PINBALL EXPO '92
(There - They Did It
Again!)
by Russ Jensen
For the 8th consecutive year "the
best of them all" - Pinball Expo '92
- was
held in Chicago, again at the Ramada O'Hare.
This year, however, the
show
festivities started a little earlier, beginning with the annual
pinball
plant tour at 1 PM on Thursday November 12.
Even though this show had been originally
touted as a "four day event"
I thought
that this meant that the Exhibit Hall would be open on Thursday
evening. It was not until I had already purchased my
non-refundable
airline
ticket that I discovered I would have
to miss the plant tour, my
flight
not arriving in Chicago until 2 PM on Thursday.
I didn't feel too bad, however, missing
this year's plant tour as I
had
visited the Premier facility at two past Expos. Even if I had known
ahead
of time I don't believe my travel plans would have been changed
because
my flight was the earliest Thursday AM flight from L.A. (except for
the
"I'll never do it again 'redeye'") which I could have taken. Leaving
the
previous evening would not have been financially practical due to the
high
(and growing higher each year) cost of the hotel room (now over $75
per
night).
PREMIER
SOLID STATE SYSTEM
Well, after arriving in Chicago that
afternoon, traveling to the hotel
via
their shuttle bus, and checking into my room, I proceeded to where the
tour
wrap-up and solid-state system discussion session was to be held. I
discovered
that that session had not yet begun due to a mix up in busing
the
last tour group back to the hotel.
When the session finally began Expo host
Rob Berk, after apologizing
for the
delay, introduced Premier employee John Buras who asked for
questions
from the audience. No one seemed to
have any at that time.
John then proceeded to give us a brief
history of the Gottlieb solid-
state
game systems. He told us that he had
been with the company since
1973
and remembered their first solid-state game, CLEOPATRA, produced in
1978.
Two years later, John went on, they
introduced their electronic system
which
they dubbed "System 80". In
1985 he said they began using alpha-
numeric
displays. Then in 1989 he told of their
new system which was first
used on
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION. John told how
they always listened to
operator's
complaints about their games and tried to address these
concerns.
John next discussed many technical
details of their solid-state
system,
including CMOS technology, board organization, and playfield
scanning
schemes. Concerning their latest
system, John told of their
"Display
Controller Board" (which can drive 96 lamps and 32 solenoids), a
"tournament
switch" to change game characteristics for tournament play, and
their
new "smart switches" which use piezo-electric film technology.
At that point John again asked for
questions. When questioned about
price
increases in their new games, John replied that there had been a
slight
one but in return the operators got games which were more reliable.
He was
then asked if the electronics changed for each new game and replied
that
the basic circuit boards were the same.
When asked if their chips
were
safeguarded against static, John answered that this was not a big
problem
with the newer CMOS technology.
John was next asked if they planned to
use "electronic flippers" to
which
he replied "no", but that several other options are being examined.
When
asked if a printer could be connected to their games, he replied that
a
"communications board" could be added to provide that
capability. When
then
asked about their built-in diagnostics, John briefly described what
tests
they now provided.
John was also asked if they were
considering the use of fiber-optic
cables
in their games? He replied they had looked into it but that there
were
manufacturability problems connected with such production. He was
then
asked if their was a possibility of diagnosing game problems
electronically
via a telephone line and a modem? John
said that that could
be
possible in the future, but that not all locations would be easily
adaptable
to such a system.
Finally, John was asked what type of
processor their current games
employed? He replied that they still used the
"6502" which he called "the
workhorse
of the industry". John ended by
offering us some 'goodies'
(small
plastic parts, etc.) which he had brought from the factory.
"LEARN
TO PLAY PINBALL" SCHOOL
The last Thursday afternoon session was
billed as "Learn to Play
Pinball
- Hands-on workshop". At the start
everybody in the audience was
handed
slips with numbers between 1 and 10 on them.
At that point Rob Berk
got up
and introduced Richard Shapiro from Louisville Kentucky who came up
with
the idea for this session.
Richard told us that he had attended
three Expos, the Arizona Pinball
shows,
and one AMOA show and had decided that he wanted to take some
lessons
from the experts who play in the tournaments.
He then introduced
the
five players who volunteered to participate.
Each of them then got up
and
introduced themselves and told of their pet techniques for successful
tournament
play.
Lyman Sheets was first and he began by
saying that he "was not as good
as Rick
and Dave" having played his first tournament at last year's Expo.
He then
said he started practicing and then went to New York to play in the
PAPA
tournament where he "did all right"". After that he told us he won
the
"doubles" at the IFPA tournament and came in second at the Arizona
show
the
past June. He ended by telling us that
he thinks that "trapping" the
ball is
most important.
Next up was Dave Hegge who had won at two
Expos and the IFPA
'singles". Dave next told of being invited to Australia
to play (more
about
that later). He then told us that he
thinks the main factor in good
pinball
play is "good aim".
Rick Stetta was next to speak. He had won at PAPA, the first IFPA,
and the
last two Expos. He said he competes in
all the major tournaments
and had
won 4 out of the last 8 he had played in.
Rick told us he had been
playing
pins since age 10 (he was now 31) and that he would continue "until
my
hands fall off". Rick then went
into considerable detail about various
playing
techniques.
Following Rick was Julia Slayton who
began by saying "don't play like
me - I
do everything wrong". She then
told of winning the "women's
division"
at the last Phoenix show and also at IFPA in Milwaukee and the
last
Expo. She then said that she had not
been playing for too long
because
as a girl she was not allowed to play pinball.
Julia ended by
saying
that you have to learn a game ahead of time, and also put in hours
of
practice.
Last to speak was Premier designer Jon
Norris (who incidentally
designed
the game used in the qualifying rounds of the Expo tournament).
Jon had
previously won the manufacturer's class trophies at the last Expo,
the
first and second IFPA tournaments, and Expo '87, Jon told us he had
been
playing since the 1970's and then advised us not to practice
specifically
for a tournament.
Jon then told us that game designers have
to put things in their games
that
the players appreciate. He then said
that practicing playing
techniques
was very, very important to become a good player, and that you
should
own your own machine to avoid having to spend a lot of money at
arcades.
After the 'champs' had finished speaking,
the people in the audience
holding
numbers between 1 and 5 were asked to gather around five games set
up in
the room, each group with a different champion instructor. The
people
holding numbers 6 through 10 were asked to go out of the room and
return
in 30 minutes for their lessons.
My group had Lyman Sheets as our tutor
who gave us detailed
demonstrations
of his ball trapping techniques. The
machines used for
this,
by the way, had their top glasses removed so the teachers could
handle
the ball.
After our training the other group
waiting outside were let in and
similar
training conducted for them. After
that, I was told later, there
was a
short question and answer session, but I had gone already in search
of dinner,
I believe.
At 6 PM that evening the Exhibit Hall was
open for the first time, but
more
about that later.
OPENING
REMARKS
The opening session on Friday morning was
scheduled to be the "Opening
Remarks"
which was to start at 8 AM. After some
delay Rob Berk got up on
stage
and introduced a "special speaker", Steve Kordek, who he reminded us
now had
a total of 50 years in the industry, who he referred to as "Mr.
Wonderful".
Steve told us that he has been asked the
question "where have we come
from,
where we're going, and why? He then
told us that the longest "down
period"
for the pinball industry was during World War II. Steve said that
during
that period seven or more companies 'revamped' older games to come
up with
'new' ones.
Another down for games, Steve went on,
was in the mid 1950's when the
bar
game of "bumper pool" was quite popular. He then told of another slump
in the
mid 80's brought on by video games, but said Williams' 1984 pingame
SPACE
MISSION started pin popularity on a rise again.
When Rob told Steve he had two more
minutes to talk, Steve praised his
present
staff at Williams/Bally/Midway and their currently popular ADDAMS
FAMILY
game. Steve ended by telling us "I
hope I'm here for awhile
longer".
At that point Rob Berk came up and
welcomed all of us to their 8th
Expo. He said that this year they had started a
little earlier, and would
probably
continue that in the future.
Rob next commented that 38 people had missed
this year's plant tour,
then
telling about the "Flip-Out" tournament with the finals this year
being
held on Sunday. After that Rob told of
the spouses shopping tour
(which
consisted of the hotel providing transportation to the subway), the
midnight
movies (Tilt and Tommy), the art contest, autograph session, and
the
raffle which would be held this year.
Rob next introduced the author of the new
pinball art book from
Germany,
Heribert Eiden. Heri (as he prefers to
be called) told of the two
years
of work he put into the book. He said
he sent letters to several
publishers
before getting an acceptance. The book
(called simply "Pinball
Machines"
in the English version) was originally published in German, then
translated
into French, and finally into English, just in time for this
show.
Finally Rob introduced his Expo partner
Mike Pacak. After welcoming
us,
Mike said that the Exhibit Hall went well the previous evening and then
talked
of the game auction scheduled for 10 AM Saturday. He then told us
where
the banquet would be held this year.
ALVIN
G. & COMPANY - FROM THE BEGINNING
Rob then introduced the presenters of the
next session, Mike Gottlieb,
Ed
Schmidt, and Jerry Armstrong who were
going to tell us all about their
new
company, "Alvin G. and Company".
Ed Schmidt started by telling us that
those who attended the Expo were
"real
diehards", and then quipped that we all must be "brain damaged"
to be
involved
with pins. He then told us that he understands
how we 'love'
pingames,
and that it's always a pleasure for him to talk to us.
Ed next told us that he had been in the
industry since around 1962
when he
started working for Chicago Coin. After
that, he said, he worked
for
Bally for many years and now is with Alvin G., which he told us was
founded
by Alvin Gottlieb, of course. The
company, he went on, started as
"A.
Gottlieb and Co.", was changed to "A.G. and Co.", and then to
it's
present
name.
Ed continued, saying their company was
"making history" today and that
we will
be talking about them for years to come.
He said that in a smaller
company
it is easier to do things. Ed then told
us they started with a new
concept
(Soccer and Football table style games) and that it's exciting to
see
what's unfolding, including their foreign markets.
He then said that he and Mike Gottlieb
had recently traveled all over
the
world and that it was amazing to see the excitement over games in
different
cultures. Ed then told a story about
something which happened to
he and
Mike during a recent trip to England.
He said they were working 20 hours a day
while they were there and
that
one day while walking down a street Mike spied one of their SOCCER
BALL
games in a location with a sign in the window advertising an upcoming
tournament. Ed said they went in and introduced
themselves to the
technician
working on the game who didn't believe them.
He said the guy wasn't treating the
machine very nicely and that the
next
day (Sunday) they came back and worked all day on that game, telling
us they
"really had commitment". At
that point Ed introduced Mike
Gottlieb.
Mike began with a brief history of the
company which he said started
with
his father, Alvin, getting his "smart flipper" patent and that they
started
with three people. Since then, he went
on, they have increased to
125
people. He then told how they
originally planned to have Premier do
their
manufacturing, but that when they became too busy to help Alvin G.
and
Company had to set up their own manufacturing facilities.
Mike then told of their latest game,
WORLD TOUR, which was their first
conventional
style pingame. Again talking about
their manufacturing
facility,
he told us that it was 63,000 square feet and had the capability
of
producing 100 games per day, although they were now producing about 30.
Mike
then introduced the other panel member, Jerry Armstrong.
Jerry began by saying that Ed and Mike
were hard to follow, adding
that
they were really good salesmen. Jerry
then told us that at the
company
he "wears a lot of 'hats'".
He then also gave a brief history of
the
company.
Jerry told us when they started running
out of space they discovered
that
Gottlieb Memorial Hospital owned a large building (the ex Sloan Valve
plant)
which the hospital would not be using for years, so they were able
to use
it for their manufacturing facility. He
went on to tell about the
company
needing distributors for it's games, so they started advertising
for
some. At that point the audience was
asked for questions.
Rob Berk first asked when WORLD TOUR
would be available for viewing?
The
answer given was "later that afternoon" (but in fact it was never
shown
due to
last minute problems with the game). It
was next asked if they
would
support tournaments? Mike answered
saying that was a good question,
adding
that he thought tournaments are a fantastic way to create public
interest
in pins, then telling us that WORLD TOUR would be used for
tournaments
after it is "doing well".
When asked how many advance orders they
got before starting to
manufacture
a game, the answer given was approximately 400. When asked if
they
were using anything from Premier, the answer was "no, only proprietary
parts". We were then told that they have their own
6502 processor
operating
system which was similar to Premier's, but different.
Rob Berk then asked who in the company
does the designing, etc.? Mike
answered
by first saying that they all need to understand "all aspects of
the
business". He then said that
Jerry, Alvin, and himself are the "design
team",
but also do some 'grunt work'. He then
told us that he does a lot
of the
"conceptual work" and that Jerry did the drawings for the designs.
The last question asked was who did their
artwork? It was answered
that
that was done by Don Hughes, Tim Elliot, and Andy Reynolds, Mike
remarking
that everyone should be surprised by the WORLD TOUR artwork. He
ended
by telling us that they were also trying to get Dave Christensen.
PINBALL
TOURNAMENT AND LEAGUE PLAY
Rob Berk introduced the two speakers for
the next presentation,
"Tournament
and League Play". They were Steve
Epstein owner of the
Broadway
Arcade in New York City and promoter of the PAPA ("Professional
and
Amateur Pinball Association") leagues, and Doug Young the Executive
Director
of AMOA's IFPA ("International Flipper Pinball Association").
Before
they began speaking a short video was shown which was used to
promote
PAPA activities in New York.
Steve Epstein next welcomed us and then
told how his PAPA leagues were
started
3 years earlier and now provided the largest money prize ever
offered. He then told us how the operators were
really supporting his
efforts
this year, and that they were going to have "singles",
"doubles",
and
"everything you can do with pins".
Doug Young next told us that it was nice
to be there this year. In
the
last three years, he said, their IFPA tournaments have given away much
money
to winners and have received great support from the game
manufacturers. He then described the IFPA and how it was
founded by the
AMOA to
promote pinball leagues and sponsor tournaments.
Doug went on to tell us that they had 80
machines in their first two
tournaments
and that their next one in May should be quite exciting. He
then
told us that last year's winner in the "pinmaster division", Dave
Hegge,
had subsequently been invited to play in Australia and then asked
Dave to
tell us about it.
Dave began by telling us that his
invitation to Australia was quite a
surprise. He said they first flew him to Sydney, and
that he eventually
visited
5 capital cities, having a news conference in each of them held at
an
arcade from the largest chain in the country, called "Time Zone".
Dave also said that he participated in
three live TV shows (which he
said
were similar to "David Letterman") hosted by a fellow named Danny
Boniducci. In addition, he said, he was interviewed on
10 taped TV
newscasts
and 15 radio shows. There were also, he
went on, 15 newspaper
and
magazine articles, adding that the enthusiasm for pinball there was
"unbelievable".
After telling us that one of the
highlights of the trip for him was to
see a
live baby Koala bear on "Save the Koala Day", Dave said he also met
local
movie stars and was even photographed
with a "Penthouse Pet". He
then
told of several things which surprised him during the trip.
First, Dave said, was how many locals
showed up at the interviews,
many
asking for his autograph. Secondly, he
went on, was how popular
pinball
was, with people lining up to play at a cost of $1 per game. Dave
ended
by saying he was treated "excellently" which made it all worthwhile,
adding
that he never thought anything like that could ever happen to him as
a
result of playing pinball.
When Dave finished, Doug referred to him
as "Hurricane Hegge". Steve
then
commented that he feels strongly that there will be a strong
international
competitive area for pins. A short
video was then shown
consisting
of various TV news clips regarding pinball tournaments.
At that point the audience was asked for
questions. The panelists
were
first asked if they had seen the "Entertainment Tonight" show with
Elvira
which was shown after the previous Expo?
They answered they had
not,
adding that they would try to get a copy.
Steve then said that he wants to excite
us to get into tournament
play,
and to get us to tell our friends about it.
He then told of meeting
Aaron
Benedit from Canada two years earlier and how Aaron went back to
Canada
and started a league program in his home area, which started
spreading
throughout his country.
Steve then told us that 5 or 6 of his
PAPA players were at the show,
suggesting
that we talk to them about tournament play.
Finally he
commented
that charity tie-ins are good for pinball tournaments because the
media
"loves this" and it helps overcome negative comments which are often
made
regarding pins.
Doug was then asked where the next IFPA
tournament would be held, to
which
he answered May 21 through 23 in Milwaukee.
Steve was then asked if
PAPA
would have "single flipper doubles" play (one person at each flipper
button)? He answered that they would, calling that
"Zen Pinball". When
asked
if they would have a "Youth Division" he said they would.
When next asked to what they attribute
their good media coverage to,
the
answer given first was "the game".
We were then told that they send
out
many news releases and use charity tie-in whenever possible.
The final question regarded something
referred to as "Flippin' for
Kids". Steve said that was a charity event
sponsored by Variety Clubs
International. Two hundred locations were said to
participate, with Subway
Sandwich
Shops donating sandwiches, and Williams donating a GETAWAY pingame
as a
prize.
"NAME
THAT GAME" GAME
At that point Rob Berk got up and
introduced Canadian Aaron Benedit
for the
next event which he called "Name That Game". Aaron told us that he
first
attended Pinball Expo '90 and later helped promote the PAPA
tournaments. He then told us that this year's game was
similar to the one
he
conducted last year, except that we will be answering questions about
pinball
features, etc., rather than identifying voices. Aaron then asked
us 20
questions which we were to answer on forms provided to us.
The prizes, Aaron told us, would be
T-shirts, one for the
manufacturer's
winner and another for the 'players' winner.
The results of
the
game were to be announced at the banquet Saturday night, but more about
that
later.
34
THINGS NOT TO DO TO A PINBALL MACHINE
Rob next introduced Expo regular Tim Arnold, who he said "came from
'Planet
X'", and has the world's largest pinball collection, consisting of
more
than 800 machines. Tim then gave out
handouts covering the topic of
his
talk which was billed as "34 Things Not To Do To a Pinball Machine"
(actually
there turned out to be 39, and they were both "do's" and
"don't's").
Tim began by warning us not to use metal
tools on a solid-state game
with
the power on. Next he told us to not
ignore the ball, always making
sure it
was clean and smooth, and telling how to make it that way. He next
said
that "contact cleaner" is "evil", suggesting we use a fine
file to
clean
contacts on electro-mechanical games, but not on solid-state.
The fourth item on his list was not to
bundle game legs with tape, but
use
wire instead. After reminding us not to
ship games with the balls
inside,
Tim warned us not to use abrasive cleaners on playfields,
recommending
creamy car wax.
Tim continued with the 7th point, not to
pry open coin doors, but to
drill
out the locks instead. He next told how
to brace a score reel while
cleaning
it and to check all solder joints on them.
Following this, he
told
how to use solder to fix poorly contacting lamp sockets. Tim next
warned
of being careful using solder since it was made using lead which is
basically
toxic. He next advised us to buy only
good 60/40 rosin core
solder.
Point number 12 was involved with packing
games for shipment,
suggesting
that a board be strapped over the glass, using bicycle boxes for
packing,
and using pallets. Next we were advised
to replace the thin
flange
flipper bushings and to bolt them through the playfield. He next
advised
us to use new "feet" (leg levelers) on our games.
Tim's next three suggestions ware to not
buy cheap "super glue";
always
use tempered glass; and to store games on pallets when not in use.
Next it
was suggested that we replace poor glue used in many cabinet
joints. We were then told to replace the 22 gauge
wire normally used
between
flipper coils and their "end-of-stroke switches" with heavier 18
gauge
lamp cord wire.
Tim's next two points concerned
tightening coin door hinges and
letting
a game warm up to room temperature before turning in on when
bringing
it in from a cold area. He then talked
of some problems with the
newer
Gottlieb solid-state power supplies.
After that Tim talked at length
regarding
ways to improve the use of playfield screws.
Item 25 was concerned with the difference
between A.C. and D.C. game
components. Next he advised removing batteries from
solid-state games when
stored. He then talked of the dangers of using
playfield prop sticks,
followed
by advice to "not make fun of Wayne Newton" (one of his Las Vegas
jokes).
Tim next discussed the two types of
pinball coils (solenoid and
magnet)
and warned us not to operate a solenoid without it's plunger
inserted
in it. His next discussion centered
around replacing nylon
flipper
linkages. Tim then talked about
"equalizing grounds" in solid-
state
games.
Following some advice to use a toothbrush
to clean playfield posts,
and to
keep your games out of direct sunlight (believe me, it does fade
paint!),
he talked about adjusting "knockers" to get the proper sound. Tim
then
told how to re-ink bumper caps whose lettering is fading.
Tim's last three topics involved
"beer sealing" playfield glasses;
oiling
metal motor gears; and how to remove the game's "coin lockout
coils". Tim then asked for questions from the
audience.
It was first asked if one should attempt
to replace the small metal
contact
points on the ends of switch blades?
Tim answered "no", saying
that
you should replace the entire switch blade.
Steve Young then
commented
from the audience that points were not too hard to replace if you
use
long-nosed pliers to seat them.
Finally, Tim was asked if backglasses
could be sprayed with "Krylon"
to
protect the paint from peeling? Tim answered
that he didn't think that
product
was heavy enough, adding that Steve Young's product "Cover Your
Glass"
was better. When someone then commented
that Krylon worked well on
slot
machine glasses, Tim commented that better ink was used when making
them
than used on pinball glasses.
PINBALL
TODAY PANEL
Rob Berk next introduced the panelists
for the next event "Pinball
Today -
Where It Is And Where It's Going".
Alvin Gottlieb, he said, was
the son
of D. Gottlieb and Co. founder David Gottlieb, who was head of his
company
for over 35 years. Ed Cebula, he went
on, has been in the industry
since
the 1940's, working for such companies as Buckley, Jennings, Chicago
Coin,
Game Plan, and now Data East Pinball.
Rob then told us that Gil Pollack had
worked for Gottlieb for 20 years
and
eventually bought the pinball operation, calling it Premier Technology.
Finally,
he said, Roger Sharpe was once "Mr. Gentleman's Quarterly" (having
once
been an editor at that magazine), later designed several solid-state
games
in the 1980's, and currently is Director of Marketing at
Williams/Bally/Midway.
Roger began by asking "where are we
going?" He said he has heard a
lot of
people complaining about today's more complex games, but that they
must
produce "what the market demands".
He then remarked that "every game
is
perfect for it's era", adding that everything in the world continues to
evolve. Roger then told us to look at the changes in
pins in the past two
years,
saying that "we're now at the brink". He ended by remarking that
the
future for pingames is still viable and entertaining and that they now
have a
whole new audience to satisfy.
At that point Rob Berk posed the always
controversial question of "one
dollar
play". Gil Pollack was first to
comment saying play prices have to
increase,
but that a dollar coin is needed. He
then said the increased
cost of
the equipment and it's maintenance which the operator bears has to
be
passed on to the player, adding that quarter play for pinball today is a
rarity. Ed Cebula then commented "that's the
way it has to go".
Rob Berk next asked Ed what Data East was
doing to decrease the
maintenance
cost for their games? Ed replied that
they use comments from
operators
in the field to determine what usually breaks down and try to
improve
it by using better materials, etc..
Alvin Gottlieb then commented
that
they could produce games which require very little service, but they
would
probably have to be too high priced for operators to afford.
Someone from the audience next asked
about the possibility of
manufacturing
games outside the country? Gil replied
that they had looked
into
that in the past but decided not to because they need a short lead
time,
and it's cheaper to maintain local facilities.
Rob Berk then asked Roger about
competition in game licensing? Roger
answered
that when licensing began in the 1970's and 1980's there was
"cross
pollination of the entertainment arts", but that today licenses are
more
selective. He went on to say that
people today like things connected
with
recognizable people (celebrities, etc.).
Roger then remarked that
licensed
pins have done well for Data East. He
then compared licensed pins
with
"designer labels" on clothing.
Finally Roger commented that hopefully
the play theme of the game can
be
involved with the licensed property, using their current ADDAMS FAMILY
license
as an example. He then added "good
art gets the first quarter, but
a good
game gets the rest".
Alvin Gottlieb next remarked that in
today's global economy, with the
world
tied together by satellites, people in other countries recognize our
celebrities
as well, telling about an incident involving this which
happened
on a recent trip to Tahiti.
Gil then commented that his company,
Premier, hasn't gone to the full
extreme
with licensing, believing that there still is room for non-licensed
games. Ed Cebula then said that Data East was
strong on licenses, telling
of some
of their current ones: TALES OF THE CRYPT, BULLWINKLE, etc.. He
then
added that side effects of licensing (toys, games, etc.) help get
young
people into pins.
Rob Berk then asked about the increased
foreign market for pins? Gil
responded
by remarking that outside the U.S. the market for pins is "huge".
He then
talked about the Italian Add-A-Balls in the past, then saying that
today
the foreign market is more mature. He
ended by telling us that the
South
American market is getting stronger, and that Australia and Taiwan
were
also good markets for games, adding that the European market is
stronger
for Premier than the U.S., providing a majority of their sales.
Alvin Gottlieb next commented that the
new "dot-matrix" displays, with
their
'flash' and crude video, which are now coming into vogue, are a sign
of
what's coming, adding that they may even go to LED displays or something
with
"tremendous flash". He then
told us that you have to give the public
what it
wants (action, etc.), remarking that certain basic patterns will go
on
forever.
The panel was next asked about
"redemption" games where tickets are
given
to winners which are redeemable for small prizes. Gil said that
Premier
is also in that market. The kid's
pinball, MUSHROOM WORLD, which
was
displayed in the Exhibit Hall was mentioned as an example of this idea.
Rob Berk next inquired about possible
changes in pinball cabinets? Ed
Cebula
first commented that you couldn't make much change due to budget
constraints.
Gil then told us that Gottlieb once tried
a fiberglass cabinet in the
early
1980's, but they did not hold up like wood, adding that they also had
to make
changes in their manufacturing process.
He then said there has
been
some talk of experimenting with plastic playfields. Alvin Gottlieb
then
commented that they had tried Aluminum laminated over plywood, but
that
produced "insurmountable problems".
Someone from the audience next asked
about competition among today's
pinball
manufacturers? Roger Sharpe answered
"not at all", followed by a
chuckle. Gil said he could see the possibility of
getting into "bidding
wars"
over licensing of a particular property.
Roger again spoke up saying
that
competition was not as bad as it was in the Eighties, adding that
things
were more friendly now.
It was next asked what the manufacturers
thought was the typical
service/revenue
life of games today? Gil said that as
far as the "physical
life"
of a machine was concerned the collectors should know that better
than
he. On location, he went on, a game can
possibly be used for as long
as 10
to 15 years if kept up properly.
However, he added, an operator will
possibly
operate a machine for 3 to 5 years before trading/selling it off.
He then
commented that games are not built to fall apart.
It was next asked if the panel thought
the public was ready for
pinball
play price increases? Roger Sharpe
began his answer by commenting
"I'm
not ready to pay higher prices for many items", but said that
distributors/operators
have to increase prices in order to stay in
business.
Ed Cebula then commented that he thinks
it is inevitable that play
pricing
will increase in the future. Someone
then asked about the use of
"dollar
bill acceptors" on games. It was
answered that they are available
now on
special order by the distributor.
An operator in the audience next made the
comment that years ago you
could
rotate a game around your route for up to 5 years, but today many
locations
want only the latest games and will not accept older ones. He
then
added that he has no outlet for older machines.
Gil then asked him if his routes were
making more money today than in
the
past? The operator answered, "yes,
but not three times as much". This
precipitated
a lengthy discussion of economic conditions, inflation, etc..
Following
that, Gil commented that most distributors will take used
machines
in trade because they now have good markets for them, especially
in
South America.
Alvin Gottlieb then commented that one
reason why the latest games
were
demanded by players more today than in the past was because kids get
around
fasted today than they used to. At that
point other operators in
the
audience got involved in the discussion.
My friend Sam Harvey next brought up the
controversial question of
whether
higher play prices were justified on games which were not properly
maintained
by operators? Ed Cebula said that he agreed
that this was a
problem. At that point each of the panelists gave a
closing comment.
Alvin Gottlieb began by saying that he
had lived through all stages of
game
price increases. He then commented that
penny play began in the late
1920's on,
for example, his father's Grip Testers.
He then told of his dad
once
using a large coin slot which would accept any coin put into it.
Alvin
ended by telling us that in the future "one-dollar play" will be
vitally
important to the industry.
In
this same vein Ed Cebula next commented that three years earlier
Steve
Kordek had predicted "one-dollar play", and he thought it was
definitely
coming.
Gil Pollack then thanked the audience for
their comments, saying that
our
input is appreciated. He then said that
we may argue or disagree with
them,
but our ideas will always be considered.
Roger Sharpe ended by
saying
that "because of you, the best is yet to come".
Next on the program was the seminar in
which yours truly was to
participate:
"The Data Collectors - Pinball's True Historians". When I
started
writing up this seminar I discovered that it would be almost as
long as
one-fourth of this article or more. For
this reason I have decided
to
describe this presentation next time, along with a brief explanation of
how I
prepare these Expo articles, including the reason why this particular
write-up
ended up being so long. So you'll have
to wait.
THE
SEARCH FOR PACHINKO
Next on the agenda was the annual talk by
Dick Bueschel which this
year
was billed as "The Search For Pachinko". After Dick was introduced by
Rob
Berk he began telling us about his recent involvement in a Japanese TV
production.
Dick told us that one day he got a call
from a representative of "NTV"
(Nippon
Television) saying they heard he had a collection of early
bagatelle
games and asking if he would help them with a TV show they were
doing
on the origins of the popular Japanese game of Pachinko.
A representative of NTV then came to
visit Dick, we were told, to tell
him
about the show and make the preliminary arrangements. Dick told a
story
of him getting roast beef sandwiches for he and his quest to eat
which
at first the Japanese man (even though he was a student of Cultural
Anthropology)
was afraid to try, but when he finally did he liked it.
Dick said he was told that the show in
question had been on Japanese
TV for
four years and that each show consisted of a "search" for something
or
other. For example, one show featured a
search for the origins of
catsup,
and ended up in London. The show's host
was a popular Tokyo TV
personality
who called himself Tanny Kaye, who Dick said was sort of the
"Johnny
Carson of Japan".
Dick's visitor told him that they were
working on a show consisting of
a
search for the origins of pachinko. He
was then told that the pachinko
industry
in Japan was even bigger than their auto industry. Dick was
informed
that he would be visited by Tanny and his crew to interview him
and
film his collection of bagatelle games.
Dick then told us that when the crew
finally came they first set up
their
cameras in the street in front of his house and started filming
squirrels. When Dick asked about that they said they thought
the squirrels
to be
"very American". When Dick
then asked if they didn't have squirrels
in
their country they replied "no, they were all eaten years ago".
When they finally came into Dick's house,
Tanny carrying a large
leather
bag, Dick was introduced to Tanny. Dick
told us that he
demonstrated
and explained his Bagatelle games to Tanny while the TV crew
photographed
many of the games. The Director of the
show then asked Dick
if they
could come back the next day to film his entire collection for
display
in the Tokyo Cultural Museum. Dick told
them that they could.
Before they left Dick said he asked the
Director if the TV audience in
Japan
would understand what he had said since it was in English. He was
told
there would be no problem because when the show was finally aired he
would
be speaking fluent Japanese.
Dick then showed the half-hour video of
the final show which they sent
to him,
making comments throughout the showing since the audio was all in
Japanese. In addition to Dick's interview (they were
right - he spoke
fluent
Japanese), they showed a visit to well-known English coin machine
collector
Nick Costa and his impressive collection, and to another
collector
in France. It would have been nice to
have heard the narration
in
English as I am sure it would have been quite interesting, although
several
Japanese visitors to the Expo had no trouble with that at all.
After the showing, Dick commented that
coin machines are really a
"multi-cultural
thing". He then told us that he
thinks the game of
Pachinko
will become more popular in the U.S. in the future. Finally, Dick
told us
that he had been collecting Bagatelles since 1965 and that "every
one has
a story"
DESIGNING
A PINBALL MACHINE
The final seminar scheduled for this
year's Expo was "Designing a
Pinball
Machine", a feature of the show for the past several years in which
the
audience participates in a game design led by a current pinball
designer. Our host designer this year was Pat Lawlor
of
Williams/Bally/Midway
who was introduced by Rob Berk.
Pat began by saying that this year's
session was going to be different
from
those in the past. At that point we
were given questionnaires to
answer
which were to be used during the design session.
Pat then said that before starting our
design he was going to talk a
little
about their current hit pingame, ADDAMS FAMILY. He began by telling
us that
the project was initiated over a year earlier during a luncheon
with
Roger Sharpe during which their game FUN HOUSE was being discussed.
After
mentioning the Addams Family movie, Pat asked Roger if he could
acquire
a license to do a game around it, which Roger eventually did.
Licensing, Pat went on, is a "risky
business", saying that if you
license
a future movie, for instance, that movie when released could be bad
and
hurt the game. In the case of ADDAMS
FAMILY, however, he said that
even if
the movie was bad the old TV show connection should still aid the
game's
popularity. He then said that 96
percent of the people once
interviewed
(10 years old or older) knew what the Addams Family was.
Pat next told of going to Roger and
asking if he could get a copy of
the
movie script, which he was finally able to do.
He said they also got a
drawing
of the house, Pat believing the game should look as much like the
movie
as possible. He said they also got the
"press kit" which included
production
photos.
Pat then said he had an idea to use one
of the picture's stars to
record
some speech for the game. When Roger
first asked about that he got
a
negative reply. But finally one of the
stars consented and in return the
company
gave his kids a special ADDAMS FAMILY machine which included
personal
"Happy Birthday" messages.
We were next told that in the early
design stages they had quite a few
problems,
especially with "Thing".
After 6 whitewoods, Pat said, they
finally
got the game to work, he then commented "the rest is history",
telling
of the game being honored at the AMOA shows for two years running.
After collecting the questionnaires we
were previously handed, Pat
introduced
artist John Youssi, who did the artwork for ADDAMS FAMILY, and
who was
now going to draw our design on a large sheet of paper. Pat then
began
the design phase of the seminar by remarking that in the "real world"
cost
and time are important considerations in any game design.
Pat next told us that we must first
choose a theme for our game.
Suggestions
from the audience included such themes as: Tsunami, Monopoly,
The Pit
and The Pendulum, Mouse Trap, Titanic, Dracula, 20 Thousand Leagues
Under
the Sea, Corvettes, Dinosaurs, and The Chicago Flood.
Pat then commented that those were some
good ideas, adding that you
must,
however, consider the "target audience" for a game. Remarking that
the
majority of games produced end up in "street locations" (bars, etc.),
he
commented that Dinosaurs might only appeal to young kids, adding that
Chicago
Flood might not be understood in the foreign markets. The themes
were
then voted on by us, Monopoly ending up the winner.
Pat next told us that when he began a
design he starts by drawing the
bottom
area, which he said was important because that's were the continuity
starts. At that point he randomly drew a
questionnaire, an answer on which
suggested
that the bottom should contain "a weird arrangement of slingshots
and
lanes which nobody had seen before".
He then asked the person who had
given
that answer to describe what he wanted, John drawing it on his
layout.
Pat next said the shooter for our game
must be chosen. Another
questionnaire
was drawn and a "standard shooter" was added to the sketch.
We were
next told we needed a major playfield component, or "toy" as Pat
called
it. For our game of MONOPOLY several
suggestions were made,
including:
a jail, railroads, dice, the Monopoly Man ("Uncle Pennybags"), a
hotel,
a money clip, and several others.
When a vote was taken the jail was
chosen, it being decided to be used
as a
"multi-ball" release device.
It was also decided to simulate
railroads
using wire forms, and to add a simulated Monopoly board in the
center
of the playfield. Those items were then
added to our drawing.
Pat then told us that the technique known
as "brainstorming" was often
used by
pinball design teams to help them develop good games, adding that
some
ideas have to be redone several times to improve them. He then talked
of the
high cost of incorporating some features into a game, saying that
for
example, it took $50,000 in tooling to create the "bookcase" on
ADDAMS
FAMILY.
At that point a question was asked -
should our game respect the real
rules
of Monopoly? Pat answered that was not
necessary since "you have
'artistic
license' in a 'pinball world'". He
then added "you get to make
the
rules".
We were next asked to vote for how many
flippers and Jet Bumpers the
game
should have, coming up with 4 and 3 respectively. It was decided to
make
the Jet Bumpers represent the "Electric Company" in Monopoly. it was
then
decided to place the bumpers at the top right-hand area of the
playfield
so that a "skill shot" could be used to get into them. Pat next
made
the comment that a good design "should balance out between the expert
and
average player".
Next the extra flippers were placed, and
a ramp added to direct the
ball
towards the "jail". It was
decided to use a "maga-save" device as a
diverter
from this ramp which would either direct the ball to the jail or
into
the flippers. The fourth flipper was
placed to aim at four drop
targets
(representing "houses") which if all four were hit would award the
player
one "hotel". A
"kickback" device was then added to feed the fourth
flipper.
At that point Pat talked briefly about
licensing. He said you have to
make
some sort of "deal" with the other party; for example, so much money
plus so
much additional per game produced. In
most cases, he went on, the
game's
artwork (and often speech) have to be approved by the licensor. Pat
ended
by commenting that a license gives "instant recognition of your
product".
The drawing of our game was then finished
by adding the wire form
"railroads". Pat then commented that a video display
could be used with
our
MONOPOLY for "Chance" or "Community Chest". At that point Pat asked
for any
"wild ideas" anyone might have.
The first such idea given was "a 10
second countdown for 'negative
points'". Pat commented that on the "pro"
side the idea was inventive and
different. On the other side, he said, is that the
average player wouldn't
like it
because a game is not supposed to take something away from him.
Pat
then commented "I won't put anything on my games which either takes
something
away or gives you nothing".
The other wild idea given was to have a
pair of dice which pops up and
produces
a score using "pattern recognition".
On that idea Pat commented
"I
like it; put it on our game!".
The session ended with random drawings
for 4 ADDAMS FAMILY coffee
cups,
followed by a brief question and answer period. That ended the Expo
seminars.
THE
AUCTION
On Saturday morning a coin machine
auction was scheduled, put on by
U.S.
Amusement Auctions, who also produced an auction at last year's show.
Since
the auction was held during the Exhibit Hall hours, and I personally
had no
interest in buying any games, I only attended a small part of it, so
will
only make a few brief comments.
Prior to the start of the auction I
looked at the games to be sold
just to
see how many older games were there.
There were only a few made
before
1960, most in bad shape, except for a Chicago Coin KILROY (which I
have in
my collection) and a Bally ROCKET, both from 1947 and in pretty
good
condition.
During the part of the actual auction I
did attend (about 45 minutes,
or so)
I recorded the prices for the pre-1970 games which I saw auctioned
off. These included: The KILROY I mentioned earlier - $450; the ROCKET -
$170;
Gottlieb's 1961 BIG CASINO - $195; Williams' 1962 FRIENDSHIP 7 -
$195;
Williams' 1962 FOUR ROSES - $325; and Gottlieb's 1968 ROYAL GUARD -
$185.
That should give you some idea of the
prices some of the older games
went
for - or does it? At the time of the
auction I was quite surprised
that
KILROY went for over $400, but I later found out why. It seems it was
a
"buy back", the owner bidding on it himself (and keeping it) because
he
thought
the prices bid by legitimate bidders were not high enough for his
machine.
Personally, I think auction "buy
backs" are unfair and should not be
allowed. If a seller wants to have a minimum bid on
his merchandise, all
right,
but no secret buy backs with the owner bidding up his own
merchandise. Most auctions do let bidders know if buy
backs are allowed
(and
this one probably did - I don't know for sure as I did not read the
auction
rules), but I still think it takes all the fun out of an auction.
Incidentally, besides the many pingames
sold at the auction, there
were
other types of coin machines offered for sale.
These included juke
boxes
and slot machines and assorted other coin-ops.
THE
BANQUET
Saturday night, as has been the
tradition, was the annual banquet.
After a
one hour cocktail hour, where we mingled and talked, we found
places
at one of the tables. After visiting
with the others at the table,
the
talk of course centering around pinball, the meal was eventually
served. This year, in my opinion, the food wasn't
quite as good as served
at past
banquets, but it wasn't bad either.
After we finished eating, the banquet
program began. Expo host Rob
Berk
introduced the featured speaker of the evening, Gil Pollack, President
of
Premier Technology, the modern producer of Gottlieb pingames.
Gil began by thanking Rob Berk and Mike
Pacak for putting on such a
fine
show. He then praised the people behind
the scenes at his company,
telling
of one fellow who had been a tool and die maker at Gottlieb since
1940. When Gil asked the fellow to stand up he
drew a round of applause.
Gil
then began a slide presentation which he called "Changing Times at
Gottlieb".
Gil told us that D. Gottlieb and Co. was
originally a family owned
company. He said that when he came to the company in
1972 from the steel
forging
industry he hardly knew what a pinball machine was.
He went on to say that the game they were
producing when he started
was
ORBIT, and at that time the company was producing approximately 12 new
models
a year, compared to the 4 or 5 they now produce. He said, however,
that
all 12 were not entirely different since they often had 2 and 4 player
models
of a game, and sometimes Italian Add-A-Ball models as well.
Gil next told us that business was
booming in 1976 when they were
producing
their bi-centennial games SPIRIT OF '76 and PIONEER. He then
told of
Columbia Pictures buying Gottlieb that same year. Gil said at that
time
they were involved with tournaments and game promotions in France
using a
game called CANADA DRY which was a version of their current game
TARGET
ALPHA.
By 1978, Gil told us, the company was
"behind the 8-ball", when other
pin
manufacturers began producing solid-state games. He said that they
finally
"caught up" with the introduction of their first solid state pin
CLEOPATRA. He said that most of their engineers were
used to electro-
mechanical
games, with no solid-state experience, but they teamed up with
Rockwell
to develop their first solid-state game system.
Gil next pointed out that at that time
the French were one of their
best
markets and they still wanted electro-mechanical games. So for
awhile,
he told us, they produced both electro-mechanical and solid-state
models
of their games.
The year 1979, Gil continued, was the
beginning of a "new era" with
the
introduction of wide body games, their first being GENIE. Gil then
told of
working with long-time Gottlieb designer Wayne Neyens who he
described
as his mentor and friend. When Wayne
finally retired Gil told us
that he
was put in charge of design engineering.
Gil then told of a great designer they
had at that time who is still
with them,
a fellow named John Buras. He then told
of several of their hit
games
of that period including MARS - GOD OF WAR (whose production run was
longer
than expected), BLACK HOLE, and HAUNTED HOUSE which had a 3 level
playfield.
In the early 1980's, Gil told us, video
games were coming in strong
and the
market for pins was beginning to weaken.
Because of this he said
the
company tried something different, the introduction of the combination
pin and
video game CAVEMAN which he said did "OK".
In January 1982, Gil told us, the company
was taken over by Coca Cola.
Coke,
he went on, thought videos were the thing, and also for some reason
changed
the company's name at that time to Mylstar Electronics.
Gil commented that they made several
video games, the best known being
Q-BERT,
which he said was a pretty good video.
But he said that their
company
was really a pinball, not a video game, company. When the new
laser-disc
videos started he said they made the second one to come out
which
was called MACH 3, but that the video discs just did not hold up.
In the Spring of 1984, Gil then told us,
Coke decided to get out of
the
game business and close down Mylstar.
Gil said that he thought the
company
had a lot of good people and it was a shame to lose this talent.
He
therefore went to New York and talked one of their biggest customers, a
distributor
specializing in the European market, to go into partnership
with
him and buy the company, which on October 24, 1984 became known as
Premier
Technology.
The first game produced by Premier Gil
told us was TOUCHDOWN. He then
said
that at the time he was bothered by losing the name Gottlieb. Gil
told of
in 1986 getting with their lawyers and eventually getting the
Gottlieb
family to agree that they could use the name on their games as a
registered
trade mark, but could not use it as their company name.
Premier's
first game using the Gottlieb name Gil told us was GENESIS.
Gil went on to tell us that the year of
1988 was "soft" for the
pingame
industry, and 1989 was simply "terrible". In 1990, he told us,
things
picked up for the company when they released their baseball theme
pin
SILVER SLUGGER. Gil told us that this
game was made along simpler,
more
traditional, lines and was cheaper to make and therefore could be sold
to
operators at a lower price.
After that, Gil continued, they made a
few more simpler "single level"
games,
but they seemed not to be what the players of the day really wanted,
adding
that the company always tried to put out games that the players
would
like. So, in 1991, he told us they
decided to go back to a "full
fledged"
game, coming out with CACTUS JACK'S.
At his point Gil started telling us how
that game came about. He said
that
over the years people outside the industry would ask him what they had
to do
to submit a design for a new game? Gil
told us that anyone could
sketch
a game on a piece of paper, so to keep from being flooded with
amateur
designs his stock answer to that question would be "you must submit
a
working prototype". This, he told
us, usually discouraged 99 percent of
wood-be
game designers.
This, however, Gil told us did not
discourage Southern Californian
Rheinhardt
(Reiny) Bangeter who produced a working prototype of his game
idea
using Data East parts. Gil told us that
Reiny had put a lot of work
into
his game and it was eventually brought to Chicago for him to see.
Gil said that when he saw the prototype
he thought the geometry and
game
concept were good, but some changes were needed. He said that since
Jon
Norris was a good friend of Reiny he didn't think that he would mind
too
much if Jon made a few changes to his design.
Gil then remarked that
since
the release of CACTUS JACK'S Premier's games have been more
competitive.
Gil ended his talk by saying that their
current game, CUE BALL WIZARD,
which
was designed by Jon Norris, was one of the strongest games they have
ever
produced. He then said he wanted to
take his hat off to his people
responsible
for producing that game - especially Jon Norris. That drew a
big
round of applause. At that point the
slides were over and Gil said so
was his
talk.
After Gil had completed his presentation,
Rob Berk again got up and
tried a
gimmick which he has been doing for the past several Expos. He
first
asked us all to stand up. He then asked
all the "first timers" to
sit
down, then the "second timers", etc., until only those of us who had
attended
all eight Expos were left standing.
There were quite a few of us.
After that, Rob announced the winners of
the "Name That Game" contest
conducted
the first morning by Canadian Aaron Benedit which I described
earlier. In the "players" category the
winner was a fellow named Rob
Rosenhouse,
scoring 17 correct answers to the 20 questions. For the
"manufacturers"
category the winner was Premier designer Jon Morris,
scoring
a whooping 19 correct answers.
At that point Rob introduced a
representative from the English
"Pinball
Owner's Association", John Whyatt, to make a special presentation.
He
began by telling us that their organization had been in existence for 16
years.
John then told us that they had recently
formed an 8 man committee to
select
a game to be given an award for the best pingame to come out since
the
last Expo. He said they hoped to do
this annually, commenting that
they
wanted to "give something back to the hobby".
We were then told that they voted in
September and chose Williams'
ADDAMS
FAMILY to receive the award, which they thought was "outstanding".
At that
point Williams designers Pat Lawlor and Larry DeMar, and Director
of
Marketing Roger Sharpe, came up on stage to accept the award, Pat making
the
comment that they had never been given an award from so far away.
Next on the program was the selection of
this year's inductees into
our
"Pinball Hall of Fame", which was established at last year's
show. The
two
Hall of Famer's selected this year were Genco designer and frequent
Expo
guest Harvey Heiss, and old-time designer, and inventor of the
flipper,
Harry Mabs.
After that Rob announced the winners of
the Expo art contest, in which
there
were only five entries. The "Best
of Show" award was given to Henk
DeJager
from Holland who had, we were told, designed an entire game "from
scratch",
including a schematic diagram as well as the artwork.
Next the winner of the "Best
Exhibit" trophy was announced.
Again the
first
place winner was Steve and Laura Engle's "Pinball Supermarket".
Second
place this year was said to be a tie and went to Jim Tolbert and
Judy
McCrory's "For Amusement Only" booth and the "Pinball
Wizard" booth of
Chance
and Elaine Tess.
Rob Berk next gave special thanks to Gil Pollack of Premier
Technology
for
letting the Expo visitors tour their pinball plant. He presented Gil
with a
plaque. Following that Rob presented
another plaque to Richard
Shapiro
for his idea for the "Learn to Play Pinball" school.
After thanking his helper, Lou Marciella,
Rob said that everybody
(including
myself) who participated in the Expo seminars would be given
certificates
which we could pick up after the banquet was over. Rob then
gave an
award to his co-producer Mike Pacak for his fine coordination of
the
Exhibit Hall.
Following that, Rob announced that Roger
Sharpe and his wife Ellen
were
celebrating their anniversary. He then
presented each of them with a
glass
of champagne.
The next event was the raffle in which
two brand new pingames, Data
East's
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES and Williams' GETAWAY were given away.
When
the winning ticket number for the Data East game was called nobody
claimed
it! After several attempts to find that
ticket holder another
ticket
was drawn and the game given away to the lucky winner. It seemed
strange
to everyone there that no one had the first ticket drawn.
After that, another ticket was drawn and
the GETAWAY was given away to
another
lucky person. Later on the mystery of
the unclaimed winning ticket
was
solved. I overheard a conversation in
the Exhibit Hall to the effect
that
that ticket was held by one of the visitors from Germany, but he
didn't
check his tickets when the first number was called because he
thought
he had only purchased tickets for the Williams machine - a sad
story
indeed!
At the conclusion of the raffle a group
of door prizes were also given
away. This year, however, the winners were drawn
from a list of the names
of the
attendees, rather than from numbered tickets as in the past.
At the conclusion of the banquet
festivities Rob Berk announced that
Pinball
Expo '93 will be held a bit earlier this time (hooray - better
weather!). It is scheduled from September 9th through
12th, 1993 at the
same
old location. He also announced that we
would be touring the new
Alvin
G. and Co. plant. For information on
that show you can call Rob Berk
at
1-800-323-FLIP.
As everybody was beginning to leave the
banquet hall, Rob Berk was
suddenly
reminded that he had forgotten to mention the Arizona Pinball Show
the
following Spring. Rob hurried back to
the podium and told us it would
be held
June 5th and 6th, 1993 in Scottsdale Arizona.
(For more
information
on that show call Bruce Carlton at 602-831-9669) That ended
this
year's banquet.
THE
EXHIBIT HALL
The Exhibit Hall this year, as it has
been in the past, was really the
center
of activity for the show. It was a large
area consisting of a main
room,
which was pretty well full, and a second room which had displays of 5
or 6
dealers, plus a display of Alvin G. and Company games.
Again, the Exhibit Hall contained many
pingames, both old and new,
most of
which were for sale. The prices of the
pins varied from as low as
a
hundred dollars or so, up to $1000 (well, there was a FIREBALL with an
asking
price of $2500). Prices of the majority
of the games this year were
between
$300 and $700.
Some of the manufacturers also displayed
some of their games. Alvin
G. and
Company had several of their new "table style" two player games,
SOCCER-BALL
and U.S.A. FOOTBALL. I thought it was
nice to see parents and
children
playing against each other on these games many times during the
show. Data East had their TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA
TURTLES pin, plus a special
edition
MICHAEL JORDAN game. Williams had a
booth with flyers, etc,, but I
don't
remember them having any actual machines on display.
The latest Gottlieb hit from Premier, CUE
BALL WIZARD, was the game
used
for the Flip-Out tournament qualifying rounds.
A whole row of these
games
was clearly visible when you first entered the main hall. This
flashy
game, by the way, was the latest design of Jon Norris who got to be
a
designer from contacts he made with Premier during the first Expo in
1985.
The following is a chronological list of
all the pingames at the Expo:
PINGAMES AT PINBALL
EXPO '92
GAME
MFG YEAR PRICE
______________________________ ___________ _____ ______________
STRATO-O-LINER Chicago Coin
1940 SOLD
ARIZONA United 1943 500/OBO
BALLY HOO Bally 1947 200/OBO
BRONCHO Genco 1947 -
NEVADA United 1947 500/OBO
ROCKET Bally 1947 325,
500/OBO
CHAMPION (1-BALL) Bally
1948 800
OLDE KING COLE Gottlieb
1948 450/TRADE
RANCHO Bally 1948 400
BUTTONS AND BOWS Gottlieb
1949 795
DOUBLE SHUFFLE Gottlieb
1949 -
TRI SCORE Genco 1951 325
PIN WHEEL Gottlieb 1953 650
GOLD STAR Gottlieb 1954 -
ROYAL FLUSH Gottlieb 1957 350/OBO
SUPER CIRCUS Gottlieb 1957 900
GUSHER Williams 1958 -
SUNSHINE Gottlieb 1958 600
LIGHTNING BALL Gottlieb
1959 -
MISS ANNABELLE Gottlieb
1959 -
PINCH HITTER (BASEBALL) Williams 1959 -
QUEEN OF DIAMONDS (NO GLASS) Gottlieb 1959 300
DARTS Williams 1960 -
WAGON TRAIN Gottlieb 1960 125
WORLD BEAUTIES Gottlieb
1960 550
BIG CASINO Gottlieb 1961 375
SHOWBOAT Gottlieb 1961 425
EGG HEAD Gottlieb 1962 650, 695
JOLLY JOKERS Williams
1962 -
BIG DEAL Williams 1963 500
MOON SHOT Bally 1963 NOT FOR
SALE
SWING TIME Williams 1963 -
BONANZA Gottlieb 1964 300
SOCCER Williams 1964 200
WING DING Williams 1964 325
BANK-A-BALL Gottlieb 1965 650
BOWL-A-STRIKE Williams
1965 350
CENTRAL PARK Gottlieb 1966 -
HOT LINE Williams 1966 395
PITCH 'N BAT (BASEBALL) Williams 1966 595
BLAST OFF Williams 1967 525
KING OF DIAMONDS Gottlieb
1967 350
SUPER SCORE Gottlieb 1967 300
FUN PARK Gottlieb 1968 550
HAYBURNERS II
Williams 1968 350
JOKER Bally 1968 600
MINI POOL Gottlieb 1969 325
HOME RUN Gottlieb 1971 500
ROLLER
COASTER
Gottlieb 1971 300
ZODIAC Williams 1971 -
FIREBALL Bally 1972 1000,
2500
MONTE CARLO Bally
1972 750
NIP-IT Bally 1972 800
SPANISH EYES Williams 1972 -
TIME ZONE Bally 1972 750
TRAVEL TIME Williams 1973 -
UPPER DECK (BASEBALL) Williams 1973 -
BIG INDIAN Gottlieb 1974 125
MAGNOTRON Gottlieb 1974 450
MYSTIC GATE (BINGO) Bally 1974 600
SKY LAB Williams 1974 -
HOKUS POKUS Bally 1975 -
OLD CHICAGO Bally 1975 500
WIZARD Bally 1975 475
AZTEC Williams 1976 325
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC Bally
1976 495-800
DERBY DAY (ROUGH) Williams
1976 OFFER
GRAND PRIX Williams
1976 600
SPIRIT OF '76 Gottlieb
1976 -
CLEOPATRA Gottlieb 1978 250
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS Gottlieb
1978 350
KISS
Bally 1978 595
SILVERBALL MANIA Bally
1978 650
WORLD CUP Williams 1978 -
FLASH Williams 1979 600
FUTURE SPA Bally 1979 -
GORGAR Williams 1979 650
HOT HAND Stern 1979 350
INCREDIBLE HULK Gottlieb
1979 -
METEOR Stern 1979 200-450
PINBALL POOL Gottlieb 1979 200
ROCK STAR Gottlieb 1979 450
SHARPSHOOTER Game Plan 1979 350
XENON Bally 1979 -
BLACK KNIGHT Williams 1980 700-750
CONEY ISLAND (OLD) Game Plan
1980 575
FATHOM Bally 1980 695
FIREPOWER Williams 1980 425
FLASH GORDON Bally 1980 595
FRONTIER Bally 1980 995
GALAXY Stern 1980 150
JAMES BOND Gottlieb 1980 500
SKATE BALL Bally 1980 375
ARENA Gottlieb 1981 750
BLACK HOLE Gottlieb
1981 150
CATACOMB Game Plan 1981 425
CENTAUR Bally 1981 600, 895
HYPERBALL Williams 1981 500
JUNGLE LORD Williams
1981 -
VECTOR Bally 1981 450, 695
EIGHT BALL DELUXE (LTD EDITION) Bally 1982 -
MR & MRS PAC MAN Bally 1982 450, 895
SPEAKEASY Bally 1983 750
X'S & O'S Bally 1983 -
COMET Williams 1985 -
CYCLOPES Gottlieb 1985 750
GOLD WINGS Gottlieb 1986 -
MILLIONAIRE Williams 1987 850
PARTY ANIMAL Bally 1987 850
SECRET SERVICE Data East
1988 -
SWORDS OF FURY Williams
1988 -
MICHAEL JORDAN Data East
1992 NOT FOR SALE
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Data East 1992 NEW
CUE BALL WIZARD Gottlieb
1992 NEW
In addition to the many pins for sale and
demonstration in the hall,
there
was also a good supply of parts to be had, especially at Steve and
Laura
Engle's Pinball Supermarket, the prize winning exhibit mentioned
earlier.
As usual there were also plenty of
pinball related literature for sale
in the
hall. Exhibit Hall Chairman Mike Pacak
had his usual booth with
pinball
brochures for sale, plus a selection of pinball books. Steve Young
also
had a wide selection of his quality reprints of pinball service and
parts
manuals, etc.
Bob Nelson and Neil Jamison from Wichita
were also selling pinball
literature
as well as a few select games, including the FIREBALL mentioned
earlier. Jim Tolbert's "For Amusement Only"
booth also sold a variety of
pin
literature and parts. In addition, Jim
held a mini-tournament on a
1963
Gottlieb SLICK CHICK. Incidentally,
pinball wizard Rick Stetta, who
later
won the Flip-Out tournament, also won the SLICK CHICK tournament.
In addition to the other pinball
literature, two magazines also were
represented
in the Exhibit Hall. Jim Schelberg from
Michigan had a booth
showing
off his great "pinball only" publication "PinGame Journal",
also
featuring
a display dealing with the design details of one of the
industry's
latest pins.
The other coin-op magazine to have a
booth was "Classic Amusements"
(formerly
"Slot-Box Collector"), their new editor Dick Bueschel manning the
booth. Sharing the booth with Dick was German
author Heribert (Heri) Eiden
with
his new pinball art book "Pinball Machines", available for sale and
autographing. Helping Heri at the booth was his charming
lady friend
Claudia.
I talked with Heri and Claudia many times
during the show and they
were
really friendly people, even helping to sell a few copies of my book
for
me. I also bought (well I actually used
my book which Heri wanted as
partial
payment) Heri's fine book. The book is
really great!; the best
all-round
pinball art book I have seen.
In addition to the many games and other
wares offered for sale in the
Exhibit
Hall, the second room also housed the display of the entries in the
pinball
art contest mentioned earlier. Also, on
Saturday afternoon, this
room was
the site of the 2nd annual autograph session where Expo visitors
could
meet and get autographs from many pinball designers, artists, and
authors.
Before ending my coverage of the show I
would like to tell of a bit of
personal
nostalgia that occurred. On the last
day I noticed offered for
sale an
article from my past; a postage stamp vending machine made by the
Shipman
Co. of Los Angeles in the late 1940's and early 1950's.
It seems that when I was a young teenager
I purchased one of these
machines
from the manufacturer (my father was operating candy machines made
by them
at around the same time to make ends meet while between jobs) and
operated
it in two grocery store locations to make a little extra spending
money.
I decided to purchase this item (the
price was right - only $35) for
nostalgic
reasons - the only coin machine I ever actually operated. I also
ended
up taking it on my return flight to Los Angeles as "carry-on
baggage",
tucked under my arm.
Well, there you have it again! Another detailed account of the
happenings
at another great Pinball Expo. And, as
I said earlier, Pinball
Expo
'93 will be held September 9th through 12th, 1993. Hope to see you
there!