/ The Bergamo exhibition center has hosted the Family Entertainment Expo (FEEXPO) recently, an international trade show dedicated to professionals in the gaming industry. Exhibitors, visitors, and organizers have all reported positive feedback /

Differentiating themselves from the world of slot machines, betting, and gambling while highlighting their own peculiarities and clearing the business from common and dangerous prejudices and misunderstandings has always been a priority for amusement-only operators in Italy, whether they are suppliers of machines and games with no cash payout or managers of family-oriented venues where these machines operate, such as gaming halls, FECs, and bowling alleys.

At the Bergamo Fair, from March 10th to 12th, this large sector has found a trade show made to measure for it: the Family Entertainment Expo (FEEXPO). The event is organized by the FEE Consortium, established about 5 years ago with the goal to bring together all the protagonists of the traditional entertainment business in Italy under one brand and together with Promoberg, the company that manages the Bergamo exhibition center.

FEEXPO welcomed more than 50 exhibitors who displayed the many faces and contents of the amusement-only market in Italy: redemption games, pinball machines and the entire range of arcade games, gadgets and plush toys, battery cars, coin-op kiddie rides and small carousels, components and spare parts, bowling equipment, cashless payment systems, playgrounds, scenery, accessories, and services, without forgetting more recent forms of entertainments such as VR and esports.

From the first hours of opening, the trade show has recorded a strong influx of operators and visitors from all over Europe, favored by the strategic location of the Bergamo Fair which is located just 50km from Milan and 200km from the French border and served by highways, train stations, as well as the Bergamo-Orio al Serio international airport. “Perfect location and new customers and visitors from many countries such as Hungary, Croatia, Greece, England, and Switzerland,” commented Tiziano Tredese, president of the FEE Consortium. “There was an atmosphere of great euphoria, the pleasure of being together and confronting each other. And the common thread that united the interests of the whole sector was to finally have an event completely dedicated to the amusement-only industry. An event that was also an opportunity to discuss, with conferences and meetings, the many problems that still afflict the sector. But it was also an opportunity to do important business. In short, a great result, a fair with top marks.”

Deep satisfaction was also expressed by Luciano Patelli, president of Promoberg: “We strongly believe in the FEE project because it concerns one of the excellence sectors of Made in Italy in the world and is born from an effective synergy between Promoberg and a solid and credible representation of pure entertainment operators. With the first edition, we went beyond expectations, filling a 6,500 square meter pavilion, setting up a rich calendar of side events with a lot of participation, and immediately earning the qualification of ‘International’ from the competent institutions. With FEE, it has once again been demonstrated that in-person trade fairs represent an extraordinary and effective meeting opportunity and that venues for face-to-face confrontation are no match for remote alternatives; (the fair, editor’s note) is an extraordinary driving force for business development, but also for the territory, in economic and tourist terms.”

Based on the results achieved, the organization is already working on the second edition, with ambitions aimed at further developing the event and consolidating it as a reference event in Italy and among the leading ones at the international level. This was also confirmed by Alessandro Lama, president of Federamusement Confesercenti and member of the board of directors of the FEE Consortium: “The first trade show dedicated to amusement operators was the prologue of a path that will take us far. Today a fair about and for the amusement-only industry is no longer a dream, it is reality. But we are not resting on our laurels, and we are already working to double the space for the second edition. We already have requests from more international operators.”

Photos Courtesy: TOGO Media

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