Berlin Show:
Well-organized
but not well-aHended
The International Coin Machine
Exhibition (IMA Show) , which was
held April 26-28 at the AMK
Exhibition Centre in West Berlin ,
proved to be a well-organized show;
but , all the same , it fell short of
achieving major status because of a
poor attendance and a small variety
of equipment on display.
Undoubtedly the largest and most
impressive stand at the show was that
of Lowen Automaten . Besides ex-
hibiting the German wall game ,
Rotam int, and, of course, the latest
NSM phonograph , the firm repre -
sented two major American com-
panies at the show - Atari and
Tournament Soccer .
The highlight of the Lowen
Automaten stand was Atari 's Middle
Earth pinball game . Lowen Auto-
maten sponsored a special tourna -
ment promotion around the game
with the high scorer each day
winning a prize . And to further
highlight the game , the sound effects
were connected to approximately
100 colored spotlights which flashed
on and off as the machine was
played .
The emphasis throughout the
show appeared to be on pinball
machines , with all the major Ameri -
can lines being represented . Bally's
Mota Hari was in the Wulff-
Apparatebeau stand . A line of
Gottlieb's Sinbad machines were
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prominently displayed under the
Nova Apparate banner . Williams'
Lucky Seuen was represented by one
of Germany' largest firms , Seevend
Automate n . And Stern had two solid
state pins , Stars and Stingray , in the
chneider Imports booth (an ironic
note to this is that the word Stern in
German means Stars) . Also . among
th e pin balls on display at the show
was Playmatic 's Big Town . which
was in the Sportstatten-Betriebs
booth along with the new Valley pool
table which has an electronic timer
and bonus system .
In addition to exhibiting the
Williams' line . eevend Automaten
featured arcade pieces from Taito .
Gremlin . and Atari. as well as the
PLAY METER , July. 1978