Play Meter

Issue: 1981 July 01 - Vol 7 Num 12


Letters to
the editor •••
over jukebox operators." If I had
known about this, I could have told
my Senators and Congressmen my
feelings as I did when the Danielson
bill came up.
Here, in New Orleans, we just beat
back a bill that would have increased
our taxes, by sending letters to all the
councilmen and appearing three
different times at the council
meetings. So letters do help!
I have to take issue with Gary
Stern for saying the AMOA spent
too much time fighting a losing battle
over the copyright law. If this could
have been won, then the AMOA
could have ·gone to the other
industry issues with a relaxed mind.
What's keeping the copyright law
from also being used by the
designers of these amusement
devices who would want the same
type of royalty as AS CAP? Nothing's
impossible any more!
In your April, 1981 PLAY METER
you published an article by Mr. Louis
Boas berg entitled, "Fast Quarters
and Slow 50¢-An Analysis." I read
not an analysis of 25¢ play vs. 50¢
play, but rather Mr. Boasberg's
anguished cries for forgiveness ...
begging the industry to fdrgive him
or his organization for failure, for
whatever reasons, to bring his retail
games pricing into the 1980s.
The basis for success in raising
prices is courage! To paraphrase the
Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are
the meek, for they shall inherit the
25¢ players. Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for 50¢, three ball
play, for theirs is the kingdom of the
higher tax brackets!"
I must run now. I have a service
call on our 75¢, three ball Black
Knight.
Pat Gore
New Orleans
Ronald C. Walker
The Carnival, Inc.
Warren, Michigan
Selective
Since my entrance into the coin
machine business as an operator
some three years past, I've been on a
whirlwind of sorts-or more like a
dust -devil, as decisiQn making can be
rather clouded at times.
At the start, I subscribed to
approximately seven coin machine
publications. Due to the big bite
taken out by the cost of new
machines, location demands, parts,
and so forth, I have had to become
more selective in my reading. It has
come down to Replay and Play
Meter-with the latter winning
ou~ . Play Meter appears not so
much interested in manufacturing
advertising as you are in an operator-
oriented format coupled with un-
biased reporting. Honesty has al-
ways been the best policy.
Tony Bado
Anthony Amusements
Dale City, Virginia
eeded to know
O ne of the· early problems with the
ht over the copyright law was lack
of knowledge, on my part, about
en it was to come to vote so we
could write our Congressmen and
enators. In PLAY METER, March
, 1980, David Pierson states, "the
· ebox issue was debated and
ecided on the floor of the U.S.
Senate, Feb. 19, 1976 when North
Carolina Senaj or Ernest Hollings'
endment was rejected 60-30. The
llings amendment would have
-opped the Copyright Royalty
ibunal from exel'cising any control
M ETER, July 1, 1981
-
~~·:H
STATE DISTRIBUTING CO.
1040 Boulevard, S.E. -Atlanta, Ga: 30312
Telephone 404-622-4401
'
li
'1fi(
1
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TOLL FREE:
1 -800-241-1346 (except in Ga.)
. .
)
"Th~
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For furtHer information, call Pete Entringer (collect)
9
[
THE IDEA BANK
Selling used games
iS for all seasons
By Roger C. Sharpe
Memorial Day has long brought
tears of joy and tears of depression
to a variety of operators over the
years. For some this holiday ushers
in the summer and boom time for
business, while for others there's a
feeling of hope for rainy_ days and the
beginning of fall. Basicafiy the lines
are neatly drawn as to who falls in
which category: inner city arcades,
especially those in major metroplitan
areas, hope for rainy weekends and
general poor weather so that
travelers will venture to the movies
or other entertainment rather than
the -beach; suburban locations,
depending upon the area, suffer the
same problem of losing customers to
the sand and surf and really make
their money on weekend evenings
and , of course , when the weather
makes it desirable to be inside.
But look for the smiles and they
will be on the faces of those
operators who can't get enough
eq uipment into their locatio ns:
they're the seasid resort places
that suddenly come to life once
Memorial Day reminds people that
it's time for summer and those
weekends of heading to the beach.
For some, it's the beginning of three
months that will mean all their
ea rnings for th e whole year.
Suddenly the hours the place is open
are lengthened: weeknight, early
mornings, almost any combination
to maximize the limited period of
time a nd the investment in
equipment.
For those who will be enjoying the
good time, there s really no- need to
worry about anything other than the
weather, because the season will
make its own mark all things being
equal. But for those other places and
owners who are truly in the majority
and will be having some sleepless
nights, there may just be something
to trigger some extra dollars in the
Operators might enhance sales of older games by placards on backglass (see
photo) saying.' 'Buy This Game.'
10
arcade or game room , short of doing
tournaments or having some other
events in the hopes of drawing in
business.
Year after year you've undoubt-
edly tried much the same approach
no matter if you're experiencing
feast or famine in terms of business.
But there is something well worth
trying, even in these times, that I've
seen done around the country in
various game rooms and arcades.
What I'm driving at i,~ to make your
equipment on the floo ' available for
sale. Now, before you say how crazy
the idea is and how, although you've
thought about it in the past, you
realized that it was just more trouble
than it was worth-before you say
any of this, listen out the suggestions
for implementing this technique
successfully, especially during the
summer months when business may
be just a bit slower than normal.
The thing is that many operators
consider selling machines around
Christmas time and don't really take
advantage of the fact that buying
games isn't a one-season phenom-
enon. Those newly opened businesses
which recondition equipment, and
along with many distributors, seem
to come alive after Thanksgiving and
then just as quickly fade from view
after the first of the year. But an
arcade or game room has the distinct
advantage of always having the
machines on display. Who knows?
Have you ever stopped to think
about that one regular customer
who comes in and plays the same old
game day after day? In fact , you've
thought of getting rid of the game,
but in the back of your mind, you
remembered that loyal player and
figured, what the hell, you'll keep it
for a while longer. Well, did you ever
think of talking to that player and
bringing up the subject that he could
buy the game? It really is easy.
Most arg~ements about selling
PLAY METER, jul y 1, 1981

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