Chexx table hockey game

[vorlon42]

Some more Moog trivia.....

About 20 years ago, a Buffalo, NY-based company called Innovative Concepts in Entertainment rolled out a heavy-duty arcade-quality table hockey game called Chexx. Like the old "slot hockey" games many of us who grew up in the northern US and Canada had when we were kids, we could control each player (forwards, defensemen, and goaltender) by pushing and pulling a rod for each player, and turn the player by twisting the rod left and right. The playing arena was encased in a hard lucite dome, so that the puck wouldn't fly out of the arena.

On top of the dome was an box scoreboard with three lights on each of its four sides, and sound-generation circuitry that would play crowd noises and organ "charge" riffs. The electronics for the game was manufactured by.....Moog Music. The Moog logo was featured prominently on the scoreboard.

The Chexx game, and successive versions, can be found in various game rooms, arcades, amusement parks, and sports bars around the world. The most recent version is called Super Chexx. (Unfortunately, it lacks the Moog music circuitry.)

[MC]

I got a tour of the Buffalo Moog Music factory in 1985. In 1998 I had a job assignment in Buffalo and revisited the factory building.

The whole building was littered with vendor sales booths and was open to the public. And the only hint of its former glory was one of these Moog hockey games in the gameroom.

Moog Music became Moog Electronics after getting out of the music instrument business. In addition to the hockey game, they made phones too.

Then they were bought by EJE Electronics and tooled up to make... guitar amps. They still had some Moog stuff left over, I bought my Taurus II controller (no brain) at that time.

[vorlon42]

I got a tour of the Buffalo Moog Music factory in 1985. In 1998 I had a job assignment in Buffalo and revisited the factory building.

The whole building was littered with vendor sales booths and was open to the public. And the only hint of its former glory was one of these Moog hockey games in the gameroom.

I only got to go into the Moog Music factory once, when I helped my friend Glenn return the Minimoog and Polymoog he rented in '81. I didn't get very far into the plant (security reasons, y'know?), but I remember seeing a stack of Concertmate MG-1's on a pallet, waiting to be boxed and shipped out.

The site of the Moog Music plant on Walden Ave. was right next to the GEX flea market -- or was it called Super Flea? -- which explains the sight you saw.

I always say "Moog Music" and not "Moog" because there's a Moog plant in East Aurora that manufactures auto parts, and had no relation whatsoever to Moog Music.

For what it's worth, an old Wurlitzer factory in North Tonawanda has also been abandoned and left in disrepair. I don't remember if they made theater organs or jukeboxes there. (Although the Mighty Wurlitzer in the Riviera Theatre in downtown North Tonawanda has been restored to its former glory.)

Remember Polyfusion? They used to make modular synths too. They're now in the high-end audio business. I've no idea if the Harald Bode Co. is still around. (After coming to the US, Bode worked for Wurlitzer for a time before forming his own company. He retired in '74.) And as far as I know, QRS Music Rolls is still in business, and has apparently gone into the MIDI piano business. The Buffalo, NY area seems to be where lots of musical instrument companies did their business in relative anonymity, but have either moved elsewhere, diversified, or folded.

[MC]

Yup, it was/is GEX flea market.

There's a "Moog" that is in culinary products too...

Buffalo has MANY abandoned buildings, empty and in disrepair for thirty years or more. Not just steel but durable goods manufacturing buildings. It's really depressing to visit. Back in 2000 they finally started tearing them down - about time!!! The first to go was the Westinghouse plant on the airport grounds, a HUGE place abandoned in the sixties and left to rot for nature to reclaim. Now what kind of impression would that leave on a visitor's first flight to Buffalo...?

I remember reading about the Riviera Theatre Wurlitzer - restoration was in progress by the time I finished working out there, never got to see it. The Tonawanda Wurlitzer plant did indeed build theatre organs, jukeboxes, band organs, the works - I read about it in the newspaper back then.

The guys who started Polyfusion used to work at Moog Music, they got frustrated trying to convince them to upgrade their modulars and left to start Polyfusion. Although they have long been out of the music instrument business, word is that a full modular system resides in their conference room.

The Bode company perished with the man.

[vorlon42]

I remember the old Westinghouse building. The company closed the plant in the early '80s. They tore it down to expand and consolidate the airport terminal.

Jobs were scarce too. I couldn't find anything in either Buffalo or Rochester when I graduated in '88. And so I moved to Dayton in the summer of '89.

Would I ever go back to my home town of Buffalo? I often visit, but I really doubt I'll get a job there.

[MC]

I graduated from RIT in '88. Where did you go to school?

[LWG]

Hello,

BTW: Polyfusion made a (i believe) four octave remote keyboard for their modulars that used a type of reed switch and was more dureable than the
j-wire keyboards at the time.
Steve Porcaro had two of them, and I've rarely seen any of them floating around for sale.


regards,



LWG

[vorlon42]

I graduated from RIT in '88. Where did you go to school?

SUNY/Buffalo. Started off as an EE major; defected to CS.

[LWG]

Hello,

Link to old brochure for Polyfusion system. The boards at the top are the
original 20xx series 4-oct models and the partial shot of the one at the
bottom is a later model (2058) that was 6-oct and polyphonic.
These keyboards were a compact, solid design.


http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~wz4k-tnk/modula/poly.html


regards,


LWG