Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

BAI.I.Y
By WILLIAM MOGLE
It is generally conceived by most manu -
fa cturers to make and ma rket as great a
volume of merchandise as possible, sell ing
to all who will buy regard less of th e con-
sequence. With few exceptions, th e mag-
netic attraction of making a whoopin g
success with a device has prompted many
a manufacturer in the industry to l itera lly
flood a whimsy market.
This fact is true of all such occ urences
in any particular enterprise a nd it is the
man with vision that ta kes cognizance of
~h e situati on. ft fai lure to recognize this
important fa ctor precipita tes in every in-
sta nce a complete satu ration of a once
healthy market. Just what ha ppens is thi s.
All buyers in th e ma rket have alrea dy made
purchases of the product in question. A new
device is placed on th e market and the
pros pective bu yer wants to know just how
much trade- in value hi s used equipm ent
has. The answer of course is no trade-in
value whatsoever. Consequ ently, the product
ceases to move and the buyer is stuck-so
is the enterprise manufactu rin g th e product.
The manufacturer can no t find a suitable
outlet for his new merchand ise because th e
prospective buyer will no t b uy unless he
can find a reasonable used market for last
year's equipmen t. Inversely, there is no used
market, and what was th e used market in
the first place·, has made purchases directly
from th e manufacturer. Wh en thi s ha ppens
an industry has reached a point of dan'.
gerous satura tion.
The king of teetotum was pro gressive
enough to know all this. His many years
spent with th e coin machin e industry was
well rounded out with an assoc iation of
fri ends and leaders. Baily's interest in the
welfare of the opera tor has genera ted a
state of compatibility and trust. In the
merchandisin g of their products every
effort is brought for th to prevent a' satura-
tion of the prod uct and protect th e interests
of th e operator. Considera tion is given th e
fa ct tha t most buyers of new equipment
generally ·seek a market for las t year's
purchases, and that market must be kept
open for the trader and not the manufac-
turer. Bally sees to it that this avenue is
open to the operator.
Cons istent with this strict policy of mer-
chandising, Bally has been known to remove
from the ma rket a product when still in
demand. This method ind icates vision on
th e part of Moloney.
It helps create a healthy ready market in
new Bally products and a hi gher price
trade-in market for the operator. Evid enced
by th e innumerabl e numb er of Bally auto-
matic payo ut pin games in use, thi s po licy
proved ha rmonious to the industry and
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The pin game " Ballyhoo" set the Ray
Moloney-Bally combination on the road to
fame in the amusement world. Such was the
house that Bally built and such is the house
that has won far itself a reputation based on
vision and sensible merchandising methods.
The success of Bally products are known plati-
tudes in the coin machine industry. No doubt
that the entire amusement world was electri-
fied by the consistent rapid strides made by
the firm , as if is generally agreed by all that
the automatic payout pin game originated by
Bally stimulated and aided in no small way
in bringing baclc to life the manufacture of
coin operated machin es. However, in the past,
many of the features of Baily's phenomenal
growth have been lost in an attempt to fa/le
shop. Sure enough , the y did start in a small
way. Yes , they also have become one of the
leaders in the coin machine industry and to-
day are going places. Why-b ecause their
method of merchandising is outstanding, aside
from the fact that Bally products are inimit-
able both in qualify and utilization .
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paved the way for a better understanding
between th e buyer and th e manufacturer.
P erhaps th e industry as a whole may learn
something of value from thi s poli cy of mer-
chandising.
Each and every manufactur ing company
in th e industry has some innovation to
which to point with pride. Bally is no ex-
ception to this rule. Several outstanding
features have been developed by the firm' s
engineers, features wh ich contributed to
ushering in a new era of coin machine pros-
perity. Th e "Bumper" ga me and the all or
nothing scorin g system as introduced in the
pin game "Bally R eserve" gave the entire
industry a lot to thi nk about. It proved
once and for all that innovations large and
small have an identical affinity for success.
In add ition to a competent staff of re-
search engineers, many internationally re-
nowned in ventors brin g new ideas to the
Bally plant. If feas ible, th ese ideas are
carefully worked out and plans made for
production. This scheme of planning and
producin g gives Bally the opportunity of
acquiring some of th e fin est, most practical
id eas in pin games.
An examination of the fa ctory reveals a
well systemat ized assemb ly line characteri s-
tic of many of th e la rgest mo; t up to date
plants in the country. Here, America's fi nest
made parts and mater ials taken from the
vast resources of the nation are used in th e
process of molding the gems of the house
of Bally. All th e parts included in th e as-
sembly lin e are of national repute, a n
institution in th emselves, so tes ted as to
make perfect th e r elation of one pa rt to
the other. Many of the parts are developed
for special cases, to be used in th e more
intri cate phases of manufa cturing. For ex-
ampl e, the wiring on the automatic payout
pin game, Grand National, reminds one of
the " brains" of a dial phone main station.
It requi res a steady hand backed up by
plenty of training to assemble th is type of
job. Cams of all descriptions, s prings th e
th inness of a split hair, and hundreds of
other pa rts, show the pride that's tak en in
makin g a super amusement commodity.
Th e same pride in doing thin gs is carri ed
on by th e workers in the plant. Every ma n,
no matter his kind of job, is justly proud
of the work he completes. Th ere exists
somewhat of a ri valry between the engineers
and th e men in the assembly line. The
assembly lin e worker takes issue with the
crea tive element of the organization. H e
tests th e mechanism and tri es to find fault
with it. He tips it side-ways, throws it out
of gear, fills the slot wi th .phoney coin and
do es everything possible to crack up the
job. That's his job. That's what Bally wants
him to do.
Handlin g of thi s kind assures a sturdy
product, ca pable of taking the hard knock
of every day wear and tear. That's wh at a
buyer wants in a n amusement contri va nce
and that's what he gets when purchasing a
Bally devi ce. True to human nature, th e
degree of which any worker is genuin ely
interested in hi s job can be best measured
by his ra te of pay. All Bally workers are
union men, protected by one of th e highest
wa ge scales in the industry. It is no wonder
that Bally workers are of the best and most
proficient and that th e finished produc t is
of the fin es t quality. Then again, a hi gh
standard rate of pay calls for the hi gher
ca tegory of workmen- workmen that a re
more than just plain ordinary mechan ics.
Bally's Royal Flush, an automatic poker
game dev ice is on e of the new produ cts
that's destin ed to make th e grade. Housed
in a fine cabinet, it looks very much lih.c
an expensive radio. Its mechani cal setup j g
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9
COIN
MACHINE
REVIEW
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The modern Bally Mfg. Company plant at
2640 Belmont Avenue , Chicago.
https://elibrary.arcade-museum.com