Classic Mode

Play Meter

Issue: 1985 September 01 - Vol 11 Num 16

UP FRONT
The sun's in my eyes and
other operator excuses
There was a ping-pong player once who wasn 't
very good at the game , but somehow he had this
image of himself as being the Bjorn Borg of ping-
pong if all the elements were just right.
But the elements were never right , and every
point he lost , he would cite a reason that he missed .
"The table 's crooked ."
"The sun's in my eyes."
" The ball is cracked ."
And he'd lose game after game- 21-15 , 21-14,
21-17 ' 21 -9 ' 21 -19 .
And every time , it was the same thing - ' 'The
table 's crooked ." " The sun 's in my eyes." "The ball is
cracked ."
Conditions are never going to be ideal for any-
thing . Did you know that when Babe Ruth called his
s'hot and hit the home run in the World Series game ,
there was a 15-mile-per-hour wind blowing in?
Did you know that when Secretariat won the
Bel most Stakes , setting a new track record , he was
running in less than ideal conditions?
And did you know that any number of baseball ,
basketball , and football stars had their greatest
performances when battling the flu or leprosy or
both?
The point is that the operator is in a perfect
position to make excuses for less than stellar collec-
tions week after week . After all -
The players have deserted the gamerooms.
The manufacturers are turning out boring
games.
There 's nothing new under the sun .
But , like the crooked table and the cracked ball ,
these are merely excuses operators are using to
sabotage themselves .
In this issue , we investigate two equipment
types- the pool table and the electronic dart game .
In both cases , these equipment types are as good or
as bad as an operator makes them . Pool tables can
be the curse of an operation with the location
buying its own table and kicking you out of the stop .
And dart games will make money for just a couple of
weeks before dying on location .
But, for the operator who isn 't afraid to make
money the old-fashioned way , these two equipment
8
types can be reversed and made into the co in-op's
money cow of t'he mid-1980's. They must be
promoted , not just operated .
The alibis are there for the operator who is
looking for excuses why he can 't accomplish any-
thing . But , for the enterprising operator who hasn 't
forgotten why he got in this business in the first
place , pool tables and electronic darts offe r a world
of opportunity.
The ope .ators who have devoted the time and
energy to instituting league play in the i r locations
are in better financial shape today than those who
are waiting around for the next hit video game .
For the league operator, he 's found that pool
tables and dart games offer a steady cash flow and
secure locations and , what 's more , new locations .
It all has to do with one 's perspective . Pool
tables and electronic darts can be the curse or the
savior for today 's operator. It depends entirely upon
the operator.
For the operator who is more interested in
finding excuses, than in making money , here 's a
start:
The players have deserted the gamerooms.
The manufacturers are turning out boring
games .
And there 's nothing new under the sun .
But don't stop there! you can also add :
The table 's crooked .
The sun 's in your eyes .
And the ball 's cracked .
So don 't wait for those ideal conditions . You
can bail yourself out only by your own efforts .
There was never a more foolish death than the
man who died of thirst in the desert. He never
realized that the cacti that surrounded him in that
desert held for him all the water he needed to dr:nk .
.)
u
.J- L..
'. ._ _ _
David Pierson
Editor
PLAY METER. September 1,
198~i
Letters to
the editor • •
•
much to improve the overall health of
all of us .
As for communication, the fac -
tories could read the same trade
publications we do, exhibit at all trade
shows, and have mini -workshops at
the distributorships. The communi-
cation lines worked well before . We
need to get back to basics.
Let the names of those greats who
have fallen , serve as a reminder to all
of us .
That 's entertainment.. .
Jeff Rosenthal
M&J Novelty
Brooklyn, New Jers e y
Sold down the river
Tha(s entertainment
Pla y Meter ha s been running
blurbs proclaiming "We are in the
Entertainment Business ." I think we
should thank Play Meter for reminding
us. And for those of us who are
unaware of this fact , please note it.
For too long , the industry has
seemed headed for self-destruction by
poor product, overpaid commissions,
greedy and/ or selfish manufacturers .
We hear of secret agreements , and of
operators alliances to communicate
with the factories (who have not
exactly listened so far) .
Bravo also to Play Meter for con -
tinuing to print articles on Increasing
Grosses on Old Games, Computer-
ized Management , and Game Trading .
We need more of this type of articles.
Let the industry beware. Manufac -
turers produce and operators oper-
ate. If equipment isn 't entertaining, we
all lose. We don't need an alliance. We
need better, higher quality product
and less fighting . The coin-op cus-
tomers will do the rest.
Operators can make good money
from older stock. We need more new
ideas, while the manufacturers
rlevelop new product. And to those
factories who still advocate kits are
bad, I say that's not good enough.
Factories have as much of an obli-
gation to the industry to help opera-
tr.rs keep older stock productive, as
they do to produce new quality pro-
duct. It's true for all manufacturers ,
not just game manufacturers . Stan-
dardized wiring and the like will do
PLAY METER. September 1 . 1965
We were completely shocked at
the compromise agreement between
the AMOA and the Performing Rights
Societies. A careful analysis of the
agreement sets forth the fact that we
operators and members of the AMOA
will receive a small 10 percent credit
for a year or so.
As we all realize , part of the pro-
blem is in the enforcement of the fees .
As I understand , only 30 to 40 percent
of the jukeboxes are registered . They
will never be registered unless some-
one searches all areas and forces the
operators to register all boxes.
It was our understanding that
AMOA was striving fo r a registration
fee (one time) to be paid by the opera-
tor at the time of purchasing the
jukebox from his distributor . This
would save the high cost of enforcing
the registration . Nothing has been
mentioned about this possibility.
What happened?
We definitely think the member-
ship was sold down the river. AMOA
wasted their time and effort. AMOA
should have ascertained its direction
by polling its members. It's the mem-
bers who m ust pay high royalty fees.
The royalty fees must be changed
to a one time fee paid at the time of
purchase . We operators also pay a
royalty fee each and every time we
purchase records for the jukebox.
Enough said .
J .William Corey
President
C.P.C . Music , Inc .
Crawfords ville, Indiana
0
Reasons he reads
I look forward to reading your
magazine very much .
I've made about every effort to
reduce my operating costs to survive
as an operator. However, dropping
my Play Meter subscription would be
a bad mistake.
Here are a few good reasons that I
like the magazine.
1. The survey of the most popular
games.
2. The editorial is very info rmative
and tells us about the character of the
owner. (She says what's best for t he
business, and treats the manufac -
turers, distributors , and operators
fairly.)
3. T he distributors' ads, especially
Faco West's advertisement on which
machines give the best return on
investment.
Even though I have a college
degree in accounting, and have my
own system on return on investment,
Faco West's system I like even better
than my own. Thank you Faco!!
Play Meter, keep up the good
work.
Marlow Remmers
linc oln, Nebraska
Audio Visu Amusements
OFFERING THE FINEST
NEW AND USED EQUIPMENT
YOU'VE TRIED THE REST, NOW TRY THE BEST!!
We're Eager To Serve
1809 O live Stree t, St. Louis, Missouri 63103
314/421-5100
for furt her information, call Pete Entringer coll ect
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