in tance, I'm very proud of tern' next four ·player
game, Star . I feel it ha all the ingredient which
will make it a successful game .
PLA Y METER: That game was de igned by you?
KIRK: Right. I designed t he board, the circuitry, I
built the game completely, selected the name and
had a hand in electing the artwork. One of the
things you should understand about play appeal is
not that a game is a good game or a bad game but
that it can appeal to one caliber of players or
another. orne games are designed to appeal to
lesser-talented players and others are designed to
be played by someone who is more talented . Both
types of games are necessary. One is not
nece sarily a bad game. It depends upon the
clientele you have. Even if you have a lot of good
players, there's still a need for a low level game
becau e there will always be players who are ju t
tarting out. You can't expect to pick up new
customer if all your games involve a high level of
kill. By the same token, once a player ha reach d
a certain kill level, he will want to move on to
omething that is more challenging. So you really
have to have both types. Some manufacturer make
a little bit more of one than another. But there"
definitely a market for both type . If an operator
put a game in a location, and the game doe n't rio
well, that doe n't nece arily mean the game i not
good. It's very possible the game might do very
well in another location because there are different
kind of players.
If you remember it
from the A.M.O.A.
or the I.A.A.P.A.,
and it's
worth bringing
to the states
from the A. T .E.,
you can get it at ...
e.L RobiNOft & Co.
2301 W t Pi 0 Blvd.,
Lo Angele, a. 90006
Tel: 213/ 3 0·1160
62
PLAY METER: Will we ee pinball design change
drastically in the near future?
I\.IRK: I think so. I think you'll find that a lot of
thing that were impractical with electro-mechani -
cal will now be practical with solid state. There are
a r.ouple of things I did with Stars, for instance, that
I couldn't have done with an electro-mechanical
game. I think you will find the public will be more
intere ted in the solid state game becau e they will
rovide more . And that in turn will provide a better
-iales potential for the game manufacturer which in
LUrn will allow even more input into the games and
u on.
PLA Y METER: And you feel that thi i because of
th change from electro-mechanical to olid state?
KIRK: ure. I al 0 think peopl hould remember
one thing about thi transition to olid tate. When
yo u make a olid tate game, you have a big
committment involved that you don't necessarily
have in an lectro-m chanical gam . It' real easy to
make a change in an electro-mechanical game; you
can even change in the middle of a production run .
But it i much more difficult to change a solid state
game. You have to completely reprogram and all
your chip are fouled up. 0 this means that th e
game manufacturer have got to be a little mor
careful about th
kinds of games they are
producing. They have to be a little more certain
that it' a good game before they ink their money
into it.
PLA Y METER: What about the co t of olid state
equipment, do you see it eventually coming down?
KIRK: A lot of people think that becau e the
PLAY METER , February, 1978