Entrepreneur Niko Aitta and his business partner Kari Hirvimäki work with action game machines. Their company ForFun Finland supplies action game machines to events, restaurants, hotels, individuals and companies. Traditionally, action game machines are coin-operated, but as consumers’ payment habits evolve, so must the payment methods. The cooperation between ForFun Finland and Seitatech resulted in the integration of a payment terminal into the action game machine, which both facilitates the maintenance of the machines and lowers the threshold to gamble by eliminating the need to have a €2 coin in the player’s pocket.
The Idea for ForFun Finland was Born With a Friend
ForFun Finland was founded in 2019. The idea of working with action game machines was born with Kari Hirvimäki and they set out to find out what kind of market niche the company could find and where to buy action game machines. As a result of the pandemic, the business quickly came to a halt, but now the business is back on track and the demand is rising.
Adding a Payment Terminal to Action Game Machines
ForFun Finland buys the action game machines from Poland. They do not have integrated payment terminals, all games are coin-operated. Niko Aitta started looking for a reasonable and affordable source of payment terminals for action game machines in Finland. He contacted various companies, but the larger ones were not interested in cooperating. Through Google, he found Seitatech.
Aitta contacted Seitatech and together they started to develop the idea, as there was no ready-made solution. At Seitatech, the pieces were put together for a payment terminal to be installed into an action game machine. After a short break, the prototype was completed and the first payment terminal was installed. Currently, two of the fourteen action game machines at ForFun Finland have a payment terminal, but the plan is to add payment terminals to more machines this year.
Cooperation With Seitatech
Entrepreneur Niko Aitta has nothing but good things to say about the cooperation with Seitatech. Everything has gone very smoothly. The payment terminal makes it easier to play, as not many people carry cash with them these days.The coins are also a big job to count, transport and take to the bank. In smaller municipalities there are no longer banks where you can get change for the machines.
In addition, the payment terminal has increased sales dramatically, up to 40%. Another advantage is the reduction in workload.
“There are some problems with the coin and banknote readers, because they can be loaded with the wrong size of coins or rubbish, which means they need more maintenance. The payment terminal is more maintenance-free. You don’t have to visit the site so many times, and the accounting works by transferring files from one computer to another,” says Niko Aitta.
The range of action games hasn’t changed much. The punching machine is still very popular. And as in the past, hotels, restaurants and shopping centres are looking for small activities like this.
Growth on the Horizon
Niko Aitta believes that now that the pandemic years are over, demand for action gaming will rise. Summers are particularly busy in the industry, with festivals and events taking place all over Finland. For example, this coming summer, there are about 20 potential events listed, but ForFun Finland will only attend 10-15 of them due to not having enough games and staff. ForFun Finland has no employees, but trusted subcontractors are on hand to help during the summer.
In the coming years, the number of action game machines in the company is set to increase, meaning that new machines are on the procurement list. As a result, the close cooperation with Seitatech will continue.