The Industrial Giant Reborn

Time passed quickly. After more than a month of testing and several optimizations by Woz, the final motherboard and internal software of the Snake Arcade were finalized. Chen Zhiwen immediately ordered to purchase 300 sets of motherboards from related companies in the United States. Various other hardware materials are also prepared.

On April 15, 300 arcade machines were installed, 270 of which were shipped to the United States by sea, and 30 were sent to the United States by air. After arriving in the United States, these arcade machines were quickly delivered to 30 arcades in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. Inside the large bar.

These bars are all customers of Red Bull, and they are very familiar with the Red Bull business team. After telling a company that they want to put an arcade machine in their bar for market testing, they can also get half of the profits. Naturally, they agreed, and there was no harm to them. If they can make a small profit, they will do it naturally.

Ted is the owner of a bar on Queen Street in New York City. He has opened this bar for more than ten years. It has a large area of ​​2,000 square feet. It is the largest bar nearby, and most of the nearby residents are also his regular customers. .

"Cheng, it's only afternoon, what are you doing here?" Ted was doing some tax calculations, and when he saw the people outside the bar, he asked curiously.

"Here is a gift for you." Cheng Weibin, the representative of Midea, said with a smile.

"What gift? You brought Red Bull puree?" Ted asked.

"No, the game console I mentioned last time has arrived." Cheng Weibin shook his head and said.

"Game console? Arriving so soon? Didn't you say it's still in Hong Kong last week?" Ted stood up, and he saw someone carrying a big thing outside.

"It was shipped by air, and I spent a few days at the customs. I got it this morning and sent it over." Cheng Weibin said.

"Oh my god, are you airlifting such a big and heavy thing? Are you out of your mind?" Ted looked shocked. He had to struggle for a long time whether to send a small box by air, because the price was too expensive. A few dollars for a kilo.

"Our boss is very rich." Cheng Weibin shrugged and said, "And the air transport of large items is different from small items!"

"Well, you're right, rich people generally don't care about money." Ted shrugged and handed over a bottle of beer. Even if it's not at night, as long as you come to a bar, you have to drink something. This is the habit of the whole of America .

The two watched the installer push the arcade machine in. There are universal wheels under the arcade machine. Only when there is a change in height, several people need to lift it together. Under the arrangement of the boss Ted, the arcade machine was placed at the door of the bathroom facing It is about 2 meters outside, and this is also a place with a very large flow of people inside the bar, second only to the bar.

Power on, boot up, the relevant personnel have already been trained, and within a minute, the game interface has been opened.

"Greedy Snake (greedy snake)?" Ted looked at the name of the game and asked.

"Yes, the name of this arcade game is Snake Snake." Cheng Weibin smiled, and then told the general gameplay of the game to the people around him.

"It's very simple, let me try." After hearing this, Ted understood. He took out a wallet from his body, flipped through it, found a 25-cent coin, and put it into the game machine.

"Start." Ted said confidently. As a bar owner, he has also played a lot of arcade machines, which can be regarded as quite experienced. After the new game, naturally he has to try it himself to know whether it is good or not.

Cheng Weibin on the side smiled and said nothing. Although they are salesmen of Red Bull, the demand for Red Bull in the United States has always been greater than the production capacity, and there is no worry about selling them. Therefore, when the company decided to help the brother company sell new products, They were arranged to return to Hong Kong as early as last month, where they learned theoretical knowledge and practical operations before being sent back to the United States.

Ted played very vigorously. At the beginning, the snake body was relatively short, the space was large enough, and the food was scattered. It was not difficult at all, but what he didn't know was that this was a deliberate design of the game. In the early stage, the snake had to grow Hurry up, it's in the game's interest.

There are also points in the upper right corner of the interface, which records the length of the snake, allowing players to have an intuitive understanding of their scores.

A minute later, the game snake controlled by Ted became longer and longer, and he also discovered the problem, that is, it was too difficult to operate, and the location where the food appeared became more and more remote.

After a while, Ted, who had lost control, hit the snake's head on his own tail.

"Unfortunately, no, I want to play another game." Ted was a little dissatisfied with the result of his failure, and continued to take out his wallet to find coins, but he couldn't find any.

"Here is the key, and inside is the coin you just had." Cheng Weibin opened a small door from the side and took out the coin.

"Your game is much more interesting and operable than Arkanoid." Ted returned from the game state to the merchant state. He has played many kinds of arcade games, and the best before was Arkanoid. The characteristic is that it can control the position of the ball to control the direction of the ball movement, but this is still an indirect control, and the operation of the snake is obviously a direct operation, which can give people stronger stimulation, more refreshing feeling, and Stronger competitiveness, especially under the urging of alcohol and a bunch of friends in the bar, it is estimated that the coin is thrown as if it is not money.

"How much does this arcade machine cost?" Ted then asked.

"I don't know, I really don't know the price." Cheng Weibin shook his head and said: "The order from above is to put it in each bar for free for a few days, and the profit obtained will be shared with the bar owner."

Midea's executives really didn't tell them the prices of these people. In fact, they can figure it out after thinking about it. The price can only be an estimate, and the specifics must wait until the test results come out.

"Okay, let's put it away for a few days, and I'll buy it if it's fun." Ted thought for a while and said, if he didn't agree, the person in front of him would also find someone else. There are many hotels in New York City, and there are some hotels bigger than his Quite a lot, and it’s close to the water. If this arcade machine really attracts a large group of people, then you have to buy it first. One is that you can make more money, and the other is that it may attract more people. Customers come over.

"This is a short-term storage contract, only one page, and the content is relatively simple, please read it." Cheng Weibin handed over a page.

Ted took the paper and glanced at it. Basically, the content is relatively simple. The equipment is owned by a company owned by the United States. It will be operated in the bar for 3-5 days. The bar will be responsible for the electricity bill and the coins obtained. Avoid causing some disputes.

"How much does this thing cost?" Ted frowned.

"750W, not much, just a TV." Cheng Weibin said.

"That's fine, it's not a problem." Ted didn't care. Electricity in the United States is not expensive. Even after the oil crisis, the impact of electricity prices is not great.

Cheng Weibin glanced at his watch and said with a smile, "Ted, you need to prepare a large batch of quarters."

...

"Ding ding ding" a phone rang, Cheng Weibin immediately put down the newspaper in his hand, picked up the phone, and said after hearing the voice from the opposite side: "Hello, who is it?"

Ted's voice came from the phone, saying, "Cheng, your machine seems to be broken!"

"What? The machine is broken?"

Cheng Weibin was taken aback. After leaving for half a day, the equipment broke down.

After hanging up the phone, he immediately called the engineer from Hong Kong, and then went to the bar by himself.

"What's the problem?" Cheng Weibin asked quickly after seeing Ted.

"Over there, it's useless to throw a coin in. It seems to be blocked." Ted pointed and said.

"Blocked?" Cheng Weibin frowned. In the training last month, he probably knew the whole structure. The coin recognition device is the most prone to problems on the equipment, because this technology is directly borrowed from Japan. over here.

The two walked to the side of the arcade. At this moment, there were still a few blond young men standing around. Cheng Weibin leaned over to open the coin door lock, and suddenly felt a weight coming down, and countless 25-cent coins fell out of the box. down.

"So many?" This is what everyone is thinking at the moment, and Cheng Weibin is also shocked. The boxes inside are fixed, and they are stored neatly, which can hold almost 1,000 coins. The discount is about five or six hundred.

It's only 11 o'clock, the nightlife has just started, and this arcade machine has made more than 100 dollars?

Ted was also shocked. He had only seen people at the arcade before, but he didn't care too much. After all, the most important thing in a bar is to drink. A few hours later, he heard someone report that the arcade was broken. , The coins couldn't be stuffed in, so he subconsciously thought that the hardware inside was broken, but he never expected that the box would be full of coins.

"I have to suggest to Hong Kong that the coin storage box should be bigger." Cheng Weibin thought to himself.

"Wow wow wow" Other people around cast curious eyes. Although they were not short of money, they were still shocked by the appearance of hundreds of coins.

"Put it away first." Cheng Weibin began to collect the coins, and Ted went to the front to get a basket and put the coins on the front desk.

The two put away the coins, put them in again, and the machine started working again as normal, and the young people around immediately gathered again.

After the coin was withdrawn from the bar, Ted frowned and said, "Now that the coin has been taken out by me, how will you determine the actual profit of the arcade?"

"Don't worry about it. The background of the device has daily actual data, and it will also record how many coins have been invested in a day." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"That's not bad." Ted paused in his heart. With this function, it will be convenient for him to manage in the future. After all, the bar's arcade machine income is only a small part of the arcade machine. The counter is the key point, and he can't keep an eye on it. As for the arcade machine, the previous daily income was just a rough estimate for comparison. If someone took away 5% or 10% of the daily income, he would not know.

When the people around saw that the equipment was ready, they asked impatiently if they could continue playing, and Ted naturally stepped aside.

Cheng Weibin also went to the bar. Ted gave him a free beer and asked, "Chen, what is the price of this arcade machine? You really don't know?"

Cheng Weibin took a sip of beer and said, "Well, I heard that the price is about 3,000 US dollars, maybe more, are you interested?"

"$3,000?" Ted couldn't help being speechless. The monthly net profit of such a big bar is about the same amount. Such a simple device costs $3,000. Dollar.

However, looking at the coins he had just recovered, Ted was still very excited after silent calculations. He could earn more than one hundred dollars a day. It is true that this is the first day and there are more people playing, but his bar traffic is still Not small, in the future, even if the income is thirty or forty dollars a day, the cost will be earned back in three months, and then it will be a pure profit.

"Ted, we have known each other for more than a year, and I can tell you a piece of our internal data." Cheng Weibin suddenly said in a low voice and mysteriously.

"What data?" Ted suddenly became interested.

Cheng Weibin said: "In the past two months, the Hong Kong headquarters invited thousands of students and adults to play this game in Hong Kong, and also bought the recently popular Arkanoid. Snake’s interest is far more than that of Arkanoid or other arcade machines in the US market, and the patience for the game is much stronger. Many people can continue to play for a long time, far more than Arkanoid, but it is free to play Under the circumstances, the charging still depends on the data tested in the bar now."

"Free charging only affects the number of times everyone plays, and the interest should still be the same." Ted said.

"Well, that's what we guessed too." Cheng Weibin nodded and said.

"Then how many days are you going to put in my bar?" Ted asked. He didn't care about it before, but now that he is making so much money, he naturally needs to understand clearly.

"3 days. You know how big New York is and how many bars there are. We are only allocated 10 tables. A bar is open for three days on average. In a month, we can only choose 100 bars." Cheng Weibin said .

"3 days!" Ted was a little bit reluctant, but this is also true. There are too many bars in New York City. This is a place for Americans to pass the time when they are bored. There's probably one on every street in Los Angeles.

"Hong Kong has already started large-scale production, and it will be available in the United States after a while." Cheng Weibin said with a smile.

"Then if there is any stock, please give it to me first." Ted said quickly, considering the interest of the crowd today, he concluded that this game will definitely become popular, because now the brick breakers and gamers near the Snake Arcade Almost no one cares about ping-pong. A bunch of people gathered around the Snake Arcade to watch the players play, and at the same time, a few people kept giving instructions on how to go.

"No problem, how many sets do you want, let me remember first." Cheng Weibin asked.

"How many?" Ted twitched in his heart. One set costs US$3,000, and a few sets can cost tens of thousands of dollars. This is not a small sum, but if you buy less, isn't it a loss to make less money?

"Ted, if you are under financial pressure, you can apply for a loan from Citibank. Our company has already negotiated with Citibank, and you can go directly to the loan, and the bank will provide 70% of the funds." Cheng Weibin said in advance.

"Like a car loan?" Ted asked.

"Yes." Cheng Weibin said with a smile: "Well, I'll write it down first, and you can decide how many units to buy after we've settled on the price."

"Okay, thank you, brother." Ted patted the opponent's shoulder and laughed.

PS: This chapter is for today!