Common
complaints
One of the most difficult games in
the industry for a service technician
to master is not the video game or
microprocessor game, according to
C.A . Robinson head technician
Mike f-ia11, but the pinball game .
For Hall, " it's not a matter of
what problem you encounter, but
how you go about solving it ."
Despite observing that philosophy
himself, California operator Gene
Beley's most common and aggrava-
ting service problem involves coin
returns. " There's a need for more
sophistication in coin rejectors,"
Beley laments . Beley, who operates
most of his games in bowling alley
locations, has lots of trouble with
flattened pennies " that don't seem
to be able to get through vending
machine rejectors , but play havoc
w ith games coin units ." Lee Phipps,
the manager of the bowling alley,
told Beley coin return complaints
are the most prominent among the
game room gripes he receives.
Norm Ca lfin , co-owner of a chain
of arcades in Michigan, agrees with
Beley's assessment of the need for
more sophisticated coin acceptor /
rejector equipment on today's ex-
pensive and sophisticated games .
But his chief technician , Gary
Burton , spends his time battling
frustrating pinball machine prob-
lems. One of his most serious
problems, says Burton, is having
balls get stuck behind the rubbers
on the bumpers because of the extra
hard kick provided by DC power.
DC kickers at the bottom of many
pin tables come outside of the
rubbers, Burton said .
Seitch decks coming from the
fa ctory also present a problem , he
went on , because they are either not
tightened enough or they shrink and
loosen . He also feels pin table legs
are not reinforced strongly enough
because they bend easily through
customer abuse or simple moving .
Leg bolts often loosen up and
become wobbly . The screw holes of
th e bolts usually become stripped
after a few t imes of tightening
Those common non -technical
service problems are more frustra -
tion than anything else, Burton
remarked , but hp. wished manufac-
(
PlAt'METER
(Con tinuedfrom page4J)
ufactured by Nintendo Company
Ltd. , of Kyoto , Japan , have been
released in the U. S. by Sega of
America, Nintendo' s exclusive U. S.
factory representative, according to
Sega's Malcolm E.A . Kaufman .
The games are called Wild Gun-
man and Shooting Trainer and both
are set at 50 cent play .
To play the Wild Gunman, the
player straps on a realistic six-
shooter and holster and attempts to
outdraw five gunmen who appear
on a 4-foot-by-4-foot motion picture
screen . Each gunman appears in a
different setting .
At the start signal, the shoot-out
begins . If the player outdraws the
gunman , then the desperado falls to
the ground in an exciting stunt
man fashion; if thp. reverse happens,
then the gunman twirls his six-
shooter and tells the player "you
lost. "
Throughout the playing time , the
sound track on the film provides a
chilling realism, Kaufman comment-
ed . The pistol shot is real and so is
the slapping of leather as the
gunman draws and shoots. They are
the kind of sound effects which
create a sense of involvement on the
part of the player, he added .
In Shooting Trainer, the player
shoots at bottles on the screen
using an authentic rifle . The bottle~
are placed in a picturesque western
setting .
The player begins by shooting at a
few bottles, which disappear . But
they are replaced by a new set of
bottles which appear on the screen.
As the game goes on, the bottles
disappear and re-appear at a quick-
ening pace, and then , suddenly,
they begin flying in the air and the
player has to shoot them on the fly
before they hit the ground .
As the player hits each bottle,
there is, in addition to the rifle shot
the sound of breaking glass; plu~
the visual explosion of the bottle on
the screen .
Kaufman said the games have
been modified to Sega specifica-
tions for U.S . operation . In addition,
Sega is stocking spare parts at its
California facility.
These games are now on the way
to Sega distributors .
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f'/EWESI
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ON THE MAR KET
:
FiNES I QUALITY ANYWHERE. •
• : "C()MPETITI()N"
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:
$699
:
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F.O.B. PHOENIX
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TENNIS-H O C K E Y .
1 - 2 - 4 PLA Y ERS
FACT ORY WARRANT EE •
QUANTI T Y D ISCOUN T S •
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UNITED STATES MARKETING, INC.
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•
Scottsdale, Arizon a 85251
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L
Marketing Division
602·994·3800
Telex
910·950·1151
Parts Division
800·528·1343
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