Don't see how that could have been possible as the rings and tube are under the ramp. Maybe they had a different design at one point or you're thinking of something else?

BTW. The orange plastics on the tube dancer was a part of the ring kit mod.

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The only issue I remember is that airballs off of the ramp would potentially hang a ball there indefinitely (with the ball sitting on top of the tube and between two of the rings). Definitely no concern under the ramp, even with "tubular flaccidity"

That said, the rings look badass.

Upvote for use of Tubular Flaccidity in a post.

BBBr is my next NIB purchase.

Correct, I was referring to the tube as a “ramp”, balls hung up there would have been a big problem.

Kerry Stair would have a ton of Info

Some highlights about Gene's game to watch out for beyond the white pop bumper insert and #001 plaque number.

The serial numbers were impression stamped on the front of the playfield. Disregard the ink stamp and look closely. Matching serial numbers also stamped on the cabinet head and body where they meet. See picture.

Gene's tube dancer in his game was blonde and flesh toned. He told me 10 blonde tube dancers, mounted in a trophy case were made and given away as gifts. Pictured is the one Gene and Georgie gave me.

Unrelated reproduction tube dancers were made a couple of years ago and in a variety of colors. There's a Pinside thread about those.
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You got my attention with your comment following the for sale announcement. I have always assumed that Planetary Pinball got Gene's personal game as a part of the bankruptcy. Obviously my assumption is now wrong.
I find it odd for him to have sold his unique game as it was very personal to him.

Not surprised at all, it would have been seized and auctioned off if still in his possession correct?

Can you be more specific? I have a genuine NOS IPB blonde tube dancer (along with a green one). I'm pretty sure at some point they were available for people to order as spare parts (along with the tubes, ramps, etc). I ordered and received one of each. I can't imagine I have one of only 10?

Mine isn't mounted to anything, it's in a clear bag like the green one, ready to be installed into a game. Will get pics when back home.

My friend who bought a Gene BBB ordered 2 extra green and 2 blonde tube dancers with his game. He told me that he installed the blonde in the game when it was new and put the original green dancer in a bag inside the cabinet for the next person who bought the game. He later sold the 2 extra green and blonde on eBay years ago. I think Gene sold extra green and blonde figures for around $40-$50 back then.

So I was contacted off Pinside and asked to comment on this thread. I'm a bit confused in what I should say. Here's why. I admired Gene. I really liked him and his passion for Pinball and his desire to be remembered fondly. And there's no denying that he built almost 200 BBBs. But (you knew this was coming), he really screwed most of the people he was in business with at one time or another. He also made bad business decisions that came back to haunt him in the end. Those are both facts so I don't want anyone to think I'm speaking ill of the dead. Anything that happened bad to him (with the exception of the fire) was of his doing. He was also a great father and grandfather who loved his family and did the best he could to make their lives easy. And personally, he never did anything to hurt or defraud me.

I owned a BBB. I made a documentary about the game and him and showed him in the positive light he deserved because of the challenges he defeated. I know so many positive and negative things about him that I think it's best that I don't say much more. I do know that I'll miss him and he made a difference in my life for sure.

Yeah that sounds familiar. I think there was only one run, so you got one shot at ordering them.

Jonathan Backman represented Gene at one point. He also had someone named Tim F. do some stuff for him. I know Tim was into arcades.

Gene told me only ten were made and that's from reviewing the notes I submitted to IPDB back in 2007. Unless he meant only 10 made in the trophy case, that's all I can tell ya.

Which documentary? Where can I view it? This is utterly fascinating to me. I knew of Gene and BBB, but wasn't into the "scene" then like I am now, and only hear bits and pieces of things from folks at shows, tournaments, etc.

I'm going to assume only 10 trophy case dancers, since it looks like they were individually addressed and signed. Looks very cool.

http://www.pinsandvids.com/our-videos/

Thank you folks!

Yeah me too in light of all of this. Good discussion.

Here are a few more things I remember:

Gene told me that when he bought the Capcom inventory, someone at Capcom loaded up a truck full of metal ramps, including the ramps intended for the production of BBB. The ramps were sold as scrap metal just before he bought the inventory.

There were two versions of the Capcom board set. 106 and 109. As mentioned earlier in this thread, there was a security chip that could not be reverse-engineered. Gene had located the original programmer of the chip, who was willing to help if he would be paid. Either Gene didn't want to pay, or he pissed the guy off and he didn't want to help anymore.

I asked Gene why he was so persistent in using the original Capcom board set, instead of designing a new board set, or simulator. The main reason was that Gene believed the game would be less desirable if it would run on a different system. But more importantly, Gene wanted to sell Capcom parts. If he would use another board set, he'd be stuck Capcom parts that would not be in demand. Gene was expecting a big demand for Capcom parts.

Due to the RoHS regulation changing, the European games were shipped ahead. They arrived a year before the U.S. games were delivered or picked up. I helped with importing the European games and as such I consider my BBB the first BBB to be unboxed in Europe.

At some point, Gene and the Bearcave guys looked at making the orange rings for the tube ramp. One of the problems with the ramp is that it has a switch riveted to it, which would have to be taken off and later put back. It also turned out to be difficult to position the orange rings properly, in a way that they wouldn't move from vibrations during gameplay.

The rotation of the tube dancer motor is crucial. If the motor spins the other direction, it acts as a screw and ruins the tube dancer doll.

I remember talking to Gene was after I started publishing Pinball Magazine. I think I gave Gene a copy of PM01 at his sideshow during Expo. He looked at it and said that I should have put a hardcover on it, so I could charge $20 more for the same content.

When my dealings with Gene went South, and he started the "I am going to call me lawyer on you", he was using Tim to represent him. Nothing ever came out of it once Tim took my statement. He said it was just Gene being Gene. At the point my relationship with Gene stopped.

I would agree for a different reason. The book should be in hardcover because it deserves to be. I would buy all hc releases, reprint in hc. I'm there as well.

Basically, I'm a collector and a reader. It deserves h c. My opinion. I'm the guy on the left... I have met you at shows. The magazine rocks.

Great job.

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special Big Bang bar issue?

Totally agree. I was contacted by a person about 2-3 years ago that was writing a story on Gene and BBB. He wanted my story. I told him that I did not want to go on the record about my dealings with Gene so I declined the interview.

I bought a MB prototype that was supposedly Gene's. It came from that area for a low key collector that new him well. It was supposedly prototype #2. I sold it shortly after I acquired because rumor was the remakes were coming out. He also supposedly had Gene's BBB #000. I had no reason to doubt him.

Tim Fife was into arcades and pinball skulduggery. He ended up in the center of the SkitB controversy when it was revealed he held the production Predator machine. Tim might have held the Experts of Dangerous cabinet too. As he whispered sweet nothings into the CONman’s (Kevin Kulek’s) ear, Tim ended up with the Predator pin and was sued for it in the Kulek’s bankruptcy case and won. Somewhere during this timeframe he traded the one-of-a-kind Predator for a JJPOTC CE. Mentioning Tim’s Predator pinball story here because of the crossover and his ownership of Gene’s prototype BBBr. He may have held as many as three BBBr prototypes at one time.

Nah. This Tim’s last name was Frealich? Not sure on the spelling.

Yep. When I bought my pinball magic it had a bad U16. Let me tell you, sourcing a replacement was not an easy task. In my research for this quest I learned a lot about the struggles trying to repro that chip and how it caused so many headaches for BBB remakes and why Kingpin never got off the ground.

This thread is amazing. Thank you all who have contributed.

This makes me sick . I need the two larger wire ramps .

This is a historically important and interesting thread here. While the consensus was that Gene wasn't a great person to do business with, thanks to all who dropped their memories of an insanely weird and interesting moment in pinball history. No sense in speaking Ill of the dead, and best regards to Gene and his family. I'd have absolutely loved to hang around during the good years, and maybe the bad.

Late to this thread but I'll share what I have.

At one point I was trying to take a picture of every Williams backglass ever, for a poster for Williams (another long story all in itself) and someone turned me on to Gene as a nearby-ish big collector. I called him up and visited him a couple of time in the 1998 time frame. Here are some non-backglass pictures I took during one of those visits. As everyone has said, not a single game was plugged in (even though he bragged of 400A service to the building, and there were lots of outlets everywhere), and most didn't even look playable. In addition to the areas pictured, with games at least set up on legs, he had danker areas with games stacked like cordwood and leaking roofs above them.

Duncan

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I thought people might want to see this artifact I drug up...

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I was with IPB back in 2006 during a business trip in US. Driving all the way from Chicago to Bloomington. Saw the collection with the P2000 protos and the building of BBB.

Tons of B/W parts, mouldings etc. so I was thinking: if somebody could start a production of spare parts, the could make big money, but Gene just seemed to me just proud to have all these things and not really interested in going into big business with reproduction. These would have required skilled people and not just family business i saw there.

I was already collecting Capcom Pins back from 2004 as they were fun to play and cheap in Europe as the spare parts situation with Capcom was not good at that time. And i was always fascinated of BBB, "the holy grail of pinball", a lot of people said.

As Gene announced the remake at Pinball Expo for USD 4500, i needed money for other things, and when i asked Gene during my visit how much he wants for a machine (as some people stepped back from the pre-orders), the told me USD 10000, which was even more way out of my budget.

But I had a good relationship with Kim and was able to order some BBB stuff, an unpopulated playfield, cabinet art, a tube dancer, etc. I met Gene a second time during Expo 2013, when he had his sale a few miles from the Expo Hotel. There, i was able to buy a fully populated BBB main ramp for USD 100 from him.

Only 2 pics attached, as the collection pics have already been posted and mine look the same. Me in the middle between Gene and one of his helpers, called The Other Guy (TOG). I have been told by him, that he has the records which playfield number is in which cabinet (as they do not match, except the first few ones) and the P2000 line-up.

Regarding the exact numbers of BBBs which have been produced by IPB: as far as i know, there is a "regular" run from #1 to #193 or 196 (??? - correct me if wrong), and as there were some playfields, cabinets and parts left, 16 machines have been made afterwards, starting with EXPP#1 to EXPP#16 - this was the last BBB which have been produced. This last one has been imported to Europe. It has a plague "the last one produced", signed by Gene. (Pic attached)

Anyone around who has EXPP#1 to EXPP#15? This would be interesting to confirm the story.

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Really enjoyed this thread and info.... figured I'd give it a bump as it's kinda went dormant. Wld love to see more pics and videos ... the ones whysnow posted wldnt work for me.

Gonna post some more “I remember when” with Gene. Just been busy.

Thanks
Dougram

Running this by again about PinBall Circus . Did IPB recieve any of the parts?

Yes. I remember seeing some boxes of the playfield figures (the 3D plastic parts) and some extra marquees.

looking forward to it

This is the thread that keeps on giving. Thanks to all for the very interesting stories and history.

Perhaps it was addressed before, but can anyone explain to me why "The Other Guy" is always talking behind a cardboard mask in the Pins and Vids episode about BBB? Reminds me of the neighbor Wilson in Home Improvement.

So many people talking behind masks now days too!

Fred is a very nice guy indeed, met him two times, at IPB and once at Expo. He is not very public, as far as i understand. I do not want to put him on the spot if he does not agree.

Gene spent a LOT of money on attorney fees.

Gene Cunningham
Illinois Pinball Company
1409 Butchers Lane
Bloomington, IL 61701-9512

Dear Mr. Cunningham,

May of this year, 2009, Pinball Inc. and your company Illinois Pinball Company willingly and knowingly entered into a legally binding agreement which Pinball Inc. purchased certain assets of Illinois Pinball Company. The assets which Pinball Inc purchased from Illinois Pinball Company listed in Schedule 2 of that agreement included:

ALL pinball parts inventory (including all populated playfields and partial pinball playfield plastics).
ALL tools and tooling used in manufacturing of pinball parts
ALL documents/engineering drawings and files related to pinball manufacturing.
ALL P2K (Pinball 2000) kits

To date Pinball Inc has met ALL it's obligations of the purchase agreement.

You and your company have breached this agreement by not fulfilling its obligations by refusing to turn over assets which Pinball Inc legally purchased.

In addition to the aforementioned breach, you have been and are actively selling the assets legally purchased by Pinball Inc and keeping 100% of the proceeds. This too is a direct breach of our agreement which clearly states that "any schedule 2 items sold or shipped by IPB will be processed through Pinball Inc and IPB will receive 25% commission for the sales." We have video and photo evidence to support this claim.

In addition, against the will of Pinball Inc., you are actively using tooling which was legally purchased by Pinball Inc to manufacture pinball parts. You have been actively selling the parts made using tooling which were legally purchased by Pinball Inc. and keeping 100% of the proceeds. We have video and photo evidence to support this claim.

Because you are in breach of our agreement you are hereby notified that you must cease and desist using the tooling or allowing any other party to use the tooling listed in Schedule 2 of the agreement to manufacture pinball parts for pinball machines.

You must cease and desist the selling of ALL parts inventory listed in Schedule 2 of the agreement.

If you do not cease and desist selling the assets which were legally purchased by Pinball Inc without any intentions of compensation to Pinball Inc. you can find yourself in a position of being found criminally liable of theft, theft of conversation and larceny to Pinball Inc. Any possible claims whether civil or criminal will be pursued vigorously.

To fulfill your obligations to agreement we demand that you immediately turn over ALL assets which Pinball Inc. legally purchased. These assets include but may not be limited to the following:

1. All Injection tools which by agreement includes all tooling for the manufacturing of pinball machine parts. This includes tooling to make inserts. (as per line #4 in Schedule 2)

2. All Metal die tools and any additional Metal die tools. (as per line #4 in Schedule 2)

3. All fixtures and test fixtures including Capcom test fixtures and Pinball 2000 test fixtures. (as per line #6 in Schedule 2)

4. All pinball parts inventory, including ALL Capcom and "Show" inventory. (as per line #1 in Schedule 2)

5. All shop equipment. Including all riveting tooling. (as per line #6 in Schedule 2)

6. All documents/engineering drawings and files. These include ALL files (including all film files) and ALL drawings including but not limited to ALL playfield files and drawings, ALL cabinet files and drawings, ALL backglass files and drawings, ALL plastic set files and drawings and ALL translight files and drawings. (as per line #5 in Schedule 2)

7. All populated playfields and Pinball 2000 kits including all Pinball 2000 Wizard Block Playfields/kits and Pinball 2000 Playboy playfields/kits. (as per line #1 and #2 in Schedule 2)

8. Proceeds for the sale of goods listed in Schedule 2 must be turned over to Pinball Inc. minus 25% for commission.

Unless these demands are met, the agreement shall be considered breached by Illinois Pinball Company and Pinball Inc. will not be under any further obligations pursuant the agreement.

We have researched and found that the company Pinball Manufacturing was dissolved and have no assets. All assets were inherited by Illinois Pinball Company as Illinois Pinball Company has and is selling the assets and keeping the proceeds. An audit of Illinois Pinball Company will clearly show this to be true. We have video and photo evidence that you are currently selling these assets as the assets belonging to Illinois Pinball Company. Your claim to "hide" assets using PMI is considered fraudulent.

As a show of good faith Pinball Inc. will make a one time offer to resolve this matter. The offer is as follows:

1. Illinois Pinball Company will be allowed to keep all pinball parts currently in its possession. This will include all P2K kits and other playfields currently in Illinois Pinball Company possession.

2. Illinois Pinball Company will be allowed to keep all proceeds from the previous sales Illinois Pinball has made of items listed in Schedule 2 of our agreement.

3. Illinois Pinball Company will be allowed to use the injection tooling which is used to manufacture pinball playfield inserts. The rightful owner of the tooling will be Pinball Inc. but Illinois Pinball Company will have a non compensated lifetime used of the tooling.

4. Illinois Pinball Company will be allowed to keep all films, documents, engineering drawings used in the manufacturing of pinball playfields, pinball playfield plastic sets, pinball backglasses and pinball translights. The ownership of these materials will be transferred back to Illinois Pinball Company.

5. Illinois Pinball Company will be allowed to keep the Capcom test fixture in its possession.

6. Illinois Pinball Company will turn over all other assets listed in Schedule 2 of the agreement to Pinball Inc. These include:

a. All tools and tooling used in the manufacturing of pinball parts (excluding #3).
b. All remaining documents/engineering drawings and files related to pinball manufacturing (minus items listed at #4).
c. All riveting tools.

7. Upon acceptance of this proposal and the exchange of the listed items Illinois Pinball Company will be excused from any monetary or capital obligations to Pinball Inc. pursuant to the original agreement.

8. Upon acceptance of this proposal and the exchange of the listed items Pinball Inc will be excused from any monetary or capital obligations to Illinois Pinball Company pursuant to the original agreement.

This offer is a one time offer and it will expire at midnight December 11, 2009. If this offer is not accepted or responded to at that time then Pinball Inc will take all measures possible to obtain its legally owned property and pursue compensation for damages.

Unless or until this offer is accepted the cease and desist demands previously stated will stand.

Sincerely,

James Loflin
Pinball Inc.