Play Meter

Spain's Recel rockets from obscurity
In only 12 months a Spanish com -
pany has moved from international
obscur ity to prominence in a previous-
ly U.S.-dominated field - pinball
machines.
Since March 1974, Recel's sales
Slots banned
by Belgium
The long-awa ited new law on coin -
operated amusements that may be
operated in Belgium was publ ished in
late January, following several weeks
of rumor about its content .
Slots have been banned , but the list
of games that are perm itted includes
pinball mach ines and bingo tables .
Bingo tables, however are lim ited to
two per site and play must not exceed
two francs (about f ive cents).
Arcade games of all k ind s are per-
mitted in arcades and on travel ing
fa irs, but not in cafes. Any other type
of game is perm itted at the d iscretion
of the relevant government ministry.
M. Henri De Vro ey, president of the
U.B.A ., Belg ium 's coin mach ine trade
assoc iation, commented : "We are
fac ing a difficult t ime ahead in Bel -
gium ."
have totalled well over the $1 million
mark for flippers and other games -
not huge when compared with the
turnovers of some of the major U .S.
manufacturers, but si gn ificant enough .
Their pi nball machines are now
being imported regularly into most
European countries. France and West
Germany, both big users of pinballs,
are Recel' s leading customers, but
encouraging orders are also coming
from Switzerland, Belgium and
Sweden and to a lesser extent Portugal
and Austr ia.
Recel' s big breakthrough was a
recent 1,000 mach ine order from one
major
European company . The
Span ish f irm is showing considerable
initiative in the export market, recent-
ly taki ng space at a trade fair in
Bogota, Columbia which led to sample
Why don't you try
5 KiddieraIllas_
That won't break you_
It might Illake you.
orders from other South Am erican
co untries.
The company also exports video
games and football tables . But pinballs
are their major line, with one-, two -
and four -player models in the range.
Their headquarters are in Madrid.
Spanish news
Bally Iberica have established a new
amusement arcade in Madr id. Situated
in the Plaza Espana, in the center of
the city, the locat ion has two parts, a
Bally mach ine-dom inated arcade and a
bowl ing center named appropriately EI
Bolo . The pinball machines are the
most popular in the arcade (Span ish
people prefer two -player models). but
the shooting games, video games and
pool and air hockey tables also do
well. The bowling center is styled on a
Br it ish pub and includes seven Bally
co in-operated bowl ing alleys manu -
factured at the Bally Iberica factory.
INTRODUCING ...
Belgian slot ban
affects exhibitions
Horesca, the exhibition for the
Belgian catering trades, was not as
successful this year for the amusement
firms taking part because of the new
law banning slots in Belgium .
But for the music operators there
were two new Symphomatic juke
boxes on show on the Un ion Games
stand - the Allegro 120-selection and
Presto, with 80 selections .
I n both cases the boxes were in in
attractive new-style cabinets with easy
access for service. The Presto is due to
commence production in February ;
the Allegro some t ime later as only a
prototype was on display.
The Mini-Symphomatic juke box
was shown by a new firm , Ets. V incent
Van der Wege, which has taken over
d istr ibut ion of the box for the Flemish
part of Belgium and for the Nether -
land s.
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