Play Meter

Service or disservice? security is now available for your vendor. A unique keyway and sequence of six tumblers provides greater pick resistancy. Exclusive key numbers available. Plus key handles now come in five colors to make route management easy. ~ OiMLCLK systems inc (708)489-6000 • Fax (708)489-6009 EXCLUSIVELY DISTRIBUTED IN NO. AMER. BY CHICAGO LOCK CO. TRACK NO. NEXT 2 DIGITS • • • DISCNO. FIRST 2 DIGITS MUSIC OPERATORS SERVICE "GET IT RIGHT, GET IT FAST" 01 IN BUSINESS SINCE 1972 02 LARGE INVENTORY OF COMPACT DISC AND 4S RPM RECORDS 03 LATIN PRODUCT AVAILABLE 04 ALL SELECTIONS SOLD WITH PRE-PRINTED TITLE STRIPS OS KNOWLEDGEABLE STAFF 06 95% FILL ON ALL ORDERS 07 DISCOUNT ON 2 DAY FREIGHT 08 LOW WHOLESALE PRICES TO OPERATORS 09 STAY UP TO DATE WITH OUR MAILER 10 11 CALIFORNIA (714) 879-1771 12 NATIONAL (800)3S4-S8S3 13 FAX (800) 821-7878 14 CALL US TODAY "SATISFACTION GUARANTEED" PLAY METER 12 During these last six to seven weeks Quly/ August) I have had the opportunity to speak with several family entertainment center owners, seashore arcade operators, and distributors. I found it interesting that the fun center and arcade operators claimed that their revenue was down from last year. They all had purchased the number one and number two ranked quick-money gan1es for the season as recommended by their distributor, and these games were doing very well. Traffic was good, but money was being spent on food and rides. It seemed to them that money was tight. The distributors claim they want something different-only a "10" game for their customers-and no one can fault them for that. They want what is conceived as the best earning games for their customers. But are we as an industry doing a service or a disservice to our customers when we forget that our industry is a "fun" industry? We should entertain, not drain the player. Not every game can be a "10" nor should it be. For the past two years or so the best earning games have been the coin rolls that can take 30 to 40 coins or tokens per minute. They usually have a high ticket payout and offer little else except being a ticket vendor. These games certainly have their place in our game rooms. What they lack, however, is entertainment. A game that is fun to play offers entertainment value in addition to tickets as a reward for the skill level achieved. The games take 2 5 to 3 5 seconds to play and are interactive. They do not earn or gobble 40 tokens a minute, but do keep players occupied and give them a sense of value for their money. When a player comes to your facility with $10 and 10 minutes later has spent all the money, are we acting in a self-defeating manner? The same $10 entertains them for two and a half hours at a movie theater. Think of a parent's reaction to spending the money so quickly. Just remember what happened in 1982-83 with Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man on every corner. I thought this letter was in order, although I expect very few operators or distributors to pay heed to my message. If greed gets a hold of our fun centers instead of good, clean entertainment, we will all be losers. • Art Warner President Coin Concepts Inc. East Brunswick, NJ OCTOBER 1995