JERSEY JACK

By Jack Guarnieri, PinballSales.com & ShuffleAlley.com

Work Hard, Play Hard - Learn More

Some people say James Brown is the hardest working man in show business. As I write this month's column, I'm on Maui. Luckily, that's six hours earlier than Jersey time, and Joanne is still sleeping so I'm not cutting into our vacation together. It's important to get away and recharge your batteries. Life is short, and you should all take the opportunities or rather create the opportunities to take a break.

Coin-op is in our blood so we're never far from our business. I didn't go out of my way, but while on a walk in Kona we passed an arcade and I had to go in. They had mostly older driving games and the usual staple redemption games, and it was pretty busy. On Oahu, while we walked along what is now called the new Soho next to Chinatown in downtown Honolulu, we passed another arcade. I went in and they had about 20 old Gottlieb and Williams wood rail bingo machines along with about a dozen touchscreen games; that was it. The bingo games really blew me away. I asked the attendant if I could take pictures of them, and he looked at me as if he was deciding which to break first, my camera or my face. I was amazed to see so many old machines in such good condition in one place being used commercially. However, as you can plainly see, there's no picture of the bingo games with this article.

I thought that the AMOA show was pretty good. Most of the people seemed to be in a good mood. The "usual suspects" complained that there was nothing to buy or that there was too much product aimed at the bar market. I saw a lot of opportunities with different companies showing some new and different products, as well as some new versions of great earning games.

In the TLC Industries booth, there were some great games. They've been contract manufacturing tens of thousands of games for our industry and now, with their home-grown products, that experience really shines through. With their Power Shot series of pool and dart games and Texas Fold 'Em you can find some different games that will have legs for you. Talk to "Bagel" Bob Goodman or to creative genius Ed Bender for awhile and your head will spin. They have a powerful lineup of content and more games in the pipeline. Talk with them about the online options for their games, too. You can quickly see that they have the operator in mind when their design team created their lineup.

JVL's new 17" Vortex countertop is really cool. The new games on the bigger screen really jump at you. The beautifully styled, glowing frame around the monitor welcomes this piece into any establishment and says "high tech" from across the room. Everyone really enjoyed the game play experience on JVL's powerpad, which consists of two optical switch side buttons and a center navigational disc. Players can choose to play on the powerpad or the touchscreen or both. My favorite three games were the Done Drinking, Texas Hold'em No Limit and Crazy Quarters. Shipping is scheduled to begin early this month and JVL is swamped with orders. This company is really innovative, and I like their products a lot because they listened to customers and use flash memory, not hard drives that can crash.

I liked the Bowl O'Rama and Mario Kart, both from Namco. There's room for another bowling game, and this one is retro cool and fun to play. Mario Kart should be in every single family entertainment center on earth. The game will earn steadily and is a very well known and loved franchise. I remember when we would feed content to home game systems, but here the recognition is a big plus. Check out the new version Tekken as well.

At Stern Pinball, NASCAR is the latest game. I think Pat Lawlor and his design team did an excellent job bringing the excitement of real-life racing to the pinball playfield. It's a great theme and another long distance runner. With small reruns of Elvis and Lord of the Rings planned for this month, Stern is staying in touch with demand. Plus the resale value for good used Stern pinball machines is at an all-time high. With the holidays around the corner, now may be the time to refresh your pinball lineup. Operators must start to embrace the ToPs Tournament system, as well as trying Spanish speech options for their Spanish-speaking locations. Both can really enhance the cashbox in certain locations.

If it's November, it's time for IAAPA. I went to my first IAAPA show in Washington, D.C. in 1990. Almost no coin-op amusement games were on display. I operated games in Nellie Bly Park in Brooklyn at the time so I figured why not go and see what that part of the amusement business had to show. I was hooked, and now I look forward to it every year. Today, the IAAPA show has become an important place for coin-op to be shown to another part of the amusement industry. Everyone should always be looking for new ideas, and I highly recommend taking in IAAPA.

One of the best things about tradeshows and travel is that both open you up to a world of different places, new ideas and a refreshing outlook on what you can do better.

Like James Brown, we all work hard. I think we all play hard, too. I'm going out to relax right now and maybe even think of some new ideas. See you in Atlanta!

Jack Guarnieri started fixing electro-mechanical pinball machines in 1975 and has been involved in every phase of the coin-op game business since then. He operated a substantial game route in Brooklyn, N.Y., developed amusement centers and was called in as a consultant to manage Mondial Distributing and State Sales in New Jersey. In 1999, he founded PinballSales.com to sell coin-op to the home market. In 2002, he founded ShuffleAlley.com and released the Parker Bohn III Pro Bowler game, reviving the shuffle alley. His positive attitude, honest insights and opinions have made him a popular figure in the trade. While managing and growing his businesses, he still consults inside and outside the industry, and his marketing, promotional and business management expertise are widely sought. He's very active in his church, community and charitable causes as well. You can learn more at his websites (www.PinballSales.com and www.ShuffleAlley.com) or by phoning him at 866/323-JACK. Email is Jack@Pinballsales.com.

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