It is thanks to people like him that there are places all over this country that we can still go to and play restored pins in top condition.

Las Vegas, Asbury Park, you name it....

What, kids like playing things other than Console games?



You mean you have to use your hands? that's like a baby's toy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMy1zO8m8sM (new window)

I Have The Touch of a Shocked Monkey: CruiserTwelve: He's like a pinball......wizard!

You mean Helen Keller?

I think you're thinking of Anne Frank.

/unauthorized spin-off
//unauthorized hotlink

I wish pinball machines were more prevalent so that it wouldn't be *just* two companies fighting for the top spot (Stern and Jersey Jack Pinball). That way it would be back to original titles and not just movie and other media led games.

/nearby Asbury Park for Silverball museum
//somewhat farther away from Lakewood for Jersey Jack Pinball

I got this box of used pinball machine parts...

My kid playing my Dad's machine:

Link (new window)

i have a stern meteor machine from 1979 (it was in the movie dodgeball in one scene i just noticed the other day). i also have a 1978 bally nitro groundshaker , which everytime i watch goodfellas i can't help but noticing.

I dated a guy in my late teens whose dad did this sort of thing (along with being a local video game distributor to the bars and restaurants in the area). He had at least half a dozen Addams Family games in various states of cannibalization or playability, had one of the old Playboy games and an old Dukes of Hazard one IIRC. DigDug was upstairs in the loft along with a couple of really old pachinko games and a veritable 80's video game graveyard.

I have lots of good memories of hours in that workshop/pole barn playing pinball and doing...other things...

/but boyfriend ended up being a lying cheating cokehead so he had to go

chemrebel: /but boyfriend ended up being a lying cheating cokehead so he had to go

You say that like it is a bad thing.

I got ripped off buying a Lance Armstrong machine on eBay.

Mr. Potatoass: I got ripped off buying a Lance Armstrong machine on eBay.

I sold an air guitar on ebay for $200.

Came for Randyland.

Leaving disappointed.

That store is cool and all, but it's only open like 2 days a week.

Twitch Boy: Before LEDs:

[fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net image 640x480]

After:

[fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net image 640x853]

That looks amazing, I would love to play it!

/only played a BK2000 once, party at South Amboy of guys who restore old machines.
//left flipper didn't work, still was able to get RANSOM wizard mode without that flipper

mrmyxolodian: That store is cool and all, but it's only open like 2 days a week.

With the way the market is for used amusements, it's probably all the electricity he can afford ...



//Do this as a hobby, ~wish~ there was potential enough for a career.

I've always had a soft spot for Road Show even though it was a fairly simple game and had lots of extra doodads that loved to break. If I was putting together a basement arcade, it would be that, Twilight Zone, and Theater of Magic. I know how beloved The Addams Family was, but it never thrilled me as a game. I'd pad out with some of the classic mid 80s games. No interest in the stuff before that as stylistically they were really neat but gameplay-wise they were typically shiat.

Tofino: Theater of Magic

GORGAR SPEAKS

Hey, buddy!

Genju: [t0.gstatic.com image 256x192]

Hey, buddy!

Oh man, I loved playing that one for a while...

Mateorocks: Genju: [t0.gstatic.com image 256x192]

Hey, buddy!

Oh man, I loved playing that one for a while...

Getting the pinball in the open mouth while being taunted was a crowning achievement.

@chemrebel: mom?

I used to do repairs for a local coin-op business and had to fix an Elvira pinball that had been in operation since I used to play it at the local arcade as a child. The business had a warehouse full of really cool vintage games, some of which were pre solid state, and very rare.

So, some guy repairs pinball machines. How is this newsworthy or even farkworthy? Did someone think that little fairies fixed them? i saw this in the star tribune and wondered why it was newsworthy, now its on fark, i understand this less...am i missing something here on why someone thinks this is worthy of note somehow? I fixed a pinball machine once and also helped repair a couple of video games, where is my freakin news story?

There aren't a lot of people fixing pinball anymore. Case in point - my dad has a Chicago Coin "Kicker" (pops).

The backglass needs to be repainted, and he can't find anyone willing to work on it. I'll grant you that he probably hasn't looked too hard, but I know he called a few repair shops and nobody would touch it for fear of damaging the glass and leaving him worse than he started.

My wife and I used to work at the same mall in our misspent youth. Every night when we got off, we'd go to the movie theater and play a few games on the addam's family pin that was there. One day we'll have that machine in our home and, every once in a while, for nostalgia's sake, we'll power it on and let thing steal the ball a few times.

One day.....

DarkSoulNoHope: I wish pinball machines were more prevalent so that it wouldn't be *just* two companies fighting for the top spot (Stern and Jersey Jack Pinball). That way it would be back to original titles and not just movie and other media led games.

/nearby Asbury Park for Silverball museum
//somewhat farther away from Lakewood for Jersey Jack Pinball

and why the f**k would they pick the Wizard of Oz for their first game? Is there some huge untapped market of pinball queens somewhere out there? Freaking bizarre.

Plenty of restorers round. Good times. 4 pins in my living room, and designing a new motherboard and program for the Fireball....