Play Meter

hoped to. But if we can take any existing equipment
in there and increase the revenue by thirty or forty
percent, then maybe we, in turn, can sell more
equipment.
PLA Y METER: Did you have problems with the
operators not wanting to divulge their locations to
FARMER: I thought we would have that problem.
But, truthfully, no. We keep total secrecy on
locations. With us, the competition stays right at
the location so that the operators don't have to
divulge where these locations are. We've been in
business too long to lose trust that way. And as for
all the tournament supplies-the pool cues, etc.-I
deliver them directly to the operator.
PLAY METER: Who actually runs the tourna-
ments?
F ARMER: It's a mutual affair between the
operator and the location owner. The operator has
to stay on top of it each week, and the location
needs an appointed person at the bar to run the
tournament.
PLAY METER: Have any locations that own their
own tables come to you and said they wanted to get
into your tournament?
FARMER: Yes, we've had some locations call here
and say they wanted to get into the tournament,
but we told them that this tournament was strictly
for operator personnel. We tell them that if they
want to get into the tournament they have to
contact the operator in their area. What I hope
happens from all this is that the tavern owner on
Main Street who owns his own table will see his
customers going across the street, and then he'll
call the operator and ask, "Why don't you buy back
my pool table and let me into your tournaments."
PLAY METER: What can the operator do to
protect himself from having a location buy its own
equipment?
F ARMER: I think some of the blame of locations
buying their own equipment goes on the operator.
Pool tables for the most part just sit around
locations. The operators will recover them from
time to time but that's about it. Now the location
owner sees that the operator is not changing his
pool table like he should, the location owner starts
thinking if it's that easy, he can do it himself. It's a
very natural response then for him to buy his own
pool table. I think that a location that does a
hundred dollars a week business deserves a new
table every year. There's no question about that.
And when the operator doesn't do that, he
jeopardizes himself to the guys who sell directly to
locations . But if an operator is interested in
upgrading his equipment, making sure his table is
in good condition, it's a lot different. The operator
has got to show the location that he is interested in
doing good business there. He's got to do
promotions like tournaments. He's got to be willing
to upgrade his equipment. Certainly there's a big
market for the operator to get rid of used pool
tables. An operator could really upgrade his pool
table locations either by trading in his used table
for, say, $200, or by selling it to a home for $300 or
$400. Let's face it, locations owning their own
equipment is the worst thing that could happen to
our business. Once they own their own equipment,
PLA Y METER, October, 19n
they are going to run their stuff into the ground.
This tournament idea, I might add, has also helped
some operators put pool tables in places where they
weren't before. I know of a couple of cases where an
operator was able to get a table into a location
because of the tournament. The owner told him,
"We can just move these booths over here and put
in the pool table."
PLA Y METER: What time of the year is the best
for running the tournament?
FARMER: Len Schneller advised me against
running this one in the summertime because it's the
worst time of the year for business. Everybody
is outside. But I took the opposite approach , now
we're really going to do something for the
operators. Everyone knows business is bad during
July and August. So we took these two bad months,
and that is when we started the thing. And it hasn't
hurt play at all. So we know that if it's going to do
good in the summer when people are outside
playing golf, then it's going to be twice as good if we
decide to incorporate it in the fall or winter months.
PLAY METER: It sounds like you are planning
another one very soon.
FARMER: Yes, as a matter of fact, we're planning
one in West Virginia. We're also distributor for
West Virginia and Kentucky, and we've found there
was a lot of operator interest in West Virginia.
Not hing firmed up yet, but I did make one trip
through West Virginia, and the operators there
said they would go along with it. So our next step
would probably be running one down there. Then
I'd like to come back and do it again this winter in
Ohio. This second time around is going to be a
heckuva lot easier for me because I think I'm just
going to have to call the operators and tell them
we're going to do it again, and how many locations
are they in for? And I think the guy who gave me
only one location last time is going to give me five.
And the guy who gave me 15 is going to give me 25.
I really believe that. As I said earlier, I could have
had more than 200 in this one, but how are we going
to manage with 600 people in a playoff? I was
thinking that maybe next year we can hold this on a
regional basis- like the Cleveland area, and the
Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton areas and, say,
West Virginia, and then bring all the winners to
Columbus for the finals.
PLAY METER: Do you envision expanding this
tournament idea to incorporate other games-like
pinball or air hockey?
FARMER: Yes, I think it can be done. We know
already that it can be extremely successful in
foosball and now pool. You mentioned air hockey.
Well, in general our business in air hockey is not
what it was two years ago. We sold a tremendous
amount of Brunswick Air Hockey Tables, but since
then I think the game has definitely dropped off.
The arcades are still operating air hockey, at least
in our area, but I see little interest in upgrading air
hockey equjpment. There's really no question in
mind, though, that an arcade or wherever can run
promotions or tournaments on air hockey and can
increase their take tremendously. There's no
question about it. It's getting the operators to do it,
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