Funland’s Alan Rawlinson had this to say about the Sega UFO Catcher , “The success of the test at the Trocadero was very conclusive indeed with income levels exceeding my initial expectations. Visually the piece is striking, which has certainly attracted the crowds”. Rawlinson also added, “Being a skill-based machine I did have concerns about the payout ratios, but the test period proved that the UFO is both versatile and fair to operator and player alike.” When asked about the reason for the test success Sega’s Chief Operations Officer Paul Williams said, “The popularity of boxed products with players, such as the Ipod shuffle, means that operators can capitalise on the UFO’s capability to handle similar items, allowing them to offer more than just traditional plush pieces to their customers – it is a win-win situation.” To back up the success of the Sega UFO Catcher, Sega has launched a new business division Sega Prize Europe. This all-new division is dedicated to providing a wide range of top quality products and merchandise specifically tailored to the Sega UFO Catcher – operators can order prize products direct from Sega Prize Europe simplifying the process for everyone. Sega has invested heavily in the Sega UFO Catcher, believing strongly in the product. In the UK the traditional crane market has been in decline with poor value prizes driving the price per play down as low as 20p in some locations. Conversely low price per play creates little scope to raise the standard of prizes on offer to the player. To counteract this trend Sega has capitalised on the UFO Catchers’ ability to have higher value “boxed” product as prizes. The additional capability of the Sega UFO Catcher to handle these high value boxed products is a concept that Sega has proven bolsters customer confidence. Having desirable consumer products as prizes is an integral part of the Sega strategy for success, allowing operators to raise the price per play in line to match that of top line video games. The result has been greater customer satisfaction and improved operator returns. Sega’s Justin Burke said, “The formula is simple, an attractive machine that is easy to understand and exciting to play - great desirable prizes – a skill element giving players control and the all-important “Teasablity” factor that makes playing the machine fun.”

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