Play Meter

Co inman. nterview:
Steve saacson
Coinman Steue Isaacson is a nationally recognized
authority on arcade operations. As uice president and
general manager of the Sega Centers Diuisio n of $ega
Enterprises in Los Angeles until January of this year, he
was responsible for all aspects of the operation of $ega
Centers' family amusement centers in regional shopping
malls throughout California.
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Recently he took on the position as uice president
and general manager of S.L. London Music Company,
Inc. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a primary distributor of
games, music, and uending equipment. As an arcade
specialist he also works with seueral national and local
operators as an advisor on equipment merchandising,
location analysis, real estate relations, site construction,
licensing, and financial planning. He is also a n
experienced aduisor on promotion and aduertising
techniques.
Steue joined Sega Centers in January, 1978, coming
into the coin-op business by way of hauing been "a
location," as he puts it.
From 1973 through 1978 he was inuolued in uarious
entertainment enterprises such as bowling alleys,
theaters, liue music clubs, and restaurants. ffiS
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background has also included seueral years in the
banking business where he arranged mergers and
acquisitions, handled priuate financing, and public
offerings. A graduate of San Diego State Uniuersity,
S eve served for jour years as a captain in the U.S. Air
Force as a commander of a missile combat crew of
S trategic Air Command.
0/ his recent moue into distribution, Steue says that it
provides him a different perspectiue of the industry, and
e sees in that a challenge. "/enjoy the distributing side
of the business," he said, "because it makes me a sort of
1ocal point with all my customers. I feel/ haue a much
better pulse of the industry than when I was an operator.
The reason is I'm hearing euerybody's problems, and I'm
learning a lot from that uantage point."
S teve was also one of the featured speakers at the
second annual Amusement Operators Expo where he
delivered seminars on uarious phases of arcade
operatio ns. In fact, this interuiew with Steue was done
on the morning of the last day of the AOE Show, one of
the rare times when Steue was not scheduled to speak
or appear o n an industry panel.
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PLAY METER, June 1, 1981