LAS VEGAS — The National Dart Association's 23rd annual Team Dart Tournament attracted the world's best soft-tip dart players to the Riviera Hotel & Casino here. The nine-day event, which concluded last weekend, featured individual and team matches; players competed on the latest electronic dartboards.

Amusement and Music Operators Association president Lloyd Williamson of Williamson Sugarloaf Inc. (Winona, MN) attended opening ceremonies on Monday, April 21, and accepted a plaque of recognition as one of the group's original founding sponsors. (NDA is a subsidiary of AMOA.)

For more of the story, visit: Vending Times

Stern Pinball, the world’s last factory producing commercially operated pinball games, was featured in today’s New York Times online, including a multi-media slide show presentation of the Melrose Park, IL, factory located just west of Chicago. The article examines the decline of commercial pinball, the subsequent rise of home sales and the universal appeal of what some see only as a retro novelty. Quoted alongside Stern factory president Gary Stern are pinball aficionados Tim Arnold of the Pinball Hall of Fame and Roger Sharpe, a former game designer and pinball historian. “Everybody thinks of it as retro, as nostalgia,” Sharpe told the Times. “But it’s not. These are sophisticated games. Pinball is timeless.”

To get the full story,  go to RePlay Magazine’s Instant RePlay website at RePlay Magazine.

Piano-driven pop band Augustana is premiering their upcoming album on the Ecast network. Beginning this week, Augustana’s “Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt” went live across Ecast’s more than 10,000 nationwide venues nearly one week before its release in stores. To drive music plays of the album, it appears in proven promotional features including Ecast’s Just Added playlist as well as an artist-dedicated interactive video loop and the Ecast New Releases video loop, which are seen by a half million music enthusiasts each week.

To get the full story,  go to RePlay Magazine’s Instant RePlay website at RePlay Magazine.

LAS VEGAS — The 58th annual NBVA trade show and convention, held at Caesars Palace Hotel here April 17-19, posted disappointing attendance figures. The show, sponsored and produced by the National Bulk Vendors Association (Chicago), attracted some 355 visitors, down significantly from the previous year's 516. Association officials attributed the low turnout to the nation's ailing economy, which has resulted in falling revenues on both the operator and supplier sides of the industry.

Despite the disappointing show numbers, the NBVA successfully completed a full agenda of association business, including the election of new officers. Randy Chilton of Coinstar (Louisville, CO) was installed as president, succeeding Peter Becker of What's Up LLC. Rounding out the new officer roster is Steve Siegel, Great American Vending Machine Co. (Hauppauge, NY), who becomes vice-president; Mark Pogue, MEPCO (Fresno, CA), as secretary; and Bernie Schwarzli, Beaver Machine Corp., as treasurer.

For more of the story, visit: Vending Times