The 62nd annual Amusement Trades Exhibition International (ATEI) takes place on 24-26 January at London's Earls Court Exhibition Centre. Co-located with the world's leading coin-op amusements and soft gaming show are the International Casino Exhibition (ICE) – incorporating the integral interactive gaming section, ICEi – and the inaugural Visitor Experience Show (VES), which promises an exciting mix of new equipment and services for dedicated operators of parks, attractions and venue/theme-based leisure facilities.
Over 500 exhibiting companies will occupy around 25,000sqm. (270,000sq.ft.) of net floor space spread across three halls. In addition to its traditional home on the ground floor of Earls Court 1, ATEI has added another layer with more stands and facilities now located in Hall 2, accessed via escalators situated centre-left on the main floor. Level 2 of Earls Court 1 is also the venue for VES, which has its own dedicated registration area and escalators linked with the main Warwick Road foyer. The extra space made available upstairs has enabled show organisers ATE to introduce a number of visitor facilities for all show visitors, including additional restaurants and bars, special display features, executive seating areas and a business lounge complete with I.T. services and free access to the Internet. ICE and ICEi remain in Earls Court 2 with a dedicated registration area and crossover into ATEI. Visitors registered to any individual show will have free access to all parts of the exhibition.
The 'internationalism' of the London Show is apparent not only in the attendance make-up, which regularly comprises visitors drawn from over 100 nations, but also in the provenance of the participating exhibitors – over half of whom (51.8 per cent) are based outside the United Kingdom. Indeed, no fewer than 37 countries will be represented by exhibiting companies this year.
British distributor of amusements, Crown Direct heads this year's list of ATEI big hitters with a stand of 544.5sqm. (5,861sq.ft.), followed by Astra Games (439.1sqm./4,727sq.ft.). The third largest stand (298.1sqm./3,209sq.ft.) is home to Revolution Entertainment Systems, Inspired Broadcast Network and Leisure Link, whilst RLMS Sales is fourth with 242sqm. (2,605sq.ft.) and Sega Amusements Europe fifth with 232sqm. (2,497sq.ft.). Games Media – incorporating Global Games, Voodoo Games, Channel 1 Games and Seven Digital Gaming – and Bell-Fruit Games, also featuring Mazooma Games, QPS Interactive and GamesNet, complete the line-up of exhibitors with stands over 200sqm. (2,153sq.ft.). Austrian giants Funworld, UK-based Electrocoin and the German conglomerate of Stella International/GeWeTe/Mexim fill the remaining top 10 positions. These are followed by JVH Gaming Products, TAB Austria, Barcrest Group, Harry Levy, Namco-Bandai and Thomas Estates, all of whom occupy stands in excess of 150sqm. (1,615sq.ft.).
Around 10 per cent of the show floor will accommodate companies exhibiting in ATEI for the very first time with 42 debutants already lined up by the end of November. The newcomers include eight British organisations, four each from Austria, Korea, Ukraine and USA, three from Taiwan and two each from Australia, Croatia, Italy, Poland and Sweden. Other first-time exhibitors are drawn from the Czech Republic, Israel, Japan, Portugal and Slovenia.
ATEI/ICE/ICEi/VES 2006 – Earls Court, London – 24/25/26 January 2006. Free ticket registration and further information for
ATEI,
ICE & ICEi and
VES.
