Hi All:
Found your site a little while back and decided to join and say hello.  I am a yank working in Ontario, been here about a year, very much enjoy it!
I am an old game junkie from back in the day (late 70's/early 80's of course), grew up in Jersey, spent many a summer day on the boardwalk arcades in Atlantic City.  I guess my claim to fame is that I was employed by WMS for a few years in the late 90's.  Unfortunately I worked in the gaming division which to pinball enthusiasts is the equivelent of the "Dark Side".  Got to meet many pinball folk though, may have even met a few of you at the PinExpo back then.
One question, aside from the Playdium and a few movie theatres I've seen very few games here, is this pretty much the state of pinball/video across Canada?
The number of arcades has dropped dramatically in the States as well but not nearly as barren as this.  You guys are like the pinball underground - the last bunch of silverball rebels left    
Anyway, keep up the fight!

Jayd

Welcome, welcome! It isn't the darkside to those of us that also collect slot and pachinko machines!    I can't speak for the entire province, but yet, other than a few glow in the dark golf ranges and Union Station (hic) I think teh "Golden Horsehoe" is probably the least "pinned" province.  Certainly Quebec still has a bigger romance with the silver ball from what I've heard, but others here can give you a first hand impression.

IN fact slots gaming facilities would do well to put a few gambling modified pinballs in casinos.  Think about you get to play, but the computer also gives you a chance to win back some change ... the machines would likely keep people playing pinball 24/7. (By the way, if that idea flies, I have a patent, and want a share of the booty!)  

Players would love that!  Imagine the average guy walking into a casino and being able to win $$ based on hand-eye co-ordination.
Don't think the house would be too thrilled though,  it would be a slippery slope to introduce an extensive skill factor into a random game of chance.

Quoted from websherpa

Certainly Quebec still has a bigger romance with the silver ball from what I've heard, but others here can give you a first hand impression.  

Arcades are nearly all dead in Quebec due to licensing fees. The previous statement was maybe true 25 years ago.

love that quote "the pinball underground "

Arcades may be dead but pinball is alive and well in Ontraio.  If you are in the Toronto Area for work, consider trying to make it out for a Toronto Pinball League event, we play every Monday at various collector locations in and around Toronto.

There are also the Church of the Silver Ball Tournaments every month.

Also mabye this year we might see the return of the Toronto Game Room Show, was talking with Mike Hanely and he said he is trying to work something out with Nick Angel to try and start that up again and have a show in Nov this year.  

Sparks, that' may explain why we see so many used games coming out of Quebec these days.

Quoted from websherpa

Sparks, that' may explain why we see so many used games coming out of Quebec these days.

Yessir... with a nearly 400$ licensing fee per machine per year, it gets WAY too expensive to run an arcade now. Sad reality in Quebec. Especially with the price of games today...

That's brutal, it is hard to believe that a government would tax a struggling industry to death like that.

Although maybe that is what they want?? I would imagine that some politicians still  view "arcades" in the same light as drugs and gangs, corrupting our youth and all that.

When I got caught in an arcade as a child I was told that pinball was "the devil's pulpit" ,as if satan was channeling himself directly through a wedgehead.

Quoted from jayd

That's brutal, it is hard to believe that a government would tax a struggling industry to death like that.

...they run the casino so ...

Quoted from jayd

as a child I was told that pinball was "the devil's pulpit" ,as if satan was channeling himself directly through a wedgehead.

Sounds like an interesting theme. I think I would like one of those.

Dave, you got one of those yet?

Quoted from jayd

That's brutal, it is hard to believe that a government would tax a struggling industry to death like that.

Although maybe that is what they want?? I would imagine that some politicians still  view "arcades" in the same light as drugs and gangs, corrupting our youth and all that.

When I got caught in an arcade as a child I was told that pinball was "the devil's pulpit" ,as if satan was channeling himself directly through a wedgehead.

It's not about good or bad... it is simply about the money. The provincial government saw in the early 80's how much money arcades were raking in, it was astronomical, so they decided to get their piece of the pie. By doing so, they contributed to almost kill all the arcades in Quebec. Simple as that... pure greed.

Good point Sparky -greed has a tendency to blind common sense

In the US, amusement taxes can be levied by either state or local government, sometimes amusement games are lumped in with all coin machines (food vending, laundry, etc).  The amusement industry has lobbyists to "educate" government about the state of the industry and in many cases have been successful in repealing the taxes or reducing the license costs.  Major operators or distributors in Quebec should have had access to this in the 80's and 90's (not so much now as the lobbyists primarily work for the benifit of the gaming industry - thank WMS and IGT for that).
Quebec probably knew about the state of the industry - given that tax revenue from amusement licenses would have dropped severely over the last few years - perhaps they choose not to do anything about it as they would rather be rid of the arcades then throw them a lifeline.
...or perhaps as Mrhide suggested, they are just too busy counting casino money to care at all.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Sounds like an interesting theme. I think I would like one of those.

Dave, you got one of those yet?

Well, If you ask my Wife, I do!!  

Dave

AS an aside, I have seen quite a number of Fruit Machines coming out of Quebec and they appear to all be made to operate only on credits.  My understanding is that they came from bars and clubs, and that like trade stimulators, they were said to entertain clients, but that the bar tenders exchanged things like cigarettes and booze for credit wins.  This is proported to be recent history.  Is this true?  Not sure what's happenign now that casinos abound, but all along there has been a Federal criminal law on the books prohibiting the ownership of any device which uses slot reels (the grey area is that they normally only prosecute if it is found they are being used for illegal gaming).  I wonder if Who?Dunnit owners are taking a risk?