Play Meter
Issue: 1976 October - Vol 2 Num 10 - Page 6
from the editor
October is here. The big MOA show, with all of its excitement
and surprises is just a month away.
Most have already seen the elegant new Rowel AMI's and the
striking new Seeburgs and soon Rock -Ola will be showing their new
offering for the year. Phonograph prices, as expected, are up again
this year, yet the increases are relatively modest. After all, the
cost of everything else is going up seven to eight per cent yearly.
There also is a good chance the copyright bill will be passed this
month which means those of you who operate jukes will soon have
to start paying the $8.00 royalty fee we've been telling you about
for the past two years. And last but not least, October will see the
first of a series of regional service schools sponsored by Play Meter
and conducted by technical editor Robin Minnear of Kush n' Stuff.
Some games manufacturers have followed the phonograph
manufacturers and decided not to wait until the MOA show to
release their new offerings. Sega, for instance, has entered the
U.S. pinball market with Rodeo, U.S. Billiards has introduced its
new Turn On, Turn Off game, Electra Games will soon be sneak
previewing its new entry Air Fortress and Ramtek will be
releasing its new Horoscope astrological and bio-rhythm machine.
One wonders if these advance releases mark a trend that other
games manufacturers will be following in coming years.
While that may be the case, I would rather think that they are
doing this because of the rather late dates of the MOA show which
is almost a full month later than last year. It's unclear as to why the
show is late this year and it's spilt milk anyway. Still it's
important, I think, to have a date that can be fixed from year to
year.
The world's largest coin machine exhibition, the ATE, which is
held in London each year, always falls on the last Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday of January. While we are still in favor of
having two national trade shows each year - one in the early fall
and one in the late winter or early spring-I think the ideal time for
the fall show is early October. This gives the phonograph
manufacturers and distributors the whole month of September to
hold their own showings and would better enable games
manufacturers to balance their production runs and get in two good
selling seasons .
As for what davs of the week the show should be held on, I think
the present Friday, Saturday and Sunday format is sound. It may
not be a bad idea, however, to add Thursday for those who value
their weekends too dearly. And, with the bigger and bigger shows
each year-this year sees the opening up of a new hall - it's taking
longer to get around to every booth.
The important thing here is the timing of the event. For all
concerned, the show would be better off if its dates were fixed
rather than floating from month to month as they are now. After
all, the MOA show is the biggest of the year for those of us in the
U.S. and it's something for everyone to look forward to attending
every year, not every 10 months or 13 months.
Speaking of attendance, we hope to see a lot of new faces there
this year. H you haven't been, you don't know what you're missing.
I invite you to come to Chicago on Nov. 12-14 and visit us in booth
198 at the Conrad Hilton Hotel. The MOA is an experience you will
never forget. See you there.
Sincerely,
c.~
Ralph C. Lally II
Editor & Publisher
Calendar
October 2-3
Wi con sin Mu ic Me r chan ts
Association , annual convention.
Holiday Inn , Wau au , Wisc .
October 2-3
Coin Operated Industrie of
Nebraska, meeting . Ramada
Inn , Omaha, Nebraska.
October 7 -1 0
Nat ional Convention-Exhibit of
Ve nding and Food Service Man -
agement, Civic Center , Phila-
delphia, Pa.
October 13-15
E NADA[specialized automatics
trade fair ]. Rome, Italy.
October 14-16
West Virginia Music & Ven-
ding Associat ion , annual con-
vention . Sheraton Inn , Clarks-
burg, We tVa.
Nove mber 12-14
Music Operator of America ,
Expo 76. The Conrad Hilt on
Hotel, Chicago, IUinois .
November 18-21
IAAP A I Park
how J. The
Ri verga te, New Orleans. La.
January 10-13
HORECAVA [Catering trades
show]. Brussels, Belgium.
January 25-27
A.T.E. [Automatics Trade Ex-
hibition]. London, England.
April 14-25
Milan Fair [automatics section] .
Milan, Italy .
1976 INTERNATIONAL
EXPOSITION
CONRAD HILTON, CH ICAGO
NOVEMBER 12 -13-14
Celebrating America ' s B icentennial
October is here. The big MOA show, with all of its excitement
and surprises is just a month away.
Most have already seen the elegant new Rowel AMI's and the
striking new Seeburgs and soon Rock -Ola will be showing their new
offering for the year. Phonograph prices, as expected, are up again
this year, yet the increases are relatively modest. After all, the
cost of everything else is going up seven to eight per cent yearly.
There also is a good chance the copyright bill will be passed this
month which means those of you who operate jukes will soon have
to start paying the $8.00 royalty fee we've been telling you about
for the past two years. And last but not least, October will see the
first of a series of regional service schools sponsored by Play Meter
and conducted by technical editor Robin Minnear of Kush n' Stuff.
Some games manufacturers have followed the phonograph
manufacturers and decided not to wait until the MOA show to
release their new offerings. Sega, for instance, has entered the
U.S. pinball market with Rodeo, U.S. Billiards has introduced its
new Turn On, Turn Off game, Electra Games will soon be sneak
previewing its new entry Air Fortress and Ramtek will be
releasing its new Horoscope astrological and bio-rhythm machine.
One wonders if these advance releases mark a trend that other
games manufacturers will be following in coming years.
While that may be the case, I would rather think that they are
doing this because of the rather late dates of the MOA show which
is almost a full month later than last year. It's unclear as to why the
show is late this year and it's spilt milk anyway. Still it's
important, I think, to have a date that can be fixed from year to
year.
The world's largest coin machine exhibition, the ATE, which is
held in London each year, always falls on the last Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday of January. While we are still in favor of
having two national trade shows each year - one in the early fall
and one in the late winter or early spring-I think the ideal time for
the fall show is early October. This gives the phonograph
manufacturers and distributors the whole month of September to
hold their own showings and would better enable games
manufacturers to balance their production runs and get in two good
selling seasons .
As for what davs of the week the show should be held on, I think
the present Friday, Saturday and Sunday format is sound. It may
not be a bad idea, however, to add Thursday for those who value
their weekends too dearly. And, with the bigger and bigger shows
each year-this year sees the opening up of a new hall - it's taking
longer to get around to every booth.
The important thing here is the timing of the event. For all
concerned, the show would be better off if its dates were fixed
rather than floating from month to month as they are now. After
all, the MOA show is the biggest of the year for those of us in the
U.S. and it's something for everyone to look forward to attending
every year, not every 10 months or 13 months.
Speaking of attendance, we hope to see a lot of new faces there
this year. H you haven't been, you don't know what you're missing.
I invite you to come to Chicago on Nov. 12-14 and visit us in booth
198 at the Conrad Hilton Hotel. The MOA is an experience you will
never forget. See you there.
Sincerely,
c.~
Ralph C. Lally II
Editor & Publisher
Calendar
October 2-3
Wi con sin Mu ic Me r chan ts
Association , annual convention.
Holiday Inn , Wau au , Wisc .
October 2-3
Coin Operated Industrie of
Nebraska, meeting . Ramada
Inn , Omaha, Nebraska.
October 7 -1 0
Nat ional Convention-Exhibit of
Ve nding and Food Service Man -
agement, Civic Center , Phila-
delphia, Pa.
October 13-15
E NADA[specialized automatics
trade fair ]. Rome, Italy.
October 14-16
West Virginia Music & Ven-
ding Associat ion , annual con-
vention . Sheraton Inn , Clarks-
burg, We tVa.
Nove mber 12-14
Music Operator of America ,
Expo 76. The Conrad Hilt on
Hotel, Chicago, IUinois .
November 18-21
IAAP A I Park
how J. The
Ri verga te, New Orleans. La.
January 10-13
HORECAVA [Catering trades
show]. Brussels, Belgium.
January 25-27
A.T.E. [Automatics Trade Ex-
hibition]. London, England.
April 14-25
Milan Fair [automatics section] .
Milan, Italy .
1976 INTERNATIONAL
EXPOSITION
CONRAD HILTON, CH ICAGO
NOVEMBER 12 -13-14
Celebrating America ' s B icentennial
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).