Star Tech Journal

AMOA Expo '90 In Review
Neil Calore
STAR*TECH Journal
Merchantville, New Jersey
The Coin-Op Industry's annual international
trade show, sponsored by the Amusement &
Music Operators' Association, was held in New
Orleans this past month (October 25-27) at the
New Orleans Convention Center.
Filling the center were 705 booths displaying the
goods and/ or services of 203 exhibiting com-
panies. Approximately 7,000 operators, dis-
tributors and manufacturers of coin-operated
amusement, music and vending equipment
were in attendance.
There were many different products on display
at the show and a few had interesting technical
highlights.
Among the most popular were The Simpsons
(Data East Pinball), Ghost Hunter (Sega Enter-
prises), <;:osmo Gang (Namco licensed by Data
East Inc.) and the new MTC 9300 monitor
(Hantarex Corp.).
THE SIMPSONS
Not only is The Simpsons a hot game with a hot
theme, but according to Deco's Pete Gustafson,
it was also designed with the technician in mind.
For instance, software controlled pop bumpers
and slingshots (first used in Back to the Future)
cut down on unnecessary coil wear by reducing
the chances of the coil getting stuck. And now
service credits can be racked-up without inter-
fering with the games' bookkeeping.
To aide in isolating lamp problems while in self-
test. the flash lamps can be tested separately.
You'll also find more connectors inside The
Simpsons, making it easier to bring modules into
the shop.
'Tech Alert", the red & green service lamps that
also made their debut with Back to the Future
(see Oct '90 STARflECH Journal "B1TFService
Lamps"), along with a spare parts kit, are other
ways Data East is trying to make the techni-
cians' life a little easier.
The Simpsons is introducing to the Pinball world
a new function called "Prime Time", which
monitors the incoming cash flow and adjusts the
chances of the game "matching" accordingly.
With a steady cash flow, the games chances of
matching is in the neighborhood of 12-18%.
With less coin switch activity, the players' scor~
will match approximately 25% of the time,
awarding him a free game.
GHOST HUNTERS
Sega's Ghost Hunters is a three player shooting
game with a twist. The player aims his "Laser
Effect System" through a head-up-display sight
which, through the use of a Freznel lens, ap-
pears to be shooting right into the screen. An off-
center motor weight is used to vibrate the gun,
adding more realism to the game.
No optics are used in this maintenance free gun
assembly. Instead, the game is reading the po-
sition of a simple 5k volume pot located in the
gun turret, much like a driving game steering
assembly. The hardware (System 18) is the same
as what you'll find in Moonwalker and other new
Sega games.
•
Sega's Dave Cantrelle informed STAR*TECH
Journal that Ghost Hunters was approximately
80% finished at the show. Still to be added are
mor~ graphics, more sounds and a refined sto~
line. A buy-in feature is offered for all stages but
the last, encouraging the player to improve his
skill at the game.