About
I originally created this website on the 24th of May 2002, as I had been collecting arcade games for some years and one of the games i was after was licenced by Centuri. Being from the UK there were not many machines available that were actually Centuri cabinets, so i began to import them in from the US and this is where my collection started.
... Enter Pleaides
The Centuri brochure says "Let's face it. You can't fool todays sophisticated players with a simplistic repetitive game theme. They want and deserve better."
- I wanted to re-visit a time in my youth, in the early 80's
- I first played Pleaides on a Caravan Park in Tenby, South Wales.
- The first Pleaides cabinet I purchased was in cocktail format, before finding the full upright.
In October 2008, I finally managed to go to Florida, and on a day trip to Miami we detoured and headed straight down to Hialeah and went on the hunt for the old Centuri Factory. After a mixture of directions I managed to find the industrial site and the actual units. Now owned by a company called Steer-Tech.
Centuri Swimmer
I imported this as an empty cabinet from the US. I had to make a backdoor, find a monitor and installed a PCB in order to get this to work.
Swimmer Details
Centuri Aztarac
Photo taken on a potato, but this was the closest i was to buying an Aztarac from Archer. A holy grail of Centuri games.
Aztarac Details
Centuri Tunnel Hunt
I bought this cab in a deal from the US, it was supplied via Dom Escott, unfortunatley on delivery Andrew Welburn had pinched its pcb. Luckily i was able to source other pcbs.
Tunnel Hunt DetailsThe Company
In November 1979 the company Allied Leisure Ind was sold to an investment company Koffman of Bingminton, NY. In an attempt to change the image a advertising company was paid to create a new name for Allied, and the company name was changed to Centuri Inc. This date is also rumoured to be July 29th 1980 instead. Centuri designed there own style of cabinets to house games they licensed from other game makers such as Tehkan International Corp, Shin Nihon Kikaku, Amstar Electronics Corp and Konami amongst many. In 1981 Centuri Inc was included amongst the top 6 video arcade suppliers alongside such companies as Midway Manufacturing, Atari Inc, Williams Electronics
Allied Leisure Industries
The company was formed in November 1968 by two guys called Ron Haliburton and Dave Braun. Inititally the games produced by Allied were only electromechanical and solid state pinballs but in March 1973 they produced a video game called Paddle Battle this was clone to Atari's success called PONG, and it is alleged it actually outsold the Atari version.
Centuri Inc
In November 1979 Allied Leisure had a change in company. Many of the original people no longer worked there and had gone to work with rival games makers, such as Atari and Midway. It was at this point Allied Leisure Industries was no more and a guy called Joel Hochberg spawned there name to Centuri Inc.
Location
Allied were based in the Hialeah area of Florida. Centuri Inc remained at the same premises as Allied, this was 4 large warehouses in an industrial park in Hialeah, Florida.
CENTURI INC.
245 W. 74TH PLACE,
HIALEAH,FLA 33014.
TEL. #(305) 558-5200 (IN FLORIDA).
TEL. #(800) 327-7710 (OUTSIDE FLORIDA).
TELEX: 803694 ANSB CENTURI CABLE: CENTURI
Affiliations
The majority of all games produced by Centuri Inc, were games licensed from other companys, sometimes under a different name but most of the time under the original name but for license in the US.
These included Cinematronics, Exidy, Nichibutsu, Tehkan, Sun Microsystems, SNK, Atari, Olympia and Konami.
Konami licenced multiple games to Centuri, but the other company tended to be for a single game in the hope to find that success.
Licences were later sold to the home computer market.
Koffman Investments
Centuri Inc was aquired by Richard & Burton Koffman two brothers who ran an investment company Koffmans in Binghampton, N.Y. They purchased of 30% of Centuri INc shares on the 20th August 1985.
Konami aquired a 5% stake in 1983 The final business ethics of Centuri Inc was something to be desired. However various lawsuits are linked with the company.
Centuri Direct Connection
The CENTURI DIRECT CONNECTION was a dynamic method of purchasing video games. It allowed operators to buy directly from Centuri at prices equal or below distributor costs. This was presented in the form of a Direct Connection Starter Kit.
Centuri Arcade Flyers
Centuri produced many types of arcade flyer to advertise its games in the coin-operated amusement industry. In some cases there are multiple flyers for individual games. To keep costs down some flyers star various staff from Centuri Inc, including the present and ceo as well as family members of staff you worked there.
View Advertising HistoryThe Games
Centuri designed there own style of cabinets to house games they licensed from other game makers such as Tehkan International Corp, Shin Nihon Kikaku, Amstar Electronics Corp and Konami amongst many.
- All
- Centuri
- Konami
- Other
Licencing
The majority of all games produced by Centuri Inc, were games licensed from other companys, sometimes under a different name but most of the time under the original name but for license in the US and UK. Some of these licences are still valid, and copyright to these games still exist to this day.
Centuri (Developed In-House)
- Aztarac
- Challenger
- Freddy Flames
- Killer Comet
- Megatack
Konami Licensed
- Badlands (GX455)
- Circus Charlie (GX380)
- Gyruss (GX347)
- Hyper Sports (GX330)
- Locomotion (GX359)
- Mikie (GX469)
- Track & Field (GX361)
- Time Pilot (GX393)
Other
- D-Day by Olympia Europe
- Eagle by Nichibutsu
- Killer Comet by GamePlan
- Guzzler & Pleiades & Route 16 by Tehkan
- Munch Mobile & Vanguard by SNK Corp
- Phoenix by Amstar
- Round Up by Hiraoka & Co Ltd
- Targ by Exidy
- Tunnel Hunt by Atari
The People
These are the people who made Centuri what it is today. A few years back I was lucky enough to interview some of them for this website, sadly some have since passed away.
Ron Halliburton
Founder of Allied Leisure
David Braun
Founder of Allied Leisure
Robert Braun
Allied Leisure - President
Leon Braun
Allied Leisure - VP Engineering
Arnold A Fisher
Sales Executive
Richard Shaw
Sales Executive
Troy Livingstone
Pinball Designer
Jack Pearson
ELM / Arcade Designer
Edd Miller
Centuri Inc - Vice President
Ivan Rothstein
Centuri Inc - VP Sales
Arnold Kaminkow
Centuri Inc - President
Tom Siemieniec
Hal Dean
Centuri Inc - Software Designer
Lee Feuling
Centuri Inc - Software Designer
Tim Stryker
Centuri Inc - Software Designer
Steve Zarzecki
Centuri Inc - Hardware Designer
Wille Maybohm
Centuri Inc - Junior Developer
Wilkes
Centuri Inc - ArtistThe Interviews
Back in 2006 I set about trying to contact various people who are part of the Centuri journey. Out of the many people I had managed to track down I was lucky enough to geta response from 3 key members of Centuri and the interviews can be viewed below and are also linked on the persons profile above.