Fingerprints/background check took almost the max amount of time. The funny thing is if they made a single phone call they would have saved themselves a lot of time. Oh well.

Do that spreadsheet on something like Google Sheets if you have a Gmail account. Eliminates double effort and less chance of data entry errors.

Looking forward to location announcements.

The extra steps are because of the $150 vendor license. Pinball falls under that to the city. Took us at least 6 weeks to get our prints approved which is funny considering the place myself and my business partner work for our 9-5.

The main pinball location in town (D&D) is in something similar. They rent a converted garage space, maybe 1200 sqft, just off one of the main shopping streets. They have an ideal location, "minimal" rent compared to an actual retail space, and have room for up to 30 games. They tend to keep it closer to 24 though.

I run Tucson Pinball with a buddy and we have 3 route locations. We are at 20 games between the 3 locations. Ours is a hobby LLC.

We have talked about what it would take for us to pull our locations and just open a single location. Then we look at rent at places that aren't warehouses and it is quite a pretty penny. The further east you go in Tucson, the fewer warehouses you can find. I don't think we are brave enough to go big yet.

The point is that Tucson is a little goofy with the way it is laid out. I'm looking forward to Pecos getting into a few places out east. I'll make it a point to go play them as they are unique titles from what I have and what D&D has.

Just bring Windex with you on your collection days and fingers on glass will mostly likely be the "worst" thing you will encounter.

I'd still suggest you have that spreadsheet up on google drive. I enter each machine as I count quarters into drive and can be done at the location pretty quick. Then I can go over the numbers at my leisure. If you want to be methodical about things, that's not a problem at all, but the convenience of having the spreadsheet web based is really nice.

Also, try to collect on the same day of the week/month/whatever. It will help you track average earnings compared to other locations with just a simple glance. I collect on Thursdays for 2 locations, since that's when I have tournaments at one spot and the other is on the way. The third location is typically on the Tuesday I have events at that location, and other random times during the month. Still ends up being 4 times a month usually, but that one is a little more of a convenience stop, and not as scheduled.

Why would you want them keyed differently?

I have 17 games out now and at least 5 keys. They are all kept together, but not all on the same ring. I’d like to get it down to one or two keys, but it’s not a big deal at the moment. As long as you know what goes to what lock it’s fine.

I'm working on a few classic Bally/Stern games right now and am having quite a "fun" time with the rectifier board/transformer in one machine right now. Looking forward to things getting back up and running for you. Is the place open now, or is the "grand opening" still coming up? Just wanting to know when I can go play.

Did you get the resistor board kit for classic Ballys? It keeps LEDs from blinking when they shouldn't.

“Funny” story. I got a shift Speed from a friend who had started taking the topside apart waiting for the Hardtop. I wasn’t going to wait so I put it back together to go on route. Solved a few electrical issues as well. Played 50 games in a few days, easily. Put it on route and the power supply fails 2 days later. Doh! It happens.

It’s 40+ years old, it’s ok if it’s not perfect.

Very cool! Did you know Bud was going to be doing that story? Not trying to steal any spotlight or anything, but Bud came to an event earlier this year, was there for two hours chatting and observing. He talked about playing pinball in high school and that there were at least 2 in the student union when he was in college. There are a few details that get mixed in the video, but all in all I was happy with how this story went. Bud is a legit pinball enthusiast and an all in all nice dude.

Side note. It is way harder to answer interview questions while playing a game. Between not sounding like a stammering idiot AND keeping the ball alive, it's quite tough.

Our coverage was specifically for the City Championship, so it was all about the pinball.

I freaking love Fan-tas-tic. Hitting “spin” is such a joy.

I plan on getting there soon. Will have to be when both levels are open since I want to play games on top and bottom.

Hey Del, thanks for the support towards all of the local location pinball places. Come check out a tournament when you can. It's a really cool group of players.

I'm hoping to get back over to Hotrods this weekend for some games.

The Stars belongs to D&D. Robert says it does pretty well because it’s newer to them, but casual players don’t tend to revere the games that we do. My Stars at my 9 game location gets played by tournament players more than casuals. Casuals will plays it, get destroyed, and move to a game with a ball save or a more familiar theme even if it costs more.

I’d love to hear the Pecos response to this as he is way more experienced with them than anyone locally.

This specific Grand Prix has never scored right so if he got that sorted out it’s time for some spinner nirvana.

The goal is not riches. The goal is to buy MORE machines!

Wow, big bummer about the Spotted Bull. Did you know they were headed towards closing when you pulled your games? If so that was nice of them to let you know. If not, you got a little lucky.

Honestly though, that isn’t the best spot for a restaurant. I live in Vail and had only gone once when it was the previous business. There isn’t a ton out here, but that’s far enough away that it’s out of sight out of mind. If it was on the corner of the frontage road instead of a few hundred yards down it might be the busiest place out here.

What is the 4th one? High Speed?

Looking forward to EBD getting out there. Requesting its first stop be Hotrods.

I won a tournament recently in New Mexico on Flash. It was only my third time playing it and it was quite fun. I’ll be playing yours for sure when it’s out. Great layout.

Does Pecos want one though?

I have a feeling it was Eagle Vending. When I got my license stickers last time I asked the guy at city hall if he could tell me how many (if not who) was the biggest license buyer. He said Eagle Vending got about 600 stickers every year. I used to have a contact there that I could text when a pin of theirs was down. That person has moved on, and their games rarely play well.

Here is my own EVA story. I actually have 2 games that say EVA on the bottom, because I either bought it from them, or from somebody else who did. So this isn't a 100% thing, but if the pin says EVA under where the coin box is, guess who owns/owned it. On to the story. I had a location that also had a Big Buck hunter arcade, and a Golden Tee, both older versions. They might have owned the air hockey table, or the location might have, I can't remember. Either way, their events manager told me once that they had to call EVA to have one of the arcades looked at because it was no longer accepting money. EVA's response was that they had no info on having games there in their system. They came out anyway, and sure enough the games were theirs. The game that was having an issue was all caused because the coin box was full. They hadn't been out in years probably, but because the location didn't ask for a split there was none to be paid on a regular basis. And here I am almost once a week at each of my locations fixing stuff. They leave a game for years and it gets played and eventually fills up. We know we are in the wrong business, but pins are more fun.

Hey Pecos, here is a kit I heard about from my friend Tommy on This Flippin Podcast. I got an orange set for my Stars and I really like it. It's still a kit, but wasn't a ton of hassle. The first one took a little while, but after that the others went pretty quick using the first as a reference.

https://www.wolffpactech.com/6-digit-display-kits

I put a few bucks into Aztec a few weekends ago. Really like playing that one. Put 8BD at Hotrods and I’ll play it for sure.

That Pinwrench is worth every penny. I got one after putting it off too long. I’m going to get another to keep one at home and one in the tool kit I keep in the car.

What a cool looking place!