Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)

boards. There are boards that can be kept
true and 'Ievel to the thousandths of an
inch and it is these precision boards that
will make the tournament idea a perma·
nent success. Tournaments demand the
standard size board and players who want
to be on a team also want the standard
precision boards.
This is not to disparage the many varia·
tions in boards that have appeared, or will
appear on the market, for there are many
locations that lack the space for standard
shuffleboard and yet they will want to have
some form of the diversion. Shuffleboard
has already become big business, a national
sport, and the increasing number of tourna·
ments, using standard boards, will keep an
ever expanding market for those who make
or sell them. The smaller boards and other
adaptations will get an increasing number
of fans interested in the sport, and so the
whole business grows.
Tournaments and an increasing number
of good players will mean a growing de·
mand for high quality boards, and all who
are in the business need to keep that in
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FROM STOCK!
UNZEL
ushback Wire
18 or 20 Strand
68
Color Combinations
Pushback w ire, for many years one of
our leadinq Items, has kept pace with
the phenomenal qrowth of the coin
machine industry.
I'he wide variety of color combination.
available lends itself to devious methodli
of wirinq harne ss-to meet any require,·
.oents of the industry.
~in
machine service orqanizations and
distributors are invited to write for com-
plete information as to how they may
beller serve their trade by fumishinq
them with RUNZEL quality wire.
Manufacturers of coin machines may
avail themselves of our enqineerinq
facilities for desiqninq correct and most
efficient wirinq harness.
Send us your s pe c:ifie;ations for
Inter·Comm Cable.
RUNZEL
Cord and Wire Co.
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mind. The good player wants a good board
and hence the future grows more promis-
ing for the better grades of boards. There
will be variations but the outlook promises
an increasing stream of players that will
want to be among the best. They want to
play to win and the highest quality board
is the only thing that will satisfy them.
Instead of lowering our sights and building
less expensive boards, there is a growing
demand for the best that modern factories
can turn out.
The matter of locations is always a ques·
tion that comes up, in talking about shuffle-
board. Operators ask about the possible
places to put boards since they know there
are limits to the number of good locations.
Shuffleboard has now spread much beyond
the tavern field, although such places were
originally considered about the only spots
that would take the boards. It seems that
as shuffleboard spreads there are more and
more types of establishments that want it.
The average operator will have a variety of
places in which he has put amusement
games or phonographs, and he must keep
in mind that all location owners are now
becoming more concerned about having the
revenue that is provided by coin-operated
devices. The operator must be ready to
provide shuffleboard to the locations that
ask for them.
In our western states there is the idea
of shuffleboard parlors that is catching on
and it has much promise. It is one of those
ideas that may take hold and become as
permanent as the arcade. Bowling establish-
ments have spread over the country, so why
not shuffleboard parlors. It is said they are
really spreading in Portland, Oregon, where
three or four of them had opened recently.
When the first one opened, a grand event
was staged and with appropriate recogni -
tion from city officials, newspapers and
others. An original one opened in Salt Lake
City with 15 boards but was later shifted
to a smaller downtown location because of
city zoning regulations. It seems that re-
freshments of some kind, also other side-
lines, must be offered in the shuffleboard
parlors to make them a success. The idea is
new and it needs to be studied and pro-
moted in every way possible.
Operators over the country seem now
to be pretty well convinced that shuffle·
board is not just a passing fad, and that
tournaments will give it a real place in the
field of popular sports. This year is sure
to see shuffleboard tournaments become a
big thing in the growing shuffleboard
business.
21 st Birthday for
Penn Shuffleboard
PHILADELPHIA - This month Penn
Shuffleboard Co. celebrates 21 years of
service to the Shuffleboard Industry.
It was in May, 1928, that the first Penn
board was installed in the Knights' of Co-
lumbus Recreation Hall in West Chester,
Pa. So successful did this first installation
and SUPPLIES
•
AMERICAN CHI. COIN
OLYMPIC ROYAL
--SEE--
prove that in less than one year the firm
had sold hundreds of boards and helped
guide 87 fraternal, industrial, church and
school leagues throughout the East.
When prohibition ended five years later
and tap rooms were legally licensed, the
Penn board moved into bars and taverns
and became a country·wide sensation.
Since the war, the firm has made gigantic
strides. Penn's engineers were of the opin-
ion that there must be some other sub-
stance that would perform as satisfactorily
as maple and at the same time eliminate
the hazards to which wood is vulnerable.
After three years of extensive experimen-
tation, they came up with the "Coso lite"
play field and subjected it to the most ex-
acting tests possible.
After more than a vear and a half of
testing, Penn introduced the Black Beauty.
According to Jackson Downs, Penn's na-
tionally known public relations-promotion
expert, Black Beauty's play field is
equipped with an atmospheric regulating
device scientifically designed to eliminate
resurfacing costs, marring, chipping, and
any warping possibilities.
Penn is still manufacturing the laminated
hard maple top shuffleboards for those de-
siring .them.
Downs, known to the trade as "Mr. Shuf-
fleboard," is credited with being the orig-
inal modern day shuffleboard promoter and
historian. He compiled' the only recognized
official shuffleboard rules and regulations,
organized and managed innumerable
leagues, and in 1947, as a player, was run-
ner-up in the Greater Philadelphia Cham-
pionship.
Keeney Plant Sold;
Line to Continue
CHICAGO-J. H. Keeney and Co., Inc.,
recently purchased by a group of Chicago
business men, all with years of experience
in coin machine manufacture, will continue
to produce the Keeney line of bell consoles
and cigarette vendors, according to a state-
ment released April 15th by Roy McGinnis,
newly elected Keeney president.
"No change in basic policy is involved,"
McGinnis said. "J. H. Keeney and Co., Inc.,
will continue to design, engineer and manu-
facture equipment that operators can de-
pend on to earn top profits. Distribution of
Keeney products will continue through the
Keeney distributors who have been respon-
sible for the record breaking sales of Kee-
ney equipment during the past several years.
"Production of cigarette vendors will be
stepped up to meet the rapidly increasing
demand and several new game ideas, now
in the stage of final engineering, will soon
be in production. Bill Ryan, of course, con-
tinues as vice president and general mana-
ger and John Conroe in charge of cigarette
vendor sales."
Doyle Establishes
Distrib. Firm
CHICAGO-Frank Doyle has resigned as
sales manager of Alco-Deree here and has
gone to New York to open his own distrib-
uting organization to handle the national
sales of the Lyceum coffee vending machine.
Temporary headquarters have been opened
at 2303 Westchester in New York and
Doyle reports that deliveries on the $750
vendor will start immediately.
15 Years a Review
Subscriber
With this iss ue Joe Hart. Ev e re tt.
Washington. concludes IS years as
a REVIEW s ubscriber and s.t arts
his 16th y e ar as a REVIEW ; eader.
Congratulations Joel
COIN MACHINE REVIEW