Classic Mode

Play Meter

Issue: 1989 August - Vol 15 Num 8

THE LAST WORD
Crying in my beer
I
love meeting somebody for the first
time and telling them I'm from New
Orleans. That is, a person from another
state who's never been to Louisiana.
It 's fascinating to discover the
stereotypes that have been formed over
the years.
For example, thanks to Dennis
Quaid in the movie The Big Easy, peo-
ple think every third word out of our
mouths is cher (the French term of
endearment for "dear.") In fact, you'd
have to go to Cajun country to hear a
litany of chers. New Orleans, rather,
is full of "Yats." These are people
who greet you with the phrase ''where
you at?" instead of "hello." But the
words ''you at'' are fused together to
form "y'at."
Our diets don't consist solely of red
beans and rice and shrimp creole. We
don't drink Hurricanes with lunch. Our
entire adult population does not spend
every night on Bourbon Street. We
don ' t all share the political views of
Huey Long. And while we enjoy Mar-
di Gras, we don't sink into a year-long
abyss of depression beginning the day
after.
That said, I will confess that New
Orleans is a city that knows how to par-
ty. Count me among those who likes to
bar-hop on weekends (hey, I'm still
young and single!) My favorite area is
Uptown; there are three or four
college-aged bars (dives) that I fre-
quent more than others.
198 PLAY METER/August 1989
It used to be that I would simply
check out the usual when entering one
of these bars: the females, the beers on
tap, the songs on the jukebox, the two
teams on the big-screen TV , etc. But
since I've been working at Play Meter,
I find myself interested in the mix of
coi n-op equipment available to
patrons.
As a rule, I 've found that most
bars/nightclubs have extremely old,
outdated games. At first I figured, "So
what? They must be paid for and still
earning well. Mind your own business.
Get another beer. '' But as I kept retur-
ning to these places, I noticed
something that was really pretty ob-
vious: no one ever plays these
machines!
I asked one of the bartenders about
this, and he replied simply,'' Nobody
plays video and pinball anymore.
That's old hat. People are interested in
other things besides these machines.' '
I thought to myself, " I guess so, you
gin-rotted sot! These games look like
the ones Beaver Cleaver played , ex-
cept for the ' new ' ones like Pac-Man
and Space Invaders!''
By contrast, another Uptow n bar
with a similar clientele has crowds
swarming around its coin-op games.
It's no mystery why: the place keeps up
with the latest equipment. The last time
I was in there I saw the videos Terris
and Ninja Gaiden and the Williams
pin s Jokerz! and Taxi. The happy
customers then, of course, have more
reason to stick around longer before
going to another bar. That's more
business for the bar owner, not to men-
tion the smart operator who placed the
best new games in there.
Look at it this way: if you had a
jukebox programmed with hits from
1979 and one from 1989, which one
would gobble up most of the quarters?
Similarly, how long would a video
movie store last if it's latest rental titles
were Urban Cowboy and Jaws?
I'm sure the previously-mentioned
bars are doing a bang-up business
without much help from coin-op. The
point is, they could be experiencing in-
creased revenues if the operators
would give these locations an infusion
of new games. It's a shame to see
potentially big locations, with a good
base of players seeking entertainment,
withering up and dying.
I'm not saying there has to be a bat-
tery of driving simulators. Just let the
public know that our industry has come
out with something new since Pong.
Christopher Caire
News Editor
THE CALENDAR
August 1213
Amusement and Mu s ic Operators
Association (AMOA) Regional Seminar,
Dallas/Ft. Worth Marrio tt . Contac t
AMOA (3 12) 565-4602.
August 1819 20
Amuse ment and Music Operators of Ten-
nessee Annual Meeting and Trade Show,
Nashville , Tenn. Contac t Gordon Ar-
c hibald (90 1) 377-3525.
August 24 25 26
Wi sco nsin Amu s eme nt and Mu s ic
Operators (W AMO) Fall Conference,
C ivic Cente r Inn , Eau C laire, Wis. Con-
tact W AMO (414) 529-4704 .
ADVERTISER'S INDEX
October 20 21 22
North Carolina Coin Ope rators Assoc ia-
tion (NCCOA) Annual Convention a nd
Trade Show , Ma rriott Executive Park
Hotel, Charlotte, N.C. Contact Bobby
Earp (9 19) 584-4 833.
November 2 3 4
W est Virginia Mu s ic and Ve nding
Association (WVMVA) Annual Expo and
Co nve nti o n , Ramad a Inn, South
C harleston, W.Va . Contact WVMVA
(304) 949-3289 .
November 6 7 8 910
Randy Fromm Arcade School technical
training session , Chicago. Contact Ran-
dy Fromm (619) 697-4035.
August 26 27
Amu se me nt and Mu s ic Operators
Association (AMOA) Regional Seminar,
Radisson Hotel , Columbus, Ohio. Con-
tact AMOA (3 12) 565-4602.
September 4 5 6 7 8
Ra ndy Fromm Arcade School technical
training sess ion, Las Vegas, Nev. Contact
Randy Fromm (619) 697-4035
September 11 12 13
Amusement and Mu sic Operators
Association (AM OA) Expo '89 , Las
Vegas Convention Cente r , Las Vegas
Hilton . Contact AMOA (3 12) 644-6610.
September 21 22 23
Mic hi ga n Co in Machine Operators
Association (MCMOA) Annual Exhibit
and Trade Show , Clarion Hotel , Lansing ,
Mich . Contact MCMOA (5 17) 372-2323.
November 15161718
Inte rnational Association o f Amuseme nt
Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) 71 stAn-
nual Con venti o n and Trade Sh ow ,
Georgia W orld Congress Center, Atlan-
ta . Contact IAAPA (70 3) 67 1-5800 .
International
September 28 29 30
Fer ' 89 , Spanis h Amuse me nt Trade
Show , Palacio Alfonso XIII , Recinto
Feria!, Barce lo na, S pain . Avd a.
Diagonal, 474-08006 Barcelona. Telex 50
227, T el. (93) 218 58 50, Fax (93) 415 00
95.
1990
January 8 9 1 0 11
September 25 26 27 28 29
Randy Fromm Arcade School Technical
training session, Orlando , F la. Contact
Randy Fromm (619) 697-4035.
October 12131415
National Automatic Merc handi s ing
Association (NAMA) National Conven-
tion a nd Exhibit of Vending and Foodser-
vice Manageme nt, McCormick Place,
C hi cago , Ill. Co nt act NAMA (3 12)
346-0370.
The 46th Amusement Trades Exhibitio n
International (ATEI), Olympia, London.
Contact ATE International , 122 Clapham
Common, North Side, London SW4 9SP;
Tel: 01-228-4107 , FAX 01-223-0257.
March 91011
American Coin Machine Expo (ACME) ,
s p o nsor ed by P lay Meter a nd the
American Amusement Machine Associa-
tion (AAMA) , The H yatt in C hicago .
Contact W.T. G la sgow, In c. (312)
333-9292.
A & A Company .... . ...... . . 78, 160
Ace Novelty . . .... . . .. . . . . .. .. . . . 35
ACME . . .
. . . . . . . . ... 59, 125
Acme Premium Supply . .... . ...... 53
Adastra , Inc . . . . . . .. .. ...... . .... 95
A he r Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 I
American Technos ................ 25
Atari Games . . . . . .. .. . . . . .. . Cover 4
Atlantic & Pacific Amusements ..... . 77
Betson Enterprises .......... . ..... 41
Bob's Space Racers
. . 63
BO-CON Manufacturing ... ... . . . .. 72
Bonita Marie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3
Brady Distributing . . ... . . . . . ...... 75
Coastal Amusements .............. 60
Coin Concepts
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Craneables . .. .... . ......... . ... . 32
D & D Cabinets ..... . ........... . 33
Dan Brechner & Co . .. . . . ... . ... . 139
Data East U.S.A . . . . . . .
. 79-80
Deltronics Labs ..... . ..... . ...... 65
Design Plus Industries .... . .. .. .... 85
Drew's Distributing ............... 3 1
Dynamo Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Gamco Inte rnational
... .. . 13 1
Gray hound Electronics . . . . . . . . . II , 73
Happ Controls . . . . ..... . . .. . . . .... 4
Hoffman & Hoffman .... . ... . ... .. 80
Imagination Leisure .............. 103
lntellicall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Jaleco U.S.A
. .. ...... . . . . . .. 93
Kiddie's of Florida .. . ..... . . ..... . 43
Konami ....... . . . . . .. .. . . .. 107-108
Laramie Interest . . . . .. . . ... . . . ... 155
Mali & Co . . .. ..... .. .. . .. . .... .. 67
Mardi Gras Plush . . ... . .. .. ... . . . . 6 1
Mayoni Enterprises ... . . ..... 135, 165
Meltec . ..... . ................... 55
Modern Advance Technology . . .... 145
New Orleans Novelty . . ..... . . . ... . 8 I
Nintendo . . . .
. . .. 27-28, 89-90
Pearson Plush, Inc. . ............. 86
Penn Ray Sutra Corp. . ............ 38
Playfair Shu ffleboard ............. 15 1
P.M.!. Toys & Novelties ........... 2 1
Prizes! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Randy Fromm's Arcade School . 164, 172
Rosette ..... . ..... . . . ........... 87
Roger Williams Mint ..... . ........ 12
Romstar ... . . . ..... .. .. .. ... .... 13
Sega Enterprises U.S.A . ........... 83
Skee-Ball, Inc . . ............ . ..... 50
Smart Industries .... . ..... .... . ... 39
SMS ............. . ............. 17
SNK Corp. of America ... ... Cov 2, 49
Taito America ............ ... 5, 45-46
Tecmo . ..... . .................... 7
Telco International . .... ... . ...... . 78
U. S. Games ..................... 51
Valley Recreation Products ... . .... . 23
Van Brook of Lexington . .... . ..... 160
Vari-Tech Co .. . . . . . .. ..... . .... 163
Will iams Electronics ... . . 65, 67, 69, 7 I
Yankee Game Technology ......... 141
Zamperla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
August 1989/PLAY METER 197

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