Play Meter

of 3 .400 beca u e a location took m y machines out and
put o meo ne else ' in . I had to ue him . But . I won th e
average we kl y coll ections to th expired term . In my
case , th ere wa los t income of the year . So the court
ga e me a judgement. Loca tions know now contract
are s tro ng . They a re res pec ted .
PLAY METER: How are op rator preparing for th e
sophis tica ted a nd tec hni ca l machines of the fULUre?
COLLIN : We have take n the Kurz · Ka ch courses. W e
have fi e or s ix me n who have taken the course. W e
also hired a n e ngineer to re pair our boards and
amp lifi ers. That does cost a lot of money ; so the sma ll er
operators can no t afford that. The distributors are just
going to have to he lp the s mall e r peopl with the repair
serv ices . Peop l who are n ' t up on digital circuitry
impl y wi ll b out of lu ck. We are going to ee more of
it , they are verywhe re already . Of cour e, we are
getting more co ll ect ions out of them .
PLAY METER: Is th e a ttraction of digital circuitry
game detra ting from the musi box collections ?
COLLINS: I ca n ' t see that the games are competing
with music . Th e proble m in our vicinity with the
jukeboxes is th e band ·· Ii ve groups. We are having to
get gua ra nt e .
PLAY METER: Some peopl e be lieve in a " constant "
cash box th eor . In oth r words , that there will always
be ap proxima te ly the a m amount of quarters in the
. ame locations .
COLLINS: 0 , I do not be li eve that to be true in all
loca tion . In so me locations an owner draws his
business from a two or three block radius so that there ' s
na tura ll y going to be a closer average . In a lounge
where the re is a lot of varied traffi c, I have got to
believe that som e of th e e quipme nt makes people turn
100 e their mon ey qui cker.
PLA Y METER: Do you feel we were severely affected
by the down co nomy?
COLLINS: High une mployment naturally h Ips our
indu t ry , s in ce there are more guys hanging around
having more time on the ir hands . I do not feel that we
ha e be e n a closely affected by the economy in this
e nd of the operation . It i a shame to ay it. I hate to see
our indu try ca pitalize on such an adverse situation .
But it do exis t and people derive an "out" through
the pl ayi ng of games, listening to music , etc . Inflation
has take n it s toll with us , though . We are paying more
for service , la bor a nd materials . We can't escape that ,
but in the coin machine bu ines , w make our money
off the middl e cia
by off ring th m an escape from
their troubl es . Another economic point for this industry
i that we ha ve been taking advantage of the lay-offs in
other industries in which technicians would be working ,
the refo re getting them at a lower scale than if they were
in demand . W have pick d up some pretty good
people that way .
PLAY METER: What do yo u think is the coming market
as far as loca tions a re co nce rne d ?
COLLINS: I am working on a deal to incorporate a
theater chain in th e busin ess. Groc ry and department
stores are a lready beginning to place machines in their
fo yers and outer perimet r . Th re are potential new
locations out th e re . ideo a nd e le ctronic games have
given u new m e thod for making money and that has
e nabled u s to grow .
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Circle 35 on reader service card.
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