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The arcade genie makes a wish,
creates amusement games palaces
When Jules Millman approached hopping mall
dpv loper sevp n ear ago with hi new approach to
[hp old and WOrtl id a oj a coin -opera[ d amuse ment
cen ter Jor adlll[s alld children, th e d v lop r Ii ten d
bll[ loolwd a kance . Mo st developers remembered th
[yp oj pla ce arcades w r in th '40's and '50 's .
Bu[ Willman was per isten[ . " I [old develope rs with
whom 1 [alk ed that 1 would hav a fir [ quali[y store,
elegan[ly decorat d, carp [ d, that no Jood, drink s or
smoking would be allowed and that it would b
co mpl tely up Tvised and all nd d at all time s. "
Finally, Millman cOllvillced a mall owner to give him a
lease and h deliv red on his promi e, d spit e the Jact
[hal Jor a while h was virtually a one-man
op ration --bookkeeper, cent r attendant, gam mecha -
nic. Today! Millman 's company, Aladdin 's Ca tie
Illc. _ ha 0 e r 200 employ s and i pr ad 0 r 70 citie .
In 1973, th company, then known as Am rican
All/U S m nt In c., did
12 million in volum . Quit a
Jea t Jor a man only in his 30 ' .
And [0 top his ucc s as an independent
bl/sines mall , Millman team d up last year with Bally
ManuJa cluring, a move both companies are apparently
happy aboul .Aladdin 's Ca tle centers op rate in the
and Canada and th e company has held di cussions on
possibl op rations in Joreign companie .
Wit II i[ s c I/[ral oJJices in Chicago, Millman 's Jirm is in
clo e cO lltac[ with mo [ oj the indu try 's major
manliJarturers and l/. ually t t mo t oj th new gam e
prololyp Jor Ih m .
/11 th eir mall location ,
Laddin ' Ca tLes provid a
" clean , whol ome environme nt in which to njoy
leisure lime and shop/Jing tim e, " Millman says--an
impOrlan[Ja [or;l1 [oda ' high volume malls which ee
[he bulk oj [h eir patrons in [h e under-thirty ag
bracket .
Millman says he has always bee n Ja dnated by
(llllusemen[ machin and wh 11 he graduat edJTom th
lIiversity of Miami in oral Cabl s, Fla ., he went to
wo rk as a salesm anJor World I ide Distributors and it
was while he worked Jor th e m that he got the idea to
chal/g e [h e way p eo pl e thought about arcad s .
PLAY METER: Wh a t gave ou the idea for your
stores?
MlLLMAN: While I wa v.ith orld
id , one thing
aboullhe induslry caught m ' eye and th at wa that a lot
of operator w re making m ne only b cau e the
machines made mone for th e m . In oth r words , the
weren ' t putting what I would ca ll good bu ine
pr tices to u e and made mon
in spit of
them e lve .
an attended area , to put
o I gOl lh idea to ha
enough game in to afford a fulltime attendant and fix it
up r a l nice and g t away from th
outh tate Street
type ar I . But in order to afford a fulltime all ndam ,
you limit ourse lf by needing a plac in which ou put
enough machin s to warrant the fulltime man . nd
there aren ' t too man place tha t big.
Th fir t thing that ca me into my mind , of course ,
w r th e major airport in major cities. But I never even
tried any of them , for one rea on : becau e I felt they
were alread
ought after b
ver operator every -
where . The same thing went for all the e a
and
Arm y bases _
Fir t of all , I want d to do thi lhrough World Wide .
PLAY METER: In other words , with th m having
ownership? _
MILLMA
But
didn ' t go for the idea _
'" just went completel overboard in what I did to fix up the
fir I slore ... They loved it, the rea on being becau e we ran a
really lighl ship. We jLXed it up beautifully, We carpeted it. We
('fI/orced 110 sm okillg and no food inside, which everybody said
IN' rouldn '( do, but WI' did it_ ,-
PLAY METER: How did yo u arrive at the con ept of
mall famil fun centers?
MILLMA : My un Ie owned a big discount tore in
Chicago and he le t me put in like fi e game at the
en tran e _ The machines in this store were very
profitable : they probabl did ov r 100 each a week _
I began to think that if th se ma hines did thi much in
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