Black Menu Edition creator – James Lowe was at the event in person talking through the latest developments.
Each page uses a revolutionary button format which can show anything from 6 to 24 games on one screen at the same time, using 4 different-sized icons.
The icons are then positioned accordingly, to drive player interest to certain games – for example the largest buttons can be used to influence new game releases opposed to the usual favourites that sit on smaller ones. James was joined by myself, Nicola Wallbank and Andy Hall. Blueprint chose the Park Avenue open day for this launch because it is an informal day, where we can have in-depth conversations with our customers. We were also keen to talk about our cycle challenge – which has kicked off this week. Nicola, Andy and I will be cycling 400 miles to reach the Gauselmann headquarters in Germany.
3) What kind of operators did you speak to about the new launch at the event (FEC, AGC, Pubs), and did you get good interest/take any orders? Furthermore, for the many operators already having success with Aurora, what is the argument for them investing in this iteration and joining the ‘noir’ side?
We spoke to many operators from various sectors about our new products, however, due to the relaxed and charitable nature of the Park Avenue event it was more of case of catching up and making plans to follow up at a later date. Aurora is a proven product and the ‘Noir’ is aimed at offering loyal Blueprint Players the latest update with the lateset features. The Black Edition Menu is exclusive to the Noir cabinet and is a natural progression from our market-leading Carbon Premium Menu, however the look and feel retains Blueprint’s DNA to ensure we maintain the ongoing momentum with players.
4) Other than product, what do you think the other major talking points were at the event? Did the Triennial Review get discussed much? Overall, how successful/valuable was the day for Blueprint?
It is all about teamwork at Blueprint Machines, so we made sure that all the management team were present to interact with everyone who attended the event. Product wise we also showcased out Cat C Pub product; Deal or No Deal on the Alpha Star cabinet, which has gained significant traction in its initial trials and we have been busy taking orders for the product’s release on the 2nd July. As for the Triennial Review, it is good to listen to opinion but no one really know for sure. We are more focused in aligning with operators and retailers to ensure we can meet their requirements whatever the outcome of the Triennial Review. Although one thing for sure, 2018 orders for new machines are on target with Blueprint Machines expectations.