Play Meter

UP FRONT
Bankruptcy of Ideas
A man with a gun is a man who has run out of ideas.
That's what the writer G . K. Chesterton once noted.
In this industry, however, when people run out of
ideas, they resort to other extremes.
When Stern Electronks ran out of ideas, it started
making credit poker games. Then it went out of business.
When Centuri ran out of ideas, it tried a different
marketing approach. Then it went out of business.
When Gottlieb ran out of ideas, it changed its name
to Mylstar. Then it went out of business.
When Gremlin ran out of ideas; it sold out to Bally
Manufacturing.
When Bally Manufacturing ran out of ideas, it
started buying up other companies, like Gremlin. Now
Baily's talking about getting out of the business.
Wouldn't it have been a whole lot simpler just to
come up with a good idea?
I've been talking on a regular basis with a game
designer of considerable merit who is nearly destitute.
Reduced to working a newspaper route he's been trying
for several years now to peddle his pingame designs to
game manufacturers. Even before videos busted, back
when everyone was saying pinball was dead, this game
designer insisted the game form still had great possibili-
ties.
But, he said, the manufacturers didn't want to hear
about it. The question wasn't that they thought he didn't
have anything that would rejuvenate pinball play. Back
then, they were just reluctant to discuss anything about
pinball because videos were going so strong.
Now that videos have busted, he says, they still
don't want to discuss new pinball ideas. Why? Because
they're afraid to take any chances.
Seems the remaining manufacturers want to leave
open their options to do what former companies have
done-that is, get out of the business. Talk about con-
fidence.
The question here is not whether this particular
game designer's idea is good or bad, though I would be
willing to bet that his persistence, in the face of such
negativity, seems to indicate he might be on to some-
thing. What is more notable is the reluctance of manufac-
turers to take a chance. Where did all that money go that
manufacturers said they were plowing back into
research and development?
If game companies like Milton Bradley, Parker
Brothers, Mattel, Hasbro, Coleco, etc. can remain
successful all these years by creating games for the
public, doesn't it make you wonder why it's so hard for
game makers in the coin-operated amusement industry
to do the same?
Major game companies like Parker Brothers and
Milton Bradley and the rest don't push the panic button
or blame a poor sales year on the Big Dipper in the sky.
They recognize that their fate is in their own hands .
When the video game boom challenged board game
play, what did these companies do? Their answer is on
6
the toy shelves. Now they have board games like Pac -
Man, Frogger, Donkey Kong, Popeye, and so on.
But has this industry shown that it can also adapt?
Have you seen coin-operated Cabbage Patch video
game in a smaller cabinet configuration for eight-year-old
girls?
Have you seen a single whodunnit murder mystery
game that would capitalize off the market Parker
Brothers has been serving for years with Clue?
Have you seen a single Electronic Battleship game
where the player tries to guess where the e nemy ships
are?
Have you seen a single coin-operated chess ,
checkers, or backgammon game on the market t hat can
play to different degrees of difficulty.
On to other game types: Have you s een a single
"Family Feud," "The Price is Right," "The Joker is Wild,"
or other TV game show concepts tried in the coin-op
market?
Isn't this the whole idea of research a nd develop-
ment? To see what kinds of ideas can and cannot work.
Presently everything is guesswork in this business.
T riuial Pursuit sweeps the country as a board game.
One company has the foresight to pick up n this trend
and market a trivia game. What's the result? A whole
host of other companies now all making trivia games!
Apparently we haven't learned anything ye t. Where is
the imagination? There are countless game ideas out
there. The problem isn't with the market, the problem is
with the lack of imagination in this industry. The herd
instinct among the present group of game ma nufacturers
in this industry displays all the imagination o f a gaggle of
lemmings. And it's reflected in the boring product they
produce.
Until the coin-operated amusement game manufac-
turers realize that Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pac -Man ,
and other reaction-type games are not e ou ~ih these
days, and that the players want to be challe ged in other
ways-perhaps even intellectually!?- then this industry
will continue its downward trend.
Too many times I've heard manufact urer~ confide
to me that players are not very smart. Too many times
I've heard game makers say people don' t want to be
challenged except in reaction-type way when they
deposit a quarter in a game .
The depressed market should indicate just exactly
how near-sighted that attitude is.
Any industry that underestimates the i'1telhgence of
its customers will lose those customers.
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David Pierson
Associate Editor
PLAY METEP.. Ma rch 1, 1985