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OPINION
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The High Cost of Playing (Videos)
By Louis Boasberg
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Gene Lewin 's article under the heading of " Critic
Reviews Laser Games at the AMOA'' which ran in a
recent issue of Play Meter (December 31 , 1983, p. 78) ,
was exceptionally well done, except that in his criti-
cism of Astron Belt, he states: " Another very bad
thing, and it surprises me coming from an industry
giant like Bally, is that the game can be set for quarter
play. Everyone knows that if it can be done, some
stupid operator will set it on one quarter and ruin it
for everyone else. Dragon 's Lair cannot be set for one
coin , so no one else did it. Why give that option?"
Gene should realize that a manufacturer cannot
arbitrarily force and set the pricing on its games. If this
were the case , manufacturers would double the
selling price of all of their games and install dollar coin
chutes.
As for an operator being stupid if he sets the
game on a quarter, I imagine he would be stupid to
pay $4,500 plus for a game and then put it initially on a
quarter. He would be stupid , indeed , unless he
operated the game in a 24-hour location and took in a
minimum of $400 to $800 gross a week. (This would
be possible but not probable.)
The question as to whether a game operates on a
nickel , dime, quarter, 50 cents, or $1 depends on
many factors-the type of location, the traffic in the
location , the hours the location is open , the geo-
graphy of the location-all of these influence the
pricing of a game . (The time consumed playing the
game may also be a factor.)
However, the most important factor of all is the
caliber of the game. I have news for Mr. Lewin-it was
a good thing that some of the lasers shown at the
AMOA Show can be reduced to a quarter, as some of
these games not only are now being operated on a
quarter in many locations nationwide, but even at this
reduced price , they do not take in the revenue to
justify their high cost.
In New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia ,
Boston , and other large cities , games with great play
appeal can be operated on two quarters in most
locations. But the games that are operated in country
towns, particularly in states where the economy is not
too good , have to be operated on a quarter. This is
especially true after the game has been in a location
for two or three months.
There is one rule that all manufacturers should
learn , and I believe they are learning it very fast at the
present time-the higher the co st charged to di strib-
utors and operators for a game and the higher pricing
the pla yer has to pa y not onl y influen ces the number
of games sold, but also influences the number of loca-
tions where a game can be operated at a profit.
Higher pri cing to the player certainl y influences the
longevity of a game in a specifi c location.
For instance, when a blockbuster movie like " The
Godfather," " Star Wars," " Raiders of the Lost Ark,"
" E.T. ," or an y other big spectacular picture first comes
out, theaters usually not only raise their prices, but
su spend all complimentary passes. Bu t after everyone
has seen the blockbuster movie at least once, then
eventuall y the movie goes to a second run or neigh-
borhood theater where admi ssion prices are drasti-
call y reduced . The public will not pa y the same price
fo r an y movie after it ha s been showing for a year or
more .
The same is true of video games. No matter how
spe ctacular or how innovat ive the game is, when the
initial no velty has worn off after a few months, then
th e operator has to redu ce the pri ce to a quarter. By
doin g this, esp eci all y if he ca lls atte ntion to the lower
pri cing, he revives th e game almost immediately, and
th e lower pricing sustain s th e game in t he location a
few months longer and helps th e operator get some
of his cost out of the game or even perhaps make a
profit.
An y and all video and flipp er games should have
adju stments that can allow th e operator to adjust the
pri ce to whateve r denomination he thinks is econo-
mica ll y sound - One pla y, a quarter; Two pla ys, a
qu arter ; One pla y, 50 cent s; One pla y, $1 , etc ..
A manufacturer who sets his game on two
quarters and makes it impossible or extremely hard
for an operator to change sa id game to a quarter is
traveling in a fool 's paradi se, insomuch as many
arcades and locat ion s operate on checks and can
defeat the manufacturer 's purpose merel y by giving
more check s per dollar.
So Mr. M anufa cturer, let the operator decide
what he wants to charge for a pl ayer playing his game .
He is not as stupid as Gene Lew in or some manufac-
turers may think .
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PLAY METER. Apr111 . 1964