Play Meter

Issue: 1981 September 01 - Vol 7 Num 16

Letters to
the editor • • •
the owner about this change. If he
O .K.s it, then you've got to talk to
the day shift and the night shift help,
and if everybody agrees they can
stand the hassle the customers are
going to give them about this
change- then you would order the
coin slots and make the change.
Otherwise I think you're spinning
your wheels.
AI Gorman
The AI Gorman Company
Jacksonville, Florida
Movies move players
Call for help
Technology has really grown . From
up/ down paddles to back and forth
Galaxians. From motors in pins to
little magicians.
Now that we have come that far,
no one has told us how to put the
little magicians back in the games
once they fall out.
If you have been right on top of the
industry all this time, you probably
have some idea of what's going on . I
am one who is lucky, by doing a lot of
reading, going to schools, buying
tools and parts ...
These [servicing hitches] are just a
few of the problems operators (I'm
sure it's not just me) have to contend
with.
Other problems are parts
availability: 200-300% mark-up on
prices from distributors to us.
Soon manufacturing companies
will own everything, building and
putting out on location ... Help!
Bruce M. Michaud
Upstate Vending Service, Inc.
Lake Placid, New York
Takes it seriously
An indication of how serious my son
David is ahout the coin machine
busines is that he now takes home
Play Meter instead of Playboy
magazine.
Gerald D. Goudeau
Gerald's Amusement Machines
Lafayette, Louisiana
Pool at 50¢
Changing over to 50 cents play on
your pool tables is not as simple as
just changing the slot to 50 cents.
The first thing you do is to go to
the location and sit down and talk to
PLAY METER , September 1, 1981
Help! I'm sitting here night after night
with a captive audience of movie
goers. Would like to acquaint these
people via my large screen, to my
newly opened arcade next door and
invite them all to stop in when the
shows are over for a few games
before heading home, but have been
unable to locate any footage .
There are three major film
companies now in the arcade game
business. How about some good
'
1/
footage, creating impulse play that
we can incorporate into an in -house
trailer. (Please no slides .)
Fred Dunkeld
Tahqua-Land Theatre
Newberry, Michigan
[Ed.: Here's another uote for some
kind of industry-supported advertis-
ing to the games consumer.]
Something on your mind you want
to uent? Got a gripe? Full of praise?
Haue a question? If you haue
comments on the coin-operated
entertainment industry, write to Play
Meter. Our "Letters to the Editor"
columns are dedicated to you, the
operator/ reader.
All letters must be signed; if
requested, only initials will be used
or the name withheld from print.
Please include return address
(although, for the sake of your
priuacy, addresses will not be
printed). All letters are subject to
standard editing. Be concise.
PEACH STATE DISTRIBUTING CO.
1040 Boulevard, S.E. -Atlanta, Ga. 30312
Telephone 404 - 622-4401
'
If
/ ' ~
TOLL FREE:
1 - 800 - 241-1346 (except in Ga.)
Coin Industries' largest Distributor of Name
Brand Electronic Parts "
Audio VIsual Amusements
Offering the finest new
and used equipment.
REPRESENTING LEADING FACTORIES
• SALES, PARTS, SERVICE •
ARCADE PLANNING SPECIAUSTS
COCKTAIL TABLES SPECIAL
~s~~fx .......... . .......... .
(new)
Atari
Asteroids ................... . $ 1895
Asteroids Deluxe ............. (new)
Cinematronic
Star Castle ......... .. .. . . . . . . (new)
Data Ea I
Astro Fighter ........... .. ... $1295
1809 Olive Street
Midway
Space Invader Deluxe ........ $1295
Nichibutsu
Crazy Climber .... . .......... (new)
Nintendo
Heli Fire$1295
Space Firebird ............ . ... 1595
Radar Scope .................. 1795
St. Loui•, Mi••ouri63103
(314)421-5100
For further information, call Pete Entringer (collect)
7
Coinman Interview:
AI Rodstein
AI Rodstein, president of Banner Specialty Company, is our Coinman this time
around. AI is one of the leading distributors in the country today; so we wanted to
talk with him about the health of the distributing business today in order to see how
the changes within the industry are affecting the supplier link . His interview, we
belieue, offers some perceptive insights into the industry from the viewpoint of the
distributor.
Our Coinman entered the coin-operated amusement field in April, 1935 as an
arcade operator. He quickly branched out to a street operation in Philadelphia
where he operated music and games and later added on a separate cigarette
operation. Then in 1938 he opened a jobbing seruice known as ARCO Sales
Company, a company which was to help him through the war years. In 1941 when
the war started, ARCO went into the business of refurbishing old pinballs into new
ones. There was a great market for refurbished pin balls at that time because all non-
essential production - such as the manufacture of pinballs- was forsaken for the
benefit of the war effort.
After the war, he started operating uending equipment under the name of Variety
Vending Systems and games under a company known as Amusemat Corp. Then in
1949 he joined Banner Specialty as uice president. About ten later, he bought the
distributorship and by 1961 had sold both his uending and amusement operations to
The Macke Company. He took leaue of absence from Banner at that time to serue as
senior uice president for Macke. In 1971 he returned to Banner in the capacity of
president.
Banner, which was established in Philadelphia in 1917, added its Pittsburgh
branch in 1937 and, under Rodstein, exp/anded to a Baltimore branch office in 1973.
Our Coinman serued at one time as president of the Pennsylvania Automatic
Merchandising Council and, in 1964, received NAMA 's Chamber's Award for the
nation's outstanding legislative effort. The NAMA recognition was giuen to him for
his help in leading the successful effort against a moue in Pennsylvania to leuy a $50
per uending machine tax per year.
Actiue in ciuic and business organizations as well, he serues on the board of
governors of the Federation of Jewish Agencies and on the board of the Israel Bond
Organization. An auid golfer, a spectator of all sports, and a fan of Philadelphia
teams- A/ is also a trustee of the Pop Warner Little Scholars national junior football
conference. He is married and has three children, all of whom at one time or another
worked in some capacity for Banner.
PLAY METER , September 1, 1981

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