For the second year running the changes made by the organization continued to maintain the polemic between visitors and exhibitors. From the visitor’s point of view it is not easy to organize an agenda when going from one stand to another takes so much time and robs you of the calm needed to close a deal, knowing that the next “meeting” you have is somewhere on the other floor and you need to go via several “check points” in order to get there.

How refreshing to attend a show where everyone is in a good mood and business is booming. The German market is enjoying a very positive spell due to the gaming legislation that was introduced in 2006. We saw the first signs of a turnaround at last year’s IMA but very few machines had made it through homologation and it was still early days.

IMA’s new exhibition hall has already hosted the International Trade Fair for Visual Communication, which was also under the management of IMA Director Petra Lassahn, and was found to be ideal.

New offices, new business divisions and new staff members – the Sega Amusements Europe Open Day held last month was an upbeat event. Led by staff members, Aaron Gilbey, Martin Riley and Maria Villaroya – the presentation of new machines was witty and lighthearted, perfectly in keeping with the games themselves.

The second Hot Games Show 2007 was held on Sept 7th and 8th in Hall 2 of the Taipei World Trade Center. The bustling exhibition welcomed over 50 companies and the Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), the biggest gaming amusement company in the Philippines.

Fer Interazar 2007, the Spanish amusement exhibition organised each year by the Interazar Group in the Spanish capital (Madrid), took place in Pavilion 7 of IFEMA - (Instalaciones Feriales de Madrid) in September. According to the data supplied by the organization, the exhibition occupied a total of 16,200 square meters and there were 158 exhibitors representing a total of 535 companies, both national and foreign. Exhibitors came from 24 countries and there were 13,736 visitors, 22% of whom were professionals from outside Spain.

The new UK gaming law is giving Preview 2008 a boost. Organisers Howard & Wikberg have noted two trends at this year’s show. Existing exhibitors are moving to larger, more impressive stands and other companies are either returning or using the Preview to enter the buzzing UK marketplace for the first time.

New offices, new business divisions and new staff members – the Sega Amusements Europe Open Day held last month was an upbeat event. Led by staff members, Aaron Gilbey, Martin Riley and Maria Villaroya – the presentation of new machines was witty and lighthearted, perfectly in keeping with the games themselves.

The Rimini show was surprisingly upbeat. It appeared to be a little bigger than last year and individual stands were also larger than in previous years. The reason why this seemed strange, is that many people should be running out of AWPs to sell and also to buy. Italy is once more in a period of transition. The Comma 6 machine is being phased out and manufacturers had to stop producing them back in December of last year. And yet, the final details of the Comma 6a are still being worked out.

This year was the occasion of the XXVI Andalucian Fair and for the third consecutive year it was held at the ‘Palacio de Congresos’ in Malaga after its first twenty-three years in Torremolinos. All the exhibition space was sold and the significant number of companies unable to exhibit has prompted its organizers to draw the conclusion that, not only the change of location was the right move, but also, given the present momentum in the Spanish market, it would be sensible to extend the space available next year. In the words of Juan Manuel Ortega, organizer of the event: