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Coin-Op history -- 1975 to 1997 -- from the pages of RePlay

 

1975:

A SMALL, CLUBBY INDUSTRY

85 exhibitors at the MOA Show in Chicago
music, pins, pool & cigarettes dominate market (in that order)
Midway bows Sea Wolf; Atari bows Jet Fighter video
 

1976:

DEFEAT ON JUKEBOX COPYRIGHT

President Ford signs law requiring jukebox copyright license fees
54,000 video games sold this year
Warner Bros. buys Atari for $28 million
MOA renames itself AMOA (the first A for "Amusement")
Columbia Pictures buys Gottlieb for $47 million
 

1977:

ARCADES & AMUSEMENTS RISING

video & pins become major attractions
Bally renames its 100+ arcade chain "Aladdin's Castle"
Chicago legalizes pinball
Bally bows solid-state pinball
flipper sales are very strong (Eight Ball, Black Knight)
NSM jukeboxes appear in USA
 

1978:

PINBALL IS KING

another year of rising sales
industry grosses $1 billion annually, says Gallup
pinball earns 53% of national cashbox, readers tell RePlay
Arachnid bows electronic darts
Valley creates pool league
distributors begin handling several music brands
first payout games shown at AMOA Expo
AMOA sues Copyright Royalty Tribunal to protect operator privacy
 

1979:

VIDEO BOOM BEGINS

machine sales & earnings rise 50% over last year
industry grosses $1.5 billion annually, says Gallup
Space Invaders, Asteroids become the rage
Bally spins off independent pinball division
Williams' Gorgar: first "talking" pinball
video pokers go into production
in Japan, Data East creates trade's first video "system"
 

1980:

INDUSTRY DOUBLES ANNUAL GROSS

industry doubles annual grosses to $3 billion, says Gallup
"everybody & his brother" gets into video operating
Missile Command ships on 50 cent play
counterfeit games & knockoffs become a problem
RePlay debuts "Player's Choice" chart
pinball sales are way, way down from peak
NBC does onetime telecast of "Annual Jukebox Awards"
 

1981:

ANNUAL GROSS MORE THAN DOUBLES AGAIN!

industry grosses $7 billion annually, says Gallup
the PacMan era (character makes covers of "Time" & "Mad" magazines)
top video titles reach 100,000 units sales (from 1979)
knockoff videos more prevalent than ever
dedicated games the norm, but Sega bows "quick-change system"
Rock-Ola, Dynamo, Gottlieb build videos
factories form ADMA trade association (will later become AAMA)
closeouts & oversupply begins in USA
 

1982:

DOWNSLIDE BEGINS

analyst estimates 370,000 arcade videos
industry gross drops sharply (below $6 billion), says Gallup
Ms. Pac-Man appears (will eventually sell 100,000+ units)
speedup kits prompt factories to file copyright suits
Universal's Mr. Do! is 1st successful video kit
U.S. Surgeon General denounces video games
12,792 attend AMOA Expo
 

1983:

PORTRAIT OF A CRASH

trade earnings drop below $5 billion annually, says Gallup
more closeouts
more factories (reluctantly) offer video kits
trade analyst sees 100,000 fewer videos in U.S. arcades
Atari enters arcade chain operations
laserdisc videos soar, then flop, with Dragon's Lair, etc.
Nebrasksa experiments with video lottery
 

1984:

TRADE HITS BOTTOM

Gallup: trade earnings bottom out around $4 billion
Warner sells parts of Atari to Namco, others
Stern, Mylstar, Pizza Time Theaters enter Chapter 11
Bally buys Sente (manufacturer)
South Carolina, Minnesota legalize pay-off vidpoker
Space Shuttle heralds pinball revival
Premier Technology formed
Data East's Karate Champ paves way for video revival
Rowe emerges as jukebox leader
 

1985:

A TURNAROUND YEAR

kits, martial arts games, advanced simulators revive video
jukebox compromise allows cheaper, transferrable licenses
Montana legalizes video poker
AAMA, Playmeter hold separate expos
AMOA hires Smith, Bucklin as new management
Bally begins selling dealerships
Capcom opens U.S. new office
 

1986:

INDUSTRY COMEBACK; NEW TECHNOLOGY ARRIVES

AAMA, AOE expos blend into ACME
CD, "combo" & nostalgia jukeboxes start selling
Williams starts new pinball era with High Speed
some ops begin using desktop computer software for route management
"crane" boom begins
Nintendo NES home game system launched successfully
AAMA's Glen Braswell resigns, Bob Fay hired as investigator
 

1987:

COPYBOARD WAR; CRANE BOOM

industry sees itself as "basically healthy"
copyboard arrests continue
parallels debated in U.S. Senate & courts, AMOA & AAMA disagree
over 40 companies making cranes & rotaries
Taito debuts Double Dragon: biggest earnings for an upright video since Pac-Man
Data East ships first pins
Nintendo home games: Christmas sales boom; major impact seen on coin-op
 

1988:

THE PARALLEL WAR; SALES & EARNINGS FLAT

sales of coin-op games "flat," say factories & distribs
home video boom continues
operator Bill Beckham sues Taito America & AAMA re: parallel imports
worldwide chip shortage impacts trade
CD juke sales good; ops fear for future supplies of 45 records
Star*Tech Journal gives US ops their 1st computer bulletin board
mini theme parks & big FECs begin appearing
Bally-Midway sold to Williams
Namco splits from Atari manufacturing
 

1989:

THE HIT SYNDROME...AND VLTS

arcades still earning well, redemption growing
overall coin-op video income down, home games blamed
"hit syndrome" dominates coin-op video game market
C-stores, supermarkets ban or reduce videos
US ops achieve jukebox copyright license agreement
Taito wins appeal; parallels illegal
South Dakota begins legal video poker, U.S. ops seek same
Bally sells Aladdin's Castle arcades
John Schumacher AMOA's new exec VP
 

1990:

VLT FEVER PEAKS; CONGRESS OK'S PARALLELS

video market still weak, earnings down
AAMA sets Mexico show; factories target export markets
Congress oks parallels; President Bush signs law
Oregon ops lose vidpoker market to state-run machines
AMOA & US ops still crazy for VLTs; AAMA admits vidpoker mfrs.
virtual reality begins getting attention
vinyl 45 records "dying," says Billboard Magazine
redemption becomes central to industry
Namco buys Atari arcades; Time-Warner buys Atari Games
 

1991:

FIGHTING GAMES DOMINATE MARKET

Capcom bows mega-hit Street Fighter II, leads a winning year
Gulf War causes brief (but big) earnings dip
hit syndrome intensifies: only the top 3 games really sell
earnings trend: average redemption game tops average video
parallels become legal; parallel sales slow, market confused
trade begins to fear fiberoptic threat
Arachnid bows new dart game system with modem capability
 

1992:

U.S. WANTS KITS; JAPAN PUSHES SIMULATORS

overall sales & earnings up, but "hit syndrome" stronger than ever
Nintendo has record profits (home games); exits coin-op
redemption sales have their peak year; market growing strongly
controversy erupts about revenue sharing
JAMMA Show heavy on large arcade games
Williams hits post-WWII pinball sales record with Addams Family
AMOA quietly begins networking project
Louisiana opens market for legal video poker
1st U.S. VR center opens
Antique Apparatus buys Rock-Ola
 

1993:

ARCADES TAKE LEAD; VIOLENCE TAKES SPOTLIGHT

arcades earnings remain good; smaller street operators hurting
record earnings for Japanese factories (16-bit home games in lead)
FECS & kiddie-oriented sites expand their chains
large street operators consolidate market, buy more routes
redemption takes 1/3 of space at U.S. trade shows
U.S. Senate slams violent video games; demands "voluntary" ratings
7-Eleven bans video from corporate stores
landbased casinos & Indian gaming are booming
Namco buys Aladdins arcades
AAMA moves to Chicago, redefines mission
 

1994:

CONSOLIDATION & HI-TECH FEVER

almost all segments report "soft market" for sales & earnings
Japanese factory earnings plummet
Sega buys Data East Pinball
AMOA announces video network project
NTN Communications downloads video games to bars
virtual reality has some solid successes
Indian & other casinos keep growing; slots legal in 25 states
Sega, WMS, Capcom tie-in vidgames, TV channels, movies
 

1995:

THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WORST OF TIMES?

large, progressive street ops report solid earnings
small & middle-sized ops, distributors sing the blues
FECs bemoan "sophomore slump"
Japanese factories report huge losses for fiscal 1994-95
32-bit home video arrives
NANI & Incredible Technologies field-test video networks
"location based entertainment" sites, virtual reality take off
 

1996:

GLITZ & MEGABUCKS RISING

1997:

LBE EXPANSION

Dave & Buster's: record earnings & expansion
Disney, Sony, WalMart, etc., enter the LBE market
Congress OKs new dollar coin
AMOA Expo previews CD-ROM video games
Fun Expo sold to Reed Exhibitions
Cigarette vending ops seek cut of U.S. tobacco settlement
 

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