Play Meter

UPFRONT T h eLazarus L a z a r u smachine: m a c h i n e : The c r a n e s r e s u r r e c t e d d recte s resur crane T T h e r ewas wasaatime t i m ein i nthe t h enot n o tso s odistant d i s t a n tpast p a s t here w h e n s o m e o p e r a t o r s p r o c l a i m e d t h e c r a n e when some operators proclaimed the crane m a r k e t d e a d .As As n k a p u t !No No l o n g e r d i dthey t h e y market dead. ini kaput! longer did f e e l i t w a s w o r t h t h e e f f o r t t o s t o c k t h e m feel it was worth the effort to stock them, a r eselling s e l l i n gtime t i m eand andit i tis i ssupposed s u p p o s e dto tο bea a are be goodtime, t i me ,not n o tone onewhere wherecustomers c u s t o m e r sfeel f e e l good 出e y a r e b e i n g r i p p e d o 旺 they are being ripped off. Manufactu 陀 r stried t r ie dto t othink t h i n kup upnew newapa p ‑ Manufacturers c h e c k t h e m , c l e a n t h e m , a n d s p e n d a n y p r o a c h e s t o c r a n e s . E n t e r t h e j u m b o c r a n e , check them, clean them, and spend any proaches to cranes. Enter the jumbo crane, moretime t i m ethinking t h i n k i n gof o fways waysto t omake makethem them watch watchcrane, c r a n e ,and andcandy candycrane. c r a n e .Now Nowcranes c r a n e s more a p p e a l i n g . T h e y s a i d t h e p u b l i c w a s t i r e d o f s g o o d w e r e c o m i n g b a c k i n t o t h e i n d u s t r y appealing. They said the public was tired of were coming back into the industry's good r a c e s . Theys t a r t e dt becomep o p u l a r c r a n e sand andhad hadaccumulated a c c u m u l a t e dall a l lthe t h eplush p l u s h g cranes graces. They started toobecome popular 出e y w o u l d e v e r n e e d . a g む n .W h o w o u l d h a v e t h o u g h t t h a t p e n n y they would ever need. again. Who would have thought that penny I ntruth, t r u t h, t h epublic p u b l i cdid d i dnot n o ttire t i r eof o fcranes. c r a n e s . candy c a n d ywould wouldcause c a u s esuch s u c haahubbub hubbuband andrevir e v i ‑ In the Themachines machinesthat t h a twere were talize t a l i z eaadeclining d e c l i n i n gmarket? m a r k e t ?My Mykingdom kingdomfor f o raa The T o o t s i eRoll! R o l l ! t h emoney moneymonsters m o n s t e r sof o f Tootsie the 8 0 s w e r e n o 町 C r a n e s s t a r t e d t olook l o o kdifferent. d i f f e r e n t .No Nolonger l o n g t h e l a t e Cranes started to the late '80s were no w e r e t h e y a l l s i n g l e 田l i t r e d b o x e s w i t h a b i t l o n g e r a n o v e l t y a n d p l a y ‑ longer a novelty and playwere they all single unit red boxes with a bit o f r o p e l i g h t i n g . P r i z e b a y s b e c a m e d e e p e r , e r s b e c a m e m o r e s o p h i s ‑ ers became more sophisof rope lighting. Prize bays became deeper, t i c a t e d .But Butthey t h e ynever n e v e r halogen 叫垣市 werea ddedalong a l o n gwith w i t hmirm l ! : ‑ h a l o g e ticated. lights were added c e a s e d t o b e p l a y e r s . P e r ‑ ~~n~ ~山r刊川町 mod~s w i t h ceased to be players. Perrors, and furniture-quality models with ぽ− a p pe h a p sthey t h e ytired t i r e d of o fthe t h e stained glass-look marquees started appearhaps i n g a t t r a d e s h o w s . C l e a r l y t h e c r a n e w 出 n o t s a m e o l d t h i n g i n t h e m a ‑ same old thing in the maing at trade shows. Clearly the crane was not a d e a d m a c h i n e . c h i n e s s u c h a s t h e l o w ‑ a dead machine. chines, such as the lowendplush p l u s hthat t h a twas wasbeb e ‑ Sooncranes c r a n e swere werebeing b e i n gfilled f i l ledwith w i t hbetter be t t e r¥ Soon end p r i z e s , i n c l u d i n g l i c e n s e d i t e m s t h a t i m ‑ c o m i n g h a r d e r a n d coming harder and prizes, including licensed items that im- I s p r e s s e dthe t h evalue-conscious v a l ue ‑ c o n s c i o u splaying p l a yi n gpublic p u b l i c/ h a r d e r t o w i n . T h e r e harder to win. There's pressed w i 出 d e s i r a b l e ， 陀t a i l ‑ q u a l 町 me r c h a n d i 日 n o t h i n g m o r e s a d t h a n a with desirable, retail-quality merchandise. ／ nothing more sad than a n e g l e c t e d c r a n e ‑ t h o s e O p e r a t o r sremembered reme mberedthe t h eimportance i m p o r t a n c eof o f J neglected crane-those Operators p e r c e p t i o n . l a s t f e w s t u f f e d a n i m a l s last few stuffed animals perception. Evenwithout w i t h o u tthe t h enew newpackaging, p a c k a g i n g, o l d slumpedover o v e rin i nthe t h ecorc o r ‑ slumped Even old 出 a l i t t l e i m a g i c r a n e s c a n b e i n v i g o r a t e d w i n e r . T h e t i r e d t e d d y b e a r ner. The tired teddy bear cranes can be invigorated with a little imagi-‑ n a t i o n .Consider C o n s i d e rthis t h i ssuggestion s u g g e s t i o nfrom fromPlay P l a y whohad hadbeen beenat a tthe t h ebotb o t ‑ nation. who T i c k e t Met e rcolumnist c o l u m n i s tVic V i cFortenbach F o r t e n b a c h(see ( s e e"Ticket tom of o f the t h e heap heap for f o r Meter tom B o n n i eTheard T h e a r d months Tech"September September1995, 1 9 9 5 ,page p a g e198): 1 9 8 ): f i l l a Bonnie monthsbecause b e c a u s ethe t h emachine machineowner ownerkept k e p t Tech" fill a c r a n ewith w i t hsix s i xdifferent d i f f e r e n tcolored c o l o r e dballs b a l l sreprer e p r e ‑ dumpingnew newitems i t e m son ontop t o pof o f himwithout w i t h o u t crane M a n a g i n gEditor E d i t o r dumping Managing him s e n t i n g v a r i o u s t i c k e t v a l u e s ‑ 1 0 , 2 5 , 5 0 疋n i n g h i m u p o r a r r a n g i n g t h e f r e s h s t r a i g h t straightening him up or arranging the fresh senting various ticket values-10, 25, 50,, 1 0 0 ,200, 200, and400 400points. p o i 山 O ncewon, won, t he y p r i z e s i nan anattractive a t t r a c t i v emanner. manner . Thesmudged smudged 100, and Once they prizes in The c a n b e t u r n e d i n l i k e t i c k e t s a t t h e r e d e m p ‑ 出 a t s p o k e v o l u m e s a b o u t t h e l a c k o f i n ‑ g l a s s can be turned in like tickets at the redempglass that spoke volumes about the lack of int e r e s t .The Themachine machinewas wasexpected e x p e c t e dto t okeep keep tion t i o ncounter c o u n t e rand andrecycled. r e c y c l e d . terest. T h e i d e a r e s u r f a c e d a g a i nat a tan anACME ACME e a r n i n g w i t h o u t d i s p e n s i n g m u c h m e r c h a n ‑ The idea resurfaced again earning without dispensing much merchans e m i n a r i n M a r c h w i t h a t w i s t . T h e p a n e l i s t d i s e . dise. seminar in March with a twist. The panelist w h o u s e s b a l l s i n h i s c r a n e d e s i g n a t e s o n e S o m e o p e r a t o r s k e p t t h e f a i t h . T h e y b e ‑ who uses balls in his crane designates one Some operators kept the faith. They bec o l o rball, b a l l, s a yaablack b l a c kone, o n e ,that t h a tallows a l l o w sthe t h e camemore morecreative c r e a t i v ewith w i t hthe t h eprizes, p r i z e s, t r y i n g color say came trying p l a y e r t o s e l e c t a h a t o r o t h e r i t e m t h a t h a 出i n g f r o m T ‑ s h i r t s t o c o s m e t i c s . A n d e v e r y everything from T-shirts to cosmetics. And player to select a hat or other item that hass n o tmoved movedwell. w e l l .Players P l a ye r sget g e tto t ochoose c h o o s eand and T h e y w e r e n o t a f r a i d t o s e e c u s t o m e r s w a l k they were not afraid to see customers walk not 比 t h e y l o v e WI 出 p r i z e s . O n t h e c o n 廿a r y ， 出eywe 陀 a w a y they love it. away with prizes. On the contrary, they were Youmight m i g h tbe besaying: s a y i n g :Why Whydidn't d i d nt t h i n k happyabout a b o u tit. i t .They Theyweren't werent g i v i n gaway away You II think happy giving o f t h a t ? T h e r e a r e m o r e i d e a s 出 a t c a n b e i m ‑ s o m e t h i n g t h a t p l a y e r s d i d n o t d e s e r v e . of that? There are more ideas that can be imsomething that players did not deserve. 仕ome mployee s , p l e m e n t e d. I d e a scan c a ncome comefrom Theywere wereencouraging e n c o u r a g i n gplayers p l a y e r sto t ocome come plemented. They Ideas employees, o u r c h i l d r e n , t h e p l a y e r s , a n d o u r s e l v e s . L i s b a c k a n d m a k i n g t h e m f e e l t h e y h a d r e ‑ back and making them feel they had reour children, the players, and ourselves. Lis-‑ t e ncarefully. c a r e f u l l y .Know Knowyour y o u rcustomers. c u s t o m e r s .Be Beopen open c e i v e d a f a i r v a l u e f o r t h e i r p l a y i n g t i m e . I s ‑ ceived a fair value for their playing time. Isten t h a twhat whatour o u rbusiness b u s i n e s sisi sall a l labout? a b o u t ?We We to nt 出t i e s.4 . t o new p o s s i b n't that new possibilities. PLAYMETER METER PLAY 1 6 16 MAY1996 1 9 9 6 MAY