Play Meter

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Only then do we release it.
PLAY METER: It's possible though to make a bad
game.
FISHER: I'm sure that every manufacturer in the
world has made a bad game, though we don't like to
talk about it. If we make a total no-no, a game that
shouldn't have been made, then we don't release
the game. Of course, all the games that are on field
tests ah prototypes. We don't start making our run
until we'rt: very sure of the field test and our QC
department is satisfied the game is in perfect
condition.
PLAY METER: And you've found that the field
tests are fairly reliable indicators?
FISHER: They have been extremely reliable.
PLA Y METER: How do you choose field test
locations?
FISHER: We hit different sorts of key locations,
from arcades to shopping malls to just different
places around town, a group that we feel will be a
total test of the total media. We don't just hit a
specific spot, we hit eight or nine different places.
Then we look at the average dollar that the game
has taken in from that field testing to know what its
income will be.
PLAY METER: Do you have a "personal phil-
osophy" of marketing?
FISHER: Well, you have to understand my
background. I've been in the consumer field for
twenty years and the coin industry for two, so I'm
more consumer oriented than I am coin-operated
equipment. Our major concern is the operator, that
he finds new locations, a new way to market a piece
of equipment and a more simplified way t service
that equipment in the field. These are the keys as to
how much money he will make and how much more
equipment he'll buy from Allied based on those
returns.
PLAY METER: Play Meter recently took an
operator poll, and the results indicated that
operators felt that they had very little contact with
the manufacturers. We asked them, "What's right
or what's wrong with operator-manufacturer
relations?" The answer most frequently given was,
"I have no relationship with my manufacturer" or
"What are operator-manufacturer relations?" Ob-
viously while .you're concerned with the operator,
the operator IS not, for some reason, communica-
ting with the manufacturer. How can this gap be
bridged?
FISHER: There are several ways. We have several
WATS lines into Allied, toll free numbers, so that
when operators have major problems in the field
that they can't solve through their own distribu-
tors, they can pick up the phone and call us
direct-and many of them do throughout the
country . This is a way for them to get very close to
the manufacturer, to find out that we can stand
behind our equipment and help them with service
problems in the field. Also, the schools that we're
giving, that I mentioned earlier, can bring us
through our engineers and service people much
closer to the operator. We're giving schools not only
in our new pinball but a total school going through
all of our products. We want the operator to
understand what we're doing and how we're trying
to help him.
PLA Y METER: You mentioned earlier that
operators didn't take advantage of the last set of
schools offered as much as they could have; and
obviously there are a number of operators out there
that aren't calling their manufacturers. What is
preventing the operator from doing this, do you
think?
FISHER: I think it's because they all do go through
their local distributors. The distributor, of course,
sells them most of their equipment and services
most of their equipment and he, the local
distributor, is the man they should continue to go
to. He is their closest contact in making sure that
they get needed parts and service. It's kind of hard
for any manufacturer to be on a direct basis with
the operator because no manufacturer in this
industry sells directly to the operator. However,
many operators all over the United States have
flown here to Miami, gone through our factory,
taken time to come and see how games are built,
what they're made of and what makes them tick;
and it's give them a much closer insight into
manufacturing .and the company.
PLA Y METER: How many games are you
producing per year?
FISHER: Allied is trying at present to produce
between two and three mechanical games a year.
We are going to, this next year, release four pinball
playfields plus, of course, products for the
consumer market. And then every now and then
through a year's time, we'll throw in maybe one or
two other specialty items. But if we can keep four
different pinball playfields going every year plus
two arcade pieces, that are original ideas, winners,
plus the consumer products that we release, I think
we'll have our hands full.
PLA Y METER: Is the cultivation of this consumer
market going to hurt the operator? If somebody has
a pinball game he can play at home, is he going to
play at home instead of going out and putting a
quarter in a location machine?
FISHER: No, on the contrary. It will not hurt at all.
If anything it will help. People are very cognizant of
the fact that there are home entertainment units for
them to have in their own rumpus rooms and they
still go out to play arcade games.
The consumer products that we'll release in the
year to come, if anything, will help Allied's name
and of course when you help the name in the
manufacturing business, when people become
aware of it, that makes them want to play that
game when they're in the field; and that helps the
operator. We have become very big in the
consumer busin~ss already this year. We have
written a great deal of business throughout the
United States and probably, I would say , in October
of this year, we'll be in almost every major
department store in the United States. And the
distribution of these department stores, the
advertising that Allied is doing, I will say this with ~
no question of a doubt, will help the operator to ~
place his equipment in places he's never seen _
before. Consumers will know the name, and that is
a big help today.
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