, r
IEWS BRIEFS
BU Mike Shaw
With the ink barely dry on the contracts it has signed with distributors, Sente Technologies is on
the marketing block . It is likely that Bally will announce the acquisition of the video game division of
floundering Pizza Time Theatres. Nolan Bushnell's first video game company since giving up Atari to
Warner Communications in 1976 has been stunted by the poor credit status of its parent firm, Pizza
Tim e Theatres. Recently , Bushnell resigned as chairman of Pizza Time in light of charges of mis-
management and after the Sunnyvale firm's credit had been cut off by its banks. The firm reported it
would show a fourth quarter loss comparable to that of its third quarter of $3.7 million.
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Bally Distributing has acquired Banner Specialty Company. Banner, established in 1917, has
headquarters in Jenkintown , Pennsylvania, and offices in Philadelphia and Pittsburg. The acquisition
brings the number of Bally Distributing offices to 19.
Luis Alvarez, the Miami police officer who shot and killed 20-year-old Nevel! Johnson Jr. in an
arcade in Miami in 1982, told a jury on March 7 that he shot the youth deliberately. Johnson pulled
away with a sudden movement, Alvarez said, and appeared to be reaching for a gun . Alvarez's
testimony came on the 35th day of his manslaughter trial.
Johnson 's killing sparked three days of rioting in the predominantly black Overtown section of
Miami. Dade County officials fear there will be more rioting if Alvarez is not convicted, and are
preparing to keep students at 20 schools overnight at the end of the trial to avoid trouble. (Play Meter,
March 15, 1983, p. 46-47)
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A new series of data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows Atlantic City has the highest crime rate
in the nation , a distinction it earned along with its fame as a haven for gamblers. New Jersey residents
originally opened their arms to gambling interests because they believed the revenues the state would
receiv e would improve the quality of their lives.
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Following the lead of Marshfield, Massachusetts, the town that won state Supreme Court
approval for its outright ban of coin-operated video games, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, forced tavern
proprietors to remove all of the town's six games, declaring the operation of coin-op amusements a
crime.
" Again the small businessman is hurt because- of fear, panic, and hypocrisy by small town
officials," Melvin Pearlman of the Ohio Music and Amusement Association told the Cleveland Plain
Dealer.
Pl.A Y METER. April 15, 1984
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