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.....•.... Rock- Ola wa s preparing to enter i ts firs t video game in the U.S.
domestic market as well as for export, in mid August.
It was reported to
be a licensed game , as were the firs t two Rock-ola v i deos (marketed abroad
through agreement with Cinematronics, Inc.)--but Rock-Ola's own "think
tanks" were wo rking toward the first in-house developed g ame, to be intro-
duced at a later date, a source at the Chicago factory said. In the interim
big hopes at North Kedz ie were placed on the third video, about to roll off
the Rock- Ola assembly lines there . ... ... . . ... ......... . . . ... · · · · · . · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
........• . Several hundred San Francisco Bay area operators a ttended a festive
new · product showing at Advanc e Automatic Sales Co. recently . Among the new
~roducts on display we re : Centipede from Atari; Midway's Wizard of Wor;
Amor Attack from Cinematronics; Williams' Pharaoh; Centuri's Pleiades; Bally's
new Fireball~; and Gremlin's Space Odyssey and game conversion system .
"The turnout was excellent," noted Chat McMurdie, Advance's president.
"We
fe l t this would be a good way for our customer s to see all the p roducts
recently introduced and enjoy a relaxing time with us, too." To top off the
show, a special drawing for p riz es was made by McMurdie and Will Laurie ....... .
.......... In Middletown , Ohi o, wh e r e controversy has raged over pinball games '
legality, c i ty official s wer e upheld by the state Su preme Court in their
right to ban the g ames, but they appeared in July to be ready to consider
easing the ban. Pinballs may be allowed "under certain conditions , " under
a recommendation from the city manager. Meanwhile, in the township of
Bound Brook , New Jersey, o ffi cials backed down from enacting an ordinance
that would have prohibited children under 1 6 from playing pinball and other
electronic games. The ordinance would have also stopped anyone from playing
the games after 9 p.m. or jukeboxes after midnight. Mayor George Plesa was
quoted as saying public react ion against these measures was " flabbergasting."
Most vocal i n oppos ition were tavern owners , who said customers would have
been invonveni enced by t he s trictures against coin- ops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .
.......... Venture, the new video game from Exidy , was previ ewed to several
individual distributors from around the world at Exidy ' s facilities in Sunny-
vale, Jul y 6-1 3. Enthusiasm was reported high from the distributors after
Pete Kauffman, Exidy p r esident , and other key personnel demonstrated the game
play, operator options, and special f eatures of Venture.
(For details of
the game ' s play f eatures , see New Products , t his issue.) ...•. ...... . . . . . . . . . . . .
.......•.. Due to continu ing demand for Cinematronics ' hit video game S tar
Cast le, a limited number of uprights were still being made available in late
July, the factory announced. " With the amount o f calls we have received
requ esting Star Castle, the dec i sion was made to resume production on a
limited basis, " said Cinematronics Vice Pres i dent/Marketing David Stroud ......•
...... . .. . In Michigan, voters ' defeat of tax proposal " A" gave operators cause
to cheer that a tax on services was shelved that would have included a levy
on amusement machines. MOM association ' s Executive Secretary Walt Maner and
Michael Spaniolo, l egal counsel , were in on the legislative discussions on the
tax from the inception . MOM advocates any increase in taxes to be spread
across as wide a base as possible , not impacting one industry such as the coin-
operated disproportionatel y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... ...... ... .. ...... . ......•....
.......... Williams El ectronics, Inc. announced that the company anticipates
earnings per share for the third q uarter on a pro forma basi s to be approx-
imately the same as those for the six months ending March 31, 1 981, which
were $6.766 million , or $1.35 pe r share ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. ... .. . . ... ....... .
......... . Bally Manufacturing Corp. announced in July the sal e of 893 new
electronic s lot machines to the MGM Grand Hotel/Cas ino in Las Vegas . It was
the second largest sal e of s l ot machines in Bally ' s history, Board Chairman
Robert Mullane announ ced , including an order of 270 new electronic slots to
the Reno MGM Grand ...... . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... ..... .....• •' • ..•.........
68
PL AY METER, September 15, 1981