UP FRONT
One of the best things about a convention is that
it gives one an opportunity to talk with a lot of
different people from all parts of the country. At the
recent AOE Show in Chicago, I was truly impressed
with the number of operators who voiced their
concerns about the numerous problems facing the
industry. It is amazing how much one can learn simply
by listening to what somebody else has to say.
For a trade magazine, a convention also gives us a
chance to meet and talk with our readers face to face .
That , for us, is perhaps the most rewarding
experience of all. In addition to a lot of compliments
about our publication, we also get a lot of suggestions
and advice, which we encourage and welcome .
Hearing what our readers think and how they feel
about different issues enables us to improve our
product and provide our readers with the most useful
information possible.
But, like any other business, we also get
complaints which, I'm happy to say, were few and far
between . Yet, like compliments, we welcome and
encourage them . One of these that puzzled me the
most had to do with Play Meter' s Equipment Poll.
Several operators expressed their concern over our
publishing earnings of the top games on our chart .
"Publishing such information is harmful to the
industry," they say.
Well, there's an old adage tha't's been around this
industry for quite some time now, and it's as true
today as it ever was. The adage is simply this: "When it
comes to judging the success of a game, it's what's in
the cash box that counts."
Video games are like mini motion pictures. They
open up for the first time on the streets of America on
their own merits. It's up to the general public to
decide whether they will succeed or fail. Votes are
cast, if you will, in the form of tickets or coins, both of
whic.h represent sales. The motion picture industry
publishes the dollar amounts taken in at the box
offices, and we publish the average dollar amounts
taken in the cashboxes. How else would anyone know
the success of a motion picture or a video game if you
don't know the sales volume? Who ever heard of
judging the success of a product in the marketplace
without considering the sales of that product? Sounds
silly, doesn't it? Yet this is what some people in this
industry would have us do.
What are they afraid of? What are they trying to
hide? What' s the big secret? Is it that locations will get
hold. of the poll r~sults and demand only the top
earn1ng games? Wdl governmental bodies take this
information and use it against the operator in an
effort to increase taxes or license fees? Will too many
n~w people be at~racted to this industry by the lure of
b1g bucks? Well, 1f these fears are all they're worried
about, they can stop worrying.
,
As far as locations are concerned, they sure don't
need our equipment poll to find out what the hot
video games are. All the location owners need to do is
walk across the street or down the block to the
nearest arcade. With a few moments of observation
and
asking a few questions to the right people, a
locat1on owner can (and very likely does) find out
what he wants to know. Locations have always been,
and are probably more so today, notorious for
demanding the top games. They have been doing this
long before Play Meter came along and will go on
doing it. Good operators know this and they also
know how to deal with this particular problem . You
are never going to be able to keep locations in the
dark about what high-earning games are available.
You don't tell your locations how to run their
business, and they shouldn't tell you how to run
yours.
But what about the taxing authorities and the
newcomers who are lured by the dollar amounts
reported in our Equipment Poll? First off, it should be
noted that our poll does not reflect figures in the
$600-$800 range as has been reported in the Wall
Street journal, NBC Television, and many other
newspapers and magazines. Such inflated reports, I
agree, have done more harm than good.
Simply put, the dollar amounts reported in our
poll are a lot closer to reality but still are not absolute
figures and cannot be generally applied to each and
every operator, for a number of obvious reasons . The
dollar amounts reported are the result of a non-
scientific study of various game earnings over a
period of time . The average collection for each game
is determined by the number of responses we receive
to each poll. The information gathered is processed
and computed according to accepted mathematical
standards. While our poll results are scientifically
sound and accurate, the ordinal data we receive may
not be. Since we have no real control over our
sample, those responding to our polls , the original
information we receive may not necessarily represent
a true cross section of all the operators in this industry.
Our poll is by no means a conclusive statistical
study. Its results therefore can be used only as a guide
in determining what games are more popular than .
others-and the viability of product today compared
to past periods. This cannot be done with indexes or
any other system of comparison except cash box
results. It goes without saying that the same game in a
small bar in some small town will earn substantially
less than it would in a popular arcade in New York
City or Los Angeles.
So, it's not only the earning capability of a
particular game but also the location of that game. A
Pac-Man coin-op video game will do quite well in a
shopping center, but place that same video out in the
sticks and it won't earn a dollar a day.
Consumer sales activity is a vital factor in
determining the progress and success of this industry.
The sole mtent of our Equipment Poll is to rank the
top earning games in the nation . With dollar amounts
we can compare earnings of current games to those of
a year ago. We can now track seasonal fluctuations in
player interest. Earnings can serve as an industry
barometer of consumer activity, a Dow )ones Average
of sorts for our industry.
The dollar amounts in the averages also tell us just
how much better one game is than another, from the
same standpoint. In its purest form, our Equipment
Poll is a guide and a gauge. That is its sole purpose and
that is the only way it should and can be used.
?Y
Ralph C. Lally II
Editor and Publisher