Play Meter

Looking for FROM THE EDITOR PLATFORM SHOES AND BELL BOTTOM JEANS? t’s hard to believe that this is the fourth year we have devoted an issue to family entertainment. Some may view this as a rather new medium of entertainment and brag that they are beginning to cover it, but we’ve been tracking trends in family entertainment since Bonnie and I attended our first Fun Expo in 1992. But we didn’t view it as a fad that could be covered in one issue and forgotten. We began a monthly column called “Family Focus” in which we highlighted some facet of the family entertainment market, whether it was locations or some timely event. The entertainment industry does not shut the door on one segment and open it for another. It’s constantly evolving, which describes it Valerie Cognevich Editor even more than mere change. When I began working for Play Meter 20 years ago, pinball was just making the transition to solid state amid protests from operators who simply didn’t want it to change. During the seemingly short two decades, there have been many events shaping the industry, all helping it evolve. Play Meter was there covering video poker issues throughout the country and Canada. You would have been hard pressed to find so much information anywhere else. We devoted our resources to letting our readers know what was going on. We still monitor that industry and report new action. We, like the industry, don’t close the door on one aspect of the industry and move on to another. While we take great pride in assessing the industry’s issues and writing about what is happening in the FEC segment, we have not abandoned the street operator and his unique needs. We ran two articles on buying and selling a business; we must have gotten a dozen calls for copies of that from our readers. The February issue is chock full of tax tips for operators preparing for April 15, and that too, is one of our most requested issues. We've listened and watched the industry evolve and have evolved right along with it. If you read the interview in this issue with Dave Corriveau of Dave & Buster’s you'll realize that even the best laid plans sometimes have some bumpy roads to travel. Dave & Buster’s may PLAY METER 10 be an indusry icon now, but in 1982 the concept was locked inside the heads of two very determined young men who took every rejection as a further challenge to succeed. But there’s more to the story than two young men with a dream. Yes, the dream came true, perhaps even exceeding their own expectations, but they didn’t stop and say we’re done. They were relentless in their first endeavor and just as relentless, learning from mistakes, in the rest. They will eventually have nearly 60 Dave & Buster’s locations throughout the United States and even more overseas. And each location is an evolution of know-how and experience. The entertainment industry is evolving, drawing on the experiences of those who have gone ahead, those who have blazed new trails. Some may call it cyclical, and that’s OK. It’s the same thing really. Remember platform shoes? Yes, you're still reading the same editorial, bear with me. If you watch old movies you'll see platform shoes. And shoulder pads for that matter. Today you see platform shoes and shoulder pads. Now does that mean that we're in a cycle? Yes and no. Yes, because,...well, we’re seeing shoulder pads and plat- form shoes. No, because both have evolved from where they were before. My mom, who never throws anything out, lives by the motto that if you hold onto something long enough, it'll come back in style. She has my prom dresses (that my girls wouldn’t be caught dead in), my sister’s bell bottom jeans (well, maybe some day), and assorted other apparel my sister and I didn’t even feel was worth taking when we moved out some 30 years ago! Even if some of it does come back in style, it certainly will have evolved, say into something you don’t have to iron! Even clothes, no matter how much alike the style appears to be, will evolve with different fabric, new designs, and new technology in construction. What was our industry like 30 years ago? What will it be like 30 years from now? Let’s Just concentrate on what our industry’s like today. That’s what Play Meter does, and does pretty well if Ido say so myself! We may not make a big deal about covering topics that we should be covering anyway as part of doing a good job, but you can believe we’re on top of the issues and trends. Let’s not take a lesson from my mom and save everything we’re using now in the hope that if we hang onto it long enough it'll come back in style. Well, maybe the Pac-Man. & JUNE 1997