Play Meter

"You've got to look, see what the symptoms are.
If nothing else, it'll help your distributor when you call him."
PLAY METER: As a mechanic in the industry, you
must have a number of pet peeves. What's your
biggest one?
CALORE: One of my pet peeves concerns the
manufacturers' claims that, once a machine goes out
in full production, they need feedback from the
field. They say they need this feedback to make
their products better. Yet, even though a
manufacturer may get real valuable operator
feedback, it seems he gets so involved in
production, and his games are so far down the line,
that these ideas can't be incorporated for maybe
three or four models afterwards. So when a
problem is found, that problem may exist with the
manufacturer's games for three to six months, and
that could include three or four products. So at the
operator level, it becomes a standard practice to
say: "Oh, that's X's game, make sure you check this
out on it." Now, I understand the manufacturers
can't incorporate modifications overnight, but
sometimes they get so involved in the paperwork
and the bureaucracy that they don't get the
information out in time. This is true even with the
hot lines. By the time the information gets from the
person receiving the information to when it gets
incorporated into the electronics or into the
playfield or wherever, it's quite an extended period
of time.
CALORE: I think a six-month warranty for
pingames is fair. Some manufacturers recently
have begun a policy that I think is very good for the
industry. They're giving their distributors a
warranty discount per game so that the distributors
can handle the warranty themselves. If the discount
is worked out right, then it doesn't hurt anyone
because the distributor gets his discount and can
use that money for service. This way the
distributor doesn't have to take that six-month
warranty on the chin. Plus he can gear up for it. As
I said, I think a six-month warranty for pingames is
fair. But what I don't understand is why a majority
of video manufacturers have warranties that are
only ninety days. I don't understand why there
exists this big difference between pins and video.
PLAY METER: What about the parts situation?
Are there more replacement parts available today?
CALORE: That varies from manufacturer to
manufacturer. Basically, I think most distributors
and operators are buying the devices that come
from the manufacturer only-ROMS, PROMS,
hard-to-get RAMS. With these things, there's only
one place to get them, from the manufacturer; so
they're buying those parts there. But then what
they're doing is looking for parts houses and
electronics shops to buy their everyday 7 400 chips
and so on. As far as the playfield parts, the cabinet
PLAY METER: Why do you suppose this problem
exists?
CALORE: It seems to me that the people who
design the machines don't have any access to what
is happening in the real world. The manufacturers'
engineering departments are isolated, and their
people come up with all these great theories, but
they don't take into account everyday problems
that happen in the field-like the guy who spills a
Coke on the machine. Things like that just don't
enter into the theory in the engineering depart-
ment. So when operators out there respond with
feedback, saying things like "You can't put these
vent holes on the outside where the guys can put
Coke down them," the engineering departments
have difficulty relating to that.
PLAY METER: Do you have any trouble getting
schematics for games?
CALORE: Some manufacturers are real good as far
as technical support goes. They'll put out a whole
package with the machine. Some manufacturers
don't put out the packet until after the machine is
out. And some manufacturers-and this is
especially true of the electronics end of it-will code
the signals. This little practice really makes
troubleshooting difficult because you have to keep
going back to a reference chart to find out, for
example, what a "5TC03" is.
PLAY METER: What are your feelings about
warranty programs in the industry?
PLAY METER, June, 1979
"The operator should be able to make any repair up
to where it gets to the main processor unit, and
then he may not be outfitted for that. "
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