We Service
What They Sell
by Richard S. Dietrich
"Kush n' Stuff is a service organization. Not that we are non-profit-
at least not intentionally - but we don't manufacture anything.
- John Pfaff, president Kush n' Stuff
like telling somebody to learn to
Kush n' Stuff is the brainchild of
water ski by reading an article on the
Bill Arkush and he remains the main
subject. "
cog in the company wheel. The idea
So the seminars were begun.
for the service company must have
Atari sent out a team (Arkush and
begun back when Arkush was
Pat Karns, now with Fun Games) to
working for Atari and became
give the operators hands-on experi-
involved in writing the first video
ence with the new games. That was
technical manuals, first for World
the beginning of a solution but only a
Cup in 1974 then for Rebound, Gran
beginning in Arkush's mind .
Trak and Gran Trak 20 .
" The seminars were Atari pro-
"Those first manuals were really
duced and had a natural bias toward
produced by Atari to cover their
Atari games. I began to feel like a
marketing department,"
Arkush
said. "The video game industry was
more general approach was needed .
Instead of teaching World Cup and
very new at that time and not too
Gran Trak, I felt I should be covering
many people knew the design
a broader range of game logic . The
problems that were involved. En-
people I was teaching were not
gineering mods were fast and
interested in just Atari games, they
furious and of course there was no
also wanted me to tell them how to
way to up-date units already on
fix the Midway and Ramtek games
locations. Atari decided at that time
they had on location."
that it would be easier and less costly
Still , Arkush was working for Atari
to teach the owners to mod their
and he had to stick to their script . He
own machines, rather than invest all
was becoming uncomfortable with
the field support needed to send
that however, and soon he left to
somebody out to do it."
It turned out to be a good idea,
work for Kurz-Kasch, the producers
of game repair equipment and a
Arkush went on to say, because
company with an established con-
most of the people buying the new
tinuing education department, the
games were distributors who, while
Center for Technical Development.
they had a good background in
There he was able to explore the
pinball and vending machines, had
games of other manufacturers. He
almost no experience with computer
did the manual for Pin Pong, an Atari
circuits. As video games caught on,
game, in May 1975, but very shortly
the gap between the technology on
after came manuals for Wheels I and
the market and the educational level
II , both Midway manufactured .
of the operators grew wider and
The seminars continued as well
wider . Somebody had to bridge the
but " these were not just single game
gap, so Atari began producing their
sessions. We were really pushing
computer service manuals.
" But we found out early, " Arkush
the general education idea, getting
people to think in digital with
continued, " that that wasn 't going
to be enough . We started finding
examples from several manufactur-
ers to show what we were talking
out that a lot of the people working
with the machine couldn't follow the
about . "
Still Kurz-Kasch was (and is)
service manual. The digital compu-
primarily an equipment manufactur-
ter games were a completly different
er and they didn't know how much
world from the analog and mechani-
time and energy they wanted to put
cal things then on locations. A lot of
into the coin industry. That was
the people just couldn't make the
Arkush's primary interest and he
transition by reading a book. It was
decided finally that the only way to
get done what he wanted to do was
to set up for himself . Kush n' Stuff
was the result, a company that
doesn't make but serves.
The range of service according to
John Pfaff, who describes himself as
"the co-ordinator," is "anything we
can think of. We have Data Library
books that cover most of the games
on the market . We have our Text
Book of Video Game Logic and we
We can also fix
do seminars .
computer boards or television moni-
tors here, usually with a 24-hour
service time."
Of these services though, it's the
seminars that have Pfaff the most
excited right now. Kush n' Stuff has
been doing a number of them all over
the country as well as the first ones in
the industry in Europe and Canada
and the first one in microprocessors
anywhere . " These are all Phase I
seminars we're talking about," Pfaff
said, "except for the microprocessor
seminar which is Phase 111. "
Generally the company is current-
ly doing three Phase I sessions a
month , according to Pfaff, with
Phase II and Phase III sessions
scheduled to begin on a regular
basis this fall.
[Ed. Note. - The first Phase II is
actually being given October 12-14
in New Orleans by Play Meter. The
three-day seminar will be limited to
the first 75 students on a first come,
first served basis. Registration is
$50 and covers tuition for the
school, textbook and lunch for each
of the three days. Registrlltion
closes October 8. Further informa-
tion can be obtained by calling
1-504-827-0320 or 1-408-379-7180.1
Pfaff went on to explain the
different "Phases" of the program .
"Phase I sessions are more or less
basic , talking about the different
types of games, the different types
of circuits ihvolved in the games and
general repair techniques . We also
discuss the test equipment and the
television . It's basically a trouble-
shooting workshop.
"Phase II sessions develop most of
the complex logic blocks like ROM
image storage, processed data and
shifted data, and what LSI control
logic is pertinent to video games.
"Phase III seminars will be our
own productions and they will be;J
tuition based . The topic is to be_
microprocessors as they apply to
video display use ."
;
I
(contmued on page 41)
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