Play Meter

EWS Williams/Bally-Midway unveils technology Operator Jim Stansfield Jr. of Jim Stansfield Vending In Lacrosse, Wis., received the Ralph C. Lally II "Operator of the Year" award at ACME '91, given In honor of Play Meter's late founder and publisher. Pictured here with Stansfield are publisher Carol Lally and her daughters Leslie (I) and Carol Ann. Siemieniec joins Namco-America Tom Siemieniec has left Seeburg to become a regional sales manager for Namco-America. His territory encompasses the Midwest and East Coast. Siemieniec 's office, which was established upon his joining NamcoAmerica, is located in Plainfield, Ill. He can be reached at (815) 439-2140. Donnaloia, Kalhar join Leprechaun Veteran manufacturer representatives Aldo Donnaloia and Glen Kalhar have been added to the sales staff of Leprechaun Inc. , the new company headed by Bill Cravens. Most recently employed by American Technos, they will be based in Oregon and cover the western United States and much of the South, Cravens said. "I'm lucky to have gotten Aldo and Glen," Cravens said. " They' re good people who bring talent and many years of industry experience to Leprechaun." Cravens reports having a successful ACME '91 . The response to Exit Entertainment's Bowl-A-Rama-an update kit for Capcom Bowling-continues to be favorable (Leprechaun is the marketing arm for Exit), and the redemption piece Pot 'O Gold is headed for test sites. "It'll be out in about four weeks ifthe tests go well, '' Cravens said. ''I hope it's as good as everyone at ACME said it was. We received a lot of great comments. '' A new pinball technology known as WPC (Williams Pinball Controller), which made its debut on Williams' FunHouse, ' 'gets us much closer to everyone's ideal: totally service-free pinball,' ' said marketing director Roger Sharpe. The system was designed by Chuck Bleich (hardware) and Larry DeMar (software). The breakthrough is a godsend for operators and their technicians alike, Bleich and DeMar say. "With WPC, the games have fewer PC boards and less interwiring, which results in higher reliability and greater serviceability,'' DeMar said. ' 'It will now be much easier for the technician to pinpoint the problem." Added Bleich, "WPC's 'open architecture' allows the system to be easily expanded. Features can be added as game designers think them up." FunHouse, The Machine, and HarleyDavidson utilize WPC, as will all future Williams and Bally pins. Without WPC , FunHouse couldn't have made use of Rudy the Dummy, and the new baseball-themed Slugfest wouldn't have included its highly praised dot-matrix scoreboard. While technicians smile over the simplified troubleshooting, operators will delight in the detailed information provided by WPC . For instance, operators will now be able to determine a machine's period of peak play and corresponding slack time. They can then incorporate promotions or other methods to increase game play during lulls. ''An operator may know that a game earned $400, but when it earned that $400 is information he never had before,'' Sharpe said. " WPC will allow him to bring in $500 or $600 instead of $400. ''I equate this technology with High Speed's automatic percentaging, which brought pinball out of the Dark Ages. WPC presents a comparable advance in pinball technology. " WPC has been in the works for about three years. The following is only a partial list of its improvements to former Williams/Bally pinball games: • Fewer PC boards. • Less connections and cables. • The elimination of AC relays and PIA chips. • Industry standard audits. • Boards can be keyhole mounted for easy removal and installation. • Unique connector and fuse designators to avoid confusion in identification. • Connections to the playfield, cabinet, and backbox/insert are done directly from the controlling circuit. • More ribbon cables to reduce the bulk of individual wire bundles. • All coils operate on the same voltage (increased to 50 volts). • New expansion and display port. • A faster, more powerful microprocessor allows the software to do more. • The use of a custom chip eliminates the majority of smaller integrated circuits. • Increased ROM and RAM . • The switch matrix circuits have been redesigned to accommodate a larger noise immunity. All of these improvements are only a sampling ofWPC's many attributes. For more detailed information , contact Williams at (312) 267-2240. Supporting the Desert Storm troops Robert Parrow of Just Games in Chicopee, Mass., has informed us of a way to show support for the troops returning home from Operation Desert Storm. Their first stop on American soil has been at Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, where they've been greeted around the clock with beer, hot dogs, music, and other bits of Americana. The USO has been funding this homecoming , but in order to keep it going until the last troop touches down at Westover, more money is required. You can send donations to USO Patriot Homecoming, Westover AFB, Chicopee, MA01020. For more information, call the USO at (413) 557-HOME. May 1991/PLAY METER 13 .,