Play Meter

THE
CALENDAR
August 14-17
Michigan Tobacco & Conely Distribu-
tors and Vendors Association Annual
Convention. Boyne Mountain.
Contact Wolter P. Maner at (517)
372-2323.
August 29 - September I
Fifteen year Foosboll Reunion Festi-
val and $30,000 Championship,
Hyatt Regency, Long Beach, Calif.
(Team and Singles Competition, Holl
of Fame Inductions, and History of
the Sport Display). Contact Tom
Craig, 4107 N.W. 13th Ave., Ft.
Lauderdale, FL. (305) 772-3667.
September 11-13
West Virginia Music and Vending
Association Convention, Wilson
Loge, Ogleboy Pork, Rt. 88N,
Wheeling, WV 26003. Contact
Leoma W. Bollard. 1701 West
DuPont Ave., Belle, VW 25015,
(304) 949-3289.
With the closing of the company's
doors in Georgia came questions
about how Digital's inventory would
be disposed of and rumors that the
company may somehow re-emerge
in Nevada. Founders Macke and Pace
said they would remain in the coin-op
business and were planning either to
open a new company or join with an
existing manufacturer.
Meanwhile. one of the laid-oft
Digital employees, John Ebert, is
hoping to profit from the situation by
starting a company to service Digital
equipment.
"I can service anything Digital ever
made," Ebert said, adding that his
new company will be named Video
Services and will otter 24-hour turn-
around time. He said he will have
Digital parts available, but will not
honor Digital warranties . Ebert's
address and telephone number are
1579 Harbins Road, Norcross, GA
30093; ( 404 ) 925-8337.
•
September 12-14
North Carolina Coin Operators Asso-
ciation 1986 Music and Gomes
Expo, Charlotte Marriott, Tyvolo
Rood, Interstate 77. Contact Bobby
Earp at (919) 584-4388 or write to
NCCOA. 2213 Westover Terrace.
Burlington, NC 27215.
September 19-20
MCMOA (Michigan Coin Machine
Operators Association) convention.
Flint Hyatt Regency, Flint. Mich. Con-
tact Wolter P. Maner, 523 W. Ionia,
Lansing. Ml 48933, (517) 372-2323.
September 28-30
Amusement Business Seminar at the
Sands Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ.
Contact the Amuse ]ment Business
Sponsorship Seminar, 14 Music Circle
East, Nashville, TN 37203, (615)
748-8120.
October 23-26
Notional Convention-Ex hibit of
Vending and Foodservice Manage-
ment, McCormick Place, Chicago. Ill.
Organized by the Notional Automa-
tic Merchandising Association. Con-
tact Wolter W. Reed at (312) 346-
0370. 6,000 registrants ore
expected.
November 6-8
AMOA Expo '86. the Amusement &
Music Operators Association's 37th
international exhibition and seminar
for the coin-operated games, music,
and vending industry, Hyatt Regency
Chicago. Contact Amusement &
Music Operators Association, 111 E.
Wacker Drive, Chicago. IL 60601;
(312) 644-6610.
8
Masami Maeda (left) chairman of Sun
Elec tron ics. and Joe Robbins, founder of
Kitkorp, shake on Sun 's acquisition of
Kitkorp. Robbins remains as president of
the company; which has been renamed
Sun Corpor ation of America.
Sun acquires Kitkorp
Sun Elec tronics Corporation, a.
Japanese manufacturer of video
games and microcompute r-applied
systems, has acquired Kitkorp, the Elk
Grove Village, Ill., game maker.
With the acquisition, Kitkorp has
become the Sun Corporation of Amer-
ica. a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun
Electronics, and will market the parent
company's products in North America
and South America. The company
also will market other games.
Joe Robbins, Kitkorp's founder and
former president of the American
Amusement Machine Association.
remains as president of the new com-
pany. Masami Maeda, Sun Electronics
chairman, is chairman of the U.S. sub-
sidiary as well. Richard Robbins is vice
president of operations and sales, and
Anthony Elvikis manager of technical
service.
•
Ikari Warriors
copies appear
The success of Ikari Warriors, the
SNK Corp. video licensed in the U.S. to
Tradewest has unsurprisingly Jed to
the appearance of counterfeit versions
of the game, according to reports in
foreign trade journals.
Eikichi Kawasaki, president of SNK,
was quoted in the Japanese trade
publication Game Machine as saying
the copies are being manutatured in
South Korea and "are of quite inferior
quality, incapable of using the
original control joystick of Ikari.
Though the screen image may be the
same, the game content Jacks essential
parts. Any operator who regards the
counterfeit as being genuine will be
greatly damaged."
Meanwhile, in a report in the U.K.'s
Coin Slot In ternationaL John Stergides,
managing director of Electrocoin
Automatics, said the copy boards had
shown up in Britain under the names
Two Rambos or Ikari.
"This game is simply not the same
game as Ikari Warriors despite the
implications of the names," Stergides
said. "The copy game uses two ordi-
nary joysticks, and they cannot control
the game character or his direction of
fire. The copy game will not allow a
second player to join in the game
either. and this is one of the main fea-
tures of the genuine game."
•
Nintendo develops
new gun for VS.
After receiving complaints from
operators about the susceptibility to
wear and vandalism of its guns for the
VS. System, Nintendo of America has
developed a new gun that the
company says "will not bend or shatter
even under stressful operating condi-
tions."
The new guns are available from
Nintendo-autho rized distributor parts
departments or with the purchase of a
VS. Gun Pak. Operators also may
PLAY METER, July 15, 1986