By: Whitney Froelich, Bay Tek Entertainment

Do you ever get an idea that you just KNOW is great? Like deep-down, feel-it-in-your-guts awesome? And then it becomes real… and it tanks. Bad.

If I learned anything from my 9+ years on Bay Tek’s new concept development team, it’s that I’m definitely not as in-touch as I thought with what kids are into these days.

I joined the Product Development team when I was still in college. At 20 years old, I was the youngest member of the team and I kind of just figured that I knew what was cool in FECs. Playing games was still a thing people my age did, myself included. But the more projects I got into, the more I realized that there’s a sweet spot for what makes a great redemption game, yet it’s almost always a surprise when a game rockets to the top in a game room.

Games shouldn’t be too simple. They also shouldn’t be too complicated or require too much thought to play. Games should be big and bright to attract players from across the room. But not too big… intimidation and comfort while playing are also factors. Games should have cool music and popular themes, but they also shouldn’t be annoying or unappealing to certain demographics.

The formula is rarely consistent, which provides an ever-moving target when we’re shooting for a top-earning game. That’s why every single concept we come up with is tested in real-live game rooms with real-live kids.

Some of my favorite concepts that I had a hand in designing got to our test site looking beautiful (if I do say so myself), but for some reason just didn’t resonate with our target market.

 

 

Bay Tek has been developing games for more than 40 years, and we still haven’t figured out the magic formula. As the market gets more and more competitive, our Product Development team is tasked with conceptualizing dozens of games throughout the year in hopes that the best few will rise to the top and become great products.

When you buy from us, rest assured that the utmost care has been put into testing and tweaking each game to draw out every inch of potential. Our goal is to provide you with great products that the end customer—the player—wants to play again and again, and we’re passionate about making it happen.