Classic Mode

Automatic Age

Issue: 1939 August

82
the scores may be low. The customers
may feel that the play is too difficult.
That doesn’t get the machine off to a
good start. The location owner whom
you have instructed can change all
this. Just let him join the players,
make a few reasonably good scores,
show how it can be done, and the
“paying customers” get right on the
job.
This matter is far more important
than you might suppose. Players who
mistakenly feel that the play is too
difficult are apt to say so to the loca­
tion owner. And if you leave him un­
acquainted with the machine, it
doesn’t take many complaints of diffi­
culty before the location owner is
“off” the machine. Of course where
skill shot fans “hang out” they
quickly learn any table. But the gen­
eral average player is not a skill
player.
Changing the Score Card
When you have placed a machine,
do not wait more than a day or two,
if possible, before going back to check
on the scores that have been made.
Experienced operators know (and
new operators must speedily learn)
that locations show a curious differ­
ence as to scores that will be made.
Your coin machine comes to you
with a score card that has been care­
fully figured out for the average loca­
tion.
It is figured to permit the
players to make the scores at least
fifty percent of the time. If they
cannot, if the machine seems too diffi­
cult, the play will fall off. On the
other hand, if the scoring proves too
easy, that is unsatisfactory to the
operator and location owner alike.
Watch this by going back to the loca­
tion. If the class of players patroniz­
ing the location cannot make the
scores furnished with the machine,
change them! Write out lower scores
neatly on white paper and insert
them over the original score card. Do
not lower scores too much at first. A
drop from a 5000 score to one of
4800, for instance, would be a good
start. If the player shows that the
original score card is too low it is
difficult to raise it without causing
resentment on the part of some
players. So it is usually better to find
some other way, by adjusting board,
etc. Be sure to watch these matters
closely. You can easily lose the loca­
tion you’ve worked to get if the score
card does not fit the class of
patronage.
Cultivate Friendly Relations
It should hardly be necessary to
say that making friends with the
AUTOMATIC AGE
location owners and his clerks and
helpers is vitally important. As a
matter of fact, however, not a few
operators fail in this respect. Try to
discover subjects that are of special
interest to the location owner—base­
ball, hunting, the new arrival in the
family, his pride in his store, and any
one of numerous things. Never be­
grudge the time to chat with the loca­
tion owner.
Never tell him your
troubles; but listen to his if he wants
to unburden himself.
Remember that the location owner
is entitled to an occasional “grouch,”
and that he may take it out on you.
It’s good business to “take it.” But
retain the location owner’s respect as
one business man to another. Let
your personal appearance, your ac­
tions, your earnestness and all else
betoken you as a business man. Study
each of your “customers” individu­
ally. Make this a definite part of
your plan.
Avoid collections at times when the
store is busy. Give the location owner
opportunity to watch you count col­
lections. Set as your goal a relation­
ship that the location owner is glad
to see you come in— not merely polite
to you, but genuinely pleased to see
you. You’ll meet all kinds of owners
— cranks and unreasonable ones in­
cluded. You can build so solidly on a
basis of friendship that you always
save the inside track. It doesn’t cost
a cent, and it pays dividends in
dollars.
Be Careful of Promises
If you operate with quality equip­
ment you do not have to promise the
impossible. Nor will you. Working
with high grade machines you defi-
August, 1939
nitely possess that quiet confidence
that invariably carries conviction,
word psychology is much misused.
But for you, in this connection, it has
a meaning. You know that you are
offering the location owner a machine
that will make him money, give no
trouble, and of which any location
owner can be proud. You know that
the only real competition you have is
another quality machine.
You can promise the location owner
one of the most beautiful and attrac­
tive machines on the market, know­
ing that you can make good the
promise. You can tell him what your
machines have done in other loca­
tions, knowing yourself to be truth­
ful. And remember this, too: in “hot
spot” locations the owner is familiar
with what various machines take in.
In such locations there will likely be
one or several kinds of machines al­
ready in. Don’t “knock” them. They
may be doing quite well. Simply ap­
peal to the location owner’s reason.
You can bring out the fact that if the
present machines are making money,
“isn’t it reasonable that a finer ma­
chine will make more.” Appeal to the
location owner’s pride, in wanting the
best. And finally, offer to set your
machine alongside of any other on
the market on the basis that it will
take the play away and make more
money for the location owner. On
this basis your machine—of quality—
will make good.
Recording the Score
The best locations, the hundred dol­
lar a week or more locations, are
usually in the busiest drug stores, or
other spots where customer traffic is
heavy, where clerks are rushed,
where minutes count. We’ll say that
the location owner is thoroughly sold
on coin machines. In fact, he’s so well
sold that he is actively in the market
for better and better machines. In
such spots you are likely to have
some quality competition.
Such locations will favor the alto-
matic totalizer that accurately and
infallibly adds up the player’s score
as he goes along and shows the total
when the play is finished.
“ Good L o cations in Unexpected
Places”
© International Arcade Museum
What does this mean in a busy
spot? That no location owner, no
clerk or helper, has to spend valuable
time adding and checking a player’s
score! One glance and the score
stands revealed, under the glass of
the recording dial. There can be no
disputes, no time is lost. Not only is
the score instantly recorded, but the
number of balls played is shown. No
arguments about this.
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AUTOMATIC AGE
August, 1939
Quality machines have to justify
the reputation of the manufacturer.
So they are precision built, of the
very best materials, by skilled work­
men. Quality machines are practic­
ally trouble free. Once placed on loca­
tion it is the very rare exception that
the operator ever has to make re­
pairs. Such machines commonly go
for two years or more without so
much as an adjustment.
Around the Corner Spots
There are certain locations that
stand out, that every operator is
after. You want to be in these spots.
But the smart operator is always on
the alert to discover good locations in
unexpected places where he will not
have to fight competition. The list of
possible locations is long. They in­
clude drug stores, confectioneries,
taverns, cigar stores, barber shops,
pool rooms, bowling alleys, theatre
lobbies, hotel lobbies, restaurants, fill­
ing stations, railroad stations, bat­
tery stations, country stores of many
kinds, and numerous other places
where the public is to be found con­
gregating at times when there is
leisure and inclination for amuse­
ment.
Don’t always judge a location by
expensive fixtures that adorn it, by
the neighborhood it is in, nor by the
appearance of the clientele that pat­
ronizes it. Some dingy location near
a busy factory may be a gold mine.
Some store near the terminus of a
street car line may be excellent. Some
isolated confectionery, cigar, or drug
store in a poor neighborhood with
few amusement facilities may be a
bonanza. Especially if you operate in
a fairly good sized city, you may
make some amazing discoveries as to
locations. Many times there are
small, obscure spots which partake
somewhat of the character of “social
centers” for neighborhoods. Men and
boys gather there to spend hours.
They take to coin machines like ducks
to water.
As the operator gets about he
should by all means investigate for
such locations, some of them with the
appearance of a “hole in the wall.”
They are “original discoveries” when
you find them, yeilding excellent re­
turns, and offering the greatest pos­
sible freedom from competition.
And here’s a point— if you operate
with quality machines. You will have
machines that have been on the firing
line in the hot spot locations for a
year or two. But because they are
quality machines they will be in good
serviceable, playing condition. Put
them into the out of the way spots
you discover. There they will begin
to earn big money all over again.
“Penny Play” Locations
There are many locations where
nickel play machines would not go—
neighborhoods where players consider
five cents too much. These are gen­
erally the poorer neighborhoods in
purse and appearance. But in many
such locations penny play machines
will do amazingly well . Most experi­
enced operators have such spots and
find that machines take in five, ten,
fifteen and more dollars a week with
remarkable regularity. Such locations
are not “educated” to demand all the
new machines that come out. The lo­
cation owner is likely to be keenly
and personally interested because of
his additional and unexpected revenue.
When Making Locations
Try to time collections to suit the
convenience of the location owner.
This will be at some hour when the
location is not extremely busy. When­
ever possible, find some out of the
way place in a store to count collec­
tions. Leave everything just as you
found it. If you have to move any­
thing on a table in a drug store, for
instance, put it back just where it
was. If you rumple a table cloth in
a restaurant, straighten it out before
you leave. Put chairs back where you
found them. These may seem small
things, but many location owners are
annoyed if you neglect them.
It is desirable to make collections
fairly often. The operator should
avoid too frequent collections, at in­
tervals when the machine could not
be expected to yield fair amounts.
But an important point is to get
around often enough so that you can
keep the location owner supplied with
change. Sometimes the location owner
© International Arcade Museum
83
is sufficiently interested to obtain
change from the bank. But ordinarily
it is necessary for the operator to see
from the change he collects or has
with him. Of course if the location
owner cannot make change for pa­
trons who want to play the machines,
it is just that much business lost.
Where your observations and your
study of the location owner seem to
justify, it has sometimes been the
practice to supply the location owner
with a limited number of slugs. Thi#
matter must of course be handled
judiciously. But where you feel it is
the wise thing to do, it will enable the
location owner to familiarize himself
with the machine and sometimes start
customers playing.
Always give your machines a care­
ful inspection at the time you collect.
See that they are in good mechanical
condition. Also see that they are
clean. Remove glass whenever neces­
sary and clean the playing board.
Meeting Unfair Competition
Operators sometimes encounter the
fellow who is willing to give the loca­
tion owner better than fifty per cent
of the net returns from a machine.
Do not cut your commission under
any circumstances. When you cut
commissions you invariably start
something you can’t finish. One con­
cession is likely to lead to another.
Besides if you cut your commissions
for one location owner, the fact is
almost sure to become known. The
location owner is probably of the kind
to try to “work the racket” on
another operator, for additional
“deals.” And that operator is very
likely to spread the news all along
the line. So before long, the operator
who cuts commissions for one loca­
tion is in hot water with all his other
locations. The outcome of such prac­
tice is operating loss and plenty of
grief.
No location is worth gaining or re­
taining on the basis of cut commis­
sions. Occasionally an unscrupulous
operator will employ cut commissions
to put into a location the same ma­
chine you already have there. If he
succeeds, there’s no use “fighting fire
with fire.” The location is not worth
it. Move your machine to another
location.
“ Also See T h a t They Are C le an "
The Problem of Servicing
You can’t make money with ma­
chines that are out of commission.
You can’t hold locations unless you
give quick service when a machine
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