Play Meter

Toda y there are p op l who ha e run take ·off that
are imilar to thi type of operation , peopl who I call
entrepreneur of the tournam nt busin
(tho
who
try to make mone y from thi sort of thing) . But a a
distributor we found out the b st wa y to do it i th e wa y
th a t we were doing it·· doing it for a group of op rator
and t ing to mak mor pool pia r b cau a w do
this we also s timulate bu in
The wear out th
cloth. There are more collection. The have to bu y
new pool table . Th r ar more collection . Ther are
mor loca tions who wam pool tabl
It b nefited
v ryon in th pool table bu in
. That i the great
thing about that t p of promotion . Ever bod i
happ . The thing that Il ik d about it is that we didn ' t
ha ve to charg f s . W didn ' t just run it on night.
We ran it for 10 we k in th 10 al tav rn . This
timulated bu ine for that long .
PLAY METER : If ou didn ' t coli ct fe , who puts up
the prize mone ?
CH ELLER: We alwa s did only one thing with
priz mon y. The op rator who put his 10 ation in the
tournam m ha to get off th top of his colle tion
what er his share of th tournament i . In mo t ca e
it wa 200 per 10 ation .
PLAY METER: 0 indirectl y th ere is a fee .
CHNELLER: Well. not exactl , b cau
on those
loca tion . wor t nights of the week , the
participants
would come to pla y thi table , in turn giving thi
ope rator a great deal m re apital with whi h to emer
and finance hi
har of the tournam nt prize . Th
would al 0 ome to prac ti mor , whi h al 0 ben fit d
th e op rator. That tournament they put in the token 25
" What was happening beJore the tournament thing WaJ that
the operator WaJ losing locations to location owners who were
buying their own pool tables , basically because there was very
little service involved with the tables. A man who owns his own
machine is putting us as manufacturers out of business. They
don't bother changing tables. They were killing our business
and killing Mr . Operator's business by buying those tables . ..
cen t or 50 c nt (d pending on whate r the take wa
for the machine) 0 indirectly the pla ye r paid for
th m elves because the were coming in on low
nights. Thu . the loca tion owner made mone on th e
ma hin e a ' well a over the bar . It wa an important
gimmick to him and the pia 'er were happ becau
it
wa n ' t a aturda night wh n th y had to go out with
th ir wi e .
"Promotiun haJ done a great deal to make pool what it is
today. It is widely accepted by all elements of the industry and
it i in th e majority of all locations . Thanks to promotion and its
acceptance by all involved and the quality of equipment pool is
one of the highest of all coin machines . ..
PlAt' IIETDI
PLAY METER : 0 what was the ff ct of all this
promotion ?
CH ELLER: The effect wa the e limination of on
of the gr at t deterrent to the indu tr .
For
ba kground, let me a that once an operator put in two
pool table and got to an a erage it ne er dropp d or
rose. It b came an a erage and thi location wa good
for 20 a we k or 40 a w ek. But what wa happening
"'\'as that th op rator wa becoming a littl lazy. He
ga th e bartender or the own r of th e bar three or four
xtra tick , a kit of thing to fix the pool table , a few
extra cu balls and then every two week when he went
to colle t th e mane , h wou ld tell hi coli ctor to go in
and olle t th mon y and put a f wnw records on the
music machin . He ' d al 0 tell him to check out the
game , make sure the ' re p rcentag d properJ and a
fo rth . But the only thing h ver did for th pool table
wa to go in and coli ct th mane
PLA Y METER: It became happ n tance .
I Continued on page 52J