Play Meter

machine buying (continued from page 36) one in your arcade . We are all aware of the bad press that pinball has suffered over the years. Each of us in the industry is trying to upgrade the image of the flipper and make it highly acceptable. Well-run arcades are doing a great job. Pool tables have suffered a similar image problem (remember the "Music Man"). Despite the establishment of family billiard parlors and other such "class" stores, many of the public have a strong emotional reaction at the thought of their kids hanging out at the local pool hall. If you couple this attitude problem with our own observations that the local "toughs" are more likely to come into an arcade that has pool than one that doesn't, it makes sense to us to try to avoid these image and control problems by simply not having a pool table. When you add these reasons to the fact that a pool table requires a great deal of floor space ( r.oughly 230 sq ft) and the fact that a number of arcades in our area got into problems with law enforcement authorities because they allowed children under 16 to play pool, you can understand why we have stayed away from the installation of pool tables. Perhaps if conditions change, we may reconsider and install one in our more established stores. But for now, no pool for us. Now that we have discussed some general guidelines for installing games in your arcade, let's get specific. I'd like to take a sample situation and give you a breakdown of what types of games a typical arcade might have. Let's assume you have a 2,000 square foot store, plenty of money, and have determined that, in order to generate the income you need, you will install 25 games (figures on the amount of income you can expect from games can be found in industry magazine surveys or in one of the books on arcade operation). Using the 25 games as a base, we would make an initial purchase of 18 games. These 18 games would be divided as follows: Pinball . .. 6 Air Hockey .. . . .. ... .. 1 Driving Games .. .. . .. . 2 Foosball .. . ... .. . . 1 Shooting Games . .. ... ... . 1 Juke Box . . ... 1 TV Games (non-driving) .. .. 2 Arcade Pieces ... .. 4 Of these 18 games roughly 3 or 4 would be new pieces while the remainder would be used . As the pattern of play develops during the first couple of months, you can add additional foosball tables, pinballs, or whatever to meet your clients' demands. The distribution above, however, should provide you with a sound basis on which to open your arcade. The large arcade operators reading this article will probably notice one other type of game which has been omitted from my discussionthe skeeball. This is a popular family piece. For proper operation, it requires a lot of floor space, at least 6-8 machines, and a stock of prizes to be given for tickets won on the skeeball machines. If you have the room, by all means add skeeball to the list of games in your arcade. I hope you have found the information in this, and my previous articles, of interest and benefit to you. The arcade portion of our industry has been growing at a fast rate and all arcade operators need a forum for the exchange of information and ideas. Our problems and concerns differ from operators who run strictly a route operation. Play Meter has recognized this need and has given us numerous arcade oriented articles and interviews with active arcade operators. My three articles, which have appeared in the recent editions of this magazine, were mutually selected by the Play Meter staff and myself as topics of general interest to the arcade operator. We have plans for future articles, but we would like to solicit your assistance. We want to make sure that we are giving you the type of information you want . We would like to know that we are providing answers (or at least insights) to the problems that you are currently concerned about . We are asking you, then, to drop us a line and let us know your If you would like to concerns. comment on the arcade business or even take exception to some of the points presented in my articles, we'd like to hear them . In this way we can be sure future articles will reflect the types of things you want to hear about. Let's hear from you today-and go out and buy the right machines to give your arcade the start it needs! ONE OF THE REASONS HE'S AN ACE MECHANIC FOR HIS UNCLE HARRY. •• r.t!I ~ A Public Service of This Magazine & The Advert1smg Council IS BECAUSE HE LEARNED IT FROM HIS UNCLE SAM. Training Programs in the Guard and Reserve are helping many men and women do better in their civilian jobs. Thousands of people are learning new skills. Or sharpening ones they al ready have. A lot of what Guard and Reservists learn has business applications. And that is one reason employers and supervisors should support the Guard and Reserve and urge their employees to join . Those local Guard and Reserve -.inits make up nearly 30% of our defense force at a cost of only a smal I fraction of the defense budget. Another good reason for lending your support to the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve program. Most employers are behind us. Won 'tyou join them? Contact Employer Support, Arlington, VA 22209 fo,deta;1, i:c;.~ EMPLOYER SUPPORT OF THE GUARD & RESERVE