Intercard OmniRay Card Readers Debut at IAAPA 2026

Tap your card, watch the lights go. Intercard, the cashless company behind the iReader you have swiped at a thousand bowling alleys and family entertainment centres, is showing off its brand new OmniRay card readers for the first time at IAAPA Expo in Orlando next week.

There are two models, the OmniRay ONE and the OmniRay PRO, and you will find them on booth S2407 when the show floor opens on 17 November, according to RePlay Magazine.

What’s new

These are the little screens bolted to the front of every game in a card-based arcade, and Intercard says this new range is its next generation of cashless. On its official OmniRay page, Intercard lists a brighter wide-angle display, a flat, slim body and Wi-Fi 6 for busy wireless areas. Both models glow with a full colour light ring around the screen.

	OmniRay ONE	OmniRay PRO
RFID tap	Yes	Yes
Screen	240 x 320	320 x 480 touchscreen
QR code camera	Not listed	Yes
Ethernet	Not listed	Optional
Coins, notes, token pushers	Not listed	Supported
Ticket bridge for redemption	Not listed	Yes

The ONE is pitched at new sites and operators watching the pennies. The PRO is the one for big arcades: the touchscreen lets players choose between several prices (one play or three, for example), and Intercard adds an optional serial port for prize machines and a cable harness for MDB devices.

The new OmniRay range (Picture: Intercard)

Already on location

The PRO readers are already working at The Bank, a beer garden arcade on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. Bryan Hudgens of B&B Entertainment, who installed them, told Intercard the swap was plug-and-play, that the 5 GHz Wi-Fi support was the big win, and that the new readers take up roughly a third of the depth of the old ones.

Intercard CEO Scott Sherrod points out that some of the company’s very first iReaders are still in service, and says a new reader had to earn its place: “We don’t believe in change for change’s sake.”

Our take

Card readers are not the glamorous end of IAAPA, but they are the first thing you touch in a modern arcade, and slow, fiddly readers kill a good night out. Slimmer units, proper 5 GHz Wi-Fi and a touchscreen that offers a cheaper bundle of plays all sound like wins for players as well as operators. IAAPA is shaping up to be a big one this year, with Resident Evil 2 Arcade also making its Western debut. No prices yet; Intercard is asking operators to get in touch for a demo.

Card or coins: which do you prefer at your local arcade? Tell us in the comments.