Every location developer likes to suggest that their creation is “a new concept,” but so rarely is that actually borne out. Cynic though I am, I have to say that Fundora in Istanbul’s Asian side of the Bosphorus, has come closest to it in my 58 years’ experience in this industry.
Around 1,000sq.m of space is devoted to soft play a prodigious quantity of high-value real estate to devote to entertaining our smallest guests, but that forms what can only be regarded as a template from which the rest of the industry would be well advised to follow.
Fundora was only ten days into its existence when I visited, but its developer, Trio Games Group of Istanbul, has carefully balanced every conceivable piece of available data to conclude that this new FEC is going to set fresh trends.
Yes, it has games, 100 of them in total, the latest and the most sought after on the international market, ranging from kiddie rides to fast-action video simulators, from ticket redemption to football tables. It also has the widest range of VR games with the highest-earning cashboxes in Turkey, as Trio’s founder Taylan Özbek was first to bring the new concept into the country.
But Fundora isn’t even Trio Games’ own operation. It is just the latest of the group’s turnkey projects, having been built for a group of investors who have utilised Trio Games’ 23 years of history in the FEC sector to build them the latest and the greatest, no holds barred, high-technology family entertainment centre, not just in Turkey, but rivalling anything anywhere else currently on the market.
The location is part of a retail complex, but not a shopping mall as such; it was formerly a major sports equipment and fashion store in a section of Istanbul’s middle-class suburbs.
A high-potential footfall was key to Trio’s calculations of the multitude of factors that combined to set the project on the road from the drawing board.
“We have covered every angle,” said Trio vice president and son of founder Taylan, Gökberk Ulukan Özbek. “Months of pre-design work went into the feasibility study, and then the design concept was put on to paper before we gutted the two-floor 5,000sq.m building.
“We have themed it as futuristic but put in traditional amusements as well as the high-technology products; we have a set of bumper cars, for example, because they are fun and families love them.”
But what sets Fundora apart is its soft play: 1,000sq.m of thoughtful content way, way more than one would normally find attributed to the entertainment of younger guests.
“We looked at the average Turkish family,” said Cemile Tiryakiler, a director of Trio Games Group, “and they tend to visit an FEC as a unit. But obviously they range in ages, so it was important to offer them attractions that appealed to the two-year-olds as much as to the five-year-olds and equally appealing but different attractions for those up to 12 years.
“They all react differently – according to their ages to what is on offer, so it is important to address every member of the family and not just offer a token soft play area and assume that the two-year-old and a 10-year-old will equally like it.”
Trio Games worked with its specialised project design team on building soft play areas and had the Fundora complex built to its own specifications and up to a very high quality.
A series of sections each host a different attraction, from a two-storey house with working kitchen, to a ball pit with a bazooka gun capable of spraying the light balls around. There is a ninja obstacle course for the older kids, a high technology interactive wall with Al overtones where children can play games simply by running hands over it; there is a driving course with pedal cars, a room of foot-to-floor competitive challenges, another of climbing frames and slides; one of giant screens with interactive group games.
Arranged alongside these sections and rooms are series of seats for parents to sit and watch their offspring-served with coffee, of course.
Fundora has its trampolines, climbing walls and other immersive experience rooms, plus birthday party rooms offset by a welcoming stage for celebrating children and live entertainment to go with it, all themed in soft colours and skilful lighting effects.
“We looked at the average Turkish family and they tend to visit an FEC as a unit. But obviously they range in ages, so it was important to offer them attractions that appealed to the two-year-olds as much as to the five-year-olds and equally appealing but different attractions for those up to 12 years.”
Cemile Tiryakiler, director at Trio Games Group Özhan Özdinç, who is manager of Fundora, said: “I knew what Trio was capable of as I was there for several years and have retained a close connection with the family and the company. I wanted to see our investors get something really new and really different- and I am happy that we have.” Semnox, he said, is a company that is well familiar to Trio as the group acts as a distributor.
“We wanted a system adapted to our exact needs, and Semnox provided it. Now we can track our customers and reward them for celebrations. As it is, we have provided a series of packages available to them, giving bonuses for their purchases. At the top end, a family can buy a TRY10,000 (US$253) package and get the same value as a bonus.
“At the other end a TRY3,000 investment gets them TRY3,700 in value. Games range in price of play from TRY60 up to TRY150.”
Trio Games Group has carefully calculated that the new location will attract an average of 1,000 guests per day to enjoy its multitude of entertainment options.
So far, it said, its calculations have been somewhat on the modest side, for its expectations have been more than matched by the cashboxes.
But Trio is no more than pleasantly surprised for it has considerable experience of building FECs-and running them. Over 100 projects are to its credit, in Turkey mainly, but also in other countries in different regions.
But in Turkey itself, the company has built its reputation and its own operating successes, in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya and Bursa.
Most of them are in shopping malls, the traditional home of FECs and, says Ulukan, likely to remain so. “Yes, shopping malls have competition from online retail, but Turkey is not the US or Western Europe, the demographics are different, the people are different and we see small chance that their practice of going out as a family group to a shopping mall for retail and entertainment will ever fade.”
The country has around 1,000 FECS, he said, mostly in malls, many long-established and some since the pandemic investing in refurbishments to bring them up to modern-day standards.
A typical FEC cannot be quantified, as they are all subject to different conditions and influences but may have around 60 amusement devices with supporting entertainment such as soft play, trampolines and bowling.
Its largest undertaking was the building of Hupalupa, a massive 11,000sq.m FEC, also in Istanbul.
But it also has influence in what is actually operated in the Turkish market, with the rights to distribute Sega, Triotech, Sacoa, Bandai Namco, Semnox, LAI, ICE, Kalkomat and Raw Thrills, leading Trio Games to present the largest stand by some measure at the annual ATRAX exhibition, Turkey’s main trade show usually held in February.
The country has to cope with import duty on amusement machines of over 60 per cent, which means that the progressive attitude of Trio’s investors in Fundora are putting their faith and their hard cash into building something for the future.
With 18 million people within its catchment area of Istanbul, the location has every prospect of succeeding and repaying that faith.
Source : https://www.intergameonline.com/
