Atari Coin Connection

I
MAY 1983 VOLUME 7 NUMBER 5
Atari Product Appeal Apparent at AOE
-
ATARI
OE '83, sponsored by Play Meter,
marked Atari's first exposure at the
show. Don Osborne, Vice President
of Marketing, described AOE as a ''great
opportunity to bring operators together to
talk about problems. The 'Manufacturers
Firing Line' provided a forum for them to
interface with the manufacturing side of
the business. Operators opened discus-
sion on the pressing issues facing all of
us in the industry- including the whole
matter of conversion kits which came out
in force at the time- and each manufac-
turer was given the chance to present his
philosophy." Atari participated in several
seminars conducted throughout the run
of the show to help operators become in-
creasingly effective business people and
more fully understand their own industry.
From a product introduction perspec-
tive, a spri ng trade show remains very im-
portant to the market. Atari exhibited the
unquestioned hit of the show- the super
revved Pole Position*-even with the ac-
knowledged interest generated around
the new laser disc technology. Succinctly
stated by Jerry Marcus, Executive Vice
President of Sales, 'We went in with the
number one game and came out with
the number one game." Bob Harvey,
Western Regional Sales Manager, is
quick to add, 'We also came out with the
'sleeper' of the show-Food Fight™." The
antics of Charley Chuck and the four
pesky chefs are presently eating up the
competition. Food Fight was well-
received on the trade show floor by a
broad spectrum of previewers, including
video game world record holders. Fe-
male attendees found Charley to be par-
ticularly charming with his blond, curly
locks and big, blue, googly eyes. Atari
personnel manning the booth sighed that
the game made them hungry with the
drip, drip, drip of luscious ice cream
cones.
Margaret Lasecke and Jamie Pinto of
our Press Relations Department reported
good media coverage for Atari- in terms
of both trade and local Chicago press. Of
particular import was our news coverage
in USA Today and by the CBS Chicago
affiliate- WBBM Channel 2. Press kits,
featuring the irrepressible Food Fight,
were distributed at the booth, and the
community relations tape produced by
Atari-entitled 'Video Games ... A
Public Perspective'!__was shown to in-
terested reporters.
Two monitors were placed in the center
kiosk of the booth so that a continuous
loop tape of the new Xevious** television
commercial could be played. The battle
of the Lone Fighter against the invading
Xevious forces caught the attention of
passersby who usually took the needed
30 seconds to view the entire piece. The
television commercial was actually run-
ning on a 12 major market media
schedule at the time of the AOE, including
Chicago. The advertising blitz behind the
release of the game also featured radio
spots and national exposure on the Cable
Music Television network.
Mariann Layne's Marketing Services
group managed an on-site high scorers
competition for Xevious, Food Fight, Pole
Position, and Millipede™. A separate
qualifying point level was posted above
one machine in each of the four banks of
games. Players scoring over that number
on that particular machine were awarded
an Atari Collector Pin. The hard-fired,
ceramic pins with their vibrant game
graphics proved very appealing and were
accepted with much enthusiasm. Dari
Davidson's Technical Service personnel,
situated at the front end of the massive
Atari exhibit, presented the entire Collector
Set program to interested operators.
The Atari product display also featured
the Atari Coin Executive™-popularly
coined ·~CE'!__which is the industry's first
completely integrated coin collection ac-
counting system designed for routes, ar-
cades, or both. ACE provides an opera-
tor with the means to manage his cash
collections quickly and to constantly
track and evaluate his operation with
computer accuracy. For today's busy
operator, ACE really counts!
In regard to Atari's product positioning
in the industry following AOE '83, Don
Osborne reaffirms our leadership. With a
smile of personal satisfaction, he reflects:
"The response to our proven hits- Pole
Position and Millipede-continues to be
strong. Our new products- Xevious and
Food Fight-are also being met with
widespread enthusiasm."
' Pole Position is engineered and designed by Namco Ltd.,
manufactured under license by Atari, Inc. Trademark and©
Namco 1982.
· ·xevious is engineered and designed by Namco Ltd.,
manufactured under license by Atari, Inc. Trademark and©
Namco 1982.