Play Meter

(Continued from page one)
ward arcades, the Sega-Gremlin
merger which took place a year ago
has signalled "dramatic and exciting"
changes in the small populous island .
" We have opened up new loca -
tions that previously were unattain -
able," Rosen said . And Sega Cor-
poration 's Japanese subsidiary , Sega
Entertainment Limited , the country's
largest manufacturer , distributor , and
operator , certainly helped make the
success possible mainly by tailoring
its products to the market.
" Japan is not a strong flipper
market, " he pointed out . "However,
the Japanese have taken to television
games primarily in the cocktail table
format - probably their answer to
flipper gam~s as far as locations are
concerned .
The Japanese , therefore, gave the
customer what he or she wanted .
" The main catalyst was the ability of
Japan 's manufacturers , distributors ,
and operators to develop a table -
specifically, cocktail - to fit the am -
bience and environment of the
normal Japanese location ."
Important in Sega's success , ac-
cording to Rosen. was the increased
skill factor that their games offered .
"We call it the advent of the
'multiphase ' machine because it
allows the player more than the
strictly novelty end of play . Skill
factors build up . A prime example of
this is Head On , whereby as the
player completes the first phase ,
beating a single computer car , the
second phase appears on the screen .
Should he beat that , a third phase
appears where he 's playing against
three cars . A player could , in theory ,
play the game indefinitely. "
" Consequently, the game is purely
skill with virtually no luck features .
The player develops a certain pride
as well as sustaining interest ," he
said . " We 've also put 'multiphase' in
standard television uprights such as
those th,?t are found in a typical U .S .
arcade .
Sega 's triumphs in Japan , of
course , come from careful marketing
research and product implementa-
tion . But could it work in the U .S .?
" I feel it's important that efforts be
made in the U .S . to determine what
is going to be necessary to open up
locations not currently available to
us," Rosen said. " By this , I mean
there's going to be a departure in
cabinet configurations which are
considered standard to date . For
example , most of our games are
made in conventional upright design .
Certainly that may be very suitable
for present needs but we're going to
require different cabinets if we want
to reach other locations .·;,
" I th ink the Am erican m arket has
been slow to respond to potential
needs, " he said. "The foreign market
place , probably because it is not as
mature or they don 't have the long
traditions, has been more responsive
and adventurous in trying to ap -
proach the problem . Although I don 't
have exact statistics , we estimate that
less than ten percent of the American
population has had the opportunity
to play a coin -operated game
machine ."
"Probably three years ago ," Rosen
continued , "the same ratio would
have been true in Japan. but we
were able to deliver machines to
locations such as coffee shops where
formerly there was no exposure . We
now estimate that we've reached
about thirty to fifty percent of the
population ."
The point - Sega brought the
machines to the consumer , a bonus
of which was greater exposure to
more age groups and , o f course. an
expanded market. "The Japanese
market is no longer dominated by
youth . Average players there are in
their twenties while in America , they
usually are in their teens ."
Professionals, a group which
traditionally has had little exposure in
the Japanese market, now are seen
in increasing numbers depositing
those coins .
" And certainly we 've crossed the
sex barrier . Female play in Japan
now is every bit as common as
male, " Rosen noted with some
satisfaction.
Marita Keddeinis, export manager
for Gremlin , addressed herself to the
problem of copyrights .
"As we have done in the past ,
we'll continue to use the rights
available to us under the copyright
law to protect our games . These
rights afford us. or any game
manufacturer, for that matter , the
exclusive right to make and to
authorize the making of copies of an
original work or authorship , to
prepare derivative work based on
copyrighted work , and to distribute
copies of the work to the public ."
"Most games manufacturers spend
large amounts of monev to develop
new games ," she continued , "and if
others do not respect the rights of the
manufacturers , the innovativeness of
research and development will be
curtailed ."
" Where situations warrant it , Sega
and Gremlin intend to continue to
pursue infringers of our copyrights to
allow us to concentrate our efforts on
new and better products and on full
market testing before we go into
production ," Keddeinis emphasized .
Portale to distribute
Gottlieb products
A new distributor, Portale Auto -
matic Sales, has joined the D .
Gottlieb and Company family in
northern California , Thomas L.
Herrick , the company's marketing
vice president reported recently .
Jerry Monday , general manager
for the distributorship in San Fran -
cisco . has outlined ambitious plans
for an expansion of the company's
marketing program in the northern
part of the state supplemented with
increased promotion , publicity and
advertising .
Bert Betti. chairman of Portale
Automatic Sales, said " we are both
pleased and honored to be repre -
senting Gottlieb and are confident
that our market penetration in
California will continue its rapid
expansion through the efforts of
Jerry Monday and his staff. "
Peter Betti is president of Portale
Automatic in Los Angeles .
ADI changes
hands
As of September 17. 1979 . the
A .D .I. " pool table company" has
changed hands . Originally owned by
Art Daddis. the new principals in the
organization consist of Rich Carr .
president . and Bruce Hosch, vice
president .
A .D .I. has just acquired more
manufacturing space in Clearwater ,
Florida, and is now keying up for
national distribution.
Future plans for A .D .!. include the
manufacture of different games for
the coin operated industry . the
nature of which can 't be disclosed at
this time.
OMAA 1980 expo
slated May 16-17
The Ohio Music and Amusement
Association 's (OMAA) 1980 Annual
Exposition and Convention will be
held May 16- 18 at the Columbus
Hilton Inn, 3110 Olentangy River
Road, Columbus, Ohio 43202.
OMAA President Dennis R . Hilli-
gan announced the appointment of
the following 1980 Exposition and
Convention Committee : chairman,
Tommy Thompson , Tora Music.
Columbus; James H . Hayes. Gem
Music , Dayton ; and Larry Van
Brackel , A . Van Brackel & Sons ,
Defiance . The coordinator for the
meeting will be Paul A . Corey.
Additional information will be
forthcoming as the committee de -
velops its plans .