Play Meter

Issue: 1975 September - Vol 1 Num 9

Editorial
leo(ning obout the tox shiv
Help!
That's what operators throughout the country cry
when their state or local governments throw a new tax
or license fee or economically detrimental law at them.
Like an unsuspecting pedestrian being shivved by
street· wise punks, operators cringe whenever the
lawmakers' knives are sharpened.
Play Meter wants to help. We believe banding
together in associations is one avenue of succor. That's
why we so strongly support MOA. We also believe that
publicizing local or regional problems with lawmakers
and the laws they make can bring relief in the form of
public pressure, sharing experiences or just letting the
world know there is a problem.
That is the area with which we feel Play Meter can
help you most, but the magazine needs your help if it
expects to be successful in helping you fight bad laws
and bad taxes or licenses. That's one reason we started
our "Bull Sheet" mail card, which is the tear-out card
at the back of the magazine each month that features a
blank space for your comments about us and a
questionaire about you. Each month questions change.
Last month, we asked you to provide us with
information about the taxes and licenses you have to
pay.
We'd like to think you don't have problems in the tax
and license area, but we know differendy. All we can
think of is that you didn't notice the questions had
changed. If that's the case, please dig up your August
issue and fill out the "Bull Sheet" because we want to
10
compile as much tax and license data as we possibly
can. The reason--to let you know what operators in
other states and communities within your own state
face and how different people react to these situations.
Help us help you. We agree with the California
operator who wished the Los Angeles County Tax
Assessor was buying his machines. The operator has to
pay annual personal property taxes on his machines.
the assessor determines the tax by percentaging the
value of the machines:
If they were purchased in 1975, the assessor
assesses them at 100 per cent of value. If purchased in
1974, he figures in 89 per cent, 81 per cent for 1973
machines, 65 per cent for 1972 machines and 47 per
cent for 1471 machines , all the way down to 15 per cent
for machines six years old.
What that meant for this particular operator was a
tax bill for one game room with 16 games of $342.47. It
meant a total tax bill of $2,100 for five amusement
centers located in bowling alleys.
As he put it, "This is an item that either runs most of
us out of business each year or severely cripples us. At
the very least, it takes money away that should be
channeled towards bills or machine payments; so there
is a domino effect."
We don't think this operator is alone in his
predicament or his opinion. Help us get a complete
picture of the operator's situation across the country.
Return the August "Bull Sheet" or drop us a ' note.
Plea e allow me to off r m
congratulation on a mo t incisive
publication . Each and every issue is
chock full of much needed informa -
tion and insight for all of us in the
coin -operated indu try , including
the OPERATOR ! I think we can all
agree that the n ds of th operator
have been toO long n glected .
Her at ROM , we deal with
manufactur r , di tributors and op-
rators a like and I only wish that
more operators were aware of your
magazin and th invaluabl infor-
mation it contain . I feel sure they
would find your frank and hone t
approach to the problem of the
indu try refr hingl y different.
Warm wi h
for ou continued
uccess .
M.L. Donahue
Pre ident
RDM Associate loc.
The " blue suede shoe " ale men
have been the ruination of the
legitimate coin machine operator;
have hUrl man y di tributors, both
large and small ; a nd broken many ,
man y innocen t victims of their life
savings b
fal e adv ni ing of
earning of th video game and by
charging as much a
3 ,000 per
game for a game that costs me
1, 100 .
I purchased vid 0 game for my
be t locations onl y. just to keep out
the comp tition , but b fore I can
begin to get a fair return on my
in e tment , the machines are being
obsoleted by newer game and
ill -advised fa torie
ontinuing to
e ll direct the same game with a few
mall changes .
George C. Mahlum
Mavis Mu ic Co.
San Diego, Calif.
I think your magazine is tops . I
would like to see more of the s rvice
tips on games of all kinds . I would
al 0 like to se the gro s ea rning
figur s of the new products on the ir
test locations publi hed .
Michael W. Hawk
Hawk & Son Vending
Salina , Kansa
Perhap you wou ld b interested
in h aring from an old timer in the
oin -opera ted music busine s ( ince
1909).
I would al 0 like to hear from any
oldtim r in this busines.
My
memory goe back as far as th
Regina Hexaphone , whi h pia ed
ix - ylind r records, was selective
and after depo iting a nickel , the
pla yer had to crank the machine up.
I al 0 remember the Wurht zer
Tonophon
and automatic harp .
Your article " The Wurlit zer
Whammy " in your April issue
referred to the Wurlit zer as the
patriarch of the Am rican jukebox.
This is not so. See burg , Rockola,
Capehart , the Mills ovelty Co . and
one or two others were in the field
before Wurlitzer , which was the last
to enter th jukebox business (last
in -- first out of the big three.)
The Seeburg Company, while
owned by the S eburg family, never
ref rr d to their phonograph as a
"jukebox ". A I under tand this
name referred to early phonographs
used in J ook Joint , popular at one
[ ee next page I
GIVE OLD VIDEO GAMES
NEW LIFE WITH
EDCOE'S VIDEO
COCKTAIL
TABLE KIT
This month you can save
big money - not just a few
hundred , but thousands!
How? By using an EDCOE
video conversion kit .
Don 't spend another dollar on buying
new video cocktail tables until you 've
tried our conversion kit. The kit comes complete. All you have
to do is exchange components . Or, send us your old ones
and we'll convert them for you !
EDCOE was the pioneer! We started producing video conversion
kits more than ten months ago. During th is time we 've
ac quired the knowledg e and know-how to convert any video
upright game to the latest and newest style -
a video cocktail table .
For more information , call or write
EDCOE Mfg. & Service Co.
9512 Jefferson Blvd.,Culver City, Ca. 90230
Phone: (213) 836-3603
-----------------------------
I
I
See EDCOE's cocktail table kit, and other
I
games at booth # 50, MOA show, Hilton
I
Hotel, October 17-19. BE THERE!!
I L _____________________________
~
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