Play Meter

Issue: 1985 February 01 - Vol 11 Num 2

nEWS
Sam Gensburg dies
as distributors but in 1934 started
manufa cturin g games. Gensburg
retired in 1977, a few yea rs after the
death of Walberg . The company
wa s eve ntuall y bought by Sam Stern
and renamed Stern Electronics .
Sam Gensburg , 92, an indu stry
pioneer , di e d at Northwe stern
Memorial Ho spit al in Chi cago
Dece mb er 4, 1984.
Gensburg ca me to th e United
States from Pol and at the age of
three . On hi s own at 16, he moved to
Chicago where he rem ain ed the re st
of his life.
The Ge n sb urg brothers, Lou ,
Dave, Meyer, and Sam were all
industry ve tera ns with claims to
fame in the co in-operated amuse-
ment industry. In 1930 Lou , Dave
and Meyer found ed Genco Manu-
facturing Corp. Sam , with h i s
broth er-in - law, Sam Walberg foun-
ded Chicago Dynamics (a lso known
J S Chi r ago Coin). Th ey started Ou t
" I thought I co uld make games
better than my brothers," he once
said in an interview with Roger
Sharpe for his book Pinball!. Some
of his early games were Beam-Lite,
Sensa tion, Knickerbocker, and Tit
for Tat. After World War II , Gensburg
introduced Kilroy and Goalie.
Gensburg is survived by a son
Avron , a daughter Joyce Hearst, six
grandchildren, a great grandchild,
and two brothers, David and Louis.•
Sam C n burg
Impending AGMA collapse denied
Despite an internal letter alerting
members of the Amusement Gam e
Manufacturers Association (AGMA )
that the associa tion is in danger of
running out of funds , AGMA Execu-
tive Director Gl en Bra sw ell denied
the association is in jeopardy of
collapsi ng.
Bra swe ll further stat ed that non-
payment of dues by manufa ctur r
members was not behind AGMA 's
recent att empt to include distrib u-
tors and suppliers in the association.
Further co ntradicting the con -
fidential lett er to AGMA members,
the associa tion executive insisted
th e association is not totally reliant
upon a success ful ASI show if it is to
survive .
Bra sw ell tried to downpla y the
internal lette r, say ing it was over-
zea lou sness on the part of AGMA
President joe Robbins, more than
financial uncertainty, that spurred
the letter.
In the August 31 letter, President
Robbin s wrot e m e mber s: " The
Board has agreed that the ASI show
has beco me almost a necess ity if
AGMA is to remain in existe nce . The
previous posi tion of so me of our
members and the failure of man y
Mali
The H enry W T M all & Co . In c
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PLAY METER. February 1. 1985
members to pay their dues has cast
dark shadow over poss ible future
activitie s. Without the show, and
assuming non-payment of dues
from unpaid members, we will run
out of funds in eight months. "
The letter concluded ominously:
" Th e loss of AGMA would be a
grievous blow to everyone."
Robbin s disclosed that two-thirds
of AGMA 's members were severely
delinquent in paying their dues.
Due s for AGMA members ranges
from $2,125 for small compa nie s to
$42 ,500 for the larger manufacturing
(continued on page 14)
Billiard Cloth
#824 - Piain . #924-Rubberbacke d
Fast-Playing . Long-Wearing cloth for
coin-op tables.
Available through your distributor .
Write or call tor color card .
13
nEWS
(continued fro m page 13)
...
concer ns.
A number of manufacturing
companies in AGMA, hurt by the
drastic decline in vid eo game sa les,
have fallen further and further
behind in their debts to supp li ers.
Apparently, this is creating the non-
payment problem for AGMA .
In recent weeks, AGMA has
a ked distributors and suppliers to
join the associat ion . Accordingly,
AGMA has changed its name to the
American Amusement Machine
Association (AAMA).
Braswell insisted this change was
not done simply to enlarge the asso-
ciation's dues-paying base . Said
Braswell , " With the distributors in
our association, our terms of service
will be more efficient. We will have
more PR campaigns. AGMA is not
here just for the manufacturers but
for the industry. "
Braswell said distributor mem-
bers will pay dues ranging from
$2,125 to $12,750 . However, Braswell
revealed, even though distributors
will be paying dues similar to small
and medium-sized manufacturing
firms, manufacturers will still hold a
heavy balance of power in the asso-
ciatio n.
Distributor members, Braswell
said, will be allowed to elect only
two members to the association 's
board. By contrast, manufacturers
can elect seven members to the
board .
Braswell told Play Meter that
prior to expanding the association's
base of membership, AGMA had 19
full manufacturer members and
four associate members. Of the 75
distributing companies which be-
longed to th e now-defu nct dis-
tributors ' a soc iation , ten have
joined AAMA , according to Bras-
well.
The association executive said
AAMA is now embarking on a full-
scale membership drive to enlist
dues-paying manufacturers and
distributors.
Braswell said the ASI show, if suc-
cessful , will contribute to AAMA's
budget plans for 1985-86 .
He said AGMA made 15 percent
of the gross off the first ASI show.
Association leaders are hoping this
year's show nets the association 25
percent of the gross, Braswell said .
He went on to say that ASI show pro-
lits should account for 25 percent of
next year's budget for the associa-
tion .
He added , " The distributors
won 't improve the ASI. They sup-
port d the show last yea r . Th e
success or failure of th show is
separat from distributors joining
the how."
Among AAMA's future plans,
Bra swe ll said, were "some thin gs for
operators."
H said, with the distributors'
close ties with operators, AAMA is
hoping to offer an operator-ori nted
program , creating a legislative and
PR manual for operator to deal with
city counci ls and the media .
" Thi s is so methin g th e AMOA
hould have done, but ha sn't," aid
Brasw II.
Bra swe ll said the manufacturers'
association had planned to work
with th e operators ' association , but
"not h i ng eve r occurred in real life ."
Th
AAMA director said the
AMOA doe not include manufac-
turer at its board meetings.

Status reports gains
Status Game Corp. of West Hart-
ford , Connecticut, a designer and
manufacturer of cash payout video
machines for the gaming industry
and electronic video coin-operated
games for the amusement industry,
achieved substa nti al gains in sales
and earnings for th e second quarter
and six mont hs end t:!d November
30 , 1984.
For the second quarter , net
incom climbed to $30,391 or one
cent per share on sales of $926,775
from a net loss of $102,561 or four
cents per share on sa les of $200,999
for the same period last year .
Net income for the half year rose
to $84,11 7 or four ce nts per share on
sales of $1 ,729,439 from a net loss of
14
$63 ,330 or thr e cents per share on
sales of $728,239 for the prior year's
first six month s.
" The gains primarily were the
result of broad consumer acceptance
of our Triv-Quiz video amusement
game and the growing penetration
of Nevada and the Caribbean of our
gaming products ," Irving Yaffa ,
chairman and president, said.
The company also announced
that it has acquired just Games Inc.
of San Diego, California , a privatel y-
owned operator of more than 300
amusement games on naval bases in
the San Diego area. The acquisition
was for an undisclosed amount of
cas h and notes.
" Th a quisition , which include
ex lu iv right to game on th
naval base , opens a new , pot n-
tially lucrative market to Statu and
provid s instant outlets for our
expanding product lin e," Yaffa
exp lain d.
Status Game also operates an
amusement game route in the Las
Vega area with more than 100
machines . Re cent ly, Status Game
was lie nsed by evada to operate
all makes of slot machines, includ-
ing it own , in casinos, cocktai l
loung , clubs , and food establish-
m nt . Th com pan y ha s received
approva l to test its blackjack video
and thre -in-one game called Statu
Casino .

PLAY METER. February 1. 1985

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