Coasting in the Casino

Prolific inventor Bill Kitchen turns his proven talents toward gaming. By: David McKee

lame it on the Air Force. Or maybe it was B skydiving. Somewhere along the line, the thrill bug bit William Kitchen, turning him into a prolific inventor. It all began 30 years ago in his living room, with a model for a thrillride prototype made out of broom handles and G.I. Joe parts. “At the time, my girlfriend looked at this ride …and told me I was absolutely crazy,” Kitchen recalls. “Nevertheless I built one and people lined up all day to get on it. I patented it and it became Skycoaster, the fastest-selling ride in the world. They’re in almost every Six Flags park, every Cedar Fair park and smaller seaside parks, everywhere from Sweden to New Zealand.”

That was many thrill-ride inventions ago. Kitchen’s post-military career initially took him into radio but once the thrills caught hold broadcasting just didn’t have the same allure. His initial venture was into the bungee-jump business, “but the bungee business got a bad reputation, mainly because people were being very careless.” That’s when he started tinkering with broom handles and action figures. “I sold the Skycoaster company and all the franchising rights and decided to try something I thought was even more exciting and that was an indoor skydiving machine that would allow people to replicate the excitement of jumping out of an airplane.” That attraction became iFly, the indoor Skydiving attraction known worldwide.

has found a way of combining the physical thrill of

What elements make for a good thrill ride?

We have a philosophy. Number one, it has to be safe. We never want to hurt anybody and although probably around 50 million people have ridden the rides I’ve invented, there’s never been any machinecaused fatalities or even serious injuries. Secondly, it must be fun and provide an experience instead of the same old thing people have been riding for a hundred years. Even the rollercoaster’s gotten bigger, faster and higher. The UniCoaster is a completely new concept because it’s an interactive ride. What makes this so brilliant is that you’re sitting on a seat which is part of the axis of a large wheel. As the wheel spins, the riders themselves can control the action. There’s a handle between the two riders that both can grip, and they can choose whether to flip forwards or backwards and how fast. The harder you press Bill Kitchen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ThrillRides the handle, the faster it will flip in either direction. In fact,

Again, success. Kitchen sold that second company testing when a guy and his girlfriend began to have a and formed US Thrill Rides, whose products include disagreement on how fast this thing would flip. They the PolerCoaster (one was just approved in Orlando, gripped the handles so hard and fought over it so Florida) where riders blast up to the top of a tower, much they actually broke the handle. So we had to go then careen ‘coaster-style’ wildly down the outside. A back and redesign the handle so it would be peoplesky shot and rollercoaster in one. A PolerCoaster was proof when they’re fighting over the control. That’s planned for the Tropicana Las Vegas but the casino part of the fun, by the way. One person says, ‘Let’s has changed hands several times (as it is wont to do), flip,’ and the other says, ‘No, no. No more.’ And the putting the project on hold. In the meantime, Kitchen other one says, ‘OK, let’s flip backwards.’ it occurred during the early a rollercoaster with the mental one of roulette: the Is your typical rider more concerned with speed, UniCoaster Roulette-Style, currently being developed inversion or something new? for casinos. We caught up with him at his Florida Absolute speed is always part of it. People have made headquarters. rollercoasters now that exceed 80 miles an hour. But they have to be very large. They cost tens of millions

of dollars. What really creates the most fun is the changing of speed and direction and G-loads, and the UniCoaster provides all of that at a much slower speed.

How long does it typically take to develop a new ride?

It takes about three years from the time of the initial idea to where you prototype it, you determine that it’s safe and thrilling, and we always wind up building the first one ourselves and operating, because mallpark operators are always skeptical about being the first to buy something. The Unicoaster has been proven in several locations, but it is themed differently. One example is Nickelodeon’s “Brain Surge” at the Mall of America. How is the UniCoaster able to offer rollercoaster-style thrills at 20 percent of the price? The Unicoaster has already been proven as a hit ride around the US. Now the “Roulette Style” is the next evolution, adding the excitement of the gaming undustry into a compact, roller-coaster style thrill“ Because it’s smaller. That’s an advantage because it will fit machine suitable for any entertainment venue. both indoors and outdoors. It’ll I had seen interesting and unusual themes that the fit in a space that’s only 60 feet in diameter. Along the way, I realized that there was a great potential here to create the first gaming machine What is your favorite element of this coaster and that you could actually ride, that would combine all why? the thrills that had been proven on the UniCoaster The interactivity, the fact that the riders themselves but themed just like a roulette wheel. We created the can choose the action of the ride. Every time you ride concept, worked out the computer programming it, it’s different. so that where it stops—and who knows where?—is What was the inspiration for turning it into a giant is well under construction now at our factory. We will casino game? hopefully be able to ship the first one in December. chosen by a random-number generator. The first one buyers had already developed. I was looking for By what means does one ‘win’ when riding the something even more exciting to do with the theming coaster? and I guess it was watching a roulette wheel at New The variables are similar to what occurs when the York-New York in Las Vegas when I hit on the idea ball rolls on a roulette wheel, except we have two of theming it as a casino game. We started work variables. Number one: The giant, rolling wheel stops on the idea and the theming, and then put one into on the track on a certain number. It can be Red production. 24. Then, the very top of the wheel is shaped like

a roulette wheel as well and so, when it stops, the want the owners to have exclusivity in that particular Big ideas are nothing new for Kitchen and US ThrillRides, the mastermind behind the upcoming tallest rollercoaster in the world “ pointer at the top will point toward the number. So you market where they’re operating. We won’t sell a have two variables. Where it stops each time the ride duplicate in that market unless the same owner buys is ridden and where the pointer points, which makes it it. Secondly, we use our patents to prevent anyone a game of chance. else from creating a ride like it. The actual motion and the shape of the ride are covered by worldwide

How often can you play this in an hour? utility patents. Then also there are design patents,

Fifteen rides an hour. The ride duration is 120 seconds. depending on the theming of this ride. We’re able

So that’s two minutes but it takes two minutes to to control the distribution, like many other kinds of unload the ride, load the next one, so the whole cycle rides where one person buys one and it becomes takes four minutes. successful, then someone else can’t buy one from a different manufacturer and give the UniCoaster much

Where do you intend to debut the game? more competition. We think it’s better for the owner to

That depends on the first buyer. Our hope is by the have exclusivity in the marketplace. time this first one is ready to ship we have several Getting back to where the first one will be, we’re buyers lined up because when we sell our rides, we pretty excited about the fact that we’ll have several

buyers before the first one is even shipped. Even if we didn’t, we’d just install one ourselves because it’s so profitable. Lease financing is already available. In a good location, the payback could be from 50 to 100 percent of the investment in the first year.

What regulatory approvals has it received at this point?

It’s not yet been approved as a casino game. That means that, particularly in Las Vegas, the approval is going to be expensive and it’s going to take a while. So we expect that, if it’s installed in Las Vegas, you won’t be able to bet on the outcome but the casino in a fun park-type location can offer a prize, like the world’s biggest teddy bear, without it having to be approved as a gaming device.

How is it compatible with the new mandate for social distancing?

That’s important. In fact, we have the spacing between the cars that are required by social distancing. We have also modified the ride with a shield in the back of each rider to reduce airborne-spread aerosols by a person screaming, and they do scream a lot on the UniCoaster! And, of course, to maintain social distancing you wouldn’t ride with a stranger. If you come with someone with whom you’re partnered or already married to or part of the same family, then you’re not concerned about sitting shoulder-toshoulder on an amusement ride.

What is the status of your PolerCoaster projects in Las Vegas and Atlantic City?

It’s been a lot slower than we hoped it would be and a lot of it is due to the regulatory process. It’s also due to the fact that it’s very expensive. The Orlando PolerCoaster will—without any theming or buildings or land or anything else—cost $150 million. The Las Vegas and Atlantic City ones will be smaller but are still tens of millions of dollars. The processes of finding a location and fundraising sometimes takes years. We have licensed already those three markets and expect them to come online in the next few years.

Is there something about the Unicoaster RouletteStyle that makes it particularly well-suited to gaming destinations?

Yes, they’re compact size and the fact that they look like a giant roulette wheel. That should add an The Unicoaster is the result of countelss hours of research and testing in order to take the most important “ aspects of a rollercoaster and compress them into a ride that is safe, economical, appealing and can be built everywhere

excitement to the casino, whether it’s part of the gaming floor or hotel lobby, for example on Fremont Street, It would be an exciting draw to pull people in. You know how in Las Vegas for years they had all sorts of exciting things going on in the front of the hotels. There was the pirate-ship war at Treasure Island, for example. That attraction costs a fortune every year to run. So imagine a high-traffic location where the “roulette” UniCoaster provides excitement, and makes a profit! The patrons can enter from the front and exit right into the casino. It’d be fun to watch and be a big draw.