Play Meter

!Cont inu ed fro m puge
I() J
also a company whic h has ca rved
out for itself a respectable share o f
th e U .S. video gam e marke t -
introdu ced its Convert -A -G a m e
pac kage to its distribut o r in the
early summer.
Th a t Convert -A -G a m e intr o -
duction stirred up a tempes t of
controver sy within the industry tha t
will probably be d ebated for som e
time to come .
Di st rib utors are deeply divided on
the issue . There w ere those who saw
th e intr o du c tion o f c o n ve rti b le
games as a solid step fo rward , a way
of easing th e capit al squ eeze being
put on opera to r s and distribu tors
alike. But then there wer e an eve n
grea ter number of di stribut o r s who
openly ex pr essed fear that
conve rtibl e games will mea n the end
of the distributing business.
Still, the convertib le game idea
seems (ini tially , at leas t) appealing to
operator s. In Play Mete r m agazi ne's
ann ual ope,rator survey, a clea r
majority of responding operators
(56%) said th ey favored suc h a
system beca use, quit e simpl y, it
would m ea n the games would cos t
less . An othe r 32°o sa id they had no
opi nio n , and only l 2°G were dead se t
against the games.
Those operator who w ere agai nst
the games . c laim ed conve rti ble
game s would necessa rily be inferi or
in quality beca use operators would
be loc k ed into a ce rt ai n sys tem
whic h would not be adaptable for
changes. But an even bigger fea r
expressed by these ope rators was
that convertibl e games might even
eliminat e the need for operators .
They reason ed that location owner s
co uld then buy their games direct
from the fa c tories , bypassing eve n
the opera tors .
N evertheless, the emergen ce o f
the conv ertibl e game (wh et her good
or bad for this industr y) does not
appear to be jus t a pass ing fancy but
rather a leg itim a t e m arke tin g
approac h in light of th e prese nt
eco monics of thi s indu str y .
Gray area games
Like an y industry, the re has bee n
a dark side to coin -o p amu se m ent .
And that dark sid e has related to
gambling equipment that slips in
und er the guise o f being amu em ent
equipment.
Th e large m ajority of people in thi s
i ndu stry d ea l only with pur e -
amusem ent m ac hines - whether i t
be in the manufac ture, distribution,
o r operation of them . But apparentl y
some indust ry people deal with
pseudo-gambling equipment as well.
PLAY METER , Dece mber 15, 1981
Ent er th e "gray area game , a
video gam e whic h fea tures such
betting game a draw pok er , bl c k
jac k , c raps, d og r aci ng , and ho r se
ra ing. In these ga mes. playe rs be t
and win c r dit on the o ut com e of
races and ca rd flips. M any in the
amu semen t segme nt co ntend the e
games prosper becau e ther 1 a
promise of payoff for game c redit s
won . The gray game opponent
c ont end gray ar
g m es do not
have the play appea l to attrac t
Man y saw conue rtible games
as a way of easing the capital
squeeze being put on operators
and distributors alike.
But many distributors feared
that the new introduction
would end their business .
playe r
and , th us. r ly o n thi
oromise of payou ts to genera te th ir
high ea rnin g
T he o pponent s o f gray games go
o n to argue th at th op ra ti on of
th e e games will r es ult in a legisla ti ve
ba kl a h whi c h will have th e effe t o f
penali zing o r o utlawing th e pur -
amu se m ent ga m es also .
Th e gray area ga m
i ue ca me
to the fo r o n two separa te front s a t
th e beginnin g o f 1981 .
A mu se m ent game fac to r ie ·
am o ng th m St ern , At ari . G o ttlieb .
Gr e mlin. W illi a m s, E x id y, c nd
Cin e m a tr onics
t h r ea t e n e d t o
boyco tt th e 1982 AMOA Show
The manufacturer ' position on
a Las Vegas AMOA show sent
a message to the association
that it had to take an asse rtiue
position on the gray area games.
unl ess tha t show pulled o ut o f
C aesa r 's Pala e in Las V egas . Th
annou nced reason fo rth oppo iti o n
to the si te wa s that the med ia
att ention the industry would garner
w hi le in Las V ga would once
aga inst b lur th e lin e between
amu semen t and gambling eq uip -
ment. An d gray a rea gam . whic h
they clai m ed prosper as a res ult o f
th at indi stinc tion , would c rea te a
negative a tt itud towa rd all games .
Bu t the position tak en by the
manu tactu r r s also se r v d to end a
me s age to th e o pera to r 's nati onal
a socia tio n , a m
ag that it had to
tak an a s rt ive, lea der ship posi tion
c oncerning the gray area game
Fo r it part. th e AMOA did the
minimum . Aft er claimi ng th t it was
fina ncia ll y c ommi tt ed to th e Las
AMOA finall y
V g
show , th
pull d o ut o f Las V egas wh en it
became cle r that th e show's major
xhi bi to r wer e not blu ffin g.
But as far as clea rin g the air about
th e gray area ga mes, the assoc iation
t pped sho rt of l a kin~ any stand
c1ga inst the gr ay area m ac hin o ther
thdn ~g r eei n g o n d definitio n ol
gambling m ac hines th at would o nl y
i.1pply as to how the devi s co uld be
ex hibi t d a t the show .
Wh y n
furth er sta nd agai n t
mac hines whic h a large m j rit y of
th e member s felt we re a real threa!
to the legiti macy of amu se m nt
game ? The AMOA sa id it w o uld not
take a stand agains t any ga me
which
ou ld b
o pere ted legally
·o m ewhere.
A t yea r·
e nd . ho w eve r. th e
immedi te 1 a t pr sid en t o f the
AMOA. N o r m Pink . thr w some
mo r e ligh t o n possibl
why the
AMOA re str ic ted it s If o n th e gr c:HPa games i sue to i.1 defin it io n
aff c ting o nl y it s show. Pink told Play
Mete r th at a t th boa rd mee ting,
wh ere it was dec id ed how the
AMOA sho uld addre · th e gray area
ga mes cont rove rsy. so me boa rd
member s argued that th ey want ed to
r tai n th e op ti o n to OJ rc1 t the
ga m e ill egally. Thu . th e na tional
associat io n' com promis d , less -
th an -a se rti ve po ·it ion ma y have
refl ec ted thi de ire as w ell .
In · t ad . the I ader ship stand was
I f t t o be take n by a s t a t e
a ociatio n .
Th e Oh io Mu ic and A mu em en t
A ssocia tion (OMAA ) hall enged a
sta te cou rt rulin g a llowing the
op ra tion of gray area ga mes wh en
th e assoc ic1 tion I a rn >d that the gray
ar a games were e xplo iting a tate
law which allowe d free play on
pinball s. If the c ourt's decisio n were
to land. the assoc iati o n 's member
conj e t ured . th en a stiff r law would
repl a e th e exis ting law. and tha t
st iffe r law wou ld probab ly endange r
the op rati o n of pur c1 musement
devices .
So the Oh io assoc iation join ed
with the stat att o rn ey general in
appea ling th e cou r t' decision to a
higher co urt . A nd gr ay ar ec1 game ·
lost the ca ·e th y wo n in th e lower
co urt. But it wa no t a compel te
vic to r y fo r o perato rs in the state.
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