Play Meter

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a small manufacturer may sometimes prove
difficult. That's one of the reasons we stick to the
large manufacturers. We have much less problems
getting parts from them. We usually don't have to
go to the manufacturers, though, except for wall
game parts. They have been by far our hardest area
to keep spare parts on hand for. Generally
speaking, when we have had problems with spare
parts, I think the problem is probably the fault of
the manufacturer and not the distributor. There are
times when certain parts that are not often used,
even though they may be common parts, won't be
available because the game is still in mass
production, and we'll have a new game down for
weeks waiting for that part.
because the manufacturer is new or I hav-e heard
that the game still hasn't proved itself mechanical-
ly. But if the game proves itself, eventually I will
buy it. A good example is Space Wars by
Cinematronics. I was very wary of it at first. But
Cinematronics corrected all of their problems, and
now it's proved to be our highest earner. And we've
got quite a few of them.
. PLAY METER: What do you look for in a game?
MENDELSOHN: Number one, play appeal, what
attracts me to the game. The cabinet should be
attractive, it should be pleasing to look at. I am
wary of getting a game that may appear to be too
much of a novelty because the play appeal may soon
be gone on it. But if the game has enough
competition to it that it can still be fun after the fad
dies out, then I'll buy.
PLAY METER: Have you had any problems with
warranties?
MENDELSOHN: Warranties is a kind of pet peeve
with me because when the manufacturers went to a
three-month warranty, I think it really hurt. The
manufacturers seem to be making more profits,
especially with digital pinball games. Once they get
them into mass production, they're not more
expensive to make than the mechanical games, but
they're costing us more. The manufacturers are
relying solely on demand, which is what they did
with the guarantee. There are so many operators
today who really need help with the new trend
toward digital. And by cutting the warranty down
from a year to three months really hurt us
operators. When they made the move toward
digital, we needed more help. Our distributor has
developed an excellent service department, and
when it comes time to bring in a game that's still
under warranty that they can fix, there's no
problem; we get the game back pretty quick. But
when there's a part that has to be gotten from the
manufacturer or to be sent to the manufacturer,
that's when it takes us an average of four or five
days at least to get it back. But we really don't have
that problem that often.
PLA Y METER: What kind of split do you get?
MENDELSOHN: We have a 50/ 50 and in some
places 55/ 45, with the location getting the 55
percent. The reason for that is that we're in a very
competitive area. Because of the area we're in and
the quality of the accounts, my locations have on
the average two or three vendors approaching them
every month, and 55 percent is the most most of
them have to offer. We have lost accounts tQ
vendors who gave away sixty percent, but we've
gotten back most of these accounts because the
locations found out that to sacrifice quality for a few
percentage points in the end made them less
money. I can't stress how important our service is
to us. If you have poor service, even if you have
good games, you're going to lose your accounts.
PLAY METER: Have you had any problems with
location loans?
MENDELSOHN: We have lost locations that way,
but we just don't feel it's necessary to extend a loan
to win a location. I think the quality of your
business is more important than putting up front
money.
PLA Y METER: You mentioned earlier that yo,u
PLAY METER: In your opinion, are manufacturers
standing behind their warranties, or are they
leaving this to the individual distributors?
MENDELSOHN: I'm not sure if the manufacturers
are shrugging this off or what. It seems that they
are possibly shrugging this because we are having
some difficulties with the distributors giving us the
three-month guarantee when they do the work
themselves. Distributors really don't want. to
guarantee it more than a month if they're going to
work on it. So it seems from my end that the
manufacturer might be causing a problem by not
backing up the distributors on this.
PLAY METER: How do you decide what games to
buy?
MENDELSOHN: There are many factors that have
proved themselves, but I still do not buy them sight
unseen. It's based mostly on your judgement of a
game, what I think of a game, though there are
some games that I will hold off on buying either
80
were on a computer. What made you decide to go to
that?
MENDELSOHN: As you grow, it becomes
necessary to start doing some reports. And if those
reports start to get to be too much, then you should
check into a computer service. They really aren't
that expensive. The time to go with the computer
service is when it comes time to hire another person
just to keep up with all these records. At that time,
the computer will probably be cheaper for you.
We're paying about $400 a month totally, and that
includes storage, computer time, and rental on the
phone line out there. We don't have the computer in
our office. We have a terminal, and the terminal is
connected to the computer service, but you operate
it just as if you were operating a computer. And the
computer service will program it for you. With
that, you have a terminal that can print out a report
anytime you wish - profit loss reports, high-low
reports, location-by -location reports, game earn-
ings reports. It's really worth it.
PLAY METER , July, 1978