Star Tech Journal

15
STAR*TECH JOURNAL/OCTOBER 1982
STAR*TECHJOURNAL3RDANNUALREADERSURVEYRESULTS1982*
mse to our 3rd Annual Reader Survey. Ratings are
red to the total number of surveys returned to us for
> of all the survey s returned listed Atari as one of the
t Sega/ Gremlin as one of the most difficult.
:d do not necessarily reflect industry service trends.
Bally machines have very little downtime -
they work!! The ir service department is excel-
lent. Good workmanship. Bally/ Midway wins
hands down! Machines work with lea~t
amount of trouble and downtime.
Stern's machines lack a quality control; not
enough information supplied.
New York, NY
Attempts to obtain parts list for Williams'
" Black Knight" (preaddressed post card- for
$2.00) became very frustrating. A large manual
with absolutely no information about "Black
Knight" was sent. I can send another $8.00
back with the useless manual (+ $2.00
postage) and get the right manual.
Wheeling, WV
PINS
Williams schematics are in-depth, easy to
read.
Atlanta, GA
Rowe is in a class of its own - they care.
If all operators would quit buying the games
from manufacturers who just don't care, the
problem of shipping games without good
manuals and no follow-up of production
changes would stop. Give the business to the
manufacturers who take care of us.
Painesville, OH
Bally
Williams
64.24%
19.55%
Rowe/ AMI
Rock-Ola
NSM
25 .69%
10.61%
6.70%
Gottlieb
Stem
7.82%
7.26%
MUSIC
Seeburg
Wurlitzer
5.02%
2.23%
3. Which manufacturers, in your opinion,
design their products with service in mind?
VIDEO
Atari
54.74% Taito
Midway
44.69% Stem
Williams
40.22% Exidy
Sega/ Gremlin
8.37%
Less Than l % Response: Gottlieb, Universal,
Novelty
6.70%
3.35%
1.67%
Pacific
Seaburg amps are too cheap. AMI volume
control has no failsafe if wiring is broken.
Custom Chips is making service work difficult
because of increased stock requirements or
time delays in obtaining special parts.
Monroe, LA
Rowe offers more technical schools and
information.
Marinette, WI
Gremlin PCBs placement makes a tech crawl
inside the cabinet to check. Seeburg's
mechanical sensor with electronic controls
stinks.
Springfield, IL
Atari has good documentation. Williams has
good self testing. AMI has good documenta-
tion; easy modular replacement.
Seaburg has good machines but difficult to
understand.
Tallahassee, FL
Atari should be an example to the rest of the
industry, for they have the most conscientious
engineering and customer service people.
Gremlin has too many systems and too many
customized components.
Chicago, IL
With Atari's "Tempest", I've had trouble with
the W-G color X-Y monitor on many games.
The 2N3716 & 2N3792 keep popping.
Toledo, OH
Not so many variables to contend with on
Midway videos.
San Francisco, CA .
PINS
Bally
Williams
58.10%
21.78%
Rowe/ AMI
Rock-Ola
NSM
30.16%
16.20%
6.70%
Gottlieb
Stem
17.31%
12.84%
MUSIC
Seeburg
Wurlitzer
2.23%
1.11%
4. Which manufacturers, inyouropinion, seem
to Ignore the service aspect?
VIDEO
Sega/Gremlin
35.75% Taito
8.93%
Stem
29.05% Midway
7.26%
Cinematronics
20.11 % Universal
5.02%
Nintendo
18.43% Williams
3.91%
Centuri
12.84% Atari
2.79%
Exidy
9.49%
Rock-Ola
1.67%
Slightly Over l % Response: Gottlieb, Nichibutsu, Deco.
Less Than l % Response: Pacific Novelty, Game Plan,
Omni, GDI, HOEi, Venture Line.
PINS
Gottlieb
Williams
Stem
26.25%
21.22%
16.75%
Seeburg
Rock-Ola
Rowe/AMI
23.46%
6.14%
5.02%
Game Plan
Bally
Atari
3.35%
2.79%
1.11%
MUSIC
Wurlitzer
NSM
2.23%
1.67%
All video panels need to have quick type
fasteners instead of wing nuts.
Albany, GA
A big * to Williams for the interior mirror to
adjust picture.
Video game makers need to become more
uniform on several items such as locks, coin
mechs, easy fuse location.
Lawton, OK
Manufacturers should try to use interchange-
able parts in their own games.
Woburn, MA
Almost all manufacturers make it difficult to
have easy access to parts.
Klamath Falls, OR
Incomplete manuals make all repairs very
difficult. Williams is very good except for
soldered control switches.
We have 70 videos and Atari is superior by far.
Anchorage, AK
Williams is the leader both in game concept
and design. High reliability. The newer Gremlin/
Sagas, Ataris and Midways are coming on
strong in serviceability too.
Cheyenne, WY
you can't get to the boards as in "Zaxxon" and "Astro
Blaster".
Greensboro, NC
Nobody does a good job. Manuals are written for dummies
who can't open a door or experts in electronic engineer-
ing. Very little ·on reality for laymen.
Chicago, IL
Williams and Gottlieb need more option
adjustments. Are the manufacturers and the
distributors in cahoots when it comes to service?
Less information from the manufacturer
means more service dollars to distributors!
Denver, CO
You can interchange boards and parts with other Bally
pins to locate problems faster. Williams' bookkeeping
and adjustment features of " Robotron" are great.
Nintendo " Donkey Kong" makes the worst cabinet in the
industry. Midway coin door still leaves a lot to be desired.
Stern/Konami games are the pits to keep runn ing (a
continual problem with static; power supply problems).
Centuri cabinets are a problem to keep from falling
apart. All manufacturers need to provide greater service
and to admit their mistakes and provide modifications to
correct the problems.
Oreana, IL
Atari and Williams have good, clear, complete
schematics, and are well designed in most
cases. Quality boards - well laid out, and
heavy traces. Good plugs. Seaburg is OK
except for mech problems that require too
much attention. Rowe is best overall mech-
anically and with electronics.
Japanese games have little, poor, or no
documentation. No self tests and are very
static prone.
Fairbanks, AK
Rock-Ola service publications are quite
thorough.
Information for troubleshooting Atari games
is readily available from Atari as well as dis-
tributors and many other sources.
Santa Ana, CA
All games should have manuals with trouble·
shooting guides.
Pineville, KY
Atari and Midway offer good information. Easy
to get to boards and monitor.
Lansing, Ml
Videos are 1000% more reliable than they
used to be.
I'm upset with Stern only because they mounted
their power supply at the bottom with the
fuses facing forward. How can you get to
them? Simply turning the unit 90 degrees
would have helped.
Atlanta, GA
Atari and Midway have good schematics, good
physical layout and best quality components.
Games are too expensive and of poor quality
and workmanship. Most games have poor
coin doors. Poor self-test features. Players
master games too fast. If only we had degree
of difficulty adjustments like Williams does .. .
Boston, MA
Cinematronics is the worst I have tried to fix.
The fact that a logic problem can blow a
monitor and vice versa makes troubleshooting
very difficult. Also, they do not supply enough
information with their games. Gottlieb needs
better materials in their pop bumpers. The
pop bumpers in our Gottlieb game have
become magnetized and hold in (not an elec-
trical problem) and this slows the game down
considerably.
Columbia, SC
Continued on Next Page