Pinball has always been a hobby I've thouroughly enjoyed. When I was in High School, the pizza joint by my school would always bring in a couple machines. they had everything from T2 to TZ. As you could guess, we would spend more time playing the silver ball than at school. This went on for some time into my mid 20's until I broke my back in 5 places on the drilling rigs. I was pretty much bed ridden for a year following my accident. It was difficult to stand for more than 10 minutes at a time for the first year so Pinball was outta my life. Once I regained some strength and after a long, grueling rehabilitation process, I was ready to go out for my first beer in over a year. The pool hall in town as well carried some high prifile games at that time such as Monster Bash, Scared Stiff, and Attack from Mars. Since I wasn't allowed to work yet, I would spend alot of time and money playing Pinball at Pockets Billiards.
As most of you know, once Williams stopped making Pins, they slowly became harder and harder to find and play. I would always say to myself"I should buy one some day"! Well, that day came about 1 year ago, 16 years after Williams pulled the plug(sorry for the pun). I aquired a Swords Of Fury; a totaly tough game to score points on. My friends and I thought it was awesome, pinball in my basement! I was hooked! Knowing it wouldn't stop there, I prepared to go into financial downward spiral to feed my new addiction. I was buying LED's, decal sets, new balls, ring kits, and anything I could find to tinker with. I eventually ripped SOF apart and clear coated it and added Coin Taker LED's. AWSOME!!!
When I found a T2 in mint shape, I couldn't resist. I was instantly the coolest guy on the block. It never stopped there. After T2 came a Sopranos(mint as well). Now I had 3 games and I was fully hooked in. I had the fever. I then got a Shadow pinball that I have made better than new condition. I had all the stainless ramps, rails, lock bars, and hinge polished to look like chrome(looks amazing). The brass plated wire ramps were stripped down and I had them GOLD plated then clear powder coated over top so the gold wouldn't wear off over time. Looks cool! I changed all the lights to LED's and thanks to Pinside, I found a hard to find platic set from DarkKnight, Thanks! I added a few lights around the upper playfield to lighten it up a little. Shadow is currently my best game in my collection.
As time went by(in reality only about a month), I decided to aquire more machines. More More More, I need more games!!! I began to look south of the border(I live in Canada) as there seems to be more selection(and alot of crap also). I made the decision to purchase 4 more games. Fish Tales, Getaway 2, High Speed(85'), and Johnny Mnemonic. All good additons to my collection but some of them need alot of work to be worthy of bragging rights.
In conlusion, I lied to my wife and told her I was buying so many Pinballs because I wanted to start to buy and sell pinball machines as a hobby. Well, don't get any ideas! Back Off! My games ain't for sale! I have an Addams Family on layaway that I should have in a few months. Please Don't Tell My Wife!!!!
NightTrain
Pinside member
12y 108K 5,096
I told my wife the same thing! HAHAHA!