PLAY METER: What is the goal of an exporter?
NAHUM: Our goal is to develop a coin industry in
countries that do not have such an industry. What
we look for are countries that are in the economic
position to import more machines.
PLAY METER: Obviously, you must take into
consideration if the country has an acceptable
coinage system?
NAHUM: Yes, what we do in countries where we
feel there would be too much of a problem adjusting
to the coin chutes-maybe because they have a
tremendous amount of inflation or because most of
their money is in the form of notes-we encourage
the use of tokens.
PLAY METER: Is there anything else you look for
when trying to open up new territories?
NAHUM: We encourage the development of the
importer-wholesaler who will have the servicing
facilities. We do not believe in selling to the final
user because that would defeat our own purpose
since we couldn't give the service. Not being able
to give the service, we would, in effect, be
discouraging people from going further into the coin
business. So we try to develop people who are
familiar with foreign trade, who are familiar with
importing machines, and who will be able to hire
the personel that could service the machines they
would sell to the customers. we do not want to
make a one-time sale and forget about it. We want
to have local guys who can answer a technical or
~ny other type of question.
PLAY METER: Are there many countries that still
don't have any kind of amusement machines?
NAHUM: Every country in the world now that has
some kind of electrical system-that is familiar with
radios, movies, and TV - is aware of the fact that
there are such things as coin-operated machines. It
may be a rarity, but they know about it. In one
country in South America, for instance, they call a
pinball machine a Tilt because the machine flashes
the word "tilt" from time to time. But, as a rule,
coin machines are pretty much known all around
the world.
PLAY METER: Are there any indicators that you
look for when developing new markets?
NAHUM: If we know that a country is doing very
well with the export of its own products, then we
know that soon enough they will have the hard
currency to entertain purchases on non-essential
goods such as coin-operated machines. But as far as
opening up new territories, you generally start
with jukeboxes. This is because a jukebox is better
accepted by governments than a game. So as soon
as we se~ a country is importing jukeboxes, we
start making our inquiries about selling some
games. That's the indicator of a country opening
up, when you are able to sell jukeboxes. It usually
goes from jukeboxes to pinball machines and then
to video games. Of course, you have to keep an eye
on the hard currency status of each country.
PLAY METER: Are there any virgin territories
left?
NAHUM: Yes, there are for many reasons. The
first is economic. A lot of underdeveloped countries
do not have enough hard currency to allocate to the
importation of coin-operated machines. This is the
PLA Y METER, September, 19n
first barrier between us selling the machines and
the guy who wa t~ them-it's the government
barrier. If the games were imported, they may do
very well, but the government does not want to
devote hard currency to consumer dollars. The
money has to be devoted for capital improvements
like tractors and farm machinery.
PLAY METER: In other words, they are telling
the buyer that he can't buy the machines with his
own money.
NAHUM: That's right. They look upon his money
as local money. It's not for international exchange;
so he has to pay in dollars. This is the biggest
barrier, the shortage of hard currency that can be
allocated for consumer goods such as coin-operated
machines.
PLAY METER: What other political problems do
you run up against?
NAHUM: In many countries there is a political
faction of moralists, of people who say that these
machines deprave their children. They say they
don't want the machines around because they
encourage gambling and corruption. Sometimes
the country will grant the hard currency for the
importation of the machines; and then we are faced
with a local ' police problem which, in effect, says
"Sure you are able to import these machines, but
we don't allow you to operate them." Some of the
most advanced countries in Europe where there are
plenty of dollars for the machines are like this. The
police will not allow the operation of machines that
have payouts or are similar to gambling. Other
countries say they will authorize them, but they can
only pay seven times what you put into the
machine.
PLAY METER: Do you have any problems like
that with the music machines?
NAHUM: No, the jukebox, generally speaking, is
accepted all over. With them, it is only a problem of
securing the hard currency to import the machines.
PLAY METER: What about pinballs and other
novelty games?
NAHUM: Pinballs do come under police scrutiny.
Some countries feel there is gambling involved
anytime you can play on a machine for free plays or
extra scores.
PLAY METER: What about the duties? They
must also be prohibitive at times.
NAHUM: There are certain countries where the
importation of coin-operated machines is taxed very
heavily. Some of the countries see the machines as
novelties or luxury items and tax them heavily for
that reason-sometimes with as much as a 200
percent duty on the machine. That's another way
they have of discouraging the importation of the
machines because the buyer has to pay that.
PLAY METER: How much do the duties vary from
one country to another?
NAHUM: The duties vary anywhere from 14
percent in the Common Market to countries like
Brazil where the import duties are 200 percent.
Some of the South American countries have all
three problems-the police problem, the hard
currency problem, and the high duties. Some of
these countries have two of the problems, and some
have one. But there is no South American country
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