Involved with coin-op since childhood, Apple Industries’ Allen Weisberg has made it into the Amusement Industry Hall of Fame. After World War II, his father Abe became a mechanic in New York City repairing amusement devices throughout the 1950s and ’60s.
As the story goes, when he was 10 years old, Allen’s dad took him to visit Al Simon (another Hall of Famer), who ran a dealership on NYC’s “Coin Row.”
The first floor of Simon’s building had a small showroom of equipment that fascinated Allen. Seeing his excitement, Simon asked him if he liked what he saw to which the boy answered something along the lines of “This looks like a pretty good business.” Then they went into the basement where the photo booths were located.
“Now this is a business,” Simon said. That moment stays with Weisberg to this day as one of the world’s most prominent photo booth manufacturers.
At age 20, Weisberg joined his father’s route full time, expanding into arcades during the video game boom. By the mid-1990s, with arcade revenues in decline, the business pivoted into what it is today.
Weisberg discovered SNK’s Neo Print sticker machines at an IAAPA Expo and began operating them, eventually becoming their exclusive North American distributor and later their master distributor for video games.
“When SNK folded, he saw an opportunity to revive the classic photo booth – this time with modern technology,” said AAMA’s Pete Gustafson in his induction speech. “He put a small team together and developed the Face Place Deluxe. That proved to be the catalyst for what has grown into the world’s largest photo booth manufacturer.
“What started as a family route business has grown into a global enterprise and now spans three generations. More than anything, he’s proud that he and his team have been able to create millions of smiles along the way.”
Added RePlay Publisher Eddie Adlum: “Al Weisberg is a native New Yorker like me but started out in coin-op much, much earlier when working with his father as a youngster. He’s the best storyteller about the old days I ever met. He can bring those old-timey operators to life when he thinks back on them. Allen’s a walking history book about the early days in the New York City coin machine business and a talented comedian to boot.”