Play Meter

standard arcade games-machines that will appeal
to a wide variety of people. We always have the
nine-hole miniature golf course, which tends to
appeal to the younger kids, the 7, 8, and 9-year
olds, and as a result we get a lot of birthday
parties-we run specials for birthday parties.
Having that combination, we do get a lot of family
business. What we try to do is keep the place so
that it's attractive to the kids yet doesn't have a
hang-out kind of atmosphere to scare away adults
with younger kids. So far we've been pretty
successful with that.
PLA Y METER: Do you do any kind of advertising?
SEDLAK: We do when we open. We arrange to
have a grand opening. We try to get a local official
for the traditional ribbon cutting, or in our case, the
putting of the first ball on the first hole. And we
run an opening day special during which we give
away a lot of prizes. Generally we have just a lot of
opening publicity so that we're sure everybody
knows we're there. In that case, most of the
advertising is through the newspapers.
Another form of advertising we have used very
successfully is handbills. We have handbills printed
up-usually at the beginning of the summer
season-and these contain a description of what's
available along with some free coupons. These are
then hand delivered to the houses in the
surrounding area.
PLAY METER: Any other publicity "gimmicks"
you might use? You mentioned birthday parties.
what else?
SEDLAK: We do run tournaments, mostly foosball
tournaments. The New York State Coin Machine
Association does run a state pinball tournament
which takes place in April of each year. So from
January to April, we're running our local contests,
and we do find that helpful: it does increase play,
especially on the tournament machines. We run
foosball contests ourselves. We had been into
weekly contests; we've gotten away from that a bit.
but we do plan to go back to it, because again it was
very successful for us-it did increase 'play on the
tables. We have a number of schools around here
for disadvantaged children, and we will give them
special rates when they come in. And we'll run
specials for them, opening a store early on a
Saturday just for them, letting them come in and
play all the machines they want for nothing. It gets
them used to coming into the place and gives them
an idea of what they can play down there. And
they've enjoyed that very much.
PLA Y METER: For a long time the term arcade
seemed to carry a negative conotation, do you find
that's still true?
SEDLAK: Yes. I find that for a lot of people, when
you say arcade , it conjures up images of a dimly lit
establishment where there might be a lot of things
going on that might not be quite right.
PLAY METER: How can we as an industry fight
this image?
SEDLAK: Well, a lot of people are fighting it, I
think, by getting away from the word arcade,
calling their establishments fun centers or
amusement centers or whatever. I'd rather see us
stick to the word arcade and just promote arcade
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images . As people open arcades that are well run
and well lit, and the public starts getting used tE>
them, they will begin associating the term arcade
with these places rather than with some memory
out of the past. I also think that a good
idea-though I don't know of any organization
right now that's in the position to handle it-would
be a national advertising campaign much like we
see from the dairy industry, spot on television for
instance that says simply, "Visit your local arcade"
and shows the amusement available in a nice
arcade. That type of thing would help change the
image.
PLAY METER: What made you decide to write a
book about arcade operation?
SEDLAK: Well, I'll tell you. When we got into this
business, back when we had a minia,ture golf course
and we were looking for something in addition, I
found it very difficult to find information about
setting up arcades or even about the industry in
general. Now I understand that a lot of people that
go into this business sort of grew up in the business.
They worked for other operators and much that we
didn't know is pretty much common knowledge. But
we came in from the outside and one of the first
things I did was to go down to New York City which
is close to us ; I went to the library and looked up all
the publications for the coin machine or vending
business. Finally, through one of them I discovered
the state association, and we joined the state
association, and that was very beneficial for us.
Through the state association we found out about
the other publications in the industry, and only
after that did we become knowledgeable on where
to buy parts, where to buy machines, the most
important aspects of the industry. I felt that there
were a lot of people getting into this business. And I
felt that these people should have some place to go
find the information that we couldn't find when we
first started out. So that was the main reason for
writing the book, to put down all the information
we would have liked to know the first day we went
into the coin machine business.
PLAY METER: This is kind of a broad question , so
do with it what you want. What do you look for in
the "arcade of the future "? What's it going to be
like?
SEDLAK: I think the arcade of the future is going
to be more than what we think of today as an
arcade. I think it's going to be a place you go not
only to play machines but other things as well; it
may even be associated with a large entertainment
complex that has roller skating rinks, ice skating
rinks, or other sorts of amusements. Now I'm not
saying that every arcade will have to be 15,000
square feet, or lodged in a huge building. Certainly
in a 3000 or 4000 sq . ft. store, it will be possible for
an operator to get in enough variation so that there
are not only the machines but other things for
people to do . I think though that the store fron t
arcades that are just machines stuck in by an
operator WIth very lIttle thought and planmng wlll
tend to disappear, because I think people will begin
to get selective about the types of arcades they
want to go to. I think they'll be looking for
something different. something special.