RePlay Magazine Podcast with Rich Babich
RePlay Magazine Podcast with Rich Babich
This RePlay Magazine Podcast episode just might be from the most exotic location we’ll ever have as Randy Chilton visits with Game Exchange of Colorado’s Rich Babich, who was docked in Bora Bora at the time of the chat. Rich and his wife of 50 years, Bev, were celebrating last year’s golden anniversary with a 4-and-a-half-month cruise, seeing the world. On the business side, Rich has sure seen the world of coin-op change over his almost five decades in the industry, which started on the operations side. Today, his distributorship sells just about as many games to the industry as he does to the home enthusiast. (The retail side of things has been built up by his son JJ.) And did you know that back in the 1980s, Rich was also a manufacturer for a bit? He teamed up with an engineer to develop Hot Seat, which he said was the first dual-axle motion simulator. There is much to this conversation from his early days in the industry, working with family, the importance for our industry to give back to the children and families who play our games and more. Give it a listen!
Kineticist’s take
Rich Babich recounts 50 years building Colorado Game Exchange into a major pinball distributor by focusing on niche markets and community relationships.
Synopsis
Rich Babich, founder of Colorado Game Exchange and owner of Automated Amusements, discusses his 50-year career in coin-op entertainment and amusement distribution. He shares his journey from starting a route operator in Denver to building one of North America's largest pinball dealers, his strategic pivot away from commercial FEC competition toward residential and barcade niches, and his recent induction into the AAMA Hall of Fame. The conversation covers family business principles, his relationship with NBA players, and the industry's evolution from Japanese-dominated to American-made manufacturers.
Highlights
- Colorado Game Exchange is one of the largest dealers of pinballs in North America
- Business is approximately 50% residential home sales and 50% commercial (FEC/operators)
- Stern Pinball and another manufacturer (Roth/Rills) are among his top 4-5 suppliers and are made-in-America companies
- The four large competitors (ABS, Schaefer, Moss, Betson) dominate FEC market by hitting volume thresholds that unlock back-end manufacturer money
- Colorado Game Exchange probably sells as many new pinballs as the four large competitors combined
- Rich Babich was inducted into the AAMA Hall of Fame (with co-chair Rick Kirby creating the Hall of Fame seven years prior)
- Automated Amusements grew from zero to the largest independent operator in Colorado over approximately 10 years
- National Company (Terry Davis company) made an offer to acquire Automated Amusements at the largest weekly multiplier they'd ever offered
- The barcade niche consists partly of former home pinball enthusiasts whose spouses wanted them to reduce home machines, leading them to open commercial barcade venues
- Nickel Play arcade customers spend $9.22 average per visit and stay just under 2 hours on average, vs. mall arcade customers spending $8-9 for 20-25 minutes
Entities
- ABS· company
- Automated Amusements· company
- Betson· company
- Colorado Game Exchange· company
- Funway Freeway· company
- Kittleton Genda· company
- Moss· company
- National Company· company
- Replay Magazine· company
- Schaefer Group· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- AAMA· organization
- AMOA· organization
- Dikembe Mutombo· person
- Gary Stern· person
- JJ Babich· person
- Randy Chilton· person
- Rich Babich· person
- Rick Kirby· person