Play Meter

Issue: 1981 May 01 - Vol 7 Num 8

Taito ties with Nichibutsu USA
Taito America Corp. recently
announced its license agreement
with Nichibutsu (USA) Ltd. for the
exclusive North American rights to
manufacture and sell Crazy Climber
in both upright and Taito's Trimline
versions. The announcement was
made at Taito's new Elk Grove
Village, Illinois facility by Jack Mittel ,
president of T a ito America, and
Sueharu Torii, president of Nihon
Bussan, Ltd ., the parent company of
Nichibutsu USA.
"Crazy Climber" is a refreshing
new theme in video games," said
Mike Von Kennel, Taito's sales
manager. "In this light-hearted yet
challenging, talking video, the player
must scale four different sky-
scrapers, each one more difficult
than the last, as he avoids unique
obstacles such as gorillas, birds
dropping eggs, and debris thrown
out of windows."
"It's a skill action game that will
challenge all players, said Taito Vice
President Paul Moriarity. "And with
our new Trimline model , Crazy
Climber will be greeted in a wider
variety of locations than ever
before ."
Mittel said, "We're going all out ,
with special promotions and adver-
tising. Our test locations' income
supports the fact that Crazy Climber
is one of the top games in the world
market, and we are pleased to be
working with Nichibutsu."
Crazy Climber would be available
at distributor showrooms in March,
in time for the Spring sales season,
according to Taito America .

Nova Apparate sets its course
continued from page 1
in Europe (except the Benelux
countries), as well as Gottlieb
pinballs from the United States to
Germany and Austria.
In the vending business, Nova
relies above all on the coffee vendors
from Coffee-Mat (U.S.A.) and can
vendors from Rock-Oia (U .S .A.) . In
this connection, Nova has estab-
lished an important ingredients
business with coffee, hot chocolate,
etc., of its own brand .
In the course of the ever -
expanding video games business,
Nova has taken on distributorships
of prominent manufacturers in the
United States and Japan (Atari,
Taito, GDI) .
The founder, main shareholder,
Opera tors Would Rather Go
to Las Vegas
In a recent poll of amusement
operators, PLAY METER found the
majority favoring Las Vegas as the
site of the 1982 AMOA convention
and trade show. Of the operators
responding to the Play Meter
Equipment Survey, 57 percent said
"Yes" to Las Vegas, 18~ percent
answered "No" to the choice of Las
Vegas, and 24 percent had "no
opinion" about the site.
In the manufacturing sector of the
industy, however , many games
producers recently expressed objec-
tions to Las Vegas . The manufactur-
ers said they fear an inevitable
link will be drawn between amuse-
ment games and the gaming sector in
the public's mind and in mass
media's coverage of the AMOA
show in Las Vegas.
t
10
and chairman of the Gauselmann-
Automaten Group, Paul Gausel -
mann, has been known to A.W .
Adickes for more than twenty years
as a successful and dynamic
entrepreneur.
While maintaining its indepen-
dence within the Gauselmann-
Automaten Group , Nova Apparate
will remain an import/ export
company, looking after the
international business with special
regard to imports from the United
States and Japan. Nova will sell
these imports games throughout
Europe and most of Germany via its
network of distributors and in
northern Germany directly to
operators .
With the acquisition of this import
company, The Gauselmann -
Automaten Group strengthens its
position as one of the leading
enterprises in the coin machine
industry with 300 million OM .
Operating from headquarters in
Hamburg, Nova is managed by
president and co-partner Hans
Rosenzweig. Rosenzweig has been
involved for many years in the leisure
industry, both domesti cally and
internationally. Adic kes will stay on
with Nova as a director until the end
of 1981 and then in the following
years as a consultant, particularly for
the international business.
" Nova Apparate is pleased to join
forces with Gauselmann-Automaten
Group and anticipate an even
brighter future in the expanding
leisure industry," said a Nova
spokesman .

They come, they play,
they conquer rec therapy
SUNNYVALE- Atari's game room
at its Borregas Avenue headquarters,
where all of its coin-op games are set
on free play, recently served as site
of what the staff at Stanford
Children's Hospital in Palo Alto ,
California refer to as recreational
therapy.
The hospital staff often bring small
groups of young patients to Atari for
an evening-out in recreational
therapy. The children enjoy playing
the games, and the staff agree that
the trips to the Sunnyvale plant help
to release some of the tension that
hospitalized children are subject to.
The Stanford Hospital has a mini
game room of its own with Atari's
Breakout, Superman pinball, and
Touch Me games . Soon, an
Asteroids will be added to this
collection, due to the efforts of
Michelle London, director of
recreational therapy at the hospital.
Contributions to buy the game
came from the Woodside-Atherton
Auxiliary and from country singer
Willie Nelson . Asteroids was chosen
as the new game for the hospital's
rec room by the hospital staff and
based on the reaction of the kids,
who chose the game as their favorite,
spokesmen said.
Frank Ballouz, Atari director of
coin -op marketing, commented :
"Atari is proud to have the
opportunity to serve the community
in this way. Our games can be more
fun when they are used to benefit a
special program such as this one.
PLAY METER, May 1,1981
Gottlieb tags new team
NORTHLAKE, 111.-Major additions
and realignment of personnel as well
as projected expansion into new
product lines have been announced
by D. Gottlieb & Co .
The personnel moves were aimed
at strengthening the company's
product development and marketing
capability, said Robert W. Bloom,
president of the amusement games
manufacturer.
Gilbert G . Pollock, formerly vice
president/ operations, becomes vice
president/ product design for
Gottlieb .
C . Marshall Caras, veteran coin
machine industry sales executive,
becomes vice president/ marketing,
a position he formerly held with
Gottlieb in 1977· 78.
Howard Rubin, marketing and
product development specialist who
has been affiliated with Atari , Inc. on
both coasts during the past four
years, becomes vice president/ pro·
duct management.
Bloom, in commenting on the ap-
pointments, said: "As a company
grows and expands its product lines,
the need for fresh, innovative talent
as well as more vertical specializa·
tion becomes evident . As the
industry knows, we have recently
changed from a single -product
Pollock
Caras
games manufacturer to a multi·
product company with the addition
of our line of video games- and we
are considering expansion in other
directions. These appointments will
add immeasurably to our product
and sales potential for the future.
It is a great personal pleasure for
me to be able to welcome Marshall
Caras back to Gottlieb where we
pre-viously worked together in such
a satisfying relationship," Bloom
continued.
"Marshall, having been a
prominent distributor himself,
knows the business from both sides
of the desk, and I know that our
distributing organization will
welcome the understanding and skill
that he brings to our prime
marketing position.
"Howie Rubin gained my respect
as a knowledgeable industry figure
from the first time we became ac·
quainted. His knowledge and ex·
perience will enhance Gottlieb's
ability to develop and bring to the
market outstanding amusement
games," said Bloom.
"Gil Pollock has been concentra·
ting on the area of product design for
several months, and the success of
his effort will soon be apparent. His
new position is designed to relieve
him of the former administrative
responsibilities to assure the
continued momentum and direction
he has established in Gottlieb
product design."
In addition to these appointees,
Art Strassenberg, director of
manufacturing, and Dick Finger,
director of engineering, will repoi L
directly to Bloom, he said. "Vice
President Tom Herrick, also
reporting to me, will continue his
activities in the field of market
research, promotion, advertising,
and public relations and will assist
Marshall during this period of
transition," he added.
"The net result of these appoint·
ments and changes," concluded
Bloom, "is to considerably
strengthen our product develop·
ment and marketing teams. It should
be apparent to even a casual
observer of the industry that
Gottlieb is going to be heard from in
1981."

Top officers appointed at Bally
CHICAGO - The elections of
James M. Rochford and Walter
Wechsler to Bally Manufacturing
Corporation's board of directors
were announced recently by Robert
E. Mullane, chairman of the board
and president.
Rochford has been vice president
of corporate affairs and government·
al relations for Bally Manufacturing
since April of 1980. He has served as
vice president of corporate security
since 1977.
Wechsler has been a member of
the board of directors of Bally's Park
Place, Inc. subsidiary and a member
of its audit committee since the
casino/ hotel opened in December of
1979.
In announcing the appointments,
Mullane said, "Bally Manufacturing
is extremely fortunate to have the
knowledge and experience of Jim
Rochford and Walter Wechsler on
its board of directors. Each will
provide an integral and specific new
PLAY METER, May 1, 1981
dimension to the corporation's
planned growth and development."
Prior to his current position,
Rochford, a career law enforcement
official, was superintendent of the
Chicago Police Department from
November, 1973 to October, 1977.
Wechler has been a government
official in the State of New Jersey,
holding the office of controller of the
treasury and budget director, and in
this capacity served as chief fiscal
officer responsible for developing the
state's fiscal plan. Wechsler also
serves as a director of the United
States Savings Bank of Newark, and
a director of Yates Industries, Inc. of
Bordentown, New Jersey.
Wechsler will continue as a
member of the board of directors of
Bally's Park Place, Inc.
Bally VPs named
Jerry A. Blumenshine and William T.
O 'Donnell, Jr. have been appointed
as vice presidents of Bally
Manufacturing Corp.
Blumenshine will continue in his
position as corporate controller, a
post he has held since 1974.
O 'Donnell, Jr. will also continue as
president of Bally's Pinball Division,
a position to which he was appointed
in 1979.
Announcing the appointments,
Chairman and President Robert E.
Mullane said, "Their loyalty and
dedication to our company have
proven highly valuable to our
corporate development, and I
greatly look forward to many more
years of their association with Bally."
Blumenshine, prior to entering his
current post, served as assistant
corporate controller from 1972
through 1974. A certified public
accountant, he was previously
employed by Arthur Young & Co.
O'Donnell, who has been with the
company since 1971, was Bally's
European director of marketing until
his most recent appointment as
president of the Pinball Division.
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