Play Meter

lawyer to present their arguments in
support of pinball before the coun -
cil. The coalition at one time had 10
members, but later dwindled to only
a couple . Jerry Harman, owner of a
pizza restaurant, The Spot, who
first hired the lawyer, thought the
coalition was " important," but not
critical in passing the law.
The aldermen tend to disagree .
Says Myers , " The restaurant
owners had some positive effect.
but they had a negative effect when
it came to the license fees . These
guys were fighting so hard that we
thought they could afford it if we
stu ck them with high fees ."
Mrs . Flamm says she "turned off"
th e restuarant owners . Their lawyer
was competent. she said, but the
owners were " too hungry ."
She
suggested the owners would be
more effective if they first had found
an alderman to be an advocate for
their cause .
The businessmen are happy the
new ordinance passed, but there
remains a general irritation over the
restrictions. Herman built a special
game room in his restaurant several
years ago when he was assured
there were no local restrictions on
electronic games .
Six machines
hardly fill the room now . Other
restaurants near schools can't oper-
ate machines even on weekends,
nights or during the summer when
kids are out of school. There is
some talk the businessment will
return to the council to seek an
easing of the restrictions after the
new law has been in effect for a
while .
But if Evanston can legalize
pinball, can its neighbor, Chicago
the home of pinball manufacWers
be far behind? Maybe not. Chicago
Alderman Chris Cohen has said it
may be time for his city to change its
laws . He is preparing a report he
plans to submit to the city council
sometime soon .
The A.T.E. In Review
by Marshall Caf9$
This year , the ATE
(Amusement Trades Exhibition)
show, held the last week of
January at Alexandra Palace,
London , was perhaps the
greatest study in contrasts and
anomalies of any ATE show in
recent years.
Each year we have seen more
and more Europeans at our own
MOA show, but it cannot be
compared, for the international
flair, with the ATE . Alexandra
Palace is a ghastly barn of a
building, and for the purposes of
this show, it can only boast of
inadequate transportation,
inadequate parking, inadequate
booth space (maybe by as much
as 40 or 50 per cent), and
inadequate heat (in January), by
a whole handful of degrees . And
yet , in spite of very poor
economic conditions in England,
one must only conclude that the
1976 show was a success.
Much of the show, probably in
excess of 50 per cent is of only
casual , cursory and curious
interest to the American coin biz
curmudgeon . Fruit (slot)
machines, club (lesse r payout)
machines, penny gambling
machines, diggers and the
like-- enough to make an
American drool --along with
Tombola tickets and a plethora of
bingo equipment (the kind of
bingo you play sitting down with
lima beans, not the kind you play
standing up with a fistful of coins
~"
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and a handful of brew): all in
great quantity. In the Palm Court
(the Outer Sanctum, even colder
than the great hall), one could
take a bounce on a M oon W alk,
ride a kiddie ride, or playa horse
race (carny 'joint ' ), and more .
As always, the perennia l
European kiddie rides and small
novelty machines (many quite
beautiful with much player
appeal) were much in evidence .
Though attractive, and for the
most part well constructed, they
simply are not for the American
marke t ; runaway inflation in
Europe has priced them out of
reach, or they involve gambling,
or they would simply not stand
up in the destructive American
market place.
Relatively little of great
significance for the
AmerCoinBizMan was displayed.
An Italian sit-down driving
machine, 400 Miles, created a
good deal of interest. Television
games, which were originally
mis-marketed in England and
became a dirty word, are again
garnering a great deal of interest.
New pieces by Ata ri, Ramtek,
ChiCoin, A llied --all tv games--and
others were heavily tested,
played and orders were booked.
There are a few major
differences between the A TE and
the MOA, not the least of which
is that most of 'them ' speak
English and not American. In
England, and to an even greater
~
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