Atari Coin Connection

Issue: Vol 5 Num 01 - 1981 January

VOLUME 5
NUMBER 1
JANUARY 1981
Atari Unveils New Games
at International Shows
tari welcomed the new
year by exhibiting at two
international shows in
Europe in January. The annual
Amusement Trades Exhibition,
held in London from January
12-15, was a large and very
successful exhibition, with op-
erators and distributors from all
over Europe in attendance. The
ATE was held for the first time
at the Olympia. Atari products
were exhibited and demonstra-
ted by the two Atari distributors
for the U.K.: Music Hire Group
and Ruffler & Deith.
The high point of the show was
Atari 's introduction of two exciting
new video games to be released later
th is year.
Red Baron™ is Atari's latest com-
bat challenge. The player is a WWI
fighter pilot sea rching the skies for
the enemy. The horizon tilts and shifts
as the player maneuvers the joystick.
The flight simulation is so authentic,
the playe r will think he's actually en-
gaged in a classic WWI "dogfight",
w ith enemy biplanes and observation
blimps appearing on the screen to
shoot him out of the sky. The real ity is
further enhanced by Atari's unique
QuadraScan™ "3-D " screen graphics
and exciting sound effects. Red Baron
is a true flying sensation, a new chal-
lenge that will be available in both up-
right and sit-down cabinets.
Atari 's other new entry is War-
lords™, a new cocktail video for one,
two, three or four players. It's a game
of medieval defense and conquest.
Players must defend their king, de-
f end castle wal Is and destroy the ene-
my warlord. With the aid of his power
stone the player can "catch " a fire-
bal l and redirect it , aiming it at the
black knight's castle opposite him. As
player skill increases, the game re-
sponds and p rovides more player
chal lenge, increasing the number and
speed of the fireballs. A newly rede-
signed cocktail cabinet provides com-
continued on last page
Atari
Ireland
market. We thought you
might want to know a little
bit more about the Atari f ac-
tory in Ireland.
Atari is always looking for
Atari Ireland began pro-
ways to better serve its dis-
duction of video games in
tributors. As a resu lt, a few
Tipperary in November of
years ago it was determined 1978. When market demand
that our European market
for successfu l products
would benefit if Atari opened such as Asteroids, Missile
a plant in Europe. After
Command and Battlezone
much consideration, the Re- increased dramatically, the
public of I re land was chosen plant's production rose cor-
as the site for this new faci l- responding ly. All cabinet
ity. The plant has now been
models (upright, cocktai l,
in operation for two years,
and Cabaret™) have
and is prepared to handle a
been manufactured in
good portion of the ·manu- • Tipperary. Atari I re-
facturing and distribution of
land actively pursues
Atari games to the European the policy of sourc ing
ATARI INC.
components from local ven-
dors, and presently they get
cabinets, harnesses, power
supplies and plexig lass in
Ireland.
Since September of 1980,
Shane Breaks has served as
International Director of Mar-
keting. Atari Ireland has pur-
chased a home for Shane
and his fami ly, which will
also serve as Atari's Interna-
tional Marketing office, a ser-
vice seminar center for
distributor technicians
and a general amenity
for Atari employees.
Atari I re land now
also has a full fledged
Customer Service
1265 BO_
RREGAS AVENUE
© Atari, Inc. 1981
group which wil l supply al l
parts to the company's
European distributors. Field
Service has two highly quali-
fied electronic engineers who
conduct schools in the latest
Atari technology all year at
the distributor offices.
The plant's location in
Tipperary is in the Lime ri ck
region of I re land, where
many U.S. and European
electronics companies are
presently setting up facto-
ries. Tipperary is near Shan-
non Airport and Waterford
port, giving it access by air
and sea to its markets. Atari
Ireland regu larly ships to
....
continued on next page
__
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA 94086
......
Atari Ireland continued
Germany, the United King-
dom, France, Holland,
Belgium, Italy, Spain, Swe-
den, Norway, and Denmark.
To improve its internal ef-
ficiency and thus provide a
better service to its custom-
ers, Atari Ireland has just
purchased its own IBM 34
computer system. One of
the first items to be entered
'

.
' •
...,;.tl:~"-fJJ
_,L
into the computer files wil l
be the company's spare
parts inventory.
As our European market
continues to g row, and as
we continue to add more
distributors to our interna-
tional list, the Atari Ireland
fac ility will play a larger
role in supplying games
and services to Europe.
,
.,
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The
President's Corner
In many ways 1980 was
for us a most remarkable
year. In the face of climbing
interest rates, the on-again-
off-again recession, and
downturns in many areas of
the economy, our industry
experienced perhaps the
most successfu l year in its
history. I really can't re-
member another period
when every individual level,
operator, distributor and
manufacturer, agreed on
just how good business was.
The reasons, as now ac-
cepted, are three-fold. It all
started with the new tech-
nology manifested by Aste-
roids™ and Space Invaders.
We have a more varied mix
of locations today, including
chains (restaurants, super-
markets, discount stores,
convenience stores, etc.)
and more multi-unit loca-
tions including some very
soph isticated arcades. Last-
ly, and to my mind most im-
portant, the actual number
of people playing coin ma-
chines has multiplied in the
last two years at least three
times. And this incredible
growth in the player base is
predicted to continue.
Looking ahead to the new
year, with our expand ing
commitment to engineering
and new technology, we in-
tend to retain our position as
the leader in the industry
and to do everything we can
to propel it to even greater
heights of achievement.
- Joe Robbins
The CabaretTM.
Another First from Atari
The Cabaret cabinet. It's
another first in a series of
firsts f rom Atari. The Caba-
ret is a "mini" cabinet de-
signed by Atari to optimize
floor space and maximize
profits. The Cabaret takes
up less than four square
feet of floor space, so it's
ideal for locations where
space is limited. In fact, the
Cabaret may be your key to
opening new locations in
restaurants and lounges,
theater lobbies o r anyplace
where people have free time.
Operators requested that
we design a cabinet that
would fit in a minimal amount
of space and still have the
exciting game play features
of a ful l-size upright. Atari
engineers came up with the
Cabaret. It was the f irst
"mini" cabinet on the market
and its applications are
endless. The Cabaret fits in
many places where you could
not put a game before. It's a
great way to use "dead" floor
space. And it's a great profit-
maker, too, with games like
Asteroids™, Missile Com-
mand™ and Battlezone™ all
available in the Cabaret
cabinet.
What's more, Atari 's Cus-
I
., ;~L
\?2 ' ~
,,
/
15
tomer Service department
now offers full-color decals
which can be applied to the
side panels of the Cabaret
cabinets.
The Cabaret. It's the latest
way to make your space
work for you .
Marketing
Expansion
Frank Ballouz, Atari's Di-
rector of Marketing, has an-
nounced the appointment of
Mariann Layne as Marketing
Services Supervisor. In this
position, Ms. Layne will have
responsibility for trade
shows and sales promo-
t ions, and wil l coordinate ad-
vertising and publicity pro-
grams related to marketing
of Atari products.
Ms. Layne comes to Atari
from the San Martin Winery,
where she was National Pub-
lic Relations Manager. She
department. Her previous
is also c urrently attending
communications expe rience
Santa Clara University, stu-
will be a tremendous addi-
dying for a Masters degree
tional asset in her new post
in Business Administration.
w ith Atari." Laura Burgess,
In making the announce-
previously assistant to Frank
ment, Frank Ballouz stated:
''We are pleased to have
Ballouz, has become Ms.
Layne's assistant.
Mariann join the Marketing

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