Play Meter
Issue: 1978 January - Vol 4 Num 1 - Page 13
OPE RATING
Tripp expires
Harley Tripp, who owned and
operated
Harley's
Amusement
Company in Brookfield, Missouri for
31 years, died recently of a heart
attack .
Mr. Tripp had just recently retired
and was, at the time of his death,
the vice president of the Missouri
Coin Machine Council.
A veteran of World War II, Mr.
Tripp was a prisoner-of-war in
Germany and a recipient of the
Bronze Star.
He is survived by his wife
(Virginia), his son (Steve), his
daughter-in-law (Carolyn), three
grandchildren, two sisters, two
brothers, and several other family
members .
The president of the Music and Amusement Association of New York,
Irving Holzman [right], is pictured with United Jewish Appeal
representative John Krashaur [center] and the year's guest of honor,
Humbert "Bert" Betti. Betti, chairman of H. Betti Industries, Inc. of
North Bergen, New Jersey, was honored at a December 3 fund-raising
dinner for the United Jewish Appeal-- Coin Machine Division.
Check bounces back
There's been a lot of talk lately
about the high caliber of people in
the coin-operated amusement in-
dustry. And another instance of it
happened at, of all places, the
industry's big event - the A .M.O.A.
show in Chicago .
Robert Thomas of United Games
Company in Portland , Oregon lost a
check for $3,500 .
Luckily, that check was found
about four miles away from the
convention center at the Whitehall
Hotel and returned to him by a
Wisconsin operator - Art Manske of
Wisconsin Novelty in Milwaukee.
"When he returned the check, I
didn't know what to say," said
Robert Thomas . "I thought it was
lost for good ."
It's a small Incident which speaks
well for the industry in general.
By Joe Robbins
credits, etc.
5. A renewed effort to search out
and l or develop new markets, new
locations, etc.
6. The int roduction (!!) of modern
marketing concepts and applica-
tions in the operations of coin
machines. Just look at Bally's
results with Elton John (Capt.
Fantastic ), Evil Knievel , Bobby Orr
(Power Play) , and the marvelous
success of Tournament Soccer with
foosball tournaments. In this same
area , the recent Bally sponsored
national pinball tournament has
been an enormous success. Further
tournaments are now being plan-
ned.
PLA Y METER , J a nuary , 1978
One thing that I personally always
look at when I go into a location is
the appearance of the machines. I
find repulsive a machine that is filthy
dirty, or "beat up" externally. You
can also include pasted over coin
chutes, controls that are sloppy, or
inoperative, illegible or dirty title
strips, bad sound, inadequate cov-
erage with speakers, etc ., etc.
A filthy machine repels players
and just does not earn as much as a
clean , attractive one. This sounds
simple to remedy, but you would be
amazed at the percentage of
machines on location that are
always downright disgraceful in
appearance.
National aHention
for pinball
Another member of the national
media, Time Magazine, has featured
pinball machines in a favorable light.
In its October 31 edition, the large
national weekly periodical featured
in its "Living" section a story
entitled "Pinball Redux: The Hottest
Games" and used full-color pictures
from Roger C. Sharpe's new book
entitled Pinball.
The Time Magazine article refers
to the change in the public image
towards the game when it writes:
"Once condemned as a corrupter of
youth or as a nefarious and
iniquitous pursuit of leather-jacket-
ed punks, long relegated to tacky
arcades and dingy diners, pinball
today is played openly and avidly by
scholars, doctors, scientists, show-
folks, pols, brokers, journalists -
members of the nervous trades."
The article makes reference to the
smudged history of the game but
uses it as a lead-in to the game's
new-found respectability . The pin-
ball craze, it points out, is authentic,
and pinball machines have become
a hot new product having found
their way into many homes.
To lend evidence to the con-
tention that the game has attained a
better image than in times past, the
Time Magazine article lists numer-
ous celebrated pinball "addicts."
Among them are Sammy Davis Jr.,
Elliott Gould, Bill Cosby, and Mike
Nichols.
The magazine also refers to Roger
C. Sharpe's book and concludes
with a favorable reference to pinball
art.
15
Tripp expires
Harley Tripp, who owned and
operated
Harley's
Amusement
Company in Brookfield, Missouri for
31 years, died recently of a heart
attack .
Mr. Tripp had just recently retired
and was, at the time of his death,
the vice president of the Missouri
Coin Machine Council.
A veteran of World War II, Mr.
Tripp was a prisoner-of-war in
Germany and a recipient of the
Bronze Star.
He is survived by his wife
(Virginia), his son (Steve), his
daughter-in-law (Carolyn), three
grandchildren, two sisters, two
brothers, and several other family
members .
The president of the Music and Amusement Association of New York,
Irving Holzman [right], is pictured with United Jewish Appeal
representative John Krashaur [center] and the year's guest of honor,
Humbert "Bert" Betti. Betti, chairman of H. Betti Industries, Inc. of
North Bergen, New Jersey, was honored at a December 3 fund-raising
dinner for the United Jewish Appeal-- Coin Machine Division.
Check bounces back
There's been a lot of talk lately
about the high caliber of people in
the coin-operated amusement in-
dustry. And another instance of it
happened at, of all places, the
industry's big event - the A .M.O.A.
show in Chicago .
Robert Thomas of United Games
Company in Portland , Oregon lost a
check for $3,500 .
Luckily, that check was found
about four miles away from the
convention center at the Whitehall
Hotel and returned to him by a
Wisconsin operator - Art Manske of
Wisconsin Novelty in Milwaukee.
"When he returned the check, I
didn't know what to say," said
Robert Thomas . "I thought it was
lost for good ."
It's a small Incident which speaks
well for the industry in general.
By Joe Robbins
credits, etc.
5. A renewed effort to search out
and l or develop new markets, new
locations, etc.
6. The int roduction (!!) of modern
marketing concepts and applica-
tions in the operations of coin
machines. Just look at Bally's
results with Elton John (Capt.
Fantastic ), Evil Knievel , Bobby Orr
(Power Play) , and the marvelous
success of Tournament Soccer with
foosball tournaments. In this same
area , the recent Bally sponsored
national pinball tournament has
been an enormous success. Further
tournaments are now being plan-
ned.
PLA Y METER , J a nuary , 1978
One thing that I personally always
look at when I go into a location is
the appearance of the machines. I
find repulsive a machine that is filthy
dirty, or "beat up" externally. You
can also include pasted over coin
chutes, controls that are sloppy, or
inoperative, illegible or dirty title
strips, bad sound, inadequate cov-
erage with speakers, etc ., etc.
A filthy machine repels players
and just does not earn as much as a
clean , attractive one. This sounds
simple to remedy, but you would be
amazed at the percentage of
machines on location that are
always downright disgraceful in
appearance.
National aHention
for pinball
Another member of the national
media, Time Magazine, has featured
pinball machines in a favorable light.
In its October 31 edition, the large
national weekly periodical featured
in its "Living" section a story
entitled "Pinball Redux: The Hottest
Games" and used full-color pictures
from Roger C. Sharpe's new book
entitled Pinball.
The Time Magazine article refers
to the change in the public image
towards the game when it writes:
"Once condemned as a corrupter of
youth or as a nefarious and
iniquitous pursuit of leather-jacket-
ed punks, long relegated to tacky
arcades and dingy diners, pinball
today is played openly and avidly by
scholars, doctors, scientists, show-
folks, pols, brokers, journalists -
members of the nervous trades."
The article makes reference to the
smudged history of the game but
uses it as a lead-in to the game's
new-found respectability . The pin-
ball craze, it points out, is authentic,
and pinball machines have become
a hot new product having found
their way into many homes.
To lend evidence to the con-
tention that the game has attained a
better image than in times past, the
Time Magazine article lists numer-
ous celebrated pinball "addicts."
Among them are Sammy Davis Jr.,
Elliott Gould, Bill Cosby, and Mike
Nichols.
The magazine also refers to Roger
C. Sharpe's book and concludes
with a favorable reference to pinball
art.
15
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).