greater now, too. You're paying more for the machines.
You can't afford to have that machine sitting idly on
location. It has got to be up and running and collecting
those quarters. Maybe that will show why the distributor
is not merely an order taker today. He still has his selling
and servicing functions to do for his customers .
1981
What a year
for
Game-A-Tron's
Video Games!
Watch for these releases:
*SPACE BUGGER
TM
-FEBRUARY
*BLACK HOLE™
-JUNE
* COSMICKAZE™
-OCTOBER
All games developed and
manufactured by Game-A-Tron
in the good old U .S.A .
Copyrights and patents
pending
Game-A- Tron will take all legal action
necessary to protect its proprietary rights .
Cl?lM
CiAME·A·TRON
16
(A public company)
931 W. Main St .
New Britain, CT 06051
Tel. : (203)223-2760
PLAY METER: What then should an operator cons ider
before he buys equipment from a distributor outside his
own area?
RODSTEIN: All the things I've just mentioned. He'd be
well -advised to secure his equipment needs locally
because the purchase of the equipment is only the
beginning. Support of the equipment with parts, boards,
and repair backup for the entire life of the equipment is
accomplished much more successfully by buying locally
than if he were to buy his equipment from a long distance
away.
The promises of 24-hour turnaround time on board ex-
changes from remote areas are seldom kept. The
operators, I think, have found that out. We had an
occasion just recently where a customer sent in two
boards on Deluxe Asteroids that had to be repaired. But
our repair department , in checking the serial numbers,
found that these two Deluxe Asteroids boards were not
from games which we soid. So we politely called the
fellow up and asked him to pick his boards up. Now , I
don't know how long it took that gentlement to finally get
his out-of-town distributor to fix that game, but he may
have been out of business for as much as a week or two
with those two games. And if he was, at the rate of
income that's expected from a game of that type and a
game that costs that much money, the $50 or $100 he
may have saved from bootlegging them in from out of his
area was lost and even more so.
PLAY METER: Would you say the tendency of
operators to buy outside their territories has increased,
decreased, or stayed about the same?
RODSTEIN : On balance, it's probably as much as the
same as it's always been. There will always be a certain
percentage of operators who want to save that small
stipend going in, and they're shortsighted because of it ,
not thinking of their purchase as something that 's
supposed to last the life of the equipment. I think it may
fluctuate up and down with more or less operators trying
it, but I think most of them come back to the realization
that they're better off for the life of the equipment if they
buy locally and allow their local distributor to enjoy a fair
return on his investment.
PLAY METER: Conuersely, does it, in your opinion,
reflect on the manufacturer who opts to sell direct rather
than sell his games through the distributor network?
RODSTEIN: I think you'll find the same conditions
prevail. If an operator buys direct from a manufacturer, I
don't think the manufacturer can supply the instant
service on repairs. He may offer it , but I don't think he'll
be able to supply it. And he won't be able to help with
delivery, financing , installation, or even timely delivery. If
the factory is going to ship an operator one machine,
God knows when the operator is going to get it. But if he
buys it locally, he could get it today or tomorrow.
PLAY METER: How is today's operator different from
operators in the past? And, along those lines, how is
today's distributor different?
RODSTEIN: As far as operators, the recent entries into
the field seem to be either younger of age or spirit or
PLAY METER, September 1, 1981