Penny for 'em! - Coinslot, February 2006
Cosmic takes more holistic view to distribution with move towards gaming.
 CVA is working hard to evolve and add to its distribution lines rather than change the face of its business per se. The latest game to join its eclectic portfolio hails from the Nova Productions team.
As Part of a new brief to broaden out its product portfolio, Cosmic Video Amusements(CVA) has taken on a fresh distribution line that directs the firm into gaming - an area it has previously eschewed.

The company will be handling Nova Productions' BigTop 20 Super Penny Arcade three-player, a game that challenges conventional thinking on Category D and certainly got the industry talking at the recent ATEI.

The big question doing the rounds predictably focused on the legal parameters of the game. One half of the creative team behind the machine,Peter Robinson, remains steadfast in the view that Big Top 20 is a game that can be comfortably operated without fear of recrimination.

"The machine is legal," he commented."We're waiting for official guidelines from the Gambling Commission but they have seen it.

They have looked at the machine and any issues that they had have been taken care of. As it stands today the game is lawful and there have been no objections from the Commission:'

CVA boss Terry Farr was clearly delighted at acquiring the three-player arcade game and in the process, being given the opportunity to work with the Nova team. "In recent times we've been working as exclusive distributors for Global VR;' he said, "and we've had some good arcade product with them.
And it follows that as we embrace new product sectors such as gaming that we get the best equipment that's available.

"I have huge admiration of Peter Robinson and David Jones. They always bring out something innovative and creative and this is the first opportunity I've had to distribute for them. I see it as a massive privilege - they make fabulous games and it's people like them who are pushing back the boundaries."

There is no doubting the fact that the most innovative games are always the ones that offer more of a challenge to established thinking, and BigTop 20 drops neatly into that controversial category. But according to Farr, the static nature of the business calls for a product that is radically different."You've got a single site business that's got nothing to spend and an arcade business that's reluctant to spend," he added,"and the only thing that will kick start the business is something like this that is innovative and creative.
All the video skills that they (Nova Productions) have learned have been brought to bear in the way that the game plays and the coins roll down. It's a stunning piece of kit."