Play Meter

NEWS BULLETIN ... DUNIS DIES ... Lou Dunis, president and founder of Dunis Distributing, died Jan. 21 after a lengthy illness. Dunis is one of the honorees at the upcoming American Amusement Machine Charitable Foundation Dinner, held in conjunction with ACME '91 . He is survived by three daughters, one son, and two granddaughters. The first game using this new technology will be Thunderstorm , a helicopter action game shown in prototype form in Japan last October. It will be exhibited at ACME next month. " Over the past few years, arcade video games have lost some of their technological edge over home entertainment systems," Keenan said. " DVI technology returns that advantage. It makes immediately available a highly advanced, multi-media computer technology that will be found in arcade systems long before entry into the home marketplace." Sharing the honors at the dinner will be Dunis' partner Ray Galante, who said, " Lou has been a good friend and partner for many years. I will miss him as will his many friends in the industry." Play Meter's Valerie Cognevich, who is writing stories on both Galante and Dun is for the Charitable Foundation program booklet, visited with Dunis in Portland, Ore., on Jan. 16. According to Cognevich, "Although he was in the hospital and obviously very ill, he smiled often as he recalled his early days in the industry. He spoke fondly of men such as Bob Breither and Paul Calamari and was looking forward to the dinner. So many of his friends will be sad that he did not live to enjoy it." .,.. Player's Touch, housed in an all-steel, casino-style cabinet, utilizes advanced touch-screen technology to facilitate interaction between player and machine. It will come configured with three variations of Draw Poker games and one Keno game. Other games are currently being developed for the system. Player's Touch is being distributed by Montreal's Laniel Automatic Machine. ... CRAVENS LEAVES CAPCOM, FORMS OWN COMPANY .. .Bill Cravens has left his position as vice president of sales and marketing at Capcom USA to start his own company, Leprechaun Inc. Based in Bellevue, Wash ., Leprechaun Inc. will focus on video game kits and some redemption pieces. .,.. The company will show Bowl-0-Rama at ACME. It's an enhancement kit for Capcom Bowling, changing the long-time favorite into three different bowling games. "The game has a '50s theme with '50s music," Cravens said. " It breathes fresh new life into Capcom Bowling. Locations are reporting twice the income they used to bring in on Capcom Bowling." " In addition, we take this opportunity to confirm that our good relationship with other manufacturers and distributors will not be affected by this acquisition." .,.. USAA ADDS AUCTIONS ... United States Amusement Auction Co., which has been auctioning games and jukeboxes since 1983, will add more sites this spring. Among them are Anaheim, Calif., on Feb. 23; Tampa in March; Dallas and New Jersey (city still undecided) in April; and Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, later in the spring. For more information, contact Ric Stephan at (812) 333-9939. .,.. R & M EXPANDS ... R & M Distributing Corp. has added Louie GutierzRummenigge and Roberto Hernandez to its Export Sales Division. Rummenigge will be traveling periodically to Europe, Asia, and parts of Latin America, while Hernandez will cover South America and the Caribbean. Both will be based in the company's West Hempstead, N.Y., office. Call (800) 229-4FUN for more information. .,.. SUPER BOWL ARCADE SET UP ... Southeast Game Brokers of Tampa, Fla., one of the largest operating companies on the west coast of Florida, provided an arcade with all football-oriented video and pinball games as part of the Super Bowl's 25th anniversary. The arcade was located in the 250,000-square-foot Town Square, part of the Super Bowl Village produced by the NFL. Special tokens were minted by Roger Williams Mint for those visiting the arcade between Jan. 24-27. Midwaystyle games were provided by local charities. .,.. BUSHNELL TO APPEAR AT ACME ... Nolan Bushnell, who is often called "The Father of Video," will deliver a speech on "The Future of CoinOp" during ACME '91 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas, which takes place March 22-24. This session is free to all registered attendees. In addition to Bushnell's speech, there will be an impressive list of seminars, including "Video Lottery and Gaming Outlook for "91 ," "Redemption Trends in the '90s," " Bowling Centers and Other Gold Mines," "Arcade Security," and the much anticipated "Manufacturer Firing Line." Business management and technical seminars are also on the agenda. As we went to press, there were 612 booths sold for the show, with more to be added later (592 booths were sold last year). Some 153 companies plan to exhibit, and that figure is expected to grow. For more information, contact W.T. Glasgow Inc. (708) 333-9292. discontinued discussions regarding its proposed acquisition of Video Lottery Consultants. It isn't certain whether talks will be resurrected in the future. A previously announced letter of intent had been signed by the parties in mid-December. "It became evident that a definitive agreement could not be reached," said Raymond Pike, senior vice president of IGT. ... GILBERT RETURNS TO INDUSTRY ... Joe Gilbert, who's been away from the coin-op industry for awhile, has·returned as executive vice president of T.O.P. Distributing in Rochester, N.Y. He's previously worked for Atlantic/N.Y., National Vendors, Rowe, Belam, Nintendo, and Williams. T.O.P. is expanding its scope, with the parts department taking on added emphasis. Besides the day-to-day operations, Gilbert will be responsible for developing the parts department, with the goal of elevating it to a national scale. TO.P's supplemental winter catalog is now available. For a copy, call (800) 222-8671 or (800) 872-5656; the FAX is (716) 248-8777. ... BROWN PASSES AWAY . . . Paul Brown, who founded Western Automatic Music (Chicago) in 1937, passed away Jan. 3 at age 77. His son-in-law, Kem Thom, heads the company and has been active in local and national association work, as was his father-in-law. Brown was a member of the AMOA board during the '60s and served his state association well. He retired in 1979 but continued to keep tabs on industry happenings. We offer our condolences to Brown's entire family. ... BAN ON CIGARETTE VENDING ... In mid-January, the Chicago City Council voted to ban cigarette vending machines from all public places except tave,rns. Violators could face penalties up to $1 ,000 and/or loss of licenses. A move to raise the legal smoking age to 19 was not passed. ... DATA EAST WORKING ON NEW TECHNOLOGY .. . Data East USA is developing video games that produce graphics with imagery approaching film quality, according to the company. The games will be based on Intel 's digital video interactive (DVI) technology (using Data East's own proprietary hardware and software). SEGA/NAMCO BUY DEITH LEISURE .. . According to British trade publication Coin Slot, Sega Enterprises Ltd. and Namco Ltd. have jointly acquired London-based distribution company Deith Leisure PLC. A written statement said the following: "Sega Enterprises Ltd., jointly with Namco Ltd., entered into a contract to acquire Deith Leisure PLC on Dec. 20, 1990. (The two companies) will now provide all necessary support and assistance to maintain and expand Deith Leisure PLC's business. Cravens' oldest son Todd is working part time with his dad at Leprechaun Inc. Atlas Distributing's Ed Pellegrini worked closely with Cravens on Bowl0-Rama and plans to help with future projects, Cravens said. ... DEAL BETWEEN IGT, VLC OFF . . . International Game Technology has SMS GAME APPROVED ... SMS Manufacturing Corp. has secured approval to operate its Player's Touch multiple game video lottery system in New Brunswick, Canada. Approval came from the Atlantic Lottery Corp., the administrative body entrusted with overseeing video lottery in New Brunswick, PLAY METER MAGAZINE, February 1991, Volume 17, No. 3. Copyright 1991 by Skybird Publishing Company. PLAY METER MAGAZINE (ISSN 1048-8243)(UPS 358-350) is published monthly, except for two issues in January. Publishing office: 6600 Fleur de Lis, New Orleans, LA 70124. MAILING ADDRESS: PO. Box 24970, New Orleans, LA 70184, USA. Phone: 504/488-7003; FAX 504/488-7083. For subscriptions: 504/488-7003. Subscription rates: U.S. and Canada- $50. Advertising rates are available on request. NO PART OF THE MAGAZINE MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION . The editors are not responsible for unsolicited manuscri pts. PLAY METER MAGAZINE buys ALL RIGHTS, unless otherwise specified, to accepted manuscripts, cartoons, art work, photographs. Second-class postage paid at New Orleans, LA 70113 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER Send Form 3579 to Play Meter, P.O. Box 24970, New Orleans, LA 70184. February 1991/PLA Y METER 3