Why has an office of our U.S .
Government become a collection
agency?
The paper work and restrictions
involved in these matters must go.
Philip B. Rowan
D&R Amusement Company
Burlington, Iowa
AOE 'enlightening'
Don't
Miss It!
Sparky Electronics' Asteroids
modification kit is what you
need if players are keeping your
game tied up for excessively
long periods of time on just one
quarter.
This novel modification is
designed to improve play-and
increase profits-by keeping
beginner play the same while
making it tougher for the good
player to play for a long time on
just one quarter. And it' s
operator adjustable,
incorporating five different
speed levels .
NOW AVAILABLE
Asteroids Modification Kit
.... ........ . ...... . .. $94.94
(with a free color kit overlay)
Space Invaders Modification Kit
.. . ....... .. ... ...... $139.95
and
Color Rainbow Overlays
for most XY monitors
Call for prices
COM ING SOO N
Crash Modification Kit
11
We impr ove
on perfect ion"
SPARKY ELECTRONICS
95-26 42nd Avenue
Elmhurst. Neu: York 11373
Telephone:
(212 ) 429-7595. (212) 459-0950
PLAY M ETER , August , 1980
Our company , new and small in the
amusement game industry, sent two
representatives to the Amusement
Operators Expo. We very much
enjoyed the seminars and have
corresponded with some of the panel
members . The exhibitions were
enlightening, and we are already in
receipt of over 15 machines ordered
directly from the show .
G. Alan Williams
Amusement Game Centers, Inc.
Houston, Texas
Ed . note- Trade people who need
to make contact with any of the
seminar members, exhibitors, or
others who attended the first
A. 0 . E. , can write or call PLAY
METER's editorial offices in New
Orleans . Mark the dates of the
second annual Expo: March 12-14
in New Orleans [Hyatt Regency] .
Bypass not possible
Thank you for the mention in your
May 15th issue ... .I would like to
clear up one point brought forth in
the article on page 53 entitled,
"Getting the Edge on Mall Loca-
I.T.S.-1 Totalizer
tions ." The
System I presented during the
"Internal Cash Controls" seminar,
Amusement Operators Expo , did in
fact have a test vend switch which I
pointed out at that · time . The
question that arose was: "Can the
test vend switch be bypassed?" I
qnswered catagorically that it could
not be bypassed' Therefore , no
further investigation need be made as
the test vend switch has been stand-
ard on our Music & Amusement
Totalizers since late 1979.
It's a small point, but to leave it un-
answered, some may think that we
haven't tried to close the account-
ability loop completely , when in truth
we have put it into practice long
before it has occurred to others to
question.
I hope this sets the record straight.
Please keep up the great work with
PLAY METER Magazine as your
publication is an asset to our
ind ustry.
Edward Schroter
International Totalizing Systems
Newton, Massachusetts
IMPROVING THE
IMPERFECT?
If we must, we must
Ever since we introduced our
Space Invaders Modification Kit
and followed that with our
Asteroids Modification Kit, we
at Sparky Electronics have been
beset with operator inquires
about a multitude of engineering
headaches:
• "Why isn' t more thought
put into the manufacture of
these games?' '
• "How many modifications
and repairs am I going to
need before this game pays
for itself?' '
• "When I think that I spent
over $2,000 for a game a kid
can master with fifty cents
or, oven worse, for nothing
if he dangles quarters by a
strjng, I get furious .
• "Where' s my return on
investment?' '
• "I wish the engineers as
some of these companies
would wake up and see
what' s happening out here
in the field.' '
From the beginning, our task
here at Sparky Electronics has
been to improve on perfection.
That' s been our challenge, and
we feel our Space Invaders and
Asteroids Modification Kits do
just that. But these operator
inquiries, which ask us to
improve upon the imperfect,
have created a dilemma for us
here. So, for our part, we have
resolved to attempt
improvement also on the
imperfect-but only where we
feel it is better that we , and not
the manufacturers, make those
improvements. If it' s something
like a faulty coin mech or
something that could be better
handled at the manufacturing
level, we intend to bring about
those changes by personally
bringing them to the attention of
the appropriate parties.
For your part; if you have
serious questions of a technical
nature on any of your current
games, feel free to write us and
we' II do our best to remedy the
problem ourselves-or see to it
that the manufacturer does.
SPARKY ELECTRONICS
95-26 42nd Avenue
Elmhurst. New York 11373
Telephone:
(212) 429-7594. (212) 459-0950
7