ValoArena at AR’s Entertainment Hub

AR's Entertainment Hub “serves to bring a comprehensive family entertainment option” for three Texas locations in the cities of Baytown, San Antonio, and La Marque. 

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AR's Entertainment Hub’s motto is “Family Fun for Everyone”, and their attraction mix reflects this, with a wide-ranging offering across the chain that includes bowling, arcades, laser tag, black light mini-golf, bumper cars, soft play, and roller skating. Their eating options include fun fare like pizza, Philly cheesesteaks, wings, grilled chicken sandwiches, and burgers, while their full bars serve beer, wine, and cocktails for adult guests.

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How ValoArena won over AR’s Entertainment Hub

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Archie Wright, AR's Entertainment Hub’s CFO & co-owner, noted that he had been looking for an attraction to replace the bumper cars, and his insurance agent recommended that they look at ValoArena, which he described as “super safe and super fun”. Shortly thereafter Archie attended the IAAPA Expo in 2022 and found himself at the Valo Motion booth, and remembering the recommendation, he stopped to find out more.

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cAt that show, Valo Motion didn’t have the ValoArena on-site but was hosting remote demos by the team from Finland. Archie was interested enough that he decided to purchase a ValoArena, but he remained skeptical. He recalls, “I didn’t know about Valo Motion but I took a risk.” 

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AR’s Entertainment added their first ValoArena in their San Antonio, Texas location in March of 2023 and decided to go with their second one for their Baytown, TX location, 3 months later. Their 3rd ValoArena was installed in March of 2024 in La Marque, TX, where they also have a ValoClimb.

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As far as the experience with the new product went, Archie expressed, “We installed ValoArena and it blew away my expectations. Everything was super smooth. I was like, oh my gosh, why isn't this in every single entertainment centre? This thing's amazing.”

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The first ValoArena was up and running for 4-5 months and Archie says he “knew that people loved it and it was stable, so we put in an order for a second one. We made a mandate that we would put it into all three locations.” Because the ValoArena is working so well, Archie thought, “Let me try another Valo Motion product, which is ValoClimb. I think it's a good product.”

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“ValoArena was an absolute hit right off the bat. All the kids love it. They play over and over again.” – Archie Wright

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The guests agreed and Archie noted, “ValoArena was an absolute hit right off the bat. All the kids love it. They play over and over again. All the adults loved it. Everybody just loves this thing.”

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Why ValoArena stood out for AR’s Entertainment Hub

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Part of Archie’s reservations were around his unfamiliarity with the ValoArena technology. He stated, “Typically when you get a highly technical game, things are always breaking. You’re always going to reboot it or do some type of troubleshooting. ValoArena just works when you turn it on. It's amazing that they're able to get all the technology into something that never glitches. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen.”

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Archie and the AR's Entertainment Hub team had previously looked at alternative virtual reality attractions, but they all required headsets and according to Archie, “In my last experience with VR there were a lot of technical issues with the headsets breaking and the wires breaking. It was just a nightmare dealing with headsets. It was a pain for the staff.”

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“ValoArena just works when you turn it on. It's amazing that they're able to get all the technology into something that never glitches. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen.” – Archie Wright

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Archie noted, “Everything breaks with tech, and I needed ValoArena to be stable. I was worried because of our previous experience with VR, but we’ve had almost zero issues. It’s been smooth sailing. I am really impressed with how stable ValoArena is, it’s the biggest thing that blew me away. The guests loved it immediately, which is great, but the biggest shock was just how stable the system is.”

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One of the key packages that AR’s Entertainment offers their customers is AR's BIG DEAL, which for $29.99 (per person) provides 5 hours of unlimited play of the Playground, Mini-Golf Ninja Course, laser Tag, roller Skating, and now ValoArena.

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“ ’No wearables’ is one of the biggest reasons we went with ValoArena.” – Archie Wright

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Archie continued, “The way we work, is we do packages, the more things we have to offer the better. To consider a product an attraction, six is the minimum number of players that a product needs to have. That's why we initially liked bumper cars but they broke all the time. ValoArena occupies the same space or even smaller for up to 6 players and ValoArena helps us increase the value of our unlimited passes.”

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From core attraction to must-have: How ValoArena became essential 

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Historically, AR’s has had 5 core attractions, laser tag, minigolf, roller skating, playground, and bumper cars. But per Archie, “Now it’s ValoArena. We changed that core attraction. So, now ValoArena is part of all of our business plans going forward. We need to get it in all our locations.”

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One of the key factors for the success of any FEC attraction is its ability to turn first-time players into returning guests. Archie says this is another area in which ValoArena is a success. “Here's the key metric of how we know that Valo Arena is amazing. Once guests try it out, ValoArena has the highest replay of anything in the facility. We use InterCard and it measures how many times they swipe.”

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“We can market ValoArena as an attraction, and the holy grail is that it has a small footprint.” – Archie Wright

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One specific instance he remembers is, “One parent told me, ever since you introduced the ValoArena, I can't get my kid out of there. He loves playing.” Archie thinks the “ValoArena games are really good. There is a good spread of games and each one is pretty unique. Everybody's number one favorite game is Groundfall”, which is the ValoArena version of the timeless game “the floor is lava”.

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ValoArena is a good fit for AR's Entertainment Hub because as Archie states, “ValoArena is for all ages. I've seen adults do it and I've seen kids do it. I would say 8 to 12 is maybe the most common age. But I've seen grown ladies running around and I've seen teenagers. I've seen all ages do it and all ages love it.”

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“ValoArena is a hit! Everybody loves it. Going forward, we're going to put ValoArena in every single location because it's been so flawless and so amazing.” – Archie Wright

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And it’s not just “one and done”, he says, “The 8-14-year-olds that try ValoArena want to go right back in there and keep on doing it all day. They go in and out, in and out, in and out.

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We asked Archie what he would tell another operator about ValoArena and he was very clear in his endorsement:

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“I've been telling everyone - ValoArena is a must-have attraction!” – Archie Wright

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In his words, Archie has been “singing high praise about ValoArena to everybody I could talk to. A couple of operators approached me about the ValoArena and I told them, ‘You need to partner with Valo Motion. ValoArena is the real deal. Their product is amazing.