Play Meter
Issue: 1982 February 01 - Vol 8 Num 3 - Page 6
It drdn 't toke the pla ye r long to fi nd ow the To urnonwnt
pectoculor wo not
Tournament Fiasco:
How it happened
By David Pierson
At the bottom of the
Tou rnament Fiasco wa s the
distu rbing truth that it had all
happened befo re ... and it was
cov ere d up .
6
T he blame for th failure of the
$400,000 T ournament Spectacular
in Chicago can b plac d squarely on
the should rs of on man , L e
Peppard, president of T ournament
Games , Inc. (TG I), th company
running the vent. A nd all gations
by Peppard that the blame for the
failure of the T ournam nt Spectacu ·
lar should also b shar d by others
associated with th ev nt appear to
be unfounded. These ar the major
findings of Play M eter magazine's
investigations in to the world
championship coin-op games tour-
nament held O ctober 29-N ovemb r
2 at the Expoc nt r in Chicago.
A t that fiv -day ev nt, winning
players in five coin -op modes -
foosball , pool, darts, table hock y,
and vid o - r c ived bad checks and
worthless r e eipts for gift
and
priz s.
B sides the great mbarr ssm nt
th Fia co cr at d for those as oci-
at d with coin-o p amusem nts,
th r
were
ountl
questions
swirling within th industry, qu stions
that had to b an wer d .
How cou ld this
h m r ach
suc h proportions? H ow co uld it ven
get off the ground? H ow co uld
camp ny with Atari 's r putation g t
drawn into the whirlpool? W hy
wasn 't th players' money set a ide
in an es row account? Do s this
failure, of such hugh proportions,
eliminate th pos ibility of imil r
p omotion by the industry in the
f ur ?
But the most important qu stion
of all was on that could be ask d to
th industry as a whole : Did we
learn anything from it all?
It is with that purpose in mind that
Play M et r conducted an int n ive
investigation into everything ur-
rounding th Fiasco. And it is with
that purpos in mind that Play M eter
now mak
campi te r port of
those findings. For it i a well-
established truth th t if w do not
learn from our mistake , w will b
doomed tor live th m.
A nd, as it turn s out. in this p rticu -
lar case, the who! Tournament
Fiasco incid nt cou ld have b n
av rted if only everyone would have
rtain part of
be n awar of a
industry history , dating back only as
far as April, 1980.
Peppard ' philo oph
To und rstand why the Tourna-
m nt Sp tacular failed so sp ctacu -
larly, on has to understand Lee
Peppard's philosophy concerning
rCon trnu ed on poge J
PLAY METER . r ebruJr) 1. 1982
pectoculor wo not
Tournament Fiasco:
How it happened
By David Pierson
At the bottom of the
Tou rnament Fiasco wa s the
distu rbing truth that it had all
happened befo re ... and it was
cov ere d up .
6
T he blame for th failure of the
$400,000 T ournament Spectacular
in Chicago can b plac d squarely on
the should rs of on man , L e
Peppard, president of T ournament
Games , Inc. (TG I), th company
running the vent. A nd all gations
by Peppard that the blame for the
failure of the T ournam nt Spectacu ·
lar should also b shar d by others
associated with th ev nt appear to
be unfounded. These ar the major
findings of Play M eter magazine's
investigations in to the world
championship coin-op games tour-
nament held O ctober 29-N ovemb r
2 at the Expoc nt r in Chicago.
A t that fiv -day ev nt, winning
players in five coin -op modes -
foosball , pool, darts, table hock y,
and vid o - r c ived bad checks and
worthless r e eipts for gift
and
priz s.
B sides the great mbarr ssm nt
th Fia co cr at d for those as oci-
at d with coin-o p amusem nts,
th r
were
ountl
questions
swirling within th industry, qu stions
that had to b an wer d .
How cou ld this
h m r ach
suc h proportions? H ow co uld it ven
get off the ground? H ow co uld
camp ny with Atari 's r putation g t
drawn into the whirlpool? W hy
wasn 't th players' money set a ide
in an es row account? Do s this
failure, of such hugh proportions,
eliminate th pos ibility of imil r
p omotion by the industry in the
f ur ?
But the most important qu stion
of all was on that could be ask d to
th industry as a whole : Did we
learn anything from it all?
It is with that purpose in mind that
Play M et r conducted an int n ive
investigation into everything ur-
rounding th Fiasco. And it is with
that purpos in mind that Play M eter
now mak
campi te r port of
those findings. For it i a well-
established truth th t if w do not
learn from our mistake , w will b
doomed tor live th m.
A nd, as it turn s out. in this p rticu -
lar case, the who! Tournament
Fiasco incid nt cou ld have b n
av rted if only everyone would have
rtain part of
be n awar of a
industry history , dating back only as
far as April, 1980.
Peppard ' philo oph
To und rstand why the Tourna-
m nt Sp tacular failed so sp ctacu -
larly, on has to understand Lee
Peppard's philosophy concerning
rCon trnu ed on poge J
PLAY METER . r ebruJr) 1. 1982
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