Play Meter

NEWS
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..... Atari, Inc. is making numerous distributor realignments, a complete list
of which was not available from the firm at press time. A spokesman for
Atari said the nationwide readjustment was in the making at late April,
but added that the approach to selecting the new distributors was "scatter
gun and not complete." The move is believed to be providing more exclusive
distributorships for Atari products . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
..... Personnel changes were in the making at both Taito America and Allied
Leisure Industries. PLAY METER has learned that Edward Miller and Bill Olligef
had departed Taito to go to the Hialeah, Florida-based producer. Interim
president at Taito America is Abba Kogan, who will assume the post Miller is
departing. Also leaving Taito is Laura Kreter, marketing manager. More details
of the staff changes were not available at press time . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
..... Pizza Time Theatre, Inc. of Sunnyvale, California has filed suit in U.S.
District Court of Northern California against Topeka Inn Management, Inc.
(TIM) of Topeka, Kansas, charging TIM and its president, Robert L. Brock,
with breach of contract and unfair competition. Pizza Time, a chain of family
entertainment centers with token-operated games, petitioned the court for
injunctive relief and cash damages in the amount of $250 million ........•....
..... Leaving the coin-op business March 1 was Lester Rieck, sales manager for
Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corp. of Chicago. Rieck, a veteran of the industry,
was saluted by his firm for his service upon his retirement .•................
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..... Washington Governor Dixie Lee Ray gave tavern and card room operators a break--
tabulated at $612,500 a year-- by vetoing a measure that would have allowed the
state to take over an expiring federal tax on gambling de v ices. The measure had
been designed to prevent an expected loss of revenue when ~ the federal tax expires
June 30. The governor said she vetoed the bill because it " raised unanswered
technical questions and made the ultimate effect of the bill indefinite. (See
story inside this issue, AOE seminars, for another view of the expiring federal
law. ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . • . . . . . . :· . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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The feds, reacting to criticism that the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin is unpopular
because it can be confused with a quarter, are looking into the possibility
of the U.S. Mint making it a _different color, such as brass. However, a
Mint spokesman has stated any change it might make would have to be acceptable
to the coin-op and vending industry. Any such change would require an Act of
Congress since the act authorizing the one dollar coin specifies cupro-nickel
clad coinage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PLAY METER, June, 1980