Play Meter

ICtm l i1l11l'll j r mn prl'Vifil/S puy e I
I have a comp laint. I feel the indu try is
overcharging all operator . I feel that the man -
ufacturer hould be albe to, in tead of continually
increasing the co t of every magnificent piece they
put out, hold the line a little bit better, because
where can we go to increase our cost? I don't want
any 50-cent piece if I can mechanically avoid it.
PLAY METER: I most everything 25-cent and
two for a quarter?
YODLIN: I've taken things like tank, and when I
received it well over a year ago, a year and a half
ago, I immediately changed it from 50 -cent to
25-cent and felt that let the two player-- who are a
forced issue at this time becau e t hey must play
together- -Iet them each put in a quarter and get
two game . You're open 12 hours a day. I feel sure
that if I wa back in the other type of bu ines
which was only seasonal, I only bad a four month
pot, I might not think this way, but we're in a 12
month busines a nd I do see the same people day in
and day out sometimes . I'd rather have them get
more for their money.
PLA Y METER: Then you relate your co t and the
price you charge Ie
t han your high volume
ea onal park -beach ar cade operation?
How about the reliability of your television
game ? What i your down time today?
YODLIN: It' nowhere near what it wa when I
first started a year and a half ago.
PLAY METER: I it because you're smarter or
becau e game are marter.
YODLIN: I th ink the manufacturer are really
making an effort to put out more trouble-free
pieces. But, again, I must come to thi , that once
t he manufacturer does put it out and gives it to the
di t ributor , it's the distributor w ho really goes to
work. He may ay t hi i no good and really must
change it. I think the distributor play a very
important part in how he ervices what he
di tributes .
PLA Y METER: How many hour ·a week are you
working now?
YODLIN: Well that depend. When I had the first
pot, I was almost there daily and nightly. It was a
great concern to me that the business succeed.
Naturally, I realized when I opened number two
that I cou ldn 't b in two plac at onc . But I felt
t hat by being in both places regularly and actually
working in them, I kept that feel for the business,
the feel for what the customer wanted and didn't
want. I like the idea of working in the place; it gives
me a better per pective.
PLAY METER: But how are you spreading your
time?
YODLIN: Instead of spending six days at one place,
I'm two day at each and two day on the road
inve tigating, looking for pot, eeing how other
people operate their busines es, wanting to learn.
PLA Y METER: Many arcades today are in tailing
ophi ticated cash controls, double metering and so
forth on their machine. You ay you have working
partners who have a ca h investment in your
business with you ; do you concern your elf wi t h
ca h controls?
56
YODLIN: I have never done thi . I have found it i
om thing I don't like. Maybe it' omething wrong
with me, but I believe in tru t. Becau e one per on
may burn m , I do not condemn t he next per on .
That' the ame relation hip I have with kid .
PLAY METER: But don't you feel that a you plan
to open a new tring of arcades, your problems will
multiply and you're going to have to go to ome kind
of control y tem to keep honest people honest?
YODLIN: Thi may be 0; it may not be 0 becau e
fir t of all, I don't believe in slave labor. I believe
that whether a per on i a partner, a working
manager or whatever, that he be paid ub tantially
for hi end avor . I find that mo t people, if treated
fairly, will in turn give you fairnes .
PLAY METER: But there' an awful temptation
when you ee a cashbox full of quarter.
YODLIN: Ab olutely . But temptation mu t have
e nt red the e people ' live before. I'm not
a ociating my e lf with per ons of criminal ten -
dencie . They're basically good sound people like
my elf.
PLA Y METER: If your partners participate on an
qual ba i with you, how do you handle tandoff
in which you have an ab olute di agreement that
you ju t can't olve? Who ha the final hand?
YODLIN: Well, thi i the agreement I have with
mo t of the people a sociated with me: I don't want
any mor from them than they receive from me.
But I've made it plain that if there i an impas e, I
will take th final deci ion and re pon ibility upon
my elf, be it good or bad.
PLA Y METER: Had your partners been old
a ociate of your before you tarted?
YODLIN: One of my partner i a man who had a
tremendou background of hi own in the busine
and I knew him for many years, though I never had
any bu ine s dealing with him. He' a little bit
older than my elf and po ibly a lot wi er. He has
helped guide me, but he ha allowed me to go out
and do the buying, trading and selling and allowed
me to learn and expand within myself.
My other partner i a man I grew up with. I've
known him for clo e to 40 year . He had never been
in the bu ine before and took to it like a duck to
water.
PLAY METER: What i your philosophy concern -
ing decor, concerning fixing up an empty tore?
YODLIN: Fir t, I want it clean, I want it attractive
and I don't do any place the arne . I don't want to
become tereotyped. I decorate some edately,
other more li vely . The cost depend on what you
do and I do my own decorating.
PLAY METER: What kind of change-making
facilitie do you have in your arcade?
YODLIN: At each place, we have a nice, wide booth
manned u ually by either a partner or another
adu lt. J n ve r run an arcade without two adu lt
pre e nt. I don't like th e idea of walking around with
an apron. I don't want to look lik a bach area. I
want to look like what we are --a ophisticated,
well -run, well -behaved type of amusement estab-
Ii hment.
PLAY METER: What happen when the kids come