Play Meter

UP FRONT
GRAY AREA GAMES
BLACKEN INDUSTRrS IMAGE
Anyone with hi s heart in the busine ss is pain -
fully aware the coin-op indu stry is stru gg ling
through so me ve ry diffi c ult adjustments an d
cha nges.
Groping for a life preserver to keep businesses
afloat, ope rators have clung to conversion kits, but
they are waiting for the ship of technology to rescu e
them. On the h orizon, th e ship, in the fo rm of laser
disc equipment, looks promi si ng . Ope rat o rs hope it
is not a mirage.
But another l ife preserver (or business pre-
se rve r) loo k s more and more inviting to those
feel i ng th ey are at the end of the i r rope-yep, you
guessed it-gray area ga mes.
M any argu e th at the games are clean-they are
adu lt fun for those who ca n't play videos. "Let's give
t h e adu lts a fun video game ; wh at's the harm of a
little ol' card ga m e in a bar?" th ey argue.
But, and th e re is always a but w h en you try to
conv ince yourse lf that you are d o ing no h arm, gray
area ga mes are putting th e coin -op industry righ t
back wh ere it was in th e days of A I Capon e and Elliot
Ness.
For year s, the industry has suffe red f rom an
image pro blem, so seve re th at the AMOA even
changed plans for holding its sh ow in Las Vegas two
year s ago. Th e show was moved back to Chicago
because manufactur ers, and man y other gro ups,
insisted tha t th ey h ad spe nt too much mo ney and
effort gettin g away f rom the ga mbl i n g image. Th ey
did not wa nt it even hinted th at th e industry had
anything t o do w i t h ga mbling. Si nce Las Veg as is th e
gamb lin g cap it al of the U nit ed Stat es , th e
association between video and gambl ing wou ld
h ave been too k een.
That was on ly two yea rs ago. Now look at that
sa me image that has b een so pain staken ing ly
guarded . The number o f vid eo ca rd games is
d ramati ca lly increas ing. A video card ga me is worse
than a slot machi ne. People know a slot m achine is
p osit ively a gambl ing m achi ne. But a video card
game is borderline-a video game w ith subtle hints
of a gambling ga m e.
Who is anyo ne trying to kid ? Video ca rd ga m es,
b y the ir very n ature, i mpl y betting and ga mbling .
G ra y area games are no t con fined in bars and taverns
wit h adu lts. The y are sh owing up in arcades, and I
don't think anyone wo uld agree th at the Ronnie
Lamms wi ll let the issue stag nate and go unnoticed.
In thi s issue, gray area games and th eir impact
and effect on an already ail in g ind ustry were
resear ch ed w ith meticu lous detail.
Thi s issue ex plai ns w h y th e gray area market has
becom e so p rof itable. Wh o is bu ying th e equip -
m e nt; who is se lli ng it? H ow are ga mblin g games
go ing to affect amu sement-o nly ope rati o n s? Most
impo rtantly, it atte mpts to look into the future of the
coin-op industry. Ex perts tel l why gray area ga m es
wi ll blacken th e industry's image .
State association s were also p o lled to get
leaders' viewpoints, and o perato rs w ere co ntact ed
at random and asked how the gambl ing games affec t
th e ir bu sinesses.
Selling gray area games is like selling dope- you
know it's illega l and n ot th e best way to get ric h- b ut
th e money is so all uring th at m any wi ll compromise
th e ir values fo r th e profit.
~~
Valerie Cognevic h
Editorial D irector
6
PLAY METER. September 15. 1983