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RePlay Magazine Podcast - Rich Babich

Replay Magazine Podcast·podcast_episode·44m 3s·analyzed·Feb 4, 2026
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TL;DR

Colorado Game Exchange founder Rich Babich shares 50 years of amusement industry strategy and entrepreneurship.

Summary

Rich Babich, founder of Colorado Game Exchange and AAMA Hall of Fame inductee, discusses his 50-year career in amusement/coin-op entertainment, from operating arcades to building North America's largest independent pinball dealer. He emphasizes business evolution, niche strategy (residential pinball and barcade markets), family business dynamics with son JJ, and his philosophy of continuous adaptation in a consolidating industry dominated by four large distributors (ABS, Schaefer, Moss, Betson).

Key Claims

  • Colorado Game Exchange is one of the largest dealers of pinballs in North America, selling mostly residential with significant barcade niche

    high confidence · Rich Babich directly states: 'We're one of the largest dealers of pinballs in North America' and 'we probably sell as many new pinballs as those four guys combined do'

  • Business is split approximately 50% commercial (FECs/operators) and 50% residential retail, with retail margins being superior

    high confidence · Babich: 'Today, my business is about half commercial to family entertainment centers and to operators of amusement devices and vending. and about half to homes.'

  • Four large distributors (ABS, Schaefer, Moss, Betson) receive backend money from manufacturers that allows them to undercut single-office dealers on FEC volume business

    high confidence · Babich explains competitive disadvantage: 'There's enough back-end money paid by the factories if you hit certain numbers that they want you to hit...where a single office guy like myself...can't possibly sell at the same margins and compete'

  • Stern Pinball and Roth (likely Roth IT) are among top 4-5 suppliers for Colorado Game Exchange, representing shift from Japanese-dominated supply to American companies

    medium confidence · Babich: 'if I look at who my most important suppliers are, two of the top four or five for certain would be Roth, Rills, and Stern Pinball. both very made-in-America companies'

  • Babich served six years on AMOA board in addition to AAMA Hall of Fame work; was inducted to AAMA Hall of Fame in 2024

    high confidence · Direct statement: 'I did serve six years on AMOA's board too' and discussion of Hall of Fame induction process

Notable Quotes

  • “The only constant is that it's constantly evolving. Our industry used to be heavily supplied by the Japanese. Today, we're really more worldwide and far more American companies than an American development product.”

    Rich Babich @ ~08:30 — Signals major structural shift in pinball/amusement equipment sourcing over past 50 years

  • “Operating and distributing are two very different mindsets, Randy. When you're operating, you're territorial...When you're in the distribution business, you're really building a team of businessmen that you can help support and let them grow their business.”

    Rich Babich @ ~18:45 — Explains strategic decision to exit route operation and focus on distribution; highlights operator vs. distributor tension in industry

  • “We proved you can make a living a quarter at a time in the mall arcade business...I just got to prove it can be done on a nickel at a time instead of a quarter at a time.”

    Rich Babich @ ~20:30 — Reflects on arc from mall arcades to lower-cost Nicola Play model; demonstrates business model evolution

  • “The four big guys, ABS, Schaefer, Moss, and Bettson, are able to hit those numbers, are able to get the back-end money, where a single office guy like myself...can't possibly sell at the same margins and compete.”

    Rich Babich @ ~25:15 — Directly identifies consolidation dynamics and margin compression affecting independent distributors in FEC market

  • “I would describe myself as a survivor. We've watched lots of people come and go in the industry, and we've watched some family businesses get out of the family business, and some get rolled up either in Betson's expansion or ABS's expansion or Schaefer's expansion.”

    Rich Babich @ ~23:00 — Acknowledges industry consolidation and contrasts survival strategy with rollup trend

  • “This industry has given me an opportunity, given my family an opportunity to have...make a very nice living and live a very nice lifestyle to spend a third of the year on a cruise ship. And the only way I know to be thankful and get back to that is to volunteer my time.”

    Rich Babich — Articulates philosophy of giving back to industry through association work and Hall of Fame committee service

Entities

Rich BabichpersonColorado Game ExchangecompanyJJ BabichpersonStern PinballcompanyAutomated AmusementscompanyNicola PlaycompanyBetson (Betson Enterprises)companyABScompanySchaefer Groupcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Operating (route/location) and distribution business models create philosophical conflict due to territorial vs. team-building mindsets; many operators attempted both with limited success

    high · Babich explicitly articulates: 'Operating and distributing are two very different mindsets...When you're operating, you're territorial...When you're in the distribution business, you're really building a team...Those two different mindsets were conflict to me' and chose distribution focus.

  • ?

    business_signal: Consolidation of amusement distribution industry around four major players (Betson, ABS, Schaefer, Moss) squeezing independent distributors out of FEC high-volume segment

    high · Babich: 'The four big guys...are able to hit those numbers, are able to get the back-end money, where a single office guy like myself...can't possibly sell at the same margins and compete.' Strategic pivot to niches (residential, barcade) explicitly driven by inability to compete on FEC volume.

  • ?

    event_signal: AAMA Hall of Fame formally established ~7 years ago by Babich and Rick Kirby, modeled on bowling/amusement park industry precedents; Babich inducted in 2024

    high · Babich explains creation process with Kirby; 'Really, Rick Kirby and I were looking around, I guess it was seven years ago or so, at other industries...realized that each of these industries has their own Hall of Fame...there was not a Hall of Fame for our industry.'

  • $

    market_signal: Nickel arcade model demonstrates comparable or superior per-square-foot economics to quarter-based arcades through extended customer dwell time (~2 hours vs. ~25 minutes)

    high · Babich: 'average spend by a customer was $9.22, and the average time in the store was just under two hours' vs. 1980s quarter arcade baseline of '$8 or $9 a person...20 or 25 minutes.' Attributes to longer stay, not higher spend.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.132

0:00
Welcome to Replay Magazine's podcast, where we'll dive into the legends and interesting stories within the world of what we call coin-op entertainment. That's games and amusement machines you find in arcades, fun centers, bars, restaurants, and beyond. Replay's covered this business for 50 years and is joining forces with industry veteran and former association president Randy Chilton. He is chief revenue officer for National Entertainment Network, owned by Japanese amusement giant Kittleton Genda. And now, here's Randy and this month's replay podcast. Hello, everybody. Welcome again to the replay podcast. Today, we are excited to sit down with Rich Babbage, Colorado Game Exchange, Denver, Colorado, my neighbor. He's a hard man to catch up to. We found him on a cruise ship in Bora Bora. I think that's in the middle of Pacific Ocean. But we figured out the time change. We had a wonderful chat. He's an inductee into the AAMA Hall of Fame, and as you'll hear from this podcast, deservedly so, contributed to the industry greatly over his 50 years. I hope you enjoy today's podcast and comment, like it, let us know what you think. Thank you. Chris Babbage, thank you for taking the time. And this is a first. This is a first for this project. Would you tell the people, where the heck are you? And we're going to do this backwards. Where are you and what are you doing? This looks fun. Well, I am sitting in my room, my suite, on a seaborne sojourn cruise ship, and we are anchored maybe a five-minute tender ride from Bora Bora. And as I look out my window, I see spitting a little rain and some clouds, and I see some boats with people still enjoying pretty blue water.
2:00
And if you weren't on this podcast with me at 8 o'clock in the morning in Bora Bora, what would you be doing right now?
2:09
Sleeping? When we're done, yeah, when we're done, I'm going to put a pair of shoes on, and then I'm going to get in a tender, and I'll go into town, and I'll walk the town for a couple hours seeing what I see. There's a church that looks interesting to me from here.
@ ~35:30
Moss
company
AAMAorganization
AMOAorganization
Dikembe Mutomboperson
Randy Chiltonperson
Gary Sternperson
National Entertainment Networkcompany
Funway Freewayscompany
Rick Kirbyperson
Pete Gustafsonperson
Bev Babichperson
  • $

    market_signal: Supply chain and manufacturing sourcing in amusement industry has shifted significantly from Japan-dominated to American companies over 50 years

    medium · Babich: 'Our industry used to be heavily supplied by the Japanese. Today, we're really more worldwide and far more American companies than an American development product.' Cites Stern Pinball and Roth as top suppliers (American, Chicago-based engineering).

  • $

    market_signal: Barcade segment represents emerging niche for distribution and operator support; originated from pinball enthusiasts who maxed home collections

    high · Babich describes helping develop barcade business with enthusiasts converting personal 8-10 machine collections into commercial venues; 'quite a few of those people were pinball enthusiasts who had eight or ten games in their home and the wife said, you can't have 11 or 12.'

  • $

    market_signal: Residential pinball market is substantial and underserved; Colorado Game Exchange claims to sell as many new pinballs as the four largest distributors combined

    high · Babich: 'we probably sell as many new pinballs as those four guys combined do. I mean, it's amazing the size of that market.' Emphasizes margin advantage and loyal customer base in residential segment.

  • ?

    community_signal: Industry veteran Rich Babich co-founded and shaped AAMA Hall of Fame governance structure and criteria; remains co-chair despite being surprised by own induction

    high · Babich and Kirby created Hall of Fame 'document that was the guiding light for what the Hall of Fame was going to be and what the selection process was going to be.' Babich still co-chairs but was nominated without his knowledge; 'I really had no idea that I was even nominated.'

    • 2:31
    There's some fishing areas it looks like, see what the people are doing. it's not an English speaking place so I don't think I'll meet a lot of people and have many conversations but I love looking at the architecture and I just love interacting with different cultures and seeing what they're about and if you don't mind sharing this is not just your ordinary seven day cruise you're on yeah it's not so Bev and I have been married 50 years it was 50 years last June 8th actually congratulations Congratulations.
    3:05
    And the gift we decided to give ourselves was a world cruise. So we're on this for 129 days on the ship. We started in, it's a little bizarre. We started in L.A. and we finish in Vancouver in the middle of May, which means, which is about four and a half months. And we get to see, we've been to Honolulu already. Now we're in Bora Bora. We're going to do Polynesian area for a few days. Then we eventually meander through some more islands and little stops, and we end up spending about two weeks in New Zealand circumventing it, making nine stops in New Zealand, and then scoot over to Australia and circumvent Australia for another nine stops. and then we do some South Korea and Hong Kong and that kind of stuff, head over to the Philippines, and then head over to Japan,
    4:10
    eight stops in Japan, come back across the Pacific, eight stops in Alaska, come down and get off in Vancouver. All right, let's talk about the business a little bit. You are owner, founder, Game Exchange in Colorado, that beautiful showroom that is 20 minutes from me and I've never been in it. I need to be open about that embarrassing factoid. Shame on you, Randy. You've only been invited 10 or 20 times. I know, I know. I'm not particularly proud of that. How are things at the Game Changer Colorado today and the industry? You work three hours every morning. How are things going? How do you see this business today? Well, you know, I've been in the business almost 50 years now, 47, 48 years on my own, I think. And the only thing that – the only constant is that it's constantly evolving. Our industry used to be heavily supplied by the Japanese. Today, we're really more worldwide and far more American companies than an American development product. You know, if I look at who my most important suppliers are, two of the top four or five for certain would be Roth, Rills, and Stern Pinball. both very made-in-America companies, engineering based in the United States.
    5:46
    And Chicago has become a real hub for that kind of work in our industry. Today, my business is about half commercial to family entertainment centers and to operators of amusement devices and vending. and about half to homes. And I believe I'm the only person in the industry that has, in the distribution side of the industry, that has decided to focus that much of our business in the retail side. The retail margins are better.
    6:23
    It's a niche market that, particularly my son, JJ, has developed very well in building relationships within that community. So it's not – we do sell an awful lot of products into homes in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico, but we also sell an awful lot of pinball machines to enthusiasts all over the United States.
    6:48
    We're one of the largest dealers of pinballs in North America. And is that kind of the business going forward, that model, or do you have any things you can share with us on the horizon? Are you going to invent a new game like you did back in the day with your hot seat? I might be saying that correctly, but that was pretty interesting. Yeah, you are.
    7:13
    Yeah, so I've done a little of everything. I have been a small manufacturer. We tied up with an engineer and developed the first dual-axle motion simulator, and that was the HOTC. Didn't really understand what we had. It was a little too early for the industry, but we built and sold 100 of them, and it was quite an experience taking a good-sized product to a trade show and understanding what it is to set that up and what it takes to support that kind of product and visiting with other dealers. And the very first units went into Circus Circus in Las Vegas.
    7:55
    And I remember talking with the engineer that developed the Axis Force. I said, you realize that we're going to fail or succeed based on the volume that Circus Circus has. And can this withstand that? and his name was Howard Litovsky and he just looked me in the eye and goes not going to be a problem and he was right I think we did break one weld over the years but that was just a poor job of welding a piece from a fabricator but learned how to do that learned how to enlist other people to help you sell things learned how to support it but manufacturing is its own niche, and I certainly respect those that do that in a big way. Our niche is relationships, and so it's relationships with commercial customers and relationships with home people.
    8:56
    We sell a lot of product to athletes, so a lot of products to NBA players or whatnot. One of the interesting factoids about sports is players don't stay in the same place forever.
    9:15
    And because I might have a relationship with some basketball players in Denver, that will become a relationship later with basketball players in Charlotte or for the Knicks or for Dallas. and take care of your customers. They'll take care of you. So it's all good. You know, being in one of the strongest sports markets in the nation and you're catering to these players, do you have a story or two that just comes to your mind that is pretty people would be interested in about people you've engaged with or how that engagement worked?
    9:56
    Well, you know, you have to kind of respect their privacy. But you do learn a whole other side of these people as human beings and their passion. I remember when Dikembe Mutombo was the center for the Denver Nuggets.
    10:15
    And when he's passed, he was a giant of a man. I mean, just seven foot something. and we were visiting one day and I was introducing him to my wife and he's just as cordial and friendly and whatnot as can be. And he reaches out to shake my wife's hand and her eyes get huge because she's not sure how hard he's going to squeeze it or what's going to take place. But he definitely does a handshake and his fingers are so long, they literally wrap all the way around her hand. and then we're carrying a conversation on with Deke and you know English isn his first language but he speaks it very well but he speaks quickly So he speaking in kind of a staccato voice during this conversation and Bev says
    11:12
    slow down a little bit. That staccato is a little hard to follow. And he looks at her and goes, oh, that's your best language? How about Swahili? and how about Spanish? And it starts going on and on and on.
    11:29
    Deke spoke nine languages fluently and can carry a conversation, you know, from one to the other to the other. But there's a guy that's a good example of the good hearts that really are in athletics.
    11:42
    You know, Deke made real money because sports players that are at the top of the game do make good money, at least by those days' standards. he turned around and built a hospital in his home town, pays for the entire hospital and then supported the staff because there wasn't enough money to pay the doctors what needed to be paid and did that for 20, 30 years the charity work was pretty spectacular yeah, that's pretty special and that's a great story, thanks for sharing it with me All right. You've got two kids, JJ and Kai. And JJ is in the business. You're right. I am a Sigma Kai, along with a few other people in this industry. And you are what?
    12:32
    I'm a Theta Kai. You're a Theta Kai. Where? Ohio State University. Oh, you're an Ohio State guy. Okay. That's new information. Yeah.
    12:44
    And that was before it was the Ohio State University. It was just Ohio State when we were there. Yeah, I've never understood that, but I got a lot of very passionate Ohio State friends in this industry.
    13:01
    Yes, the Schaefer Group is very passionate about Ohio State, for sure. Yes, they are. So today, JJ's in the business. Hey, we're an industry of family-owned business, myself included. I'm always intrigued by how it works and how you've made it work specifically. I know a lot of families in this industry, sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't. What can you share with us about the secret to running a successful family business?
    13:35
    You know, I listened to Jim Stanfield's podcast with you, and I'm going to have to say Jim Nailson. The answer to that question, it is about communication and openness and understanding that there's different points of view and everybody's entitled to those points of view and not just allowing them to express them, but you have to be able to listen and understand and exercise those things.
    14:05
    It's not perfect for sure, and it has its moments that are less than perfect. But you never doubt the commitment and the sincerity and the honesty of what's taking place. So that's a big asset, you know, to know that there's not an outside agenda in the conversations.
    14:30
    JJ works very hard. He's my number two. He's pretty much running the company at this point. I still am involved with relationships with factories and whatnot.
    14:44
    I own some properties that I still manage. But he runs the day-to-day operations of the business for sure. Well, I think that's the backbone of his business. I just love when it appears to be going well. And the burden of that always falls on the founder, you, of making that work. So well done. Yeah, every once in a while you have to have a heart-to-heart. And, you know, I think we've been doing this for a lot of years together now. It's been, wow, 20-some years that he's been very, very active in it. He was emptying trash cans and sweeping floors when he was 9 or 10, so he's been doing it for 35 years. but sometimes you just have to look somebody in the eye and go hey we need to have a boss employee conversation not a father-son conversation here for a minute so let's take those hats off and sit down and talk about what we're not getting done here and figure out how we're going to get it done and as long as you at least for me as long as I prefer to preface it with that And I felt I could say anything I needed to say. And it's no longer personal. It's now just business.
    16:08
    And then you go back and put your family hat back on it. Go back down the road. Now, your dad, Izzy, is that his name? Yes. Was he in the business? Tell me about that. He was not. I guess one of the things I've accomplished is it's a self-made business. We moved to Denver in 1975. I was working for a small arcade company. We were opening fun way freeways across the country. I was learning a whole lot about the industry.
    16:44
    They gave a 23-year-old kid a whole lot of responsibility very quickly. So I created all the cash controls for the company and all the operating manuals and was hiring and firing managers and getting people trained and getting stores open and running and troubleshooting, finding the thieves and getting rid of them and blah, blah, blah.
    17:08
    So you learn all about it. And I just kind of decided one day, certainly over a period of time, that if I'm going to be traveling for business, and we all do, but if I'm going to be traveling and working this hard, I want to do it for myself. So I walked away from that. I started a little route, which they actually helped me start. They gave me some of the equipment and financed it for me so that I could get some stuff out on the street. The route was called Automated Amusements. We grew that from zero to the largest independent operator in Colorado over a period of about, I don't know, I think we did that.
    17:55
    It took us about 10 years to build it, maybe a little longer, operated it longer than that. Became a thorn in the side of the largest guys in town, which were National Company, T.D. Rowe, Terry Davis' company. and they finally called me one day and said, Rich, we're tired of fighting with you. And we think we want to own you more than you want to own it. And I said, I don't know, it's passion. You guys listen to the offer.
    18:27
    Talk to your family and think about it. And they offered me the largest weekly multiplier that they ever offered anybody.
    18:36
    And, you know, it was all cash. And I looked at that and I said, okay, maybe it's time to get out of that business. By then I had started the distributing company too. We were doing both. And it actually bothered me.
    18:52
    Well, operating and distributing are two very different mindsets, Randy. When you're operating, you're territorial. You're building a network of customers and you are really protective of that network. And you certainly don't want anything bad to happen to them, but you also don't want anybody else to get in your mess kit, right? You want that to yourself. When you're in the distribution business, you're really building a team of businessmen that you can help support and let them grow their business. So those two different mindsets were conflict to me. People say, well, you shouldn't be operating and selling because you're competing with your customers. And while that's true, the big struggle for me was the different mindsets of being territorial or being team building. And I finally chose to become just team building. We did that. We ran some arcades on our own, too. We still own one arcade. I always joke about it. It's called Nicola Play. and I joke about the arcade business because I say, you know, I proved you can make a living a quarter at a time in the mall arcade business. And I ran, I don't know, 20-some stores for Funway Freeway, and then I ran several mall arcades for myself. And I said, I just got to prove it can be done on a nickel at a time instead of a quarter at a time. So we started looking at the nickel arcades that were open in a couple of different cities. There were some in Salt Lake City and some in California, northern California, and looked at their business models and said, you know, they're not doing it right, but they're doing it and succeeding. So we refined the concept a little bit.
    20:45
    It's a more complicated concept than you first think. But we learned how to develop party business and group sales and school groups and worked very closely with the after-school programs and the YMCAs. and prove that you can make just as much money or more a nickel at a time as you can in a quarter of time. We earn as much per square foot in those stores as I ever did in the mall arcade business. Why? People just stay longer. So somebody comes in and they're going to spend, well, these are old numbers because it's how it used to be in the mall business, but it used to be the average person came into a mall arcade and they'd spend $8 or $9 a person. and they'd be in the arcade for 20 or 25 minutes. I'm sure with Dave & Buster's and the big places, those numbers are different today, but that's what it was, you know, in the 80s. When we started doing Nikola Play, the average spend by a customer was $9.22,
    21:45
    and the average time in the store was just under two hours. So all they were doing was staying longer, still spending the same amount of money. That's here in Denver somewhere?
    21:55
    Yes, it's in Aurora. I had eight stores running at one time I down to one store and it just fun It just does Yeah It a challenge It fun I have a great manager that just runs it for me too Now, as you look back at the career and your start in the Funway Arcades, do you look back and go, I mean, was this all somewhat scripted or just kind of fell into place, or do you look back on it and go, man, that's a crazy ride? How do you look back on the last 50 years of doing this? Yeah, so I would describe myself as a survivor.
    22:32
    We've watched lots of people come and go in the industry, and we've watched some family businesses get out of the family business, and some get rolled up either in Betson's expansion or ABS's expansion or Schaefer's expansion. we've just morphed. You know, as we see opportunities, we chase them. As we see the competitive landscape, we pick and choose where we want to fight for business.
    23:06
    You know, it was very clear 10 years ago or 12 years ago that the industry was going to morph into large family entertainment centers. and that those were huge opportunities for a distributor to sell equipment because, you know, they're a million dollars, $2 million, $3 million worth of equipment from our industry. We looked at that and played in that pond for a little while and still play in that pond in Colorado. But we looked at that pond nationwide. And it was very clear very early that unless you were going to do a tremendous volume with it, you weren't going to be able to compete. There's enough back-end money paid by the factories if you hit certain numbers that they want you to hit. And I guess Moss should be included in that number, too. The four big guys, ABS, Schaefer, Moss, and Bettson, are able to hit those numbers, are able to get the back-end money, where a single office guy like myself, who's really focusing more on service and support than on that volume, can't possibly sell at the same margins and compete. Not to mention the size of team it takes to set up that much equipment and blah, blah, blah, and be able to do that simultaneously in different locations. So we chose not to compete in that business. I certainly respect those guys that have and what it takes and their success and the size of those. But instead, that's why we looked for niches and decided that selling equipment to people's homes and being the best, baddest in the pinball business were probably niches that had a little better margin for us. and that we could focus on and serve properly. And, you know, we probably sell as many new pinballs as those four guys combined do. I mean, it's amazing the size of that market. Yeah. To residential mostly or operators as well.
    25:23
    Well, so we've all mostly residential, But there's a niche in commercial called the barcade business. Oh, yeah. And we have helped develop that business. We're very close to every one of those owners. We know them well.
    25:46
    And quite a few of those people were pinball enthusiasts who had eight or ten games in their home. and the wife said, you can't have 11 or 12. You go figure out somewhere to go do something with some of these if you want to be buying machines. So they decided to open a barcade or they decided to go to a brewery, somebody that's operating a brewery, and convinced them to morph that into a barcade and became their partner for that part of the business.
    26:16
    Showed these people how to operate, showed them how to control the financial side of it, how to evaluate their money. and we've developed a very loyal following of those customers across the country. You help somebody build their business, most of them are pretty loyal back to you. Yes, they are.
    26:37
    Well, that's a very interesting part of your business. I mean, having did this with Gary Stern and heard his stories and the ebbs and flows of the industries and how you've prospered in that category, that's taken some patience because it hasn't always been the case. But good for you. Thanks for sharing that. Hey, last year you got the biggest honor this industry has to offer. You were inducted into the AAMA Hall of Fame. You've worked in the association for decades. And I'm an AMOA guy, but I was always aware of you on the AAMA side. So, well, first of all, congratulations. That's a big deal. That's a pretty exclusive club that you now belong to. And candidly, when we do this, that's the first list we started looking at. Like, okay, well, these are people that have made their mark in the industry.
    27:36
    So how was that experience for you? Well, tell me about that first, the whole induction ceremony. Well, it's a tremendous honor. There's a little more history to that. Really, Rick Kirby and I were looking around, I guess it was seven years ago or so, at other industries, at the park industry, at the bowling industry, and realized that each of these industries has their own Hall of Fame. and there was not a Hall of Fame for our industry.
    28:16
    So Ricky and I, both longtime AMA directors, went to the board and said, look, we think the industry should have a Hall of Fame and helped create that vision and fine-tune that to make it what it is today. Of course, because we'd opened our mouth and tried to talk people into it, we became the first co-chairs of the Hall of Fame committee. So we got to create a, with a few more people for sure, but we got to create a document that was the guiding light for what the Hall of Fame was going to be and what the selection process was going to be and what the nominating process was going to be, what the criteria for entering the Hall of Fame. I still co-chair that. And I think, by the way, that I probably don't necessarily fit all of those qualifications to be in the Hall of Fame. I'm very honored. But I think the committee lost its mind when it decided to nominate me and put me in. And they did it behind my back.
    29:38
    I really had no idea that I was even nominated yet. And we processed the whole class. I mean, we knew who was going in that year.
    29:50
    And then I guess it would have been in December sometime. We typically process the class in October or before and make the selections. And that worked through. And we don't start notifying people. we start whispering in their ear in December or January so they can start making plans for who they want to bring to the trade show in March to be inducted. You might want to bring your whole family. You might not want to bring anybody. Whatever. Your choice.
    30:23
    We start whispering that. Pete Gustafson calls me into his office one day when I'm in Chicago and says, boy, we have to have a conversation. I went, oh, shit. What did I do now? So I've been in hot water over my life several different times. What did I do now? He says, you better sit down. So I sit down in his office, and he breaks the news to me that I've been inducted in the Hall of Fame. And I was dumbfounded, Randy. how could that process have happened without me being aware that my committee was considering that my committee had lost their mind in my mind and was considering putting me into that group. I've given a lot of time to the charities of our industry and I've given a lot of time in association work. I did serve six years on AMOA's board too, by the way. But that's giving back. To me, that's
    31:19
    I do that because, again, I started from very modest means, and this industry has given me an opportunity, given my family an opportunity to have, you know, make a very nice living and live a very nice lifestyle to spend a third of the year on a cruise ship. And the only way I know to be thankful and get back to that is to volunteer my time to be sure that the industry protects itself and the industry promotes itself and nurtures itself in all the right ways. See the threats, help navigate through them, and thus, you know, work threefold. You've been an AMLA president, Randy. You know what it is. It takes time.
    32:11
    It takes dedication. It takes focus. And it's not always at convenient times. Sometimes you are called into – there's a lot of very pleasant things that go with it. But sometimes you're called into some unpleasant situations. And it's part of the gig. You've got to do it.
    32:30
    Well, I love the way you explain that in a very humble way. I think you're actually understated because you're the poster child for people that started from, as you say, not a person of means and you created your own path of success through hard work and innovation and strategic decisions. And good for you. Good for you. I just love I love stories like this and stories like yours because they the backbone of this industry You know that just where we entrepreneurs we family businesses and that where the best stories come from
    33:12
    It was a very nice day for sure. You know, I think we're an industry of mavericks, and I may be as stubborn as any of them. I'm one of the more stubborn mavericks because I just don't take failure as an option. And that certainly doesn't mean that we didn't make mistakes because, oh, Lord, we did.
    33:34
    You know, we did things wrong and had to go back and fix them and whatever. But when you realize you've made a mistake, go back and fix it. The best loss is the first loss. Go figure it out and undo what you did or redo what you had to do. Look people in the eyes. And if you've actually hurt somebody in how you were doing it, apologize and go on. That's all you can do. Yeah, great point. Hey, they tell me I go on too long on these, but I get on these podcasts and the stories are just good and I could just go on and on for a while. But, hey, you can thank your friend Dan Sunday for this reminder to me. At the trade shows, you and Bev used to dress up in some crazy costumes.
    34:24
    Why did you stop doing that? I guess I grew up. So we had three-day trade shows back then. And after every trade show, the Game Exchange would hold an open house, a regional, our own regional show, so to speak, right? And at that time, there were probably 150 or 200 operators in Colorado, Wyoming, and Mexico, western Nebraska. And of those, maybe 20 would go to the trade show and 180 would not. So we'd bring in what we thought was the best of the equipment. The factories would come support that. And we would typically do that two weeks or three weeks after the trade show. We'd open our showroom. Oh, our showroom's always open, but we would decorate our showroom, and we would invite everybody in. We would serve them a meal, some cocktails, and have some fun. We decided one day before that, Bev and I were out before the trade show, and we're having a few glasses of champagne and sometimes do our best thinking just a little bit tipsy, and said, you know, we need to theme these parties. So we need just to create more excitement, to create more reason for people to come, to make it more fun. So, you know, we did one party under the big top, which was, you know, a circus tent thing that we actually put up inside our building and had a redemption center and did all of that. We did an open house in quarters we trust because we made a living a quarter in time. And as the themes evolved, we created an invitation that we used to invite customers. But we also took that, I mean, a formal version of that invitation and handed them out at the trade show in our meetings with the different factories. So I would schedule all of our meetings on the middle day of the trade show, and I would hand out the invitations. Well, it only seemed appropriate to dress in costume to support the theme. So I would put on a costume. We would go to our business meetings and invite people to our open house. And it started pretty simple, but it just kept developing and developing. And one day, I'm dressed as Harvey the Rabbit, and I've got a big head on, you know, a rabbit's head. And, I mean, full costume. You only know it's me because who else would be handing out invitations and be in this meeting? But you can't see my face.
    37:21
    It was a full thing, full head. And I remember sitting in a meeting with the Stern folks, and Gary Stern is sitting across from the table and looks at me, and he's trying to go over numbers of what our performance was last year and what our goals are. And he finally looks at me and goes, God damn it, take that head off. I am not having a business meeting in this way.
    37:49
    So, okay, fine. So then I started taking part of it off and doing that. But we would walk the trade show literally the whole day. One year we were the Blues Brothers, and my brother was in the business at that time.
    38:02
    Mike was a part – Mike's a CPA and was my partner for, I don't know, five or six years. We are in Nashville at the Grand Opulence Hotel, which is a very sprawling hotel, and the rooms are miles from the convention floor. But we dressed up as the Blues Brothers, and we're walking those halls towards the trade show floor. And my brother's a little bigger than I am, but it looked like we were the Blues Brothers. I mean, you saw people stop, stare, point. Oh, my God, go talk to them. That's really the Blues Brothers as you go through this thing.
    38:38
    So I haven't worn costumes now in maybe 15 years, I guess. It's been maybe longer, and mostly because the industry rolls up,
    38:48
    and there's no longer 150 people to invite to an open house. So we'll still do some spotlight shows and do those kind of things. But you're going to get 30 people. You're not going to have a big blowout party of 200 people. There's just not that many still, you know, independent. There's fewer bigger customers, basically, at this point.
    39:09
    So we stopped doing that. But when I was inducted into the Hall of Fame just to tie this all back together, everybody else in my class was dressed up in a suit and tie George Smith was there George Pico Petro was there and I decided that I'm going to wear the Harvey head when I walk out of the blue room onto the stage so I have this head sitting next to me in the room that we're all waiting to be announced and everybody looks over and goes you're not really going to do that Are you? I go, oh, yes. Oh, yes. So Pete Gustafson did not know I was doing that, and he emcees this whole thing.
    39:53
    So I walk out, and I'm being escorted because there's some stairs. They want to be very careful that I don't fall on my butt. But I'm getting help getting up the stairs, and Pete's talking an introduction to me, looking at his paper and looking out at the audience. And the whole audience just starts going, what is going on? You know, there's all this noise all of a sudden. So Pete turns around and looks at me and just starts laughing. And then he turns to everybody and goes, well, I'm just going to say, if you know, you know. If you weren't around 10 or 12, 15 years ago, you probably don't understand this. But for those of you of us that have been, you know.
    40:35
    If you know, you know. That's good stuff. Well, Rich, I mean, thank you for taking the time to visit. My pleasure. Absolutely. You are the you are the. You are the exact reason we started doing this with, you know, Eddie and Key at Replay, because you're you're you're a legend in the industry. You've been doing it a long time. You made a difference. You've impacted people all the way along. And just be able to capture the stories and tell it, tell it in this form. You know, these are my favorite times every month to get to sit down with people like you that have done some things. Is there anything that I should have addressed that I didn't or anything you want to share?
    41:23
    No, I think you hit it. I just encourage everybody that's listening to this to support our industry. Make sure you volunteer some of your time to give back. support the charities that both AMA and AMOA raise money for. They're for very, very good causes. But they both support kids and families in one form or another. And I think everybody knows we make our living off families and kids. So why should we not give back to some that need more help and share our successes and do what we can? And I'm actually incredibly proud of what both associations do on the charity side of it. And it's probably the most fun I have is doing that, for sure. But I also want to thank you for doing this. I think I've listened to your podcasts. I think they're insightful.
    42:22
    I'm sure I know every single one of those people that you interviewed, but you learned something you didn't know about those people during that interview.
    42:32
    And in this special, seeing it and hearing it from their own mouths, their own stories, and you lead people through it very nicely. So thank you for doing it. Well, it's the highlight of, you know, it's the favorite thing I do. And because, to your point, I actually do a little bit of preparation so I can at least ask the right questions. You and I know each other. We're close friends, so I had to do a little research here. And so I always learn a lot about the people that I'm talking to and always learn things I never knew, always learn things I knew, as I did today. So thank you for that. Well, you do need to stop by the only 11,700-square-foot showroom in our industry at some point. Let's put this on the record and that in my 2026, I will come to your office and we will have lunch. If I don't do that, I won't do anything. Well, I enjoy seeing you on airplanes and at trade shows, but it would be nice to see you in Denver. That's always funny. I'm coming down. All right, Rich. Thank you very much, sir. Have a great day there in Bora Bora. And this is a first. We've never done a cruise ship podcast, but thanks for working it out. And, hey, you and Bev have a wonderful trip.
    43:54
    All right, Randy. Take care. Bye-bye. You will. Yep. Game over.