Promotion
is the name of the game in the amusement industry and
nobody does it better than the Funspot family fun center
in Weirs Beach, N.H. Founded in 1952 and currently located
on 21 acres of property, Funspot is closing in on half
a century in business and still growing. The facility
recently added an indoor golf center with six deluxe
golf simulators and a pro shop offering custom clubs
and top of the line merchandise. Plans are on the drawing
board for a hotel and convention center, too.
Funspot
founder Bob Lawton says diversification is the secret
to Funspot's longevity. Constantly adding new and different
attractions keeps the location fresh and the customers
coming back for more old-fashioned fun.
Staging regular
promotional events - everything from local beauty pageants
and motorcycle week to a now regular classic games tournament
and bowling leagues - doesn't hurt either. "Promotion
works; it draws the crowds," says Lawton. "Special
events are fun for both your customers and your staff."
Shortly after graduating from college with a chemistry
degree, Lawton founded his first amusement location
in Weirs Beach in 1952 with his brother John. He was
living in New York at the time, and his roommate returned
from vacation raving about a driving range and miniature
golf facility he visited. The first location included
an indoor miniature golf facility, along with a game
room run by a local operator. As business grew, so
did Lawton's operation, and in 1964 they purchased
the plot of land north of town where Funspot is now
located, mainly for additional parking space.
In
the beginning, Funspot offered a small arcade, miniature
golf, a driving range and a billiard room. Today,
the 60,000-sq. ft. Funspot operates more than 500
games (including the largest known collection of classic
games, according to industry scorekeeper Walter Day
of Twin Galaxies) and fully stocked redemption center,
a full-service restaurant called the Braggin' Dragon,
a bowling center with 10 regular and 10 candlepin
lanes, the D.A. Long Tavern for spirits and snacks,
an 18-hole mini golf course, a full outdoor driving
range, the new indoor golf center, a kiddie fun area
with rides and kiddie bumper cars, a birthday party
area and a bingo hall under separate 6,000-sq.-ft.
roof. The bingo hall is state-sponsored and run by
a charity organization. Funspot rents the space and
benefits from the traffic through its other attractions.
Funspot
plays host to as many as 600,000 guests each year. In
the summer vacation months, the facility draws guests
from the New York and New England areas, who come to
Weirs Beach, a lakeside resort community. During the
winter months, guests come from a tighter geographic
circle. However, atten-d a n c e is spurred year-r o
u n d through a crowded calendar of spe-cial events.
During the winter, guests come out for annual Halloween
and Christmas parties, and Funspot's Memorial Day Fireworks
celebration kicking off the summer season has been known
to draw more than 5,000 people. Funspot played host
in recent weeks to Motorcycle Week, a special Ford Mustang
show and the Miss Winnipesaukee 2000 Contest, an annual
event. Lawton also owns the local Weirs Times, New Hampshire's
largest weekly paper, which helps promote these special
events to area customers along with the arcade's impressive
website (www. funspotnh.com). Many of the events are
held free to the public, including an annual Haunted
House for kids and Christmas dinner for anyone interested
in attending. "You have to give back to your community,"
argues Lawton, who has served asa New Hampshire State
Rep. since 1969. "People need to feel good about
your location."
GOLDEN
AGE CELEBRATED
Two years ago Twin Galaxies' Walter Day approached Funpot
OM Gary Vincent, who has been with the center for almost
20 years, about hosting a Classic Video Game contest
on its stock of vintage games from the so-called Golden
Era of videos. The first event, held during the summer
of 1999, was a huge success drawing players from round
the country. "We even had one guy who came from
Israel," explained Vincent. "He learned about
the event on he Internet, and rearranged a trip he was
taking to Mexico to attend. He rode the bus all the
way from JFK Airport in New York and spent three days
with us."
The
first classic game tournament also prompted a much-ballyhooed
event later in the year - veteran video tournament player
Billy Mitchell's perfect Pac-Man game. Mitchell attempted
the perfect game during the first classic tournament,
and retumed shortly thereafter to complete the perfect
game at Funspot while being videotaped by arcade staffers.
The fanf'are that followed put the spotlight on Mitchell
and Funspot in media outlets around the world. This
year's classic game tournament, also held in conjunction
with Twin Galaxies, drew even bigger crowds including
two competitors from Finland.
Vincent
says the success of the classic toumaments and a desire
to preserve the industry's past has fueled an even larger
promotional project: the founding of a coin-op machine
museum on the facility's third floor. Vincent and Lawton
are currently redesigning the classic game area and
seeking out old, vintage coin machines going all the
way back to the 1920s. They recently installed an early
pinball game that does not use flippers or pop bumpers.
Adorning the walls are poster-sized ads from old issues
of RePlay and other trade magazines, celebrating the
equipment of the past. (Lawton says he recently sold
a Grandmother Fortune Teller in mint condition for $50,000
to a collector; the piece which he picked up at liquidation
sale in 1965 had become too valuable to leave on the
store floor.)
This
commitment to celebrating coin-op's past is another
example of giving back to the community, both the local
community and the games industry. "You always have
fads in the leisure time spending industry but they
wither or die," concludes Lawton. "But the
games, videos as well as pinballs and prize games, have
always been the biggest part of our income and the most
important factor in our operation."Funspot is located
at U.S. Route 3, Weirs Beach, NH; their home on the
web is www.funspotnh.com.
By Steve White - Reprinted by permission from RePlay
Magazine's November 2000 issue.
|