Who "donated" 10 machines to Otaku?

But he will still not sell anything to fund his "dream"...

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The location he chose boggles me. While I would love to see a resurgence in arcades, his business model and location may not be on the winning side of things.

After a few curious visitors, it seems highly unlikely he will have any revenue to stay solvent. Do kids even enjoy pinball? Unless it is there in front of them with nothing else to do, I don't see that as any draw for them.
Can he offer gambling machines, lottery tickets, food, drinks or alcohol? Maybe free WiFi and sell coffee at least?

His demeanor online and reputation concern me. How long will this take to become apparent on location?

Do we know what games he has lined up? I haven't read anything to suggest crowd pleasing wonderment.

One of TNT's videos showed "Otaku" proudly displaying his eBay purchase of 1980's video game factory part sheets. Does that make his locale a museum now?
Starts around 17:48 mark.

I would be happy to stop by, pay my $10 and enjoy his selection of games....once.
I just do not see myself anywhere near Ephrata PA, nor would I drive that distance to visit.

Tell that to all the Disneyland employees.

That's his problem. He is a hoarder not a collector. He will never sell anything and is proud of the fact he has never spent more than $500 on a pin.

I didn't say it was a good wage, just a decent price to play pinball/arcades.

Without getting political, I'm definitely in the "hourly wages need to be higher" camp.

It's just a big news story around here right now. Billions spent on new Star Wars land and billions coming thru the front gate and employees making minimum wage in an area that costs half a million for an average house. Of course Disney has a long history of that.

Dasvis is also proud, but his games work perfectly and are stellar after he has spent hundreds of hours restoring them.
I've played 'em and they belong in a museum.

The stories have started making their way to the news here too, albeit I'm sure less than you see. I love Disney and it definitely detracts from the enjoyment to know so many of their wonderful employees may be suffering. Hopefully they make some good corporate choices to help ease this a little.

There's an "Eff-RAY-tah" on the west coast, so take care to avoid confusion.

Digital pan handling is easy. I would be far more impressed if he did bake sales, pasta dinners, offered to paint or do odd jobs.
It is always just pan handling with him.
If I were one of the folks who sent him funds for his basement last year I would be sour as well.
Review timeline
April 5, need money for flood issues and and save his games.
April 29, He has 660 donated dollars. Closes down donations and explains that he has his own game budget for the pinball show next week to buy games. But don’t worry it’s not the donated money. This is the true wtf moment. He promises to show pictures of the water proofing work but never does post an update on what he collected for. I for one would love to see the repairs he supposedly spent that pan handling on.
In 1 year he increased from 30-100 games but needs 6000 to fund his arcade. Sell some games! Keep in mind unlike kickstarter he gets to keep the money even if he never opens or reaches his goal!
I could not find his prior gofundme but I am pretty sure he had one before for the same thing. Referenced in
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/is-this-how-he-acted-here

Yes. Often. Seems there is a minimum of two announcements in two separate posts.

lol he says "I brought you a gift, not to keep just to look at" lol sweet gift , couldnt watch anymore after that

I will admit, "competent heating and cooling" is definitely on my list for a destination holiday.

Wait..... did somebody say new Star Wars land?!!!!!

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Any pics of Ted & Otaku?

What is that... A star wars land.... For ants?

ohhh f$^*, you know what I just realized...

those bill of lading papers he has is the kind of stuff that is going to be featured in the museum part of the business...

cool and all but maybe 8 people in the world might care?

Let's just say it's still a work in progress. They probably need to cut a few more of the employee's benefits to finish it.

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He needs to make a trip to Springfield Mo. and check out 1984 Arcades business model
...then I'm sure he'll come back and tell us all how they're doing it wrong.

Many things he can do that have a low cost to high profit ratio like lemonade stands. Running a gofundme to solicit donations for the purpose of starting a business just seems wrong to me.

I can't believe that no one has picked up the fact that he is actually BLAMING Pinside for his slip ups!

Good god his generation is full of not me, not my responsibility, and everyone else pay for my well being. Maybe he is the next basement dweller to sue his parents.

If he ends up in his grandma's basement, I hope he has a flotation mattress.

Ill give him $10.00 if he gets a hair cut.

Disney hates its employees so much they’ll be getting only $15 an hour. What evil bastards they are.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/03/news/companies/disney-minimum-wage/index.html

Try reading the article - it's always about more than pay. Scheduling is huge and so are overtime rules - who cares what you are getting paid when Disney can just schedule you for 10 hours a week? And they aren't "giving" their employees anything, it's a contract negotiation and the unions are fighting Disney tooth and nail to get these employees decent pay. And nobody said Disney hates their employees, just that they treat them like shit and CURRENTLY pay them $10 an hour, which is ridiculous. When a gigantic corporation like Disney gets millions (billions?!) in public subsidies, they have a moral obligation to offer the communities that supply those subsidies (YOUR tax money if you live in Florida) jobs with decent wages.

In my opinion.

Reminds me of Rusty Quarters on KLOV or Reddit. Someone posted he'll be back for more. They were right.

LTG : )

Isn't Amazon and the city of Seattle going through something much like this?

Yes. Most major cities are. That's why worker and community advocates are bypassing the generally useless federal minimum wage (isn't it still like 8 bucks an hour?) and pushing for state and local laws that raise the minimum wage, especially where public subsidies are involved.

In Florida, there is a movement to raise the minimum wage to $19 an hour for workers at companies that receive corporate welfare - this is squarely aimed at companies like Disney which receive hundreds of millions of dollars of state money, but think $10 an hour for Floridians trying to provide for themselves and their families is just peachy.

Shit, reminds me of reading about the old "company stores" those in the likes in coal mining towns for example, owned by the mine owners. Employees earn a paltry wage during the week and give it right back buying groceries and assorted sundries from the general store.
Thank god times have changed.

Like I said this goes way back. But at one time there were wide open spaces and rent and houses were dirt cheap. Even after I got out of high school, you didn't need a college education to get a decent job that more than paid your rent or buy a house and whatever car you might like to drive. Nowadays rent for small apartments in lessor neighborhoods are climbing thru the roof.

They have to do something or there won't be anybody left in the area to work for them.
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And a adult orange PFD life jacket!

Best post in this topic so far!
My girlfriend thinks I’m crazy because I burst out laughing when I read your post. She said what are you looking at?
that pinball site again?

Don’t think that’s an issue as he makes it sound like he’s very busy driving his minivan around picking up free or inexpensive EM’s on a almost constant basis.

By his admission, he was given 10 machines yesterday....

I dunno about you guys... But my back is barking fierce after moving 1-2 games...

I will donate to Otaku if he posts a Photo of himself dressed like a Pirate.......

LOL his name is actually Steven !! Steve the Pirate . Garrrrrr.

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Will people actually pay him to let them play the (50) EM’s He got for free or paid less than $500 each for and a bunch of old video games?
If someone tried to do this with (50)DMD games I think it would be near impossible to make it without selling alcohol like the retro arcade bars and all of those are normally located in BIG cities.

The fact that this kid thinks people should fund his BS is exactly the problem right now with this generation. I'm not even that old but I'll admit I sound like an old man - but GD work hard, take a loan and pay for it yourself! What is this nonsense go fund me asking people for money to support you?

The problem is these people have no sense of pride. They will take a hand out from whomever, whatever, whenever. Please - feel pain and get motivated to help yourself. I speak from experience - it builds character....something these people don't have. Enough is enough.

Ridiculous

Top Men.....

Seriously guys, "This Generation" did not invent laziness or entitlement. I'm Gen X, and this is the same crap the Baby Boomers said about us, and the same crap the Greatest Generation said about the Boomers.

There have always been those who feel that the world owes them a comfy living, and there always will be.

Let's not paint all of our kids with the same brush because of a few loud outliers.

He was a tool before and now he's taken it to a new level. He is a con-artist who always has a card up his sleeve. Stomach issues, flooding basements, whatever can make him a few bucks so he doesn't have to work for it. Its pathetic and I hope he falls on his face.

Here we go again ....

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I'd donate $100 if he'll shave his head. Anyone else in for this?

The great thing about being young is if entrepreneurship doesn't work out, there are still plenty of great job opportunities out there.

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I was thinking more like TV Evangalist.

I “need” $6,000 to start a business what should I do?

A. Get a job and save my $
B. Sell part of my toy collection that is stored in multiple family members’ homes
C. Do odd jobs
D. Offer my pinball tech services for hire
E. Ask for $ on the internet from complete strangers

Tough call.

Tv evangelists are con-artists, but they work hard to get your money. That just won’t work for Otaku.

Should of stayed silent, probably gave him a great idea.

He’d have to go to college for eight years to get his doctorate.

Yeah. but those dudes that pick up the trash at Disneyland make as much as the ride operators and they don't have to sit still all day.

When they have no more young people to do the job because they don't pay enough, I've been thinking it might be a great job for me if the smog shop ever folds up. People that work there get in free, and believe me, they charge an arm and a leg to get in there now. Season passes were about $120 when my daughter was young and now the cheapest one is almost $400. One day is $100.