25/12/2025
Christmas Message 2025
‘Reflection’
Born with just the skin on our back our parents welcome us into the world, full of joy, happiness and hope. Their struggles and their pain were put aside one time to create us, and through passion we arrive in this mortal coil.
The circle of life as we like to phrase it, and the journeys that we all entail are varied but almost always uncertain, which can be a blessing when you reflect on it.
Whatever you do, wherever you are life will be full of regrets, missed opportunities or bad judgement. This is how we learn and go forward, but we are all guilty of being dismissive of what we are told and advised, we must make our mistakes on our own and often learn the hard way.
For me, personally, I have no regrets but just reflection. I like to consider if the right call was made, if the doubts that I may have had were a good hunch or a bad call. The best gift that someone can have is to be kind.
Whether your friend or foe it’s best to use that relationship as intended, friends stick together no matter what. If someone does cross the line to be foe, then let them be, don’t embarrass yourself by taking cheap shots at them, our playground days are behind us.
Be hopeful, sometimes the chips may be down and there is all too often no easy way out, look closely though, and closer still; there is always a way through.
This year, 2025, has been a rough ride but one that I would ride again and again, because it was a breakthrough year.
The year started off with us teasing you all of a new arcade, and the climb was beginning just then, the highs and acceleration of what was yet to come was leading us to the stratosphere. It was exciting, a real buzz and above all we were strengthening the team and soon to be bolstering our arcades and games out there for all to enjoy.
Up she went, the rollercoaster that we had got on, click click click, higher and higher, wow, we can almost touch the sky..
The workload for pigeon was intense and the pressure so immense that it was like we were under a spell whilst being suppressed with the most heaviest of weights on us.
We got through and with hiccups along the way, banana skins to make us slip and slide, we pushed on, and in true British spirit, carried on regardless.
Behind the scenes we had some emerging problems begin to rear their head, and although duly noted, we kept them under as much muted control as possible expecting inevitable dilution of duty. We kept focused and allowed what was being fired at us to be absorbed, at that time it was only like being hit with a spud gun, so nippy, but not too harsh.
Portsmouth being delayed and brought the resurrection of a troll (known by many in the community) and of course the promotion of alternative establishments in the mix.. bit cheap, but each to their own. This kinda thing has been going on and although the track ‘hangin tough’ from the 90s is in my mind (and they did fizzle out) ,it is what the world is today.
Back in 2009 when we started this journey, the internet had already gripped but social media was not as rife as it is today. We used to have our own forum, websites and frequented other well know forums too. Youtube was a thing but it wasn't as populated as it is today with content creators. I never will forget the first time I saw a now well known YouTuber in our arcade and he had pieces of paper to give various shout outs to on their videos, quite impressive when you see it for the first time.
So great exposure, great showcasing and awesome build on the community gives great benefits to the players that cannot make it to the arcades. Like the coin in our pockets, there is always a flip side. It is when someone takes it upon themself to cause you issues, although if you have been going as long as we have, the REAL customers will rebound it like we do, it does make the troller/keyboard warrior look a fool and if you have not seen it before, hurts until you become resilient. Sadly (and the first three letters there are apt) it is life now in the social media world where the weak and weird have a voice, and ‘the strong’ are the ones who speak face to face and stand shoulder to shoulder with those under attack.
One of the worst attributes is slyness or use of lying. Going into 2026 without this is already going to ensure that it’s a better year, and it will be a case of let the fans begin. Nobody needs an Adrian ‘….‘ Working against them.
Some of you may think that we have aspirations for a new arcade in 2026, and that is very possible, we have reached a crossroads now and we need to spin the wheel to see which direction to take. Equally other roads that lead to different routes are possible, which one we take will be seen, all in good time.
What we have needed to do, which is an unprecedented move for us is invest into a different aspect of our operations to ensure that the ship is watertight. In this we have had many meetings and had to bring in many procedures to ensure that we can take action, as and when necessary to keep the ship at sail, as you grow as a force, inevitably there are forces rising against you.
To be a good team, you kind of need to be like a good army, prepared to battle and prepared to defend. War doesn’t determine who is right but who is left, this is a quote from the Confucius on Mortal Wombat by Impulse Gaming.
So it’s times like Christmas where emotions run deep and the wish to see a loved one grows significantly and burns like the brightest star.
For many of us this year, our heart will be longing for someone who is no longer here, physically anyway. This is always a hard sense of pain to carry and it fades, perhaps in time, but returns when one finds themselves needing that 5 minute chat they crave for.
Life is all about making things count, not dragging yourself down with petty things and stupid vindictive provocation. It’s all about standing tall, brushing it off and moving on, those who wish to move with you; will do.
Our message to you all this year is to take care of one another, be there and be kind. Reflection is something that comes to us all, even the cruelest of people out there, and often for them it’s when they are totally isolated.
Amelia and I would like to thank you all for all of the wonderful kindness, support and loyalty that have show us all over the 16 wonderful years. It’s been a rough old ride this one, and it’s been only possible with YOU. Some of you do not realise how much your own characters and personality’s have lifted us from the doldrums and enabled us to keep spinning the reels. Sometimes we have been so low, that we didn’t think we could peel ourselves off the floor, but you people have done it for us.
We sincerely hope that we have given you all some great memories and have made you happy enjoying classic fruit machines again.
We hope to see many of you on the 27th December 2025 in our Bognor Regis arcade. We would like to thank the many people that came to Reel Fruits Christmas party this year and so those who also went out drinking afterwards (until 4am lol). It had been a while since I woke up to a kebab and considered eating it for breakfast!
Thanks for your support, standing with us, and for being on the same rollercoaster ride as we are.
All of our love & Happy Christmas to you all
Dave & Amelia xx
Written in loving memory of Brenda who was not only one of the Gravesend originals but was our dear friend. We will miss you so much, don’t you dare streak everything in the arcade in the sky, until we meet again xx
