Play Meter

PLA Y METER: What appeals to you about the
arcade business as opposed to a route operation?
PANITZ: I think it's more pleasant, and to me it's
more challenging. Also, I feel I have more control
over what I'm doing. I don't have to get into such
things as loans.
PLA Y METER: Do you feel a little more insulated
from economic pressures as opposed to a route
operator since you're not hemmed in by commission
structures and things like loans?
PANITZ: Of course, that's a basic fact. But we have
our own problems that are peculiar to our business.
We just can't move our equipment around as
readily as an operator. And, of course, we're faced
with the multiple of units within each location, not
the onesies and twosies that are the lot of the route
operator.
PLAY METER: Do you feel that equipment has a
longer lifespan inside of arcades or on route
locations?
PANITZ: I think it has a much longer life span
when it is moved around. Therefore, I think a route
operator gets a longer life span with his pieces
because he can put a new pinball machine, for
instance, in a tavern and there it's the new piece.
Then he can take it somewhere else, and it's the
new piece there. In an arcade though, where we
have anywhere from ten to twenty pins, the players
can afford to be a lot more critical because they
have a lot more to choose from. So naturally they
gravitate to the newer stuff.
PLAY METER: Do you feel that the arcade boom is
over?
PANITZ: Yes, I think there's a leveling off. One of
the problems we're facing today, in fact, is that
we're over-saturated. I feel we've been over-
exposed because of all the cockamammie operations
that have opened up. You have many people getting
into arcade who, in my opinion, don't belong in it.
To give you an example, we have many instances of
everyone from doctors, lawyers, and Indian chiefs
who want to get into this business because they feel
the gra s must be greener on the other side. But in
many of the e cases I find that these are the people
who are hurting our image because they don't
maintain their equipment properly. They don't
clean their machines and, as a result, they present a
bad image of the whole industry. After all, let's face
it, we're an industry that ha three strikes against
it to begin with.
PLAY METER: What exactly do you mean when
you say the industry has become over-exposed?
PANITZ: People are opening up all over. Now
you've got machines in pubs, you've got machines in
restaurants and pizza places, even in coin
launderies. You've got them coming out allover. So
I think in that ense we're over-exposed. Before,
people u ed to come to an arcade, and we were the
novelty. They had seen nothing like it. But now that
has all changed. Now they say, "Oh, I played that
game somewhere else. " Therefore, it's not as
exciting for them. And as a result, arcade
operations are almost forced to go into promotions
today.
PLAY METER: What do you do to promote play in
your arcades?
PLA Y METER, April, 1978
PANITZ: We use such things as coupons and things
like that for such games as skee ball and shuffle
alleys in our summer locations. And in our mall
locations, we may do something in conjunction with
the merchants in the mall, such things as gift
certificates where the player can get a discount.
And now we're just starting to get into tokens.
PLA Y METER: What are your reasons for getting
into tokens?
PANITZ: The number one reason is that we'll have
a better cash control. Number two is that we'll be
able to promote this way. To give you an idea, at
slow periods or for certain events we could program
to give maybe five tokens for a dollar. All we'd be
doing is devaluating our currency. Frankly, at this
point, though, I don't know how it's going to work
out. All I have right now is some feedback from
some operations on the west coast and the midwest.
PLAY METER: And, of course, it could also be
used to raise the prices on your games.
PANITZ: Yes, that's the third reason. I feel that
because of the economic squeeze we're in, this is the
only way we can get thirty-three and one-third
cents for a g-ame, and we're entitled to it.
Everybody knows every time you buy a new piece
of equipment, the price goes up five or ten percent,
but we can't raise our prices by ten percent.
Unfortunately we just don't have a thirty-five-cent
coin, and the token is the way for us to go in this
matter. Look around, I believe we're the only
industry that hasn't raised its prices in ten years.
PLAY METER: You mentioned the image of the
industry. What have you done in this area to
promote the games industry?
PANITZ: As far as community work, because we
feel that we should be a part of the community
wherever possible, we always belong to the
chamber of commerce. And we also donate. For
instance, we'll put a machine in a mall and give all
the proceeds from that machine to a charity like the
muscular dystrophy fund. We've gotten some nice
letters because of things like that. We've done some
things like run a pinball tournament with the
proceeds going to charitable institutions. Then, of
cour e, we found that the other merchants wanted
to join in too because they felt it was good for their
image a well.
PLA Y METER: How do you find new locations?
PANITZ: That's very difficult. The malls are
getting almost impossible to obtain because they
just aren't building that many anymore. So you
have to try to buyout those who are already in
there, or else to try to innovate.
PLAY METER: Have you found the super malls to
be usually worth the extra investment?
PANITZ: The rule of thumb is you need people.
And of course, if you're supplied with that
potential, then the deal looks good. But then you
have to determine whether the rental they're
a king for is out of line. It's relative to what you feel
you can do and what they're asking because if it
doesn't work out, you may just end up working for
the landlords. After all, there are malls that aren't
successful. There's no guarantee that a super mall
is going to be a super mall.
PLA Y METER: About how many months deposit is
15