Star Tech Journal

STAR*TECH Journal
are difficult to keep clean and
attractive; 4) it is very time consuming
to replace a motor, even if you have the
replacerrent rootor in your hand; 5) the
SH players can dawdle and waste time during
game play.
I have spoken to Mr. Yaffe about his crane
at trade shows but all he wanted to do was
SELL me one. Since I have not heard one
good thing about his crane, I, as an
operator, certainly "40n't buy one, but
offered to do an l.ll'lbiased 60 day test and
report the findings to the trade press.
Mr. Yaffe obviously didn't have that nuch
faith in how his crane would "stack up
against the conpetition" and "40Uld not
make a crane available for a test. In his
article he ranarks that, "It is quite
obvious another coq,any obliged his (my)
offer", which I take to nean that he
thinks that the manufacturers and
distributors of BIG OIOICE, UAI, and BF.AR
CLAW shipped me games free of charge. Let
me say that this is conpletely false. I
bought each and every crane that I
operate. I do, however, have an option to
return the BE'AR CLAW I just ordered,
soould it not operate properly. I ordered
it on my own from a distributor, not the
manufacturer, because I have been
following the developnent of Gordon
Smart's BF.AR CI.AW for the past year and
I've been told by operators I trust, that
it now operates properly.
Mr. Yaffe thinks he was the first plush
crane redenption manufacturer in the USA
but according to "RePlay Magazine" this is
not true. Mr. Yaffe also states that
Showcase Inc. was the first manufacturer
of a single unit crane. How is it then,
that the BIG CHOICE has been available as
a single for 30 years and even ~ E R
has been making single units before Yaffe
got his amazing idea to make single units!
Yaffe goes on to say that Showcase Inc.
then applied for a patent (anyone can
"apply" for a patent but he didn't say
that he was granted one), and developed a
rotating turntable. It seems to me that
I've seen rotating crane turntables when I
was a kid! There are "no dead spots" in
the SHCl\CASE unit claims Yaffe, but Victor
Cook says that "there are nothing but dead
September 1986 (4)
spots in my SH crane is dead!"
I certainly do operate BIG CHOICE cranes
in anusement parks more than 1500 miles
away and service hasn't been a problem.
Mr. Yaffe twisted this statement to read
that I have had "no service problems". Of
course, there are coin jams and the claw
strings do wear out, but I have not had
any Belgium made motors go out.
I checked with Neal Rosenberg at Betson
Enterprises, Moonachie, W', and he said
that they have 200 BIG CHOICE irotors in
stock but have not sold any in the past
six roonths, except to a few operators who
wished to inventory a spare rootor "just in
case".
Mr. Yaffe's "horror story" about how it
took one of his customers (no name of
course), 6 weeks to get a rootor he had
ordered for his Belgiwn crane, could be
valid if the word "Belgium" was changed to
Spanish. ('llle Segasa cranes were known for
a while to have their irotors bum but this
has since been corrected). Note that Mr.
Yaffe didn't pick on the BIG CHOICE crane
by name because BIG OIOICE rootors just
don't bum up.
last question to Mr. Yaffe is: Why is
it that SHCWCASE's rootors, relays and
switches carry a one year guarantee by
W.W. Grainger and not a year guarantee
from,Showcase, Inc.?
I will continue to purchase BIG CHOICE
units and might even buy some BE'AR CLAW
cranes.
My
I thought that I would enjoy writing this
response but the truth is, that I did not.
I do not dislike Mr. Yaffe and I don't
like to say bad things about a conp:my's
advertising statements or their products.
I only like to focus on the good products
and hope that those manufacturers not
mentioned will continue to produce and
inprove their products.
The bottom line is that our industry needs
people like Mr. Yaffe and I truly hope
that he will continue to promote and
IMPROVE his unit. I hope that Mr. Yaffe
will realize that by writing the kind of
letter, targeted against me, that he did,