The Show

After traveling to Atlanta this past weekend to 'the show' I almost wish we hadn't have sold our entire inventory. Originally we had only planned to sell the 20' tall Accelerator Slide and the Bounce House. We ended up getting an offer on the generator, the trailer and the games we had as well. So after some discussion, we decided to sell everything, take some time off and then rethink this business we've been running.

While things went well this past year, I really feel we were about to really hit it big. I had tents out almost every weekend and I know the tables and chair rentals would have increase as more people learned we we're the only ones in the area with tent, table and chair rentals. I believe that if we had decided to not sell, go to the show and spend another five to six thousand (which is what the plan was until we changed our minds in October) to increase our inventory, that the new offerings we could have added would've paid for themselves in only a few pay to play type events.

A company called Games to Go Inc., out of Fargo, ND had two games that would have been a great addition. One was a tiny basketball shoot'em game. The two players sit on small, unarmed rockers and shoot baskets against a clock and against each other. Whomever scores the most points in :60 seconds wins. The game was a hoot. And I did lose, by the way, to Sara Beth when we played. Games to Go also had a game called T-Ball. In this game, a t-ball floats on a column of air and the batter tries to hit the ball against a back drop to score points or to hit a home run, triple, double or single. Similar to a baseball dart board, you're just hitting a real wiffle ball with a plastic bat.

The reason I think these two games would have gone over well is the competitive nature of people in general. And the adults enjoyed playing as much as the kids did. And to have these two games set up at a festival or two, with inflatable basketballs and baseballs as prizes, I bet if there was good weather, you could generate $1,500 in one day...maybe even more.

We haven't decided what we're going to do yet...but Sara Beth likes stackable games and I like them too. And the're nicely made, don't cost a lot and would be good renters in the spring and fall for church and school carnivals and fairs.

Other items I liked and I think would have been good renters is the Cash Cube. That's where you stand in a glass box and a blower is turned on and money swirls all around you. You have to catch money and feed it through a slit in the door of the cube. How ever much money you pass through, you keep. It's not as easy as it looks. My first time, I was able to pass $8.00 through in :60 seconds. A great game and I would think that would be a great rental to all the banks in the area.

I'll post more when we make a decision to what our plans are.

AJ