Play Meter

Issue: 1981 October 15 - Vol 7 Num 19

Don't lose your head
a-hunting for the hot games!
dictate to its customers what they
may or may not do to a product after
it is sold? Can General Motors stop
you from modifying a car you buy?
Or installing a "speed-up" kit in the
form of a bigger engine? Then why
can game manufacturers stop
operators from taking their
machines and making them better,
to make money for them longer?
Because they want the operators
to keep buying more and more
machines and at the same time
throw the now "newly" obsolete
games in the garbage.
Maybe George Orwell's 1984 isn't
so far off after all .
J ac k Gua rn ier i
Bro o k ly n , New York
They're all here at
BRADY
10 Games for a dollar?
DISTRIBUTING CO.
1900 W. Morehead St., Charlotte, N.C. 28266, P.O. Box 668263
(704) 373-1211
Telex 572-452
Jim Frye
Blair Norris
Tom Kiel
MUSIC-VEND DISTRIBUTING CO.
EXPERIENCE
SERVICE
TRUST
REPRESENTING
Atari • Williams • Gottlieb • Stern
Cinematronics • Exidy • Seeburg • Taito
Rowe • Centuri • Nintendo
Valley • Gremlin Sega
MUS
MUSIC-VEND DISTRIBUTING CO., 1550 Fourth Ave . South,
P.O. Box 24807, Seattle, WA 98124 • 206/ 682-5700
8
A commercial keeps coming over
S tation W AAL in Binghampton,
advertising 10 games for a dollar in
Aladdin's Castle. It names top
games. Our customers have all
heard this.
How can the factories tell us to go
to 50-cent play and then do this to
us? We never said anything about a
manufacturer competing with the
street operator-but this is really
unfair competition.
Can business be that bad?
Millie McCarthy, president
Binghamp t on Amusement Co. Inc.
Binghampton, New York
More exciting pinball
A lot of articles have appeared
recently in Play Meter concerning
the pros and cons of the soq: game.lt
seems when this topic is brought up,
there are about as many different
ideas as there are new games to
choose from each week. One
operator wrote he preferred the fast
quarter rather than the slow soq:;
however as games approach and
breeze past the $3,000 mark, who's
kiddin' who!
There is no easy approach to this
operators ' problem, and I emphasize
operators. The manufacturers are
going to have to address this
problem with the understanding that
this is as important to today's
progressive operator as the game
itself. In short, we need more help
from the game people than a simple
PLA Y M ETER, O cto b er 15, 1981
switch for 25 or 50 cent play. The
aggressive operators can 't se lect the
SO one o perator w ho refuses to;
therefore, maybe the answer is the
best approach - Incentive Play.
A good example is Gorf: the object
is to advance as far as possible in the
game 's five phases before the game
ends . Therefore, at least 75% of the
players insert two quarters before
starting the game to get 4 missi les,
rather than the 2 missles they get for
a single quarter , thus enhancing their
c hances to beat the game.
Not only video , but pin balls as well
should be explored. With the endless
possibilities with electronics, not
only could incentives be more
profitable to the operator, but more
appealing to the player. T he
designers could have a field day with
the dozens of features that cou ld be
designed to encourage the player to
play the soq: game rather than the
quarter version.
More liberal bonus values , more
balls per game with a lesser score ,
percentage wise, to win a free game;
with a little imagination , there's no
end to the excitement that could be
designed into a pinball with incentive
appeal.
The bottom line is that the player
wanting only to drop a quarter in a
game, play, and walk away tha n can
still do so and not gripe to the
location owner because the game is
fifty cents; however, the game wou ld
be designed to attract and entertain
the real pinball player willing to
spend SOQ: for an exciting and
challenging game.
A price increase 1s going to have to
be designed into the game in the
same manner as the quarter phased
out the dime . We hope this problem
will soon be dealt with .
Jim Cole
Howard Cole
Cole Ve nding C o ., Inc.
W e a ve r ville, North C a rolina
Likes 'Cran ks'
We find your "Frank's Cranks"
column extremely helpful. Please
consider arranging the information
in a way that the articles can be
clipped for filing, by game name , for
fut ure reference . It is not possible,
without considerable effort, to "cut
and paste" when writing continues
from fro nt to back on a single page.
Sal Cicero
RayVend Amusement Services, Inc.
Beltsville, Maryland
PLAY M ETE R, O cto ber 15, 1981
eople .P.ze
~
,§'
~
~
1l
...-
~~
Representing:
$ .;\
ATARI
GOTTLIEB
ROCK-OLA
& OTHERS
~
U
t.
,_
~ PETERSON COIN '
MACHINE CO.
2700 Milam St.
Houston, Texas 77006
Phone (713) 523-7494
OPERATORS:
For the Best in Used,
Use Us
We're DARVIN
Specialists in Used Equipment
DARVIN
CORPORATION
2809 W . Pi co Blvd., Los Angeles, Ca. 90006
213/737-1717
We Buy and Sell Used jukeboxes
and Games - Reconditioned or as-is
9

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