telling of competitors operating illegal
games. He said the number of calls
increases after some action. such as
the Faco West search. takes place. He
refers the complaints to the FBI. which
then may interview the suspected
operator in hopes of being led to the
source of his illegal games.
Explaining that he has the names
of "hundreds and hundreds' of opera-
tors of illegal games. Fay said. "I think
every operator at one time or another"
has operated counterfeit or parallel
games.
•
AMOA recommends
standards
The PM.OA through its industry-
standardization subcommittee. has
proposed several standards for parts
and components for the coin-op
amusement industry. The PM.OA is
urging manufacturers to follow the
standards. which include the follow-
ing:
"All coin door locks and cash door
locks shall be a standard 7 / 8-inch
barrel.
"All games shall have a power
switch located on the upper left hand
section of the cabinet.
"All games using electronic sound
shall have a volume control located
on the left hand inside of the coin door.
easily reachable and accessible
through the coin door.
"All games and coin machines
shall accept Canadian coins or ade-
quately reject them so as not to cause
coin jams.
"All pinballs should utilize the stan-
dardized bookkeeping procedure
with the same sequence of functions
enabling owners/ operators to easily
access and remember the format for
calling up pinball bookkeeping."
The standardization subcommittee.
which is under the education commit-
tee. was formed this year. Members
include Craig Johnson of TATAKA in
Framington. utah; Todd Erickson of
Summit Amusement in St. Paul. Minn.;
Joe Dillon of Williams Electronics;
Steve Blattspieler of Bally; Frank
Ballouz of Nintendo of America. and
Dan Van Elderen of Star Games in
•
Milpitas. Calif.
Thousands compete in
video tournament
More than 2.000 players from
across the U.S. competed at more than
300 Bally's Aladdin's Castle arcades in
PLAY METER, August 15, 1986
the fourth annual Video Game Mas-
ters Tournament during the last week-
end in June.
Players competed on more than
120 ditferent games-ranging from
oldies like Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga
to more recent videos like Sarge.
Choplifter. and Super Mario Bros.-to
ensure that each participant could
compete on game with which he was
familiar . The tournament's high
scorers. 120 in all. will be listed in the
next edition of the Guinness Book of
World Records. which has a cumula-
tive total of 51 million copies in print. In
addition to the book listing. local and
national winners were awarded other
prizes. including trophies and certifi-
cates.
Participants were charged a $5
entry fee. half of which was donated to
the March of Dimes to help prevent
birth defects. In addition to tourna-
ment eligibility. players received
'Video Game Master" identification
cards and certificates entitling them to
free tokens before and after the com-
petition.
The tournament was co-sponsored
by the U.S. National Video Game
Team and Bally. which promoted the
contest with posters and brochures in
all their locations providing tourna-
ment information. Marquee attrac-
tions also were placed above all
tournament games to alert players.
"This was without a doubt the most
successful Masters competition ever
held," said Steve Harris. project direc-
tor of the video team. "We had a
record number of participants-more
than 2.000 in three days-and raised a
lot of money for a very worthy cause.
The whole industry should be proud
that Bally hosted this event. It sparked
a tremendous amount of enthusiasm.
"When we obtained the rights to
the tournament." Harris continued.
"our initial concern was to find loca-
tions to host the event. By chance we
were led to Bally. whose wholesome
environment and dedication to the
player were perfectly suited for this
type of promotion."
The tournament received local
and national media coverage, includ-
ing mention on the March of Dimes
telethon and in The New York Times.
Jim Volland! of La Verne. Calif ..
who once played Joust for 67 hours to
become the video-game marathon
champion, said the tournament is "the
only avenue that players can take to
get official verified scores. I wish there
were more video-game contests like
this one."
Verified video-game high scores
THE
CALENDAR
S.pt•mb•r 19-21
New York State Coin Machine Asso-
ciation 4th Annual Convention. Folls-
view Hotel, Ellenville, N.Y. Contact
Curtiss B. Matterson, executive direc-
tor, NYSCMA 427 Kenwood Ave.,
Delmor, NY 12054, or coll (518)
439-0981.
S.pt•mb•r 28-30
Amusement Business Seminar at the
Sands Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ. Con-
tact the Amusement Business Spon-
sorship Seminar, 14 Music Circle East,
Nashville, TN 37203, (615) 748-
8120.
Octob•r 23-26
Notional Convention-Exhibit of
Vending and Foodservice Manage-
ment McCormick Place, Chicago. Ill.
Organized by the Notional Automa-
tic Merchandising Association. Con-
tact Wolter W. Reed at (312) 346-
0370 . 6,000 registrants ore
expected.
Nov•mber 6-8
AMOA Expo '86, the Amusement &
Music Operators Association's 37th
intemotionol exhibition and seminar
for the coin-operated games, music,
and vending industry, Hyatt Regency
Chicago. Contact Amusement &
Music Operators Association, 111 E.
Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60601;
(312) 644-6610.
lnt•motlonal Shows
October 2-16
Electronics Computer Tour, Japan,
Korea , Taiwan , Hong Kong.
(optional extensions-Chino or
Singapore). Featuring Japan Elec-
tronics Show. all Japan Audio Fair,
International Optoelectronic Show.
Korea Electronics Show, Taiwan Elec-
tronics Show, and Hong Kong Elec-
tronics Fair. Contact Commerce Tours
International. Inc., 8 70 Market Street
Suite 708, Son Francisco, CA 94102,
(415) 433-3072.
October 8-9
JAMMA 24th Annual Amusement
Machine Show. Tokyo Ryutsu Center
(TRC). 1-1, Heiwojimo 6-chome,
Oto-ku, Tokyo 143. Organizers:
Japan Amusement Machinery Manu-
facturers' Association, Room 704.
Nagata-Cho TBR Bldg .. 2-10-2,
Nagata-Cho, Chiyodo Word. Tokyo
100, Japan . Telephone 593-
2563/4.
7