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UP FRONT
Industry must ride imagination
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Imagination is the true magic carpet.
-Norman Vincent Peale
In The Raft, a short story by Stephen King, four
young people were sitting around trying to think of
something exciting to do. One of them suggested a
swim to the middle of the lake, where there was a raft
that soon would be brought ashore for the winter.
Although it was cold , all were eager to tackle the
challenge .
They drove to the beach , stripped to their
underwear, and began swimming toward the raft .
Their initial thrill was replaced by apprehension
when they saw a hugh black shadow looming near
the raft. After climbing a ladder to the safety of the
raft , they sensed an impending danger that turned
out to be all too real. The mysterious black blob
captured the group one by one. They recognized
the danger, felt the presence of the blob , but were
unable to do anything about it.
Like the characters in The Raft, the coin-
operated entertainment industry has climbed a
ladder to safety after a hazardous swim . Operators
are healthy once again , and manufacturers are
putting out some good product. But we can't lose
sight of the fact that there could be mysterious
forces just below the surface waiting to pull us
under.
One of those forces may be a lack of imagination
in product design . The ACME show was packed
with redemption equipment, kits , dedicated games,
and a few novelty pieces. The product was good, but
there was nothing that really knocked anyone 's
socks off. As one distributorsummed up, there were
no home runs.
Stan Jarocki of Grand Products said in a recent
article that manufacturers would have to make a big
commitment to the industry to produce equipment
rich in imagination. Making a big commitment
means more than mimicking a winning idea . It
means betting on an imaginative idea when there is
no guarantee the idea will be accepted.
And it means risking big bucks to come up with
the idea. Taking such risks is scary. After all , who
wants to dive into the water not knowing what lurks
below .
There are those who know how it feels to test
the waters for everyone else . Bally invested in Space
Invaders at the height of pinball 's popularity and in
Pac-Man during space mania . ICE introduced
Chexx Ice Hockey when novelties were scarce.
Sega advanced the kit concept when the idea
seemed absurd . Bally Sente introduced no-hands
video with Stompin '. Atari produced Gauntlet
when operators wanted only kits . And with Hang-
On Sega took a chance on a higher-priced ride-on
game when the idea didn 't seem appealing. In fact ,
there were indications Gauntlet and Hang-On
would fail-they weren 't kits , they had weird
cabinets , and they were expensive . Operators
started balking even before Gauntlet was out
because it wasn 't what they had come to expect.
Now that it has made operators a lot of money , they
aren 't complaining any more.
Stompin ' shows imagination by enabling
players to use their feet to squash critters on the
screen . It's different , and even if some of us should
get a doctor's certificate before being allowed to
play , it's sure fun to watch the younger players .
Grand Products has shown imagination in its
initial offering of games . In its Four Kings novelty ,
for example , the player shoots a circling ball at
spinning cards to create a poker hand . It's some-
thing different. I don 't know how it's going to do , but
the company must be given credit for trying to be
innovative .
The $64 ,000 question is this : Would a manufac-
turer prefer to make back its investment on a proven
concept rather than take a risk that could lead it to
make more than it ever dreamed or lose a bundle on
something never tried before?
It's got to be a hard question to answer, but with
the hit syndrome so prevalent in this industry , too
many are making the safe choice . We need more
that are willing to take the risk and carry the industry
on a true magic-carpet ride .
Valer .ie Cognevich
Editorial Director
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PLAY METER. April 1 , 1966
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