Play Meter
Issue: 1975 April - Vol 1 Num 5 - Page 55
was that we felt once pin balls were legal in Los
Angeles, the other towns would follow suit. And
that's what happened - it snowballed into virtually
the entire state.
PLAY METER: Maybe one day we'll see pinball
legalized in every state in the union.
BETTELMAN: Right now, if somebody wanted
to take a test case to court asking why it is legal in
some areas and illegal in others, it could feasibly be
done. The tough thing is coming up with the
money - for attorney's fees and other expenses,
which can be great.
At the trial that I spoke of before, we had a
mathematics professor come in from UCLA to
testify - for two days - that pinball is a game of
skill. He testified how someone blindfolded can't
do as well as someone with their eyes open, and
therefore it is not luck. Or someone playing with
one flipper cannot do as well as someone playing
with two flippers.
Of course, we had to pay this professor a pretty
big fee to come in and testify for us, just because
he was our expert witness. But that's the going rate
for such an authority to testify. We had to have
this placed in the court record, so we had to pay
the price.
Right in the middle of the courtroom were two
pinball machines. And at the lunch break, the
bailiff, the court stenographer and even the judge
would walk down there, shoot a couple of balls
and walk out to lunch. That was a nice thing to
see.
PLAY METER: Too bad you couldn 't have
brought a camera into the courtroom. That would
have made a great shot.
BETTELMAN: ReaJly. A judge in his robe
playing pinball.
PLA Y METER: You said you left the teaching
professor three or four years ago to join the
distributing firm. How did all that come about?
BETTELMAN: I' ve always been in distributing,
either during vacations or ummertime or whatever
else. But most recently it has been a fulltime
vocation.
PLAY METER: Has your dad been in distrib-
uting all his life?
BETTELMAN: About 40 years, yes. I've grown
up in the business.
PLAY METER: It 's really refreshing to see
more and more sons following their fathers into
this industry.
BETTELMAN: That's a trend I' m happy to see
too. What I enjoy is seeing a whole new generation
of people coming in. I have gone to the MOA show
in Chicago the past few years, and make other
shows around the country and have seen more of
this younger trend. And it goes right on down the
line. I look at my customers and aJl of a sudden
these guys are third generation customers. All
across the industry, the young generation is taking
over from thei.r fathers.
I f I can make a very large generalization, this
whole industry is missing a generation. Everybody
is either 60 years old or between 25 and 30. There
are a few people in between those ages. GeneraJly
speaking, what happened to 45 to 55? You just
don't see that age group, except for a few
exceptions.
PLA Y METER: That ;s strange. But it is nice
seeing aJl the youth in the industry. Since the
industry does revolve around entertainment, per-
haps it's something the youth can identify with.
We see that all over the country.
BETTELMAN: A good example of the good the
youth has done for the industry is apparent in
several new game's. The Gran Trak 10, for example,
didn't appeaJ to the older fellows in the business
because they thought it was too confusing. "This is
too complicated," they said. "Who will play this?"
And Allied's Super Shifter. They said no one
would want to sit down in a bucket seat and playa
game. And, more recently, with Wheels from
Midway. Meanwhile, the younger people were
playing the games.
PLAY METER: What are your views of distribu-
tors who operate, although I understand you don't
operate?
BETTELMAN: It seems to be an increasingly
attractive trend. But it depends on what you call
operating. Some people consider distributors who
lease games operators. C.A. Robinson Co. in
unique in distributing in that it does not have a
vending or music line. I t does not rent or lease
games.
PLA Y METER: Leasing is not really operating.
Distributors who lease are not out on the street
competing with operators for new locations.
BETTELMAN: Right. And in that respect c.A.
Robinson does not operate.
PLA Y METER: Do you think that helps your
business, in that you're not competing with your
customers for locations?
BETTELMAN: Probably the biggest criticism
operators have for distributors who operate is that
they are taking aJl the good spots. It's usually that
kind of thing. But I don't really believe that. I
think the operator is usually a much better
operator than the distributor who operates.
PLAY METER: We've had some distributors tell
us they would be absolute fools not to operate.
(Continued poge 64)
63
Angeles, the other towns would follow suit. And
that's what happened - it snowballed into virtually
the entire state.
PLAY METER: Maybe one day we'll see pinball
legalized in every state in the union.
BETTELMAN: Right now, if somebody wanted
to take a test case to court asking why it is legal in
some areas and illegal in others, it could feasibly be
done. The tough thing is coming up with the
money - for attorney's fees and other expenses,
which can be great.
At the trial that I spoke of before, we had a
mathematics professor come in from UCLA to
testify - for two days - that pinball is a game of
skill. He testified how someone blindfolded can't
do as well as someone with their eyes open, and
therefore it is not luck. Or someone playing with
one flipper cannot do as well as someone playing
with two flippers.
Of course, we had to pay this professor a pretty
big fee to come in and testify for us, just because
he was our expert witness. But that's the going rate
for such an authority to testify. We had to have
this placed in the court record, so we had to pay
the price.
Right in the middle of the courtroom were two
pinball machines. And at the lunch break, the
bailiff, the court stenographer and even the judge
would walk down there, shoot a couple of balls
and walk out to lunch. That was a nice thing to
see.
PLAY METER: Too bad you couldn 't have
brought a camera into the courtroom. That would
have made a great shot.
BETTELMAN: ReaJly. A judge in his robe
playing pinball.
PLA Y METER: You said you left the teaching
professor three or four years ago to join the
distributing firm. How did all that come about?
BETTELMAN: I' ve always been in distributing,
either during vacations or ummertime or whatever
else. But most recently it has been a fulltime
vocation.
PLAY METER: Has your dad been in distrib-
uting all his life?
BETTELMAN: About 40 years, yes. I've grown
up in the business.
PLAY METER: It 's really refreshing to see
more and more sons following their fathers into
this industry.
BETTELMAN: That's a trend I' m happy to see
too. What I enjoy is seeing a whole new generation
of people coming in. I have gone to the MOA show
in Chicago the past few years, and make other
shows around the country and have seen more of
this younger trend. And it goes right on down the
line. I look at my customers and aJl of a sudden
these guys are third generation customers. All
across the industry, the young generation is taking
over from thei.r fathers.
I f I can make a very large generalization, this
whole industry is missing a generation. Everybody
is either 60 years old or between 25 and 30. There
are a few people in between those ages. GeneraJly
speaking, what happened to 45 to 55? You just
don't see that age group, except for a few
exceptions.
PLA Y METER: That ;s strange. But it is nice
seeing aJl the youth in the industry. Since the
industry does revolve around entertainment, per-
haps it's something the youth can identify with.
We see that all over the country.
BETTELMAN: A good example of the good the
youth has done for the industry is apparent in
several new game's. The Gran Trak 10, for example,
didn't appeaJ to the older fellows in the business
because they thought it was too confusing. "This is
too complicated," they said. "Who will play this?"
And Allied's Super Shifter. They said no one
would want to sit down in a bucket seat and playa
game. And, more recently, with Wheels from
Midway. Meanwhile, the younger people were
playing the games.
PLAY METER: What are your views of distribu-
tors who operate, although I understand you don't
operate?
BETTELMAN: It seems to be an increasingly
attractive trend. But it depends on what you call
operating. Some people consider distributors who
lease games operators. C.A. Robinson Co. in
unique in distributing in that it does not have a
vending or music line. I t does not rent or lease
games.
PLA Y METER: Leasing is not really operating.
Distributors who lease are not out on the street
competing with operators for new locations.
BETTELMAN: Right. And in that respect c.A.
Robinson does not operate.
PLA Y METER: Do you think that helps your
business, in that you're not competing with your
customers for locations?
BETTELMAN: Probably the biggest criticism
operators have for distributors who operate is that
they are taking aJl the good spots. It's usually that
kind of thing. But I don't really believe that. I
think the operator is usually a much better
operator than the distributor who operates.
PLAY METER: We've had some distributors tell
us they would be absolute fools not to operate.
(Continued poge 64)
63
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).