By Ingrid Adlum Milkes
Our intrepid Publisher (and my dad) Eddie Adlum was among the 31 coin-op individuals living and deceased to make up the inaugural class of the Amusement Industry Hall of Fame.
Dad started RePlay in our kitchen in 1975, a few days after leaving Cashbox Magazine, where he worked for 11 years. My first job (at 6 years old) was to color in mock-up covers while he tried to figure out what to call his new venture. Arcade was an early candidate and I loved it, but he landed on RePlay with the capital “P” and the rest is history. 48 years on, I guess he knew what he was doing.
The man credited with coining the term “video game” covered more meetings, distributor open houses, trade shows, equipment debuts and “manhole cover openings,” as he likes to say, than probably most other people in our industry. He was always flying off somewhere and luckily, he liked to take me along for the ride. I loved traveling with him and meeting up with people like Nolan Bushnell at his house (another HOF inductee), Al Kress, Bill Cravens and Shelley Sax.
He took me to Tavern on the Green in NYC when Midway introduced Tron (I have one of those games in my basement!). He even included me when, in 1986, Bally/Sente hosted a screening of his 1974 classic horror movie Invasion of the Blood Farmers. I got to hand him his beer. (Those days are long gone, but the memories are unforgettable.)
Dad still comes to the office 3-4 days a week where he brings me the mail and we proofread or sometimes just chat about work, my kids or our gardens.
At nearly 84 years old, he shows zero signs of slowing down and I couldn’t be more grateful to work with him. He’s one of the good ones as they say, and the Hall of Fame is lucky to have picked him. Way to go, Pop!