Play Meter

Operating
October rush set for London
October is going to be a busy
month for exhibitions. In London
on the 5th and 6th of October there
will be three different shows running
at the same time, and of course in
Chicago, there's the A.M.O.A.
The three shows in London are
considered to be a preview of the
1978 equipment as the major show
in England is not held until January
1978. The venues and exhibitors are
as follows : Preview 78 is being held
at the Cambridge Rooms, Woburn
Place and will be by far the largest,
spearheaded by The Cherry Group
showing the new Atari range .
Associated Leisure, which is prob-
ably the world's largest distributors
of coin-operated equipment; Alca
Electronics, a major British pool
table manufacturer and distributor;
Street Automatics, famous for their
arcade guns; Thomas Automatics,
manufacturers of Bingo equipment;
Dennis Jezzard (Coinmaticsl, ar-
cade machines and Larren for
Music, the country's largest suppli-
ers of juke box records will all be
there.
The second show will be The
Crompton Preview, held at The
Londoner Hotel , Welbeck Street.
Cromptons is currently having con-
siderable success in the USA with
its pushers, and they will be
showing the entire current range .
They are joined by London Coin,
which will be showing its Mayfield
range of equipment amongst oth-
ers; Whitaker Brothers, known for
its kiddie rides; Bell Fruit, England's
foremost fruit machine manufactur-
ers; Philip Shefras; Aristocrat Auto-
matics; and Academy Signs .
Lastly Ruffler and Deith will be
having their own show at the Clifton
Ford Hotel on Wei beck Street.
They are distributors of Bally,
Midway, Gottlieb, Chicago Coin,
Allied Leisure and many others.
Apart from the machines, all three
exhibitions will be offering free
buffet and bar to all visitors.
It is interesting to note that this
yea r, for the first time, there w ill be
a large contingent of British com-
panies exhibiting at the Park Show
in New Orleans in November, and
they are as follows: London Coin,
Cromptons, Bell-Fruit, Whitaker
Brothers, Pleasure and Leisure
Inflatables Ltd ., Wamstar, Artisair,
Kando Floss, Coin Controls, Alca
Electronics, Dennis Jezzard , Thom-
as Automatics, West Coast (G.M.1
Sales, Edward Thompson , Tombola
House, Space Age Electronics, The
World 's Fair and BACTA .
Georgia operators organize, finally
After thirty years of frustration,
Georgia operators have finally es-
tablished a state association. The
breakthrough came at an organiza-
tional meeting July 27 at the Hilton
Hotel in Macon, Georgia when
between 40 and 45 operators
showed up for the meeting and
expressed enthusiastic support for
plans to unite .
With 81 people in attendance, the
meeting got down to the business of
drafting by-laws and choosing an
11 -member committee for the se-
lection of nominees for officers.
John Martin of C.1. Martin Amuse-
ment Company of Macon, Georgia
acted as the temporary chairman at
the meeting .
Georgia operators had tried three
or four times in the past thirty years
to form a state association, but all
those previous attempts failed be-
cause of lack of interest by the
operators.
A second organizational meeting
is slated for August 28 in Macon at
which time there will be an election
of officers . Frank B. Cannon of
Cannon Music and Amusement of
Thomasville, Georgia will preside
over that meeting as temporary
chairman .
Cannon said enthusiasm was high
this go-around , and now there is no
14
doubt Georgia operators will have a
state association .
" We' re very
encouraged,"
he
told
PLAY
METER .
"Yes, this time it's
definitely a go . We've sent out
membership applications for the
operators to join, and already
between 40 and 45 percent of the
operators have joined ." He said
that there are about 135 operators in
the state, and that of this number
more than 50 have joined . " We've
checked around with the national
association and with the state
associations in Florida and other
states and have found that you need
about 35 percent membership be-
fore you have a viable association,
and we've already got that . There's
been a lot of enthusiasm ."
Cannon said that one reason for
many of the operators' willingness
to join the association this time is
that there is some detrimental
legislation in the state that they
want remedied .
Guest speakers at the organiza-
tional meeting in July were John
Estridge, president of Tennessee
association, Earl Glover and Jim
Fonsworth of the South Carolina
Coin Operators Association; and
Bob Rhinehart, Jr. of the Florida
Amusement Merchandising Asso-
ciation.
J. Harry Snodgrass
Snodgrass
succumbs
J . Harry Snodgrass, a former
president and chairman of the board
of the Amusement and Music
Operators Association died August
7. He was 72 .
Mr. Snodgrass was first elected
to the MOA board of directors in
1952. He was national secretary
from 1954 to 1958 and in 1962 was
elected president . In 1964 he was
elected chairman of the board.
He also served a term as chairman
of the MOA legislative committee .
September, 1977, PLA Y METER