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Play Meter

Issue: 1985 May 15 - Vol 11 Num 9

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Robbins offers resignation
joe Robbins, president of the
American Amusement Association
(AAMA) , has offered his resignation
and has instructed a nominating
committee to seek a new president
and slate of oHicers at an AAMA
business meeting May 16-17 in San
Francisco .
Robbins offered his resignation
in an April15 letter to AAMA mem-
bers in hopes of stemming the dis-
cord within the association. Dissen-
sion has apparently grown within
the AAMA in recent weeks following
the poor attenda nee at the associa-
tion ' s annual trade exposition ,
Amusement Showcase International
(ASI) , which was held March 1-3 in
Chicago.
Robbins has been the prime pro-
ponent of the AAMA's attempt to
sponsor a springtime show to com-
pete against the Amusement Oper-
ators Expo (AOE),which has been
owned and managed by Play Meter
magazine since 1980. The AAMA
president has maintained that, with-
out the ASI show, the entire game
manufacturers ' association is in
jeopardy.
However , in its first two years ,
th e ASI ha s been unable to draw
operator attendees away from the
more established AOE, and exhibi-
tors at both shows are now com-
plaining that the attempt by ASI to
force a second springtime show on
the industry has diluted the poten-
tial of either show (ASI or AOE)
being profitable for exhibitors.
AAMA executives have claimed
the ASI had 3,500 registrations for
PLAY METER, May 1 5, 1985
th_is year's exposition, but they have
refused to release the actual atten-
dance figures, which were consider-
ably lower. In fact, this year's ASI
drew so poorly that several mem-
bers , including Atari, said they
would not exhibit at the ASI again.
And, in informal discussions,
other manufacturer members who
exhibited at the ASI said they would
favor paying higher dues to support
the association rather than having to
go through the enormous expense
of exhibiting again at the ASI. Said
one manufacturer, "I could have
invited all my distributors to our
offices and spent a lot less than I did
at the ASI and still wrote as many
orders."
In his open letter, Robbins con-
firmed the numerous complaints
from members about the ASI's poor
draw. Robbins wrote, " I have heard
so many complaints about the lack
of operator attendance , but oh so
few compliments from Glenn [Bras-
well, AAMA executive director] and
his crew.
"Unfortunately, there has sur-
faced in recent weeks," he con-
tinued, " devisive [sic) elements that
possibly threaten the ongoing
existence of AAMA and the con-
tinuity of the ASI. In this respect, let
no one misunderstand the reason
for being for ASI. Given the reduced
schedule of dues, the funds gener-
ated by the show are essential to the
continuance of our programs,
including the fight against the
copiers."
However, Robbins's letter con-
tinued, "I have been President of
AGMA and AAMA since its incep-
tion in 1981, and I have the press of
personal affairs, and I do believe a
new President and a revised execu-
tive committee might better reunite
everyone and restore the cohesive-
ness which seems to be slowly
eroding."
Braswell, however, downplayed
the Robbins's letter, saying , " At the
last two annual meetings, joe said he
would resign because his business
was taking up to much of his time.
But each time he is re-elected to the
position of president."
But Braswell noted that this time
several nominations were made for
the position and that the matter will
be voted upon at the San Francisco
meeting.
In his April 15 letter, Robbins
also criticized 28 distributing com-
panies by name for not having paid
their association dues.
In January, prior to the AAMA
push to enlist dues-paying distribu-
tor members, Braswell said ten dis-
tributorships were ready to join the
association. However, according to
Robbins's April 15 letter, the dis-
tributor members still totalled ten.
Robbins wrote, "Having been
instrumental in creating a new cate-
gory of membership for distributors
(at their request I must add), I must
apologize to the members as it
appears that I was sadly misled as to
the sincerity of their actual desire."
Robbins continued that he "was
ashamed and appalled" that the list
of dues-paying distributor members
had not grown.
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9
CALENDAR .
Jun• 7-0
California Coin Machine Association
Annual Convention, Hyatt Regency,
Monterey, California. Contact John
Wendt. 916/441 -5451 .
Jun• 0-9
Coin-Operated Industries of
Nebraska General Meeting ,
Ramada Inn Central. Omaha ,
Nebraska. Contact Ted Nichols,
nEWS
Jacobs and Segal fo rn1
consulting firm
402/727-1822.
Jun•
21-2~
Illinois Coin Machine Operators Asso-
ciation Annual Meeting, Holiday Inn
East, Springfield, Illinois. Contact Art
Seeds, 312/369-2406.
Jun•
21-2~
Music & Amusement Association, Inc.
(New York) Annual Convention.
Contact Ronald Koppelman ,
212/245-7 550.
July 9
Missouri Coin Machine Council
Annual Business Meeting, The Gas
Ught Room, Macon, Missouri. Contact
Art Hunolt, 816/359-3022.
July
12-1~
Pennsylvania Amusement and Music
Machine Association's annual con-
vention, Volley Forge Sheraton/
Convention Center. Contact PAMMA
at 711/737-5675. Toll-free In Penn-
sylvania 800/521-7778.
July
1~
Washington Amusement & Music
Operators Association Quarterly
Meeting/Nomination of Officers,
Thunderbird Motor Inn, Yakima,
Washington. Contact Yvonne Kline,
509/457-5891.
July 19-21
Minnesota Operators of Music &
Amusements Annual Summer
Outing & Seminars, Radisson Arrow-
wood Resort, Alexandria, Minnesota.
Contact Hy Sandier, 612/927-6662.
10
Marty Segal and Craig jacobs
have formed a consulting firm ,
jacobs & Segal , to inform interested
parties about the benefits and pit-
falls of the Coin-Operated Pay Tele-
phone Station (C.O .P.T.S.) industry.
According to Segal , too many indi-
viduals and corporations have
jumped into this complicated indus-
try without the knowledge that is
required , to operate a successful
pay telephone business.
Jacobs and Segal bring consider-
able working knowledge of the
coin-operated pay telephone indus-
try to the table. jacobs became
involved as a distributor and opera-
tor of pay phones as early as january
1984. Segal started and continues to
operate what he claims to be the
largest privately owned C.O.P.T.S .
operating company in the nation.
They claim to have thoroughly
investigated every aspect of this new
and exciting business. They have
traveled extensively, seeking out
and using all types of pay station
equipment, Segal said .
jacobs, a distributor for Tonk-A-
Phone, was reportedly instrumental
in forcing the F.C.C. to deregulate
private pay telephones on june 15,
1984.
jacobs later formed Paytel , Corp.
in May of 1984. By July 1984, he said
he realized the general public
would not accept the post-pay type
of telephone when they were used
to pre-pay. After having a number
of phones destroyed by irate callers
because they lost their money, and
having some of the phones forcibly
removed by the location owners,
Jacobs said he decided to find the
best phone available that would
answer this problem of the tele-
phones.
Marty Segal ' s family owned and
operated one of the premier vend-
ing companies in the Chi cago area ,
Republic Vending Corp. Claiming
extensive knowledge of operating a
large vending business, Segal , in
early 1984, began an investigation of
the possibility of operating pri vate
pay telephones. Republic and Se gal
were invovled in the legal proce ed-
ings and hearings leading to the
Illinois Commerce Commissions
decision to deregulate C.O.P .T .S. in
Illinois. Within a month of operating
private pay phones, Segal realized
that his equipment was inferior to
Bell phones. And customers were
asking for the phones to be
removed. Marty then began his
search for better equipment to meet
the public 's needs.
According to Segal and Jacobs,
they found the instrument they had
been seeking from lntellicall , Inc.
The goal of Jacobs & Segal is to
inform users, owners, and operators
of the proper method of operation
for this new and exciting profit
potential. There is a place for all of
the new equipment that is available ,
they said . And knowing this and
using the proper phone at the
proper place is the key to this new
industry .
As consultants, they will go into
detail on subjects like history of th e
private pay phone indu stry , F.C.C.
deregulation , state level deregula-
tion, private entrepeneur, operator
potential , income potentials, reve-
nues, return on investment, differ;
ence in equipment, general outlool<
of the industry, future technology,
state level deregulations, and com-
petition .
They can be reached at 312/ 678-
6670 or 312/ 775-2400.
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PLAY METER. May 1 5, 1985

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