Classic Mode

Play Meter

Issue: 1980 July 01 - Vol 6 Num 13

UPDATE EDITION
July 1, 1980
Volume 6, Number 12
'BeHer servicing In plans' -
Atarl source
Atari cuts off some distribs
By RAY E. TILLEY
Atari , Inc. has enforced a new
" limited distribution" realignment of
distributors , cutting
off
several
domestic handlers from the product
line and adding three Europeans and
one new Florida distributor.
The total of Atari handlers is now
80. said a company spokesman . The
domestic addition is Rowe Inter-
national , Inc . in Jacksonville, Flori-
da . Atari 's plan was to have " more
order in the network" and to tie
service in formation from the factory
more closely to distribution of the
games .
Atari National Sales Manager Don
Osborne said the adjustments would
"en hance the quality of distributor-
ships to better handle the Atari line ."
Along with limiting its network -
which did not produce exclusive
regional handling of Atari product in
all cases - the company was also
gearing in early May to establish
higher standards of servicing and
repair of its game line, according to
Osborne .
The Sunnyvale , California manu-
facturer was evidently moving to-
ward exclusive-distributorship mar-
keting of its games. And this
approach left some of the reduced
handlers less than pleased .
One of the cut-out handlers , Dan
G. Perrotta of Allcoin Equipment in
San Antonio, commented to PLAY
METER : ''I'm not appreciative of the
changes - but I can understand it if
you say money is all that matters ."
[AIIcoin has handled the Atari
product line for more than five
years .]
Osborne , however, said there
were several advantages in Atari 's
plans for the select distrib network .
Schooling will be provided , he said ,
on service of Atari games , from the
technical basics to the more sophisti-
cated technology in the latest videos
and pingames - for example, service
schools will deal with "the unique -
ness of the Quadrascan x -y monitor"
[manufactured by Electrohome Elec-
tronics] . Atari hopes to beef up the
" responsiveness" of the factory to the
buyers of its game line, said Osborne .
New distributors other than Rowe
of Jacksonville were : Lars Berg ,
Trodheim, Norway ; Raha -automaat·
tiyhdists , Helsinki. Finland ; and
Music Hire Group , London .
Among the reduced distributor-
ships which made comments to
PLAY METER , the consensus of
opinion seemed to be that Atari , Inc .
was selecting those handlers which
could buy "carload " quantities of
games. Slow delivery of equipment
bought in smaller quantities, such as
twenty. was another comment from
th eir side.
One said a move to exclusive
distributorships indicated a trend in
th e industry: " I think the manufac·
turers are blowing us little distributors
out of the way ." This source relies on
his own exclusive line of jukeboxes
more heavi ly than his game units .
However , he said he saw his removal
from the distributor network as
" heavy-handed. "
In the recent National Air Hockey Championships in Pennsylvania , Phil
Arnold (left) of Hou ston edged No . 3 -ranked Joe Campbell of Phi/a·
delphia . Victorious over all was Jesse Douty of Philadelphia in the event
set up by Play -a-Way Arcade in State College, Pennsylvania . See story.
page 7.
Update
Edition
Irish seminar hosts 40
Vol. 6, No. 12
July 1, 1980
......................
Staff
Publisher:
Ralph C. Lally II
Editorial Director:
David Pierson
Managing Editor:
Ray E. Tilley
International Editor:
David Snook
Editor, Coin Slot
Technical Editors:
Zac Oliver
Randy Fromm
Jim Calore
Correspondents:
Roger C. Sharpe
Pat Matthews
Tony Licata
J .W. Sedlak
Dick Welu
Charles C. Ross
Art Director:
Katey Schwark
Administrative Assistant:
Valerie Cognevich
Circulation Manager:
Renee ' Pierson
Classified Advertising:
Valerie Cognevich
Staff Illustrator:
Mars Walker
Advertising Manager:
David Pierson
European Representative:
Esmay Leslie
PLAY METER , July 1, 1980. Volume
6, No. 12. Copyright 1980 by Skybird
Publishing Company . PLAY METER
( ISSN 0162-1343) is published twice
monthly on the 1st and 15th of the
month . Publishing offices : 320 Old
Hammond Highway, Metairie, La.
70005, P .0 . Box 24170, New Orleans
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tion rates: U . S. and Canada - $25;
Europe and Japan - $45; elsewhere -
$50. Multiple-subscription orders:
2-9, $20 each; 10-24, $17 each ; 25 or
more, $15 each . Advertising rat.es
available on request. No part of this
magazine may be reproduced without
expressed permission. The editors are
not responsible for unsolicited manu-
scripts . Second-class postage paid at
Springfield , Mass . 01101 and addi-
tional ma iling offices . Postmaster:
Send Form 3579 to PLAY METER ,
P. 0 . Box 24170, New Orleans, La .
70184.
European office:
PLAY METER
Promotions, "Harescombe" Watford
Road , Northwood Middx . England,
Northwood 29244.
Coin Operated Amusements Ltd . of
Dublin Road , Kildare , Ireland recent-
ly hosted about forty operators in an
NSM Juke Box Technical Seminar.
The seminar was particularly con-
cerned with the Festival ES 160 and
th e new electronic system which has
been developed over the past few
years by NSM . The Festival ES 160 is
completely computerized and uses
so me of the most advanced techno-
logy to serve operator , site owner ,
and custo mer .
NSM juke boxes are manufactured
at Bingen -Rhine , West Germany and
the world distributors are Lowen
Automaten of Bingen . The seminar
was conducted by NSM technical
director Rupert Mosinger , and most
of those attending operate NSM juke
boxes .
Over the past two years , sales of
juke boxes have increased and it is
expected that with the new techno-
logy and the advantages to operators
that more operators will become
involved in the phonograph end of
the coin-op business in the future ,
said Mosinger .
Coin Operated Amusements Ltd .
are also Irish agents for Electrocoin
Video Games (U.K .), Universal
Video Games (Japan) , Recel pin -
games
(Spain) ,
Compu-Game
Amusement Machines (U .K.) and
Micro Electronic Systems (Bally-
linian , County Kildare) , who recently
commenced production of video
games , the first of which is called The
Poker Game and has become
popular with operators since it came
on the market , early in 1980.
Coin Operated Amusements took
part in Coin Op '80 , the first Amuse-
ment Trades Exhibition , which was
held at the Leopardstown Exhibition
Center, April 22 to 24 , 1980,
displaying the agency's complete
range of equipment.
A detailed report on Coin Op '80
by PLAY METER's International
Editor David Snook , will be included
in the July 15 issue of PLAY
METER.
t
t
t
DUBLIN - The Republic of Ireland's
first-ever coin machine trade exhibi-
tion April 22-24 proved very suc-
cessful as a show - and it presented a
platform on which Ireland's two trade
associations could push their case for
relaxing laws on slot-machine
operations .
Pressure for change in the Irish
gaming laws to permit a more
widespread , but controlled , use of
slots was a central theme in the Coin
Op 80 show . There were , however ,
few slots at the exhibition at
Leopardstown Racecourse . Of the
65 exhibitors at the show , 26 of them
were from the coin operated amuse-
ment machine business .
The Irish trade's experimental joint
exhibition (Irish Amusement Trades
Association with Irish Amusement
Caterers Association) was unques-
tioned as a large success for a first
year's effort .
A review of the Coin Op 80 show
will appear in the July 15 issue of
PLAY METER , as filed from Dublin
by International Editor David Snook .
Atendees at the recent NSM technical seminar in Kildare , Ireland hear
Martin Dempsey , sales manager of Coin Operated Amusements Ltd. and
Rupert Mosinger (right) , technical director of NSM.

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