Play Meter
Issue: 1976 July - Vol 2 Num 7 - Page 14
(continued from page 15)
He' expecting you to sign a two to five year lease
and be bound by it, while he's only bound by it for
maybe 60 day , because he can under the terms of
the lea e close you down or ask you to leave with
that much notice.
PLAY METER: Now that you have a place, let's
say in a shopping center: putting equipment aside
for a moment, what sort of investment are you
looking at in terms of improving that area before
you can move your operation into it?
GETI'LE: If we have to air condition, we're talking
about two to four thousand dollars to begin with. In
addition the new locations we go into are all fully
carpeted, sometimes to the extent of even
carpeting the walls. This serves the dual purpose of
making the surroundings very luxurious and at the
same time stopping the sound from travelling and
offending any of the other tenants.
PLAY METER: So we're looking at a substantial
investment even before we look at machine .
GETI'LE: Yes. We're looking at an investment
running between five and ten thousand dollars.
PLAY METER: Of your eight locations, how many
are you leasing and how many do you own?
GETTLE: At present, we own only one location.
The other seven are under lease.
PLA Y METER: What are we talking about in
term of rent in the shopping centers?
GETTLE: The rent varies greatly. We pay as little
as $200/ month rent and we pay as high as
$1600/ month rent. And in the examples I'm using,
the
pool table with
the Velvet Touch
innovators of
the industry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
It
~
Zenith, Crest , Adjust-a -price
Pool Tables
Sportacard
Sportaball
TV Cocktail Table
Bimbo
United-Sardi Soccer Tables
. (J~ :lE33 : ,(~J
INC.
• ~~----------------------~
;
16
5 1 Progress St. . UntOn . N .J . 07083
12011 686 703(1
the quare footage is almost identical.
PLAY METER: Let's say then that we've got a
location and we've signed a lease. We need to put
equipment in the location . All your locations are
approximately the same size, aren't they?
Ye, approximately 2,000 to 2,500
GETI'LE:
square feet.
PLA Y METER: How many machines do you
estimate you have in each location?
CARSON: It will vary from 21 to 30 machines
depending on the square footage.
PLAY METER: What percentage of the machines
are pinballs, what percentage foosball, pool tables,
and down the line?
CARSON: About half the machines are pinballs.
Foosball will run around 35 per cent, and about 15
per cent are pool tables. Then there are a
mattering of arcade pieces.
PLA Y METER: And you buy all your machines?
GETI'LE: Yes.
PLA Y METER: You do not lease any machines?
GETI'LE: We do not.
PLAY METER: What' the major advantage in
owning your own equipment?
GETI'LE: Getting 100 per cent of the income.
CARSON: One other advantage that I see is that
you have control over the maintenance of the
machine, omething you don't have on a lease
ba i .
GETTLE: I think you're right. And this goes
hand -in-hand with getting 100 per cent of t he
income. To have proper maintenance, you have to
have ownership.
PLAY METER: When you open a new arcade, do
you buy completely new equipment for that arcade?
GETTLE: No, we don't. There are many very
good income-producing machines on the market,
pin balls and arcade , t hat are one year to five or
ix, ometime even even years old. But they are
till very good income-producting pieces of equip -
ment; t hey till have a lot of appeal to the kids.
PLA Y METER: But when you open up a new
location, do you buy machines particularly geared
for that location.
GETTLE: We try to buy machines all the time. We
have a con tant buying program through distribu -
tor throughout the country. For example, a
di tributor in Texa might have an unusual number
of machine on hand ; even though we don't have a
new location going in right then, we will buy ome
of tho e machines. And we'll have those on hand in
the warehou
0 that when we do open a new
location, we'll have enough machines to put into it.
If we're con tantly tockpiling eq uipment, we
have th advantage of not being de p rate for
machine when we have to open a new location .
PLA Y METER: P ronnel i obviously an
important part of any operation. You have, as I've
n, e entially one upervisory per on in each
location. How do you J!:O about hirinJ!: this oer on
and what do you look for in a manager?
GETI'LE: I can best spend my time in trying to
buy equipm nt and find location, and that' a full -
time job . 0 I have a upervi or who e full -time job
i hiring and, once in a while, unfortunately firing
(continu d page -40)
He' expecting you to sign a two to five year lease
and be bound by it, while he's only bound by it for
maybe 60 day , because he can under the terms of
the lea e close you down or ask you to leave with
that much notice.
PLAY METER: Now that you have a place, let's
say in a shopping center: putting equipment aside
for a moment, what sort of investment are you
looking at in terms of improving that area before
you can move your operation into it?
GETI'LE: If we have to air condition, we're talking
about two to four thousand dollars to begin with. In
addition the new locations we go into are all fully
carpeted, sometimes to the extent of even
carpeting the walls. This serves the dual purpose of
making the surroundings very luxurious and at the
same time stopping the sound from travelling and
offending any of the other tenants.
PLAY METER: So we're looking at a substantial
investment even before we look at machine .
GETI'LE: Yes. We're looking at an investment
running between five and ten thousand dollars.
PLAY METER: Of your eight locations, how many
are you leasing and how many do you own?
GETTLE: At present, we own only one location.
The other seven are under lease.
PLA Y METER: What are we talking about in
term of rent in the shopping centers?
GETTLE: The rent varies greatly. We pay as little
as $200/ month rent and we pay as high as
$1600/ month rent. And in the examples I'm using,
the
pool table with
the Velvet Touch
innovators of
the industry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
It
~
Zenith, Crest , Adjust-a -price
Pool Tables
Sportacard
Sportaball
TV Cocktail Table
Bimbo
United-Sardi Soccer Tables
. (J~ :lE33 : ,(~J
INC.
• ~~----------------------~
;
16
5 1 Progress St. . UntOn . N .J . 07083
12011 686 703(1
the quare footage is almost identical.
PLAY METER: Let's say then that we've got a
location and we've signed a lease. We need to put
equipment in the location . All your locations are
approximately the same size, aren't they?
Ye, approximately 2,000 to 2,500
GETI'LE:
square feet.
PLA Y METER: How many machines do you
estimate you have in each location?
CARSON: It will vary from 21 to 30 machines
depending on the square footage.
PLAY METER: What percentage of the machines
are pinballs, what percentage foosball, pool tables,
and down the line?
CARSON: About half the machines are pinballs.
Foosball will run around 35 per cent, and about 15
per cent are pool tables. Then there are a
mattering of arcade pieces.
PLA Y METER: And you buy all your machines?
GETI'LE: Yes.
PLA Y METER: You do not lease any machines?
GETI'LE: We do not.
PLAY METER: What' the major advantage in
owning your own equipment?
GETI'LE: Getting 100 per cent of the income.
CARSON: One other advantage that I see is that
you have control over the maintenance of the
machine, omething you don't have on a lease
ba i .
GETTLE: I think you're right. And this goes
hand -in-hand with getting 100 per cent of t he
income. To have proper maintenance, you have to
have ownership.
PLAY METER: When you open a new arcade, do
you buy completely new equipment for that arcade?
GETTLE: No, we don't. There are many very
good income-producing machines on the market,
pin balls and arcade , t hat are one year to five or
ix, ometime even even years old. But they are
till very good income-producting pieces of equip -
ment; t hey till have a lot of appeal to the kids.
PLA Y METER: But when you open up a new
location, do you buy machines particularly geared
for that location.
GETTLE: We try to buy machines all the time. We
have a con tant buying program through distribu -
tor throughout the country. For example, a
di tributor in Texa might have an unusual number
of machine on hand ; even though we don't have a
new location going in right then, we will buy ome
of tho e machines. And we'll have those on hand in
the warehou
0 that when we do open a new
location, we'll have enough machines to put into it.
If we're con tantly tockpiling eq uipment, we
have th advantage of not being de p rate for
machine when we have to open a new location .
PLA Y METER: P ronnel i obviously an
important part of any operation. You have, as I've
n, e entially one upervisory per on in each
location. How do you J!:O about hirinJ!: this oer on
and what do you look for in a manager?
GETI'LE: I can best spend my time in trying to
buy equipm nt and find location, and that' a full -
time job . 0 I have a upervi or who e full -time job
i hiring and, once in a while, unfortunately firing
(continu d page -40)
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).