Discovering the social side of quiz machines

It is not only beer sales that have been taking a dive in pubs. Machine income has also been sliding.

As one pub chain boss recently observed, beer and fruit machines appear inextricably linked. This is not good news for the machine industry, which knows that it needs to come up with some new thinking to reposition its products and reinvigorate its market.

The first step, for one supplier at least, has been to try to gain a better understanding of its consumers. Who are fruit machine and quiz machine players, what do they like, how do they play and what do they want ' particularly in the context of ever shifting leisure priorities? There is also the question of why the bulk of the population don't play these machines?

The findings of a major new piece of consumer research, commissioned by Gamestec, have just been published. Harris Interactive conducted a survey of over 4,500 UK adults during November and December 2007 on Gamestec's behalf.

A central conclusion is that fruit machines and quiz machines should not be viewed as a single market. Although they appeal to similar players, they are not the same, and are played for different reasons - meaning that distinct strategies will be needed to develop their separate futures.

Quiz machines come out of it as a much more social play among young people, so it will not be surprising if in the future this is the area where suppliers focus the majority of their thinking and new development ' in particular how to make them even more sociable.

Pubs are by far the most likely place for the public to play both fruit or quiz machines, underlining the fact that machines and pubs are unavoidably tied together. Even if pub-going is losing popularity, machine suppliers have no option but to focus on the pub market and to work with pub operators.

Pub-goers will remain the core market, not least because of a resistance to playing both fruit and quiz machines by non-players, who generally associate both with gambling. This is a major obstacle to trial. Taking the image of quiz machines in particular away from the gaming arena is going to be a tough job, but a necessary one.

To underline the changing nature of leisure time in the UK, and to emphasis the challenge for the machine fraternity, the survey reveals that going to a restaurant is now the most popular out-of-home activity, with 57% of adults eating out in the previous month, compared to 43% going to the pub ' the same percentage as play computer games every month. People also now spend more money in restaurants than traditional pubs.

Central to finding a new image for machines, in this new eating-out age, is to avoid lumping fruit machines and quiz machines, and their players, together. Fruit machine and quiz machine users are not the same, with less than a 50% overlap, and they use machines very differently and for different reasons.

A quarter of adults will at some time play a fruit machine, with 10% playing at least once a month and 4% once a week. This compares with 20% who play quiz machines, including 12% who play at least once a month and 5% who play every week.

So, what type of people play fruit and quiz machines? Fruit machine players are typically male, aged between 20 and 40 and in work. Only 25% of players are women. Fruit machine users are typically middle-income earners, with frequent players tending to be slightly better off. They are likely to be single or living with a partner.

Contrary to the popular image of the lonely machine feeder, they are confident, gregarious, sociable people that like to go out and have fun. They are more likely than the average person to go to the pub, play computer games, watch sport, go to the cinema, go to music concerts, play sport and go to the gym.

Enjoyment is prime reason for playing with the ability to win small, rather than large, amounts of money another important driver. Gambling is not a prime motive.

Quiz machine players are even more out-going, sociable and confident. They are also typically male, but younger than fruit machine users, with most aged under 30. They too are most likely to be single or living with a partner, although less likely than fruit machine players to be married. They are also typically middle-income earners in a skilled job, although quiz machine playing is particularly popular among students ' 20% of regular players are students. The student market would seem to be an area ripe for developing.

Women are more likely to be occasional quiz machine players, although are still in the minority. Just over a third (36%) of occasional players are female.

Quiz machine players are more likely to go to restaurants and entertain with friends, use the internet, play computer games, watch sport, play sport, go to live music events, go clubbing and go to comedy clubs. Also they are more likely to be in adult education and to go to the cinema and theatre. These are bright, intelligent people who 'do things', and probably just the sort of people most pub operators would want in their pubs.

The popularity of sport, the internet and computer games, in particular, among quiz machine users may offer clues to the type of new products the market should be developing ' and where it can increase promotion.

Quiz machine players say the enjoyment, the challenge and the people they play with are the main reasons for participating. It is certainly not about gambling.

While fruit machine players like traditional machines, quiz machine users like branded machines, linked for example to the latest TV shows. Importantly, while fruit machine players prefer to play on their own, quiz players play with friends in a group. This is a social activity.

The pub is by far the most popular place to play machines, and particularly quiz machines. Suggestions from players for other places to put machines range from restaurants and cafes to railway stations, shopping centres and hospital waiting areas. However, support is not huge and as a large proportion of non-players, the bulk of the population, don't want to see machines in new locations, it is not going to be easy to develop alternative sites to the pub.

With more pubs turning to food, restaurants might appear to be an obvious target. There are examples in the United States where amusement machines are being developed in an eating-out environment, the best example being the uWink restaurant in northern Los Angeles.

It styles itself as a new entertainment dining experience where you can both play games and order from screens around the venue. It is the brainchild of Nolan Bushnell, founder and former CEO of Atari, the games company.

It is still an experiment, but may have lessons for the UK. The website is www.uwink.com. In an age when computer and online game playing is such a large part in young people's lives, bringing more entertainment technology into the pub, and even restaurant, arena does not sound such a strange idea. A new generation of quiz machines with more challenging content might be just a first step.

The opportunities in this market lie with existing customers and at existing locations, and the first priority would to get more pub goers to play, possibly even more females. What seems clear with pub and machine revenues both under threat, there is an opportunity for suppliers and pub operators to at least throw some ideas around.

The typical quiz machine player ' young, fun and sociable
' Male; typically in 20s; single (less likely to be married than fruit machine players)
' Middle-income earners in a skilled job
' But, more likely to be in adult education; 20% of students are frequent players
' Gregarious, confident, sociable, like to go out, play sport, trend-setters
' More likely to go to pubs and restaurants, entertain with friends, play computer games, watch sport, play sport, use the internet, listen to music and the radio, see live music, go clubbing, go to comedy clubs, the cinema and theatre, and gamble
' 50% of frequent players play fruit machines, but that falls to 28% of occasional players
' Prefer branded games
' Tend to play in a group with friends
' Enjoyment, the challenge and the people they play with are main reasons for participating
' More women are occasional players (36% of total)