Play Meter

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Games · Service · Dependability
C.A. Robinson & Co.
2301 West Pica Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90006
(213] 380-1160
Now more
than ever,
Play Meter,
the magazine
operators read
and believe in
)
(Independent~
honest~
10
and unbiased)
parts, and all the other parts you need to run the
games (and these are the things that are the most
broken), there are some companies that are very
good. They'll put out products lists and parts books
with complete price lists. On the other hand,
sometimes you can get an authentic part number
and call up some manufacturers, and they won't
even know what you're talking about.
PLAY METER: How much board repair should the
average operator be doing?
CALORE: A lot more than he's doing now. The
distributors can't be expected to repair everything
that goes wrong with the game. There are a lot of
things the operator could handle himself. I think he
should be able to repair most of his board problems,
except for, with a pingame, the locked-up processor
or, with videos, the screen with nothing but
garbage on it. Of course, this supposes there is no
voltage problem. If he's missing a switch closure in
a video game or none of the solenoids work in a
pingame, he should be able to repair that himself.
In fact, he should be able to make any repair up to
where it gets to be the main processor unit, and
then he may not be outfitted for that. He doesn't
have to have an oscilloscope on location with him.
That's why the distributor is set up as he is. It's not
necessary for the operator to invest ten or fifteen
thousand dollars in an electronics shop set-up. He
can let the distributor provide those services for
him. That's why the distributor is set up as he is.
He has the test equipment, the support equipment,
but still the operator can do a lot more for himself
than he's doing right now.
PLAY METER: Then what kinds of testing and
diagnostic equipment do you recommend operators
should have?
CALORE: It depends upon the size of the operator.
The operator /mechanic/technician should never go
out on a job without a multi-meter. Something I
hear nearly every day, yet I still can't believe, is
that some operators go out every time expecting a
fuse to be bTown, and they walk away after putting
one in. What these people don't understand is that a
lot of their problems are playfield-related. A lot of
the problems are still the same as they were twenty
years ago-they'r_e electro-mechanical. But as soon
as they see those boards sitting up there in the
head, they say, "Geez, it must be up in there." They
panic. Ideally, they could have a 'scope, but I don't
think it's required. Now, I know some operators are
setting up bench equipment back at their shops the
same as their distributors have. If your operation
supports this, great. And if you can get technical
people who understand it to run it for you, great,
too, because although it's going to be a big initial
investment, you're going to save yourself some
problems. But it's not necessary.
PLAY METER: But if the operator has the
capability to support such a set-up, you think it
would be worth the investment?
CALORE: Let's put it this way. It would save
everybody problems all the way up the line. The
distributor would be helping his people more
PLAY METER, June, 1979