Getting Started, a whirlwind couple years

December 2018 my Wife and I shared a listing for Gottlieb's Top Card for sale on Facebook with her Dad.  He had loved and played that game for years at his in-law's home in St. Louis and quickly got on board with buying this one.  The next day my wife Stephanie and I drove from Houston to Gatesville to pick up the game, which had come from the towns still extant drive in movie theater.  The game didn't work, but was in decent shape, and although I had never worked on (or really seen the inside of) a pinball machine I love tinkering on things so figured it would be a good project. Fortunately it was a good machine to learn on, and opened the door to a hobby I never pictured myself in.  I liked pinball as a kid, and my Uncle had a machine up in New York I thought was cool, but my main hobbies had been train, car and electronic related....so this kinda fell into the latter and took over.

A few months after picking up Top Card for the in-laws I found Super Score down in Corpus Christi...it was a long drive, but a cheap price.  The dirty game cleaned up surprisingly well and Stephanie loved it!  She picked out a good spot to set it up in the house, and mentioned there was actually room for a second game since we had moved a desk.  That quickly opened the door for Jolly Roger.  That game was found through Craigslist, but I later learned I went to High School with the seller!  A game I initially planned to fix and re-sell quickly became the favorite.  

2019 continued to be a busy year, Stephanie played in a couple Belles and Chimes tournaments at The Game Preserve, we attended the grand opening of the new NASA Game Preserve, I played in my first tournament and started to meet some of the Space City Pinball League crew.  By the time the Arcade Expo showed up, I had been convinced to bring three of my games to the event!  We had an absolute blast, and vowed to return again in 2020 and sign up for the tournament.  Ah, the fun times before 2020 began.

2020 did start out strong though!  I played in my first league at 1820 lounge, not really knowing what to expect.  I consider myself more of a repairman than a serious player, but the people were so welcoming and encouraging I had an excellent time, and did surprisingly well!  The best surprise though is that through the tournament I was approached about becoming a technician for The Game Preserve's still new NASA location!  I have never had such a laid back interview, and despite never having worked on a solid state machine they took me on.  I don't have the time to spend at the arcade that I would like, but it has been a treat to work on, and learn from so many people and machines.  Twenty twenty was quite a roller coaster, especially for a small buisiness like that, but they have done a great job keeping us informed, and the community has really helped them get through things so far.  

So, just over two years in and between us and the in-laws we have gone from no games to nine.  It has been fun getting caught up in a hobby that my wife and in-laws enjoy, and we have enabled eachother to make more purchases than either family expected.  The local forum has been a welcome distraction from 2020, and I have met some wonderful people and been welcomed into some lovely homes to work on more great games!