unhappy situation there
made their continuation
impossible. The single site
operation continued, how-
ever, and is now very
important, with locations
all over Northern Ireland.
The distribution is import-
ant too, with sales not
only to Northern Ireland
but to the Republic as
well.
On this visit I was wel-
comed by Dennis Kerr,
who has been manager of
Joyland Ltd. in Ireland for
nearly two years. A new-
comer to automatics,
Dennis, with his delightful
sense of humour has
taken to the business as a
duck takes to water. I just
can't imagine him ever
doing anything else.
Dennis was very enthu-
siastic about a new
project undertaken by
Joyland in England, the
assembly of video games.
"We've no intention of
doing any rip-offs. It's
manufacturing under
licence or not at all,"
Dennis explained. The
first game Joyland
assembled was Scramble,
under licence from
Summit Coin. The Joyland
version has a specially
designed cabinet. "Doing
this keeps costs down, for
Ja pan is so far away that
transport is an important
consideration," he said.
After Scramble other top
games will be assembled,
always under licence.
I
On the distribution side
of Joyland Dennis said:
"We deliberately do not
take on exclusive distribu-
tion. This is because we
feel it would restrict our
range. So we obtain
literally anything that our
customers require. Two of
the makes that we supply
very much are Bell-Fruit
and Nichibutsu." There is
just one make handled ex-
clusively in Ireland, and
that is Bonanza. " Their
Golden Poker game is
their big thing, a very,
very good game that
appeals to people.·· ex-
plained Dennis. He thinks
that the design of cabinets
needs more attention than
it gets. "In general I find
that the designs on them
are too garish. This makes
a good game unaccepta-
Leisure Play - September
er
ble on some sites," • he
said, a small but steady
demand for juke boxes.
"We tend to stick to
Wurlitzer. Just one make
means less spares."
Dennis sees two big
problems in the automat-
ics business today. One is
people coming into the
business who have abso-
lutely no knowledge of it
at all. And the other is a
general lack of profes-
sionalism. "We're most
certainly not trying to
change the industry, but
to inject a more profes-
sional approach to it," he
said. He spoke of copying,
too, and feels that the
sooner the big manufactu-
rers take those guilty to
court the better .
John Long is operations
manager, and he also is
new to the automatics
business. He told me that
the Joyland operation has
300 sites in Northern Ire-
land, and that the opera-
tion is concentrated very
much on video games. The
locations are pubs , clubs
and very many leisure
centres.
"We much prefer
single site operating. and
we have site finders
looking for new locations
all the time,·· explained
John. There is just one
arcade. in ewcastle. a
seaside resort not too far
from Belfast. There are no
projects to open more
arcades.
John told me that there
has been a big swing
towards cocktail table
video games during the
past months. "They went
very slowly at first, but
now we are getting them
on to sites where there
were neither no games at
all, or upright games," he
said.
Kiddie rides are
operated in super-
markets, shopping centres
and caravan sites, but
this is not a very exten-
sive operation.
John has taken to the
automatics business just
as well as Dennis. Other
very enthusiastic mem-
bers of Joyland team are
Eddy Lowry, in charge of
sales, and Jean Hopper
who looks after show-
room sales.
My final call in Nor-
thern Ireland was on the
firm Video Computer
Systems Ltd. a new manu-
facturing firm headed by
David Hawthorne. This is
the firm that presented
the game Microform at
the Dublin Coin-op show. I
visited their headquarters
at Larne, and learned the
history of this game, a
video form of horse-racing
with the possibility to
place bets according to
form, etc.
This game was actually
the idea of Damien
Devaney, and was one of
the "family'' board games
he had developed. He
wondered if it could be
converted into a video
game, and that is how he
and David Hawthorne
came together. David is a
chartered engineer, and
an electronics specialist.
He ca rried out a feasibil-
ity study, which turned
out to be positive. So the
two of them founded the
company Video Computer
Systems.
In setting up to manu-
facture they are getting
financial assistance from
two different branches of
the Department of Com-
merce for Northern
Ireland, the Northern
Ireland Development
Authority and the Local
Enterprise Development
Unit. Unemployment is a
big problem, and anyone
setting up an enterprise
which is accepted by
these authorities gets a lot
of help.
David said: "The first
reactions to the game
were very good, people
liked it at the Dublin
show." If necessary modi-
fications will be made.
Patents on the game have
been taken out.
The firm's present
premises belong to the
local council, and can be
used for two and a half
years. But David and
Damien hope they will be
temporary, and that a
move to more spacious
premises will come before
too long. It was hoped that
by the end of 1981 20
people would be employed
by Video Computer
Systems.
This first game is not
likely to be the only one
developed by the firm, for
Damien told me that he
has many ideas for other
games, which he thinks
would be interesting and
attractive.
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