Play Meter magazine

[RetroDefense]

Hello everyone,

So I've been hammering away at the Play Meter section of the magazine database and have created this thread to try and wrap up some loose ends.  If you're familiar with Play Meter magazine and can help clarify or confirm any details, answer questions, etc, please do so.  Thank you!

If you're unfamiliar with the magazine, Play Meter (aka Coin Industry Play Meter, aka Play Meter Magazine) was a trade publication covering the coin operated industry, including pinball and arcade video games.  It was made available to coin-op industry distributors, manufacturers, wholesalers, arcades, and related businesses and wasn't available via usual retail consumer channels.  The magazine ran continuously from December 1974 until June 2018, making it one of the rare few video game related mags to continue publication throughout the gaming crash of the 1980s, having published over 660 issues before ending with the publisher's retirement.

Play Meter was typically published monthly or twice-monthly during its lifetime.  This usually involved one or two magazine issues per month, but sometimes one magazine and one newsletter per month.  The newsletter - Play Meter Update (aka Coin Industry Play Meter Update, aka Play Meter Update Edition, aka Play Meter) - was volumized and numbered in chronological sequence with standard magazine issues, so when browsing our database, you'll find stints of alternating print formats (magazine, then newsletter, then magazine, etc).

Play Meter would regularly publish an annual Directory issue.  These Directories were essentially phone books of industry contact information - addresses, phone numbers, etc.  Throughout Play Meter's lifetime, these would be released as either a standard issue, as a supplement bundled with a standard issue, or as an extra issue per year.

From RetroMags' point of view, Play Meter essentially chronicled the rise and fall (and rise and fall again) of the arcade video game industry from a unique insider perspective.  When you factor in the low print numbers inherent of trade publications, its unique content, combined with the loss of Play Meter's own official archives during 2005's Hurricane Katrina, the magazine definitely has its place in our preservation efforts.

While working on the Play Meter dbase here at RetroMags, I've relied on various sources.  Full scans, of course (shoutout to @MigJmz, @hardcorehubz, and @E-Day), preserved here and elsewhere.  Official 2010-2018 digital releases from the (now defunct) Play Meter website.  Photographs of Play Meter issues from various websites - namely, online marketplaces and marketplace research tools.  And lastly, the Play Meter holdings of two museum libraries - The International Arcade Museum Library and the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play (part of The Strong Museum of Play).

Despite these sources, I haven't yet been able to confirm the existence of several Play Meter issues.  So based on issue numbering and Play Meter's publication schedule, the following have been added to the database as they are presumed to exist:

• Vol.2 No.13 (Nov 1976 Update) (confirmed!)
• Vol.3 No.2 (Jan 1977 Update) (confirmed!)
• Vol.3 No.10 (May 1977) - this one is something of an oddball, breaking the alternating mag/newsletter schedule (confirmed! (mislabeled as v3n9))
• Vol.4 No.16 (Sep 1978 Update) (confirmed!)
• Vol.5 No.2 (Feb 1979 Update) (confirmed!)
• Vol.5 No.4 (Mar 1979 Update) (confirmed!)
• Vol.5 No.6 (Apr 1979 Update) (confirmed!)
• Vol.6 No.2 (Jan 1980 Update) (confirmed!)
• Vol.6 No.8 (May 1980 Update) (confirmed!)
• Vol.6 No.10 (Jun 1980 Update) (confirmed!)
• Vol.28 No.9 (Aug 2002) (confirmed!)

The following Directory presumptions have been made:

• Vol.14 No.12 - 1989 Directory; presumed to be numbered Vol.14 No.12.
• Vol.25 No.2 - Presumed to be 1999 Directory.
• Vol.28 No.2 - Presumed to be 2002 Directory.
• Vol.33 No.2 - 2007 Directory; presumed to be numbered Vol.33 No.2.
• Vol.34 No.2 - Presumed to be 2008 Directory.
• Vol.35 No.2 - Presumed to be 2009 Directory.

Finally, some other notes and clarifications:

The Jan 1st 1983 and Jan 15th 1983 issues are reportedly both numbered Vol.9 No.1, so are listed in the dbase as 1a and 1b.

The Feb 15 1984 and Mar 1 1984 issues are reportedly both numbered Vol.10 No.4, so are listed in the dbase as 4a and 4b. (clarified! Feb 15 issue mislabeled as v10n4, actually v10n3)

Both the Jan 1979 issues are numbered Vol.5 No.1, but the Directory issue (1b) is likely a supplement of 1a.  Not confirmed however. (clarified! Directory is a supplement)

Vol.10 No.1 - not added to the dbase as its existence is doubtful (Vol.10 No.2 is very likely Vol.10 No.1) (clarified! v10n1 is mislabeled as v10n2)

Vol.7 No.3 - Did this issue include a supplement?

Vol.7 No.4 - presumed to be an Update issue. (confirmed!)

Vol.6 No.18 - this issue may be dated September.

Again, any help is appreciated - thanks, all!

[RetroDefense]

Thanks to @hardcorehubz, lots of info has been clarified and confirmed.  OP has been updated!