(continued from page 9]
and development. Unless one has
been on another planet the past
couple of years, it doesn't take much
to see how much the tables have
turned regarding pinball and video.
The former is striving to regain its
prominence in the industry, while the
latter continues to command the
attention and efforts of almost every
major coin machine producer.
But with the territory comes much
of the same reaction pinball has had
to suffer with most of its existence
and, not surprisingly, nothing is
really being done to combat the
growing number of critics who are
turning their crusade against the
video machine.
The problems w1th this change of
attention are numerous especiall y
given the relative impunity video has
enjoyed since its inception. But
things do change and so a new threat
is beginning to rear its ugly head.
Ailments real and imagine d
The public has been hit wi th such
news as players of video games are
now suffering from a variety of
aliments video elbow and prob-
lems associated with the muscles in
the hand. You may laugh at this, but
if we're dealing with a youngster and
his concerned paren ts, the problem
becomes that much more serious.
Other developments are also
popping up with far greater frequency
such as the news stories I received
regarding Irvington, New York
which proved to be more posititve
than negat ive:
"Trustees of this village voted
unamimously last night to
soften a proposed ordinance
on the restriction of video
games. They voted to permit a
maximum of three of the
machines such as Space
Invaders, instead of two, in any
one commercia l establish
ment.
In addition, they deleted from
the proposal a provision that
would have banned the use of
the 25 cent machines to those
under the age of 17 . Th ey
cont inued consideration of a
proposed $100 annual licensing
fee for each machine."
Another situation, far less
positive, regards a story that
appeared in no less than four
different papers detailing the events
of a Flordia location in Coral Springs
mall.
" Police said the Game Room,
with its dozens of electronic
PLAY METER, November 1, 1981
video machines, is the
headquarters of a rowdy,
loosely knit group of you ths
called the Warriors"
What was brought out, besides
the fac t that th e location was
inadequately managed, was that
drugs were also being sold and used
in the game room and that it should
be closed down, while a further study
should be taken regarding similar
locations in the area. Interestingly,
the single point that should be taken
is that t he Game Room was
charac terized as only having video
games, when in fact they also have
pinball mac hines. But video is in the
public consciousness and so it is the
cent ral ca tegory gaining the
posit i ve as well as negative
reac tions.
I'm troubled, because as past
efforts have show, these things can
get out of hand sooner than anyone
can realize unless something is
done to combat what might turn into
a growing trend. Video isn't immune
to the blacklash just because iJis felt
to be "respectable," and that's the
problem. Most of the manufacturers
of these games are relatively new to
the industry and don't know just how
dirty the fighting can get. H opefully,
they'll wake up before it's too late.
On another front, Atari has begun
plans for an enormous undertaking
this fall with both commercial and
home computer video games in the
form of tournaments th at are
scheduled to cu liminate during the
AMOA in Chicago. So the beat goes
on and on, through tick and thin,
although fo r now video is enjoying
such great popularity most are
probably not concerned that the roof
m1ght just cave in.
Again, I can't express how
important it is for either video or
pinball to take a more positive and
public stance against those who
would see it torn down. There needs
to be some governing body to
regulate individual locations so
episodes like the ones in Florida can
be minimized and the misconcep-
tions of those outside the industry
can, at last, be put to rest forever,
regarding the coin machine and the
public's innate dist rust of any
industry that's based on a cash
system from manufacturer right
through the c hannel to the player.
Maybe the time has now come to
take action. I'd like to think so, but
given the nature of the business it
will take the opera tors to gather
to gether to get any results
whatsoever in order to protect their
livelihoods.
•
AMERICAN
ARCADE
TECHNICAL
ACADEMY
(Formerly American Arcade School)
•i n depth instructions on solid
state game equipment.
• Guest
lecturers
from
major
game factories. Concise 6 day
course, including text books and
technical manuals.
*Lecture sessions and in-shop
!raining directed by Don Wright ,
Cheif Customer Service Techn ician.
• " Limited space availab l e-
sess ions will be held on the 2nd
& 4th Monda ys of every month
through the following Sat-
urdays."
4688 Alvarado Canyon Rd.
San Diego, Cal 92120
Ca ll now for informat i on
714/287-4263 in Cal ifo rnia
1-800/ 854-2521
Nationwide
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..... FROM JAPAN .... ..
...... TQ JAPAN
Kay A. Chiba
T he best all-round coin man in Japan
World w1de services smce 1959
You saw it in
PLAY METER
11