Play Meter

Issue: 1980 September 01 - Vol 6 Num 16

girl wh o used to be his . Great lyric
lin es and a " down home " feel clinch
thi s o n e's hold on the listener . Will
cross over to Country, too: 8 out of
10 on hig hest chart .
JUST CAN'T WAIT- THE J .
GEILS BAND -
EMI America
P-8047
A lo t of people will say J . Geils
has go n e "new wave," but I don 't
think that 's th e case. The vocals have
a definite '60s Dylan feel and there is
that Farfisa or Vox Continental organ
throughout ( which conjures up
notions o f "ne w wave " ), but worry
not. it's straight-ahead rock ' n 'roll
from th e party lovers ' band of all
time . Should hit 7 out of 10 or better .
( A lo t better record with more
potential than "Love Stinks" .)
BOULEVARD-
JACKSON
BROWNE - Asylum 47003
It's the long -awaited new one
from ever ybody's favorite . The title
cu t from the album showcases the
rockin ' side of th e geniu s from
Ca lifornia. It 's just a good-time -
feeling record that tells the story of
the Big City. I think here Jackson 's
singing about Sunset Boulevard in
L. A . . but it co uld be a six-laner in
any tow n . Th e song is the message
this tim e around and it's headed to
th e T o p T en : 10 out of 10.
FREE ME-ROGER DALTRY -
Polydor PO 2105
Fro m the upcoming film " Mc-
Vicar" starring th e Who lead singer,
this is o n e of th e more ambitious
songs released by a Who member
( o r the group, for that matter) in a
long tim e . It's a powerful record from
start to fini sh with strong vocals by
Daltry . An exce llent horn track
arranged and conducted by Jeff
Wayn e carri es th e tune throughout.
One o f the most added songs in radio
recen tly , thi s one's certain to score in
a big way . And when the movie's
released. w e'll be able to find out if
Roge r can act as w ell as he can sing.
Give it 9 out of 10.
GIVE ME THE NIGHT -GEORGE
BENSON - Warn er Brothers WBS
49505
First o ff . t~ere are obvious plusses .
It's produced by Quincey Jones -
'n uff said . But it doesn't stop there .
The song was p enn ed by none other
than Rod T emperton , who has had a
lo t to do with Michael Jackson 's
sudden rise to fam e. He wrote
practica lly all o f th e smash hits on the
" Off Th e Wall" album. Benson 's in
fin e form on this mid -tempo " grab-
ber" and should have his first hit in
years- with a little help from his
fri ends . so to speak. Score should hit
8 out of 10 or better.
Stern awards pins
in college frats promo
Eighteen fraternities and sororities
have been named top prize winners
in a nationwide college fund-raiser
sponsored last spring to benefit the
American Heart Association. The
three -day event - designated a
national special event by the AHA
Youth Committee-was sponsored
by Stern Electronics , Inc . and
National Lampoon magazine .
Greek organizations at some 700
campuses were invited to enter the
competition by staging a three-day
fundraising activity on their local
campus .
Fraternities and sororities raising
the most money and receiving Stern
Muhammed Ali pingames were :
Sigma Alpha Mu , Towson State
University ,
Towson ,
Maryland ;
Sigma Phi Epsilon , University of
Vermont , Burlington ; Zeta Beta Tau ,
University of Georgia , Athens ;
Sigma Chi , Dickinson College, Car-
lisle ,
Pennsylvania;
Sigma
Phi
Epsilon , College of William and
Mary ; Pi Kappa Alpha , West Georgia
College , Carrollton ; Sigma Chi ,
University of North Dakota, Grand
Forks ; and Sigma Nu, Pi Beta Phi,
Beta Theta Pi, The Greek Senate ,
Sigma Chi , Gamma Phi Beta , Chi
Phi , Kappa Sigma , Sigma Alpha
Epsilon , Delta Delta Delta , and Phi
Kappa Tau , all at U . C . L. A . , Los
Angeles .
An additional pinball game was
awarded to members of Zeta Beta
Tau fraternity at the University of
Georgia for sponsoring a 72-hour
pinball marathon-judged the most
original fundraising event by the
publishers of Lampoon magazine .
[Ed. note - An article on the
operating ualue of the Stern ! AHA
promotion in relation to Athens ,
Georgia locations appeared in PLAY
METER ,
July , 1980:
"Pinball
marathon ," page 38.]
Court blocks Pizza Time suit
Pizza Tim e Theatres has lost its first
ro und in court to Topeka Inn
Management ( TIM) .
Pizza Time , Inc . of Sunnyvale ,
California had filed suit in U. S.
District Court of Northern California
against TIM, of Topeka , Kansas ,
charging TIM and its president ,
Robert L. Brock , with breach of
con tract and unfair competition .
The court in a ruling June 9 found
in favor of TIM ( which is now Brock
Hotel Corporation) and against Pizza
Tim e Theatres in denying a prelimin -
ary injun ction .
Pizza Time, a chain of family
en tertainment centers with token -
operated games. had petitioned the
co urt for injunctive relief and cash
damages in the amount of $250
million .
U . S . District Judge Robert H .
Schnacke concluded, after a May 23
hearing. that Pizza Time " has not
shown a sufficient liklihood that it will
prevail on the merits at trial on its
claims of misappropriation of trade
secrets or unfair competition to
warrarit granting any preliminary
injunctive relief based on those
claims ."
The court found Pizza Time
Theatres not to have made a "suf-
ficient showing" either that it has
trad e secrets r elating to th e operation
of its busin ess. or that TIM is compet -
ing unfairly or threatening to do so.
Ro bert Broc k said in a prepared
statement: " We continue to believe
that PTT' s suit is completely without
m erit and that PTT cannot suc-
cessfully defend against our claims .
( Pizza Time is a counterdefendant at
suit.) Our attorneys are attempting to
obtain an early trial in order that this
matt er may be disposed of at the
earliest possible date." said Brock .
COMING IN PLAY METER:
Williams El ectronics. In c . plans to
join the fi eld o f video games pro -
ducers. A pro to type game is in its
infancy. Williams sources say. and it
will be unwrapped before th e 1980
AMOA Show . Company spokesmen
cite William s tec hnical competency at
presen t as an und erpinning for a
m ove to reliable new video games
from th e Chicago manufacturer .
More details on the new video
maker will be in PLAY METER .
September 15 .
lft~~~~~rRJl
lf[]r?~lGB
San Diego learns
Gottlieb's system
San Diego operators and technicians
learned about Gottlieb's "System 80"
pingames at a one -day seminar held
on April29 . The class was sponsored
by Betson Pacific and was held at the
King's Inn.
Gottlieb's Field Service Engineer
George Offshack thoroughly de -
scribed the new pinball system ,
despit e the lack of a sample game for
demonstration purposes . Schematics
and troubleshooting guides were
distributed to all who attended . A
buffet lunch was also provided .
Bally, Midway set
electronics class
Bally Pinball Division and Midway
Manufacturing will sponsor an elec-
tronic flipper and video school on
August 11 - 15 at the Howard
Johnson 's International O'Hare in
Schiller Park , Illinois . Class size will
be limited and will be filled on a first
come , first served basis.
For further details or to place
reservations, call 800/ 323-3555 in
the continental United States ; in
Illinois . call 312-825-6431.
SERVICE TIP:
Tailgunner 2
The two nine pin plugs to the audio
P.C. board look the same. One plug
has + 5 , + 25 , -25 volts , while the
other has 5 volts only .
You should mark these plugs
before removing them from the P . C.
board so they can be easily differ-
entiated . This will avoid the extensive
damage that would result from
getting these interchanged .
- Wayne Conner. Betson Pacific
Jim Smith of Sega Centers sees Instructor Fromm show how the digital
multimeter is used in amusement games repair.
Arcade school a success
San Diego Arcade School held its
first session on "Practical Solid-State
Amusement Repair" the week of
June 9th , 1980 . Nine students
attended the class , which ran
through Saturday , eight hours a day .
"The class was quite successful ,"
said Rand y Fromm , PLAY METER
technical editor who instructs the
school. "I am grateful for the extra -
ordinary cooperation extended to the
school by the coin amusement
industry ," he added. "With only a
single exception , every manufacturer
th at I contacted for materials and
information was extremely he lpful. "
During the class , students learned
about basic electro nic theory , diodes
and transistors, power supplies ,
I
Figure 1
I
video gam e monitors , e lectronic
pinball, and more . Cinemetronics
sponsored a special presentation on
service techniques and the theory of
operation of their Vectorbeam moni-
tor games . a Rip Off game was used
as a demonstration unit .
The use of a closed-circuit tele-
vision camera with a close-up lens
brought service techniques and other
valuable information to the monitors
on each student's be nch , with the
student able to see , up close, th e
critical service test point that are
necessary in servicing electronic
games .
A fall and winter schedu le is
planned for the San Diego Arcade
School .

Coin switch sensing
J Figure 2
Double Coin Slot
NC • Normally closed
NO • Normally open
CORRECTION
An ite m in the Technical Topics
section of PLAY METER , June 15,
1980 included an incorrect part
number for GE varistor MOV-11. The
article concerned retrofitting some of
th e older model RMC phonographs
("Varistor installation how-to ," page
76) . The correct General Electric part
number is V56ZA8 . The correct part
number does occur on the RMC
drawing, kit 11 52551. PLAY METER
apologizes for any confusion caused
by the June typographical error .
C ·Common
Si ngle Coin Slot
Some video game manufacturers use a single coin sense input to the logic
system from a double coin slot door .
Figure 1 shows the different coin switch configurations. As you can
see, in the double switch arrangement , the switches are not wired
identically .
This can be confusing when troubleshooting games utilizing this set-up
[Exidy Star Fire , Vectorbeam Warriors , C inematronics Tail Gunner] .
Figure 2 illustrates a typical single sense input to the game electronics.
- courtesy , Star-Tech Jo urnal, Merchantville , New Jersey

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