Play Meter

ACME will not admit
public to show
The American Amusement Machine
Association ( AAf./J.A) at a recent board
meeting dropped plans to open the
American Coin Machine Expo (ACME)
to the public on the closing day.
Opening the show to the public
was planned originally for the Amuse-
ment Showcase International (ASI)
before its merger with Amusement
Operators Expo (AOE). Inviting the
public to see equipment and talk to
manufacturers was an attempt to
promote the industry and its products.
But the plan was controversial from
the beginning. Several exhibiting
companies were concerned because
they supply only industry members. "I
will have nothing to gain from having
people off the street come by my
booth," said Ted Nichols of Mobile
Record Service, a company that pro-
vides records to operators.
The Illinois Coin Machine Opera-
tors Association (ICMOA) sent a letter
to AAfv1A objecting to the plan. and
only two days before AAf./J.A's reversal.
executive director Ari Seeds said
ICMOA was sending a letter to its
members asking for opinions about
having the public at the show.
After hearing of ACME's change of
plans. Seeds said, 'Tm delighted that
the AAfv1A board of directors made
this decision. II is in line with the
feelings of the majority of the opera-
tors in Illinois." He added that he
would immediately tell operators of
the decision and start promoting the
show every way possible.
Valerie Cognevich of Play Meter.
which co-sponsors ACME. said she was
glad of the decision. "We had our
doubts as to the viability of allowing
the public into a trade show. but it was
a concession we made when the two
shows were combined. We are very
pleased that the manufacturers asso-
ciation has listened to the opinions of
operators and fellow manufacturers
and made this decision," said Cogne-
8
vich, Play Meter editorial director and
ACME seminar coordinator.
"The intention." said Bill Cravens.
AAf./J.AboardmemberandNin tendo's
director of sales. "was not a bad one.
but we didn't have the time to get a
controlled audience. If we used ii as a
fundraiser for a controlled audience. I
think we could benefit from players'
reactions to the games."
Bob Lloyd, AAfv1A president added,
"All of us. the manufacturers associa-
lion and Play Meter. want a successful
show. This decision is just one example
of us collectively examining the facts
and coming to a decision aimed at the
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show's success."
AMOA answers
Digital Controls
The Amusement and Music Opera-
tors Association (AMOA) has responded
to a letter from Digital Controls that
criticized the organization for "demon-
strating virtually no concern over this
heinous problem [of copied games.] "
William Carpenter, AMOA execu-
Hangman countertop
Hangman omitted
The countertop version of
Status Games Corp.'s Hangman
mistakenly was left out of the dis-
play of countertops in Play Meter's
Winter Buyers Guide. Play Meter
•
apologizes for the omission.
live director. replied to Digital. which
also withdrew its support of AMOA in
a letter that said in part:
"The board of directors of AMOA
has publicly endorsed the strong stand
[against copied games] taken by
AAMA and we so informed their
officers during that Saturday morning
meeting [at the recent AMOA] .
"The operators are very sympa-
thelic with the problem that challenges
manufacturers and are cognizant of
the law which prohibits such piracy
and any abetting of ii. If there is an
economic benefit to be gained by
buying a pirated video-game board.
that could be more than offset by
potential legal problems. I'm sure you
are aware. however. that this is not
unique to the coin-operated machine
business .... This is a problem of national
concern thpt spans across many
industries .... Perhaps more has to be
done at the federal-government level.
"However, apparently the aver-
age U.S. consumer is seeking the besl-
quality product at the best price and
probably d oesn't care where it's
manufactured."
The letter continued. " II is true that
our · operators should be aware that
manufacturers' research and devel-
opment will be impaired if this piracy
continues and should know that this
will eventually have a negative
impact on their future product supply
if manufacturers economically suffer
from continued piracy, and this is one
point that we will emphasize to our
members."
Carpenter questioned Digilal's
decision to withdraw from AMOA
" Instead of withdrawing from the asso-
ciation and being critical from the out-
side," he wrote. "would not a more
effective course of action be to remain
as an AMOA manufacturer member
and offer constructive suggestions
regarding how our association can
take meaningful steps to combat the
problem. Until such a lime as the
majority of this industry's manufac-
turers are members of AMOA it is
clear that the responsibility lies within
PLAY METER. February 1986
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