Classic Mode

Play Meter

Issue: 1976 September - Vol 2 Num 9

•
cOlnman
of the month
Selling
Solid
State
An interview with
Allied Leisure's
Arnold Fisher
HI think we're going more into "2001" type games.
People want to feel the game when they play, to
become part of the game . ..
September's Coinman of the Month Arnold
Fisher, International Marketing Director for Allied
Leisure, has been in the coin industry for a
relatively short time. A 1958 graduate of the
University of Colorado with a degree in Marketing,
Fisher was in marketing in one form or another for
some sixteen years.
He owned a chain of appliance stores throughout
Colorado, New Mexico and California, a total of 22
stores. "We also manufactured speakers and many
of our components, "Fisher said. He sold the stores
in the chain in 1966.
And he opened up a marketing consulting
service. "So, for the next eight years or so, I was a
consultant in marketing for major corporations
throughout the country. "
Only two years ago did he enter the coin
industry, doing so because it looked like it would be
a "very interesting business. And I got into it in
kind of a different way," he said, "became an
operator and then one thing led to another." To
another: six months ago Fisher joined Allied
Leisure.
He and wife Rebecca have seven children, five
girls and two boys. The Fishers live ,'n the Miami
area.
Play Meter Managing Editor Rick Dietrich flew
to Miami to interview Fisher, but he ended up with
a little more than an interview. Here is his report.
~
I spent the morning touring one of Allied's two
plants under the guidance of Service Manager Bob
... Gilman and talking about the new solid-state pins
~ with him and Chief Engineer Ian Richter. The
=
*
14
simplicity of these new games, as they explained
them to me, was almost frightening.
Service problems with the new machine, Gilman
emphasized, are almost always electro-mechanical.
It is not the new components that break down. But
mechanics don't seem to realize that; the newness
of the machine does frighten them. Still everyone
is going this direction, toward solid-state and
mechanics are going to have to learn to work on the
soUd-state machine.
The main advantage of the new machine is, in
fact, "ease of serviceability, " according to Richter.
Eighty to ninety per cent of down time on a
conventional machine is due to switches out of
alignment. In Allied's new micro-processor ma-
chine, "the micro-processor system actually does
the troubleshooting for you. It's a computer in the
hands of the operator, " telling him which switch or
lamp or coil is malfunctioning "without his even
taking the glass off. "
Essentially what the new engineering does is
replace coils, relays, stepping counters and motors
with a micro-processor approach, logic function
performers that are more reliable. "The other big
advantage of the electronics is their reliability,"
Richter told me. "There are no moving parts,
nothing to corrode . ..
"Again, in a conventional machine, ninety per
cent of the failures are in the switches. A switch
will go out of adjustment every six weeks or so. We
have eliminated ninety per cent of those switches
and replaced them with higher reliability circuits.
It's the same technology as in a calculator.
"The operator can actually have untrained
mechanics, " Richter said. If there is trouble with a
solid-state machine, it is almost certainly with the
conventional electromechanical equipment beneath
the playfield. But the mechanic doesn't have to
trace the problem throughout the machine. In the
diagnostic mode, the computer- by means of the
backglass scoreboard- wiU teU him immediately
exactly which switch is ailing.
If by chance that switch is working, the problem
can be almost as quickly traced to the interface
device that may not be working. These devices,
part of the solid-state circuitry of the machine, are
interchangeable and can therefore be easily tested.
If one is down, it is easily replaced: the defective
unit is puUed out and a new one snapped in. The
serviceman's time is never wasted.
"The video game is basicaUy a complicated logic, "
according to R ichter, "but this is simple. "
Ultimately, solid-state should save the operator
money, not only as far as service costs are
concerned, but when it comes to buying new
machines. Whereas prices for electromechanical
hardware are going up, prices for solid-state
hardware are actually coming down. Again, it's like
the calculator, according to Service Manager
Gilman. Skyhigh when they first came out, they're
now almost dirt cheap. Even with rising labor
costs - though there is actually slightly less labor
involved in the production of a solid-state machine
as opposed to the conventional electro-mechanical
one-manufacturers of the new machines should be
able to hold the line on prices.
PLA Y METER: Allied Leisure has been into a
number of different things, specialty games, video,
now pinball. What do you intend to concentrate on?
FISHER: Our concentration is still in building
mechanical games. In fact we're one of the few still
building mechanical games in the United States.
Two years ago, though, we did go into the pinball
business- only to be the first on the market with
solid-state. Because we're the pioneer in the field,
of course, it becomes a main objective of Allied to
teach the operator about solid-state: what is solid
state? how much easier is it to fix? and what will be
the future of pinballs in this country?
With the cost of components and building the
games going up, I have a feeling that within the
next few years, the mechanical games will be
completely priced out of the realm of the operator.
But solid-state-especially now that we're going
into micro-processing-will drop the price of the
pinball game to one that will allow the operator to
make much more money. That is, of course, our
main objective. If the operator can make more
money, he can buy more games.
PLAY METER: How does solid-state lower the cost
for the operator?
FISHER: Component-wise it's much less to build.
You have two-thirds less harnessing and wiring.
Then there are fewer mechanical things to go
wrong in the game. Service-wise that means a cost
cut of half in repair and maintenance.
PLAY METER: Yet operators have had service
problems with your solid state pins. In your view
why do they seem to be having so many service
problems?
FISHER: Actually it's not the solid-state, it's not
the board that's causing problems. The game itself
is the same and the problems that occur on our
solid -state games are the same that occur on most
every game manufactured in the world today. But
the new board scares the operator; he doesn't
understand what is in the game. The actual playing
field and the bumpers and so forth, they're still the
same and the adjustments to them are still the
same, but the operator doesn't realize that. When
something goes wrong and he opens the board, he
doesn't see 4,000 wires and all the mechanical
aspects. He immediately sees all the solid-state
equipment and the I.C.'s and the different chips in
there and he becomes very much afraid.
PLA Y METER: And then the operator assumes
that the problem he has with the game is with the
solid-state equipment.
FISHER: Right. Instantly he becomes afraid of it.
The change today in solid-state pinballs is no
different than the change many years back when we
went from tubes in radios to solid-state in radios.
The same fear and the same inhibitions took place
then as are taking place now. It is a lot easier to
stay with something you understand, taking a tube
out and taking it to the local store and sticking it in
to check it, for example, than opening up and seeing
a solid-state board when you don't even know
where to begin to fix it.
PLAY METER: So the main problem is going to be
educating the operator and particularly the
serviceman to solid-state. How can this be done?
FISHER: For the last year Allied has had schools
throughout the entire U.S. and Canada. We have
sent our chief engineers to do the training in these
(continued on page 16)
~
"With the cost of components going up, I have the
feeling that soon the mechanical games will be priced ~
out of the realm of the operator. "
;
15

Download Page 12: PDF File | Image

Download Page 13 PDF File | Image

Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).

Pro Tip: You can flip pages on the issue easily by using the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard.