Play Meter
Issue: 1975 September - Vol 1 Num 9 - Page 46
[Continued from page 17]
SCHNELLER: That's right. Happenstance . Now ,
Mr. Location Owner, when he sent in accountants and
found that he made $30 a week, he finds that it is a
pretty good money -maker . The accountant says, How
much is t~at pool table worth? And the guy says , how
much can It cost~ So he says, "Why not buy one of my
own ? Why let thIS operator take 50 per cent for nothing
because .he d?esn't do anything for it. " Mr . Operator
was cutting hIS own throat. The proper way to do it is to
upgrade your equipment and rotate it every six months
or so. What was happening before the tournament
thin~ was that the operator was losing locations to
loc~tlon owners who were buying their own pool tables ,
baSIcally because there was very little service involved
with tables .
At that time I thought that we had to stop this . So
when I went to Mr . Operator about the tournament , I
suggested that participants could only be locations
that he operated on at least a 50-50 basis. A man who
owns his own machine is putting us as manufacturer's
out of business . They don't bother changing tables .
The.y will wear i~ out until it dies . They were killing our
bUSiness by bUying their own tables . There was indeed
a problem .
PLAY METER: Who stopped location -owned tables
from participating in the tournaments?
~CHNELLER: The operators merely got together and
saId that they should only have those people who are in
the tournament group be in this tournament . The
tournament is meant for their own locations, their own
customers. " Mr . private owner isn ' t our customer; so
he can ' t be in our tournament ," they felt. We didn ' t
force them to use any specific type of table in any
location .
In many areas this has been very successful. Patrons
were going to locations that were having tournaments.
So you kept Mr. Location owner saying " Now , if I buy
my own table , I won't be able to get into this
tournament and look how good it has been for my
business. ,.
Promotion has done a great deal to made pool what it
is today . It is widely accepted by all elements of the
industry and it is in the majority of all locations .
Thanks to promotion and its acceptance by all involved
a~d the qualitr of equipment which it has helpe d to
stimulate pool IS one of the highest of all coin machines.
PLAY METER: What is better about a pool table
today than 20 years ago?
SCHNELLER: The big change was that pool tables
went from 10 cents to 20 cents to a quarter and now
th~ y are going to 35 cents and 50 cents. Everyone has
saId they have drop-coin ~ute tables. Most tables are
made with push coin chute devices. Yet we found out
that when vending machines eliminated push coin
chutes that more vends were made. You are talking
about an element of efficiency in terms of time and, as a
result, the drop coin chute made income go up .
~~Y METER: Was it more lucrative as far as your
pr~clng was concerned?
Were you able to vary your
prices?
SCHNELLER: You can do something with pricing as
well as the process of vending itself-- acceptance to it.
Not having to go through the physical motion . They
52
drop that coi n in and there is nothing left to do. They
a re done . So therefore, in dispensing balls it was more
conven ience and time .
There have been many
time -sav ing devices installed, s uch as cue ball return on
the other e nd away from the rack end , which save time
and add up to two or three e xtra games a night that can
be played on this machine. Which on an average take
of $30 a week if you ca n increase 3 plays a night, you
would have a great deal of increase considering it at 25
ce nts per play.
There was some thing else that I thought drop coin
chutes could do . The average location did not want to
bu y a drop-coin chute table because his fear was if
something went wrong, how was he going to fix it
beca use of the battery, contacts , etc .
To them , a pus h coin chute was simple . I know that
we have pe rfec ted a good drop-coin -chute table. Now
they are going further with electronics and with
economics they way th ey are today , you have to get 35
cents or 50 cents . That has been the most innovative
thing that I ca n think of.
Also , we have made all walnut tables . I felt that the
pool table business was strictly an amusment machine .
If you go into the laws of any state you will find that in
order to operate a pool table you would be forced to
have a billiards li cense. But if you call it an amusment
game and make it a 3x6 or 3 1/ 2x7 it is an amusment
machin e . It is not what you call a pool table for a
poolroom. What we did was all tables were walnut with
green cloth . When you went past any table they all
looked alike ; eve n if you put in a brand new one, the
tave rn was dark and they all looked th e same. So our
innovation was to make a lighter one . We made a red
and white one so Ihat when the cus tome rs came in h e
sa w th ere was a new table . They were attracted to th e
new piece and they played with it more often. You
made a lot of new players . So we have been going
through a period of about seve n years of making
different colors .
PLAY METER: How is the pool table cheated by the
general public ?
SCHNELLER: In the old da ys the biggest thing was
st u~fing paper in the pockets. They would also bring
theIr own balls , bUI today it is all so different because
the loca l tavern owner know s that Ihe income to him
will be impaired if he allows this to occur.
PLAY METER: What about bumper pool tables?
SCHNELLER: Bumper pool is a tre mendous game .
Bob Nims [AMA Di stributors, New Orleans] went into
bumper pool. Whereve r he put s pool tables he puts a
bumper pool table .
For ins tance, the greatest thing that was done in New
Orleans was opening up game rooms above the bars . It
is not int erfering with the ca baret e ffect , because they
have put the game room upsta irs with a bar.
PLAY METER: What about the rest of the country ?
Is bumper pool los ing popularil Y?
SCHNELLER: Yes , s parce ly . In some parts of the
country, the operator felt that it was an old game . But
my comme nt is thi s -- the re a re a lot of kids coming into a
bar 18 - 19 years old, who have never played a bumper
pool tab le before in their lives and this would be a new
ana fun expe rie nce for th e m. They are getting a lot of
kicks from it.
PLAY METER: Do you think that it is suffering
because it hasn ' t been promoted ?
SCHNELLER: That's right. Happenstance . Now ,
Mr. Location Owner, when he sent in accountants and
found that he made $30 a week, he finds that it is a
pretty good money -maker . The accountant says, How
much is t~at pool table worth? And the guy says , how
much can It cost~ So he says, "Why not buy one of my
own ? Why let thIS operator take 50 per cent for nothing
because .he d?esn't do anything for it. " Mr . Operator
was cutting hIS own throat. The proper way to do it is to
upgrade your equipment and rotate it every six months
or so. What was happening before the tournament
thin~ was that the operator was losing locations to
loc~tlon owners who were buying their own pool tables ,
baSIcally because there was very little service involved
with tables .
At that time I thought that we had to stop this . So
when I went to Mr . Operator about the tournament , I
suggested that participants could only be locations
that he operated on at least a 50-50 basis. A man who
owns his own machine is putting us as manufacturer's
out of business . They don't bother changing tables .
The.y will wear i~ out until it dies . They were killing our
bUSiness by bUying their own tables . There was indeed
a problem .
PLAY METER: Who stopped location -owned tables
from participating in the tournaments?
~CHNELLER: The operators merely got together and
saId that they should only have those people who are in
the tournament group be in this tournament . The
tournament is meant for their own locations, their own
customers. " Mr . private owner isn ' t our customer; so
he can ' t be in our tournament ," they felt. We didn ' t
force them to use any specific type of table in any
location .
In many areas this has been very successful. Patrons
were going to locations that were having tournaments.
So you kept Mr. Location owner saying " Now , if I buy
my own table , I won't be able to get into this
tournament and look how good it has been for my
business. ,.
Promotion has done a great deal to made pool what it
is today . It is widely accepted by all elements of the
industry and it is in the majority of all locations .
Thanks to promotion and its acceptance by all involved
a~d the qualitr of equipment which it has helpe d to
stimulate pool IS one of the highest of all coin machines.
PLAY METER: What is better about a pool table
today than 20 years ago?
SCHNELLER: The big change was that pool tables
went from 10 cents to 20 cents to a quarter and now
th~ y are going to 35 cents and 50 cents. Everyone has
saId they have drop-coin ~ute tables. Most tables are
made with push coin chute devices. Yet we found out
that when vending machines eliminated push coin
chutes that more vends were made. You are talking
about an element of efficiency in terms of time and, as a
result, the drop coin chute made income go up .
~~Y METER: Was it more lucrative as far as your
pr~clng was concerned?
Were you able to vary your
prices?
SCHNELLER: You can do something with pricing as
well as the process of vending itself-- acceptance to it.
Not having to go through the physical motion . They
52
drop that coi n in and there is nothing left to do. They
a re done . So therefore, in dispensing balls it was more
conven ience and time .
There have been many
time -sav ing devices installed, s uch as cue ball return on
the other e nd away from the rack end , which save time
and add up to two or three e xtra games a night that can
be played on this machine. Which on an average take
of $30 a week if you ca n increase 3 plays a night, you
would have a great deal of increase considering it at 25
ce nts per play.
There was some thing else that I thought drop coin
chutes could do . The average location did not want to
bu y a drop-coin chute table because his fear was if
something went wrong, how was he going to fix it
beca use of the battery, contacts , etc .
To them , a pus h coin chute was simple . I know that
we have pe rfec ted a good drop-coin -chute table. Now
they are going further with electronics and with
economics they way th ey are today , you have to get 35
cents or 50 cents . That has been the most innovative
thing that I ca n think of.
Also , we have made all walnut tables . I felt that the
pool table business was strictly an amusment machine .
If you go into the laws of any state you will find that in
order to operate a pool table you would be forced to
have a billiards li cense. But if you call it an amusment
game and make it a 3x6 or 3 1/ 2x7 it is an amusment
machin e . It is not what you call a pool table for a
poolroom. What we did was all tables were walnut with
green cloth . When you went past any table they all
looked alike ; eve n if you put in a brand new one, the
tave rn was dark and they all looked th e same. So our
innovation was to make a lighter one . We made a red
and white one so Ihat when the cus tome rs came in h e
sa w th ere was a new table . They were attracted to th e
new piece and they played with it more often. You
made a lot of new players . So we have been going
through a period of about seve n years of making
different colors .
PLAY METER: How is the pool table cheated by the
general public ?
SCHNELLER: In the old da ys the biggest thing was
st u~fing paper in the pockets. They would also bring
theIr own balls , bUI today it is all so different because
the loca l tavern owner know s that Ihe income to him
will be impaired if he allows this to occur.
PLAY METER: What about bumper pool tables?
SCHNELLER: Bumper pool is a tre mendous game .
Bob Nims [AMA Di stributors, New Orleans] went into
bumper pool. Whereve r he put s pool tables he puts a
bumper pool table .
For ins tance, the greatest thing that was done in New
Orleans was opening up game rooms above the bars . It
is not int erfering with the ca baret e ffect , because they
have put the game room upsta irs with a bar.
PLAY METER: What about the rest of the country ?
Is bumper pool los ing popularil Y?
SCHNELLER: Yes , s parce ly . In some parts of the
country, the operator felt that it was an old game . But
my comme nt is thi s -- the re a re a lot of kids coming into a
bar 18 - 19 years old, who have never played a bumper
pool tab le before in their lives and this would be a new
ana fun expe rie nce for th e m. They are getting a lot of
kicks from it.
PLAY METER: Do you think that it is suffering
because it hasn ' t been promoted ?
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).