Monday, Jul. 25, 1988

Business Notes MANUFACTURING

Even hardened video-game junkies know that when the quarters run out, it is time to quit playing. That time has come for Bally, the entertainment powerhouse that once had the whole country zapping Space Invaders and propelling Pac-man through a maze. After 57 years of making pinball machines and, later, video games, the Chicago-based company announced it would sell its arcade-game division to WMS Industries, its major competitor, for $8 million. Video games earned Bally $91 million in 1982, but in 1983 the video craze cooled and profits plummeted to $5.2 million. Bally, which owns four gambling casinos in Nevada and New Jersey, will keep making slot machines and video lottery games, which earned $182 million last year. In the Chicago plant used to make the arcade games, Bally will produce weight-lifting machines and other health-club equipment for Life Fitness, a subsidiary.