Coinman of the Month
Michael Green
Michael Green is the joint managing director of
Alca Electronics Ltd., a manufacturing, distribu-
ting, and operating company based in Oldham,
Lancashire, England.
His introduction to the coin machine industry
came in 1957 in London, when he and his
brother-in-law operated a coffee bar which was
very much the vogue in the British capital at the
time. Under some pressure to install a jukebox, the
duo eventually aUowed an operator to bring in a
Seeburg, on sixpenny play. They were impressed
with profits and decided to buy the phonograph.
Subsequently, Michael began to operate juke-
boxes himself, in coffee bars of friends and
acquaintances. In a short time he built up an
operation of twenty locations.
At that point he met Cyril Shack of Phonographic
Equipment (now Associated Leisure), a leading
operating company. Shack persuaded Michael to
seU his company to Phonographic and stay on to
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work for it. Quickly, he built the route to 300
locations.
In 1959, Michael joined the sales side of
Phonographic, and the company grew steadily. He
became sales manager in 1965.
He left the company in 1972 to join Geoff EUis at
Alca Electronics, a small manufacturing company
employing thirty people and making arcade games.
Together they built up Alca into a major
manufacturer, distributor, and operator.
Michael' Green possesses a progressive attitude
and is probably the best-known Briton on the
international scene. He is a familiar figure at
overseas exhibitions, particularly at A.M. O.A. and
the Parks Show, and counts many friends on both
sides of the Atlantic. His company manufactures
large quantities of pool tables, arcade pushers,
video games, and shortly it wiU be going into
production on a solid state slot machine. Alca is the
British distributor for Tournament Soccer, Grem-
lin, Sega, Namco, and Nintendo.
PLAY METER, August, 1979