Star Tech Journal
Issue: 1984-February - Vol 5 Issue 12 - Page 4
4
STAR*TECH JOURNAL/FEBRUARY 1984
IAAPA CONVENTION REVIEW
By Mark "Bear" Attebery, Vending International Corp., San Juan Capistrano, CA
The IAAP A Convention was held this year in
the city of New Orleans. Once again I say,
what a city!
The JAAP A is the Amusement and Theme
Parks' Convention, showing carnival rides such
as roller coasters, ferris wheels, and tilt-a-
whirls ... foods such as cotton candy, hot dogs
and French fries . .. and arcade games such as
Catcher Frog, Boom Ball, Superball, Whac-
a-Mole, and lots of others! The IAAPA was
more alive with excitement and buying than
any convention I've ever attended!
Alter/ Tornado remote control cars, boats,
trains, cab overs, etc., were being shown along
with all of the frills such as finish lines with
cheering sections.
There were several costume companies
that would manufacture everything from
Dumbo to a horse for arcade owners and
corporations alike.
There was even a booth showing a chicken
that played tic-tac-toe (and beat or tied me 5
out of 6 tries!). I wonder ifl should say that? Oh
well, the truth's the truth!
Exidy was there showing their new gun
game, Crossbow, which is a sharp game! There
were also showing Fax and their new Tidal
Wave " Whirly Bucket"-type game.
There were even distributors there such as
Bally Distributing out of Chicago, IL showing
everything from Atari's Pole Position II to
Cinematronics' Dragon's Lair.
But the interesting thing about this year's
JAAP A show wasn't what was being shown, it
was the attitudes of the manufacturers and
buyers alike!
There wasn't the pressured "gotta find a
winner" attitude of the last two or three video/
arcade shows! The attitude was more of a
carnival " let's give it a look" (laid back)
feeling.
Some of the more interesting concepts were
the "Computer Fun Fair" manufactured by
Northeast Venture Group Inc. , out of Andover,
MA.
This was first produced for Showbiz Pizza
Places and the first time it was shown was at the
Showbiz franchise show in Dallas, TX last
year. I'm not sure how well this unit went over
in Showbiz, but with a less "cute" cabinet, this
could be a good unit to be banked together in
lots of three or five for average-sized arcades.
Skeeball, Superball, and Meltec (showing
Boom Ball) were present and accounted for.
U.S. Billiards Inc., was showing their Super
Bowl shuffle alley that has a video monitor
mounted on it. This is a great looking unit, but I
wonder how good they are on "payback" . If
any of you are using a bank of these units in an
arcade, please give me a call and let me know
how the units do in both service and income.
You can reach me at 1-800-821-8990, or in
California, Alaska or Hawaii- I-714-661-6808.
One last idea for the large arcade owner is
one that I've seen done very successfully by the
E.K. Fernandez Fun Factory chain. Fernandez
Fun Factories are all throughout the Hawaiian
Islands and have recently come to the con-
tinental U.S. By employing thirty or more
years of carnival experience, the Fernandez
organization has built the finest indoor carnival
atmosphere that I've ever seen into each loca-
tion. In the Pearl Ridge Location on the Big
Island in Hawaii, there is a horse race game
where up to twelve players sit and roll balls up
into different valued holes causing the horses to
progress one, two, three, or no spaces. A
gameroom person is necessary to make this
idea work, but it does work!
There were several companies showing
games like this that had actuators ranging from
Whac-a-Mole or Sweet Licks characters that
jumped up and when you bopped them, the
truck, race car, shark, or camel would move
forward . . . all the way to bicycles that had
compressors attached to them. When you
peddled the bike, a chain-driven compressor
caused a balloon to blow up. The first to pop
the balloon was the winner. Next year, take
time to attend the IAAPA! It's a winner and I
think you'll enjoy!
PIONEER
LD-V1 000 SPECS
LD·V10OO HIGH PERFORMANCE
LASERDISC PLAYER
Designed for special purpose applications, the
Pioneer LD-VI 000 offers features tailored for
external computer control in industrial, OEM,
and other high usage environments.
SELECTED SPECIFICATIONS*
Typical Applications
• Simulators
• Arcade Games
• High level CAI systems
Operational Features
Play
Fast Play: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 times normal play
speed
Slow Play at ¼ and ½ normal speed
Step Frame, Still Frame, and Scan functions
Frame accurate Search
Frame accurate Autostop
Selectable display of frame number, register
number, and register contents
Key Features
• Full random access of up to 30 minutes
(54,000 frames) of video, with two sound
channels.
• Plays heavy duty, aluminum-backed CAY
discs as well as standard CA V discs.
• Maximum access time of three seconds.
• Bidirectional parallel computer interface
with continuous player STATUS output.
• Variable play speeds.
• Multiple track skips in selected increments
up to 100.
• Maximum skip time less than 5ms.
• Audio channels can be enabled during
Variable Speed Play for special audio effects.
• 512 user registers in player RAM.
• Ability to load player RAM from disc
resident "data dumps."
Control Features
Front Panel Controls: Power (on/off with
indicator)
Reject/Lid Open
Parallel 1/0
All functions controlled via an attached
computer
Status, frame number, register number, and
RAM contents available to attached
computer
Design Features
Helium neon laser
Top loading
Height . .. . .. .. .... . .. . 5.6 inches, 14.3 cm
Width . .. . .. .. . ..... . 20:7 inches, 52.5 cm
Depth .. . .. .. . .. . . ... 15.6 inches, 39.5 cm
Net weight. ..... .. ...... . .. 33 lbs., 15 kg.
MTBF . .. .. . . . .. . . . .......... 4500 hours
Video Format
NTSC, 525 lines, 350 lines horizontal resolu-
tion, 30 frames per second
SNR greater than 42db
Video signal available during track skip
Audio Characteristics
Two switchable audio channels
Frequency response 40-20,000 Hz
Signal-to-noise ratio better than 50db
Total harmonic distortion less than 0.5%
Power Requirements
120vac, 60Hz
60 watts
Environmental Requirements
Operating temperature/humidity - 5-40°C,
41-104°F; 0-90% humidity
*Specifications and design subject to modifica-
tion without notice, due to improvements.
***
STAR*TECH JOURNAL/FEBRUARY 1984
IAAPA CONVENTION REVIEW
By Mark "Bear" Attebery, Vending International Corp., San Juan Capistrano, CA
The IAAP A Convention was held this year in
the city of New Orleans. Once again I say,
what a city!
The JAAP A is the Amusement and Theme
Parks' Convention, showing carnival rides such
as roller coasters, ferris wheels, and tilt-a-
whirls ... foods such as cotton candy, hot dogs
and French fries . .. and arcade games such as
Catcher Frog, Boom Ball, Superball, Whac-
a-Mole, and lots of others! The IAAPA was
more alive with excitement and buying than
any convention I've ever attended!
Alter/ Tornado remote control cars, boats,
trains, cab overs, etc., were being shown along
with all of the frills such as finish lines with
cheering sections.
There were several costume companies
that would manufacture everything from
Dumbo to a horse for arcade owners and
corporations alike.
There was even a booth showing a chicken
that played tic-tac-toe (and beat or tied me 5
out of 6 tries!). I wonder ifl should say that? Oh
well, the truth's the truth!
Exidy was there showing their new gun
game, Crossbow, which is a sharp game! There
were also showing Fax and their new Tidal
Wave " Whirly Bucket"-type game.
There were even distributors there such as
Bally Distributing out of Chicago, IL showing
everything from Atari's Pole Position II to
Cinematronics' Dragon's Lair.
But the interesting thing about this year's
JAAP A show wasn't what was being shown, it
was the attitudes of the manufacturers and
buyers alike!
There wasn't the pressured "gotta find a
winner" attitude of the last two or three video/
arcade shows! The attitude was more of a
carnival " let's give it a look" (laid back)
feeling.
Some of the more interesting concepts were
the "Computer Fun Fair" manufactured by
Northeast Venture Group Inc. , out of Andover,
MA.
This was first produced for Showbiz Pizza
Places and the first time it was shown was at the
Showbiz franchise show in Dallas, TX last
year. I'm not sure how well this unit went over
in Showbiz, but with a less "cute" cabinet, this
could be a good unit to be banked together in
lots of three or five for average-sized arcades.
Skeeball, Superball, and Meltec (showing
Boom Ball) were present and accounted for.
U.S. Billiards Inc., was showing their Super
Bowl shuffle alley that has a video monitor
mounted on it. This is a great looking unit, but I
wonder how good they are on "payback" . If
any of you are using a bank of these units in an
arcade, please give me a call and let me know
how the units do in both service and income.
You can reach me at 1-800-821-8990, or in
California, Alaska or Hawaii- I-714-661-6808.
One last idea for the large arcade owner is
one that I've seen done very successfully by the
E.K. Fernandez Fun Factory chain. Fernandez
Fun Factories are all throughout the Hawaiian
Islands and have recently come to the con-
tinental U.S. By employing thirty or more
years of carnival experience, the Fernandez
organization has built the finest indoor carnival
atmosphere that I've ever seen into each loca-
tion. In the Pearl Ridge Location on the Big
Island in Hawaii, there is a horse race game
where up to twelve players sit and roll balls up
into different valued holes causing the horses to
progress one, two, three, or no spaces. A
gameroom person is necessary to make this
idea work, but it does work!
There were several companies showing
games like this that had actuators ranging from
Whac-a-Mole or Sweet Licks characters that
jumped up and when you bopped them, the
truck, race car, shark, or camel would move
forward . . . all the way to bicycles that had
compressors attached to them. When you
peddled the bike, a chain-driven compressor
caused a balloon to blow up. The first to pop
the balloon was the winner. Next year, take
time to attend the IAAPA! It's a winner and I
think you'll enjoy!
PIONEER
LD-V1 000 SPECS
LD·V10OO HIGH PERFORMANCE
LASERDISC PLAYER
Designed for special purpose applications, the
Pioneer LD-VI 000 offers features tailored for
external computer control in industrial, OEM,
and other high usage environments.
SELECTED SPECIFICATIONS*
Typical Applications
• Simulators
• Arcade Games
• High level CAI systems
Operational Features
Play
Fast Play: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 times normal play
speed
Slow Play at ¼ and ½ normal speed
Step Frame, Still Frame, and Scan functions
Frame accurate Search
Frame accurate Autostop
Selectable display of frame number, register
number, and register contents
Key Features
• Full random access of up to 30 minutes
(54,000 frames) of video, with two sound
channels.
• Plays heavy duty, aluminum-backed CAY
discs as well as standard CA V discs.
• Maximum access time of three seconds.
• Bidirectional parallel computer interface
with continuous player STATUS output.
• Variable play speeds.
• Multiple track skips in selected increments
up to 100.
• Maximum skip time less than 5ms.
• Audio channels can be enabled during
Variable Speed Play for special audio effects.
• 512 user registers in player RAM.
• Ability to load player RAM from disc
resident "data dumps."
Control Features
Front Panel Controls: Power (on/off with
indicator)
Reject/Lid Open
Parallel 1/0
All functions controlled via an attached
computer
Status, frame number, register number, and
RAM contents available to attached
computer
Design Features
Helium neon laser
Top loading
Height . .. . .. .. .... . .. . 5.6 inches, 14.3 cm
Width . .. . .. .. . ..... . 20:7 inches, 52.5 cm
Depth .. . .. .. . .. . . ... 15.6 inches, 39.5 cm
Net weight. ..... .. ...... . .. 33 lbs., 15 kg.
MTBF . .. .. . . . .. . . . .......... 4500 hours
Video Format
NTSC, 525 lines, 350 lines horizontal resolu-
tion, 30 frames per second
SNR greater than 42db
Video signal available during track skip
Audio Characteristics
Two switchable audio channels
Frequency response 40-20,000 Hz
Signal-to-noise ratio better than 50db
Total harmonic distortion less than 0.5%
Power Requirements
120vac, 60Hz
60 watts
Environmental Requirements
Operating temperature/humidity - 5-40°C,
41-104°F; 0-90% humidity
*Specifications and design subject to modifica-
tion without notice, due to improvements.
***
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).