Damn!!! You guys seriously weren’t kidding.
That’s kinda sad seeing him standing with 4 or 5 copies of the same game, just sitting on them to show them off too people.

Some very cool titles in the mix.
He even had an Orbitor 1!

I think many of us understand the thrill of having a cool, curious collection, especially rarities and coveted goods. But as stewards of history, I feel we do a disservice to these fantastic machines by keeping them stashed away and not fixing or enjoying them. Sad he left many of them in dire states of disrepair.

Gene sounds like a wild guy, after years of reading about him, I had been hoping to meet him at a show, and was very sad to hear of his recent passing

I genuinely think Gene bought games he did not remember owning a copy of.
I genuinely also had an eye opening experience from going there. I to was sad to see so many games rotting and in disrepair. The thought of being mad even... The reality is Gene in effect actually saved many of these games from hitting the dump or being parted out. He in essence was just the hold over while the hobby boomed. Many of them actually did likely end up in collectors homes. Heck , I even wonder if I may have one of those games without even realizing it was Gene's at one time. I realized that for whatever reason, Gene got joy out of just having those games and in the grand scheme of things, it was his money to decide what to do with it.

Big picture, I feel fortunate to have met and spent time with him that day.
He was an odd fellow, but pinball seems to attract that.

seems like most of the buying for Gene slowed way down at some point?

I noticed that he was heavily focused on older games and by the 90s era stuff, it was not as well represented. I know more of them were in the weight room, but still a small overall % of the colleciton.

Would be cool to have known some of the timing behind how it all grew.

Also seems like little changed between 2008 and 2013. Some games left, but many were in the exact same spots. Just more insulation, racoon poop

I'll look for my pictures this weekend to see if I can find them. Myself, my father, and Rick Swanson got a tour of his buildings and collection around the time of one of the Pinball Expo events. Additionally, my minor "claim to fame" when it comes to Gene is I was the one that first posted the news on RGP about him buying the WMS rights after they closed the pinball division. He told me at one of the many auctions we ended up together at and I asked his permission to share the good news on RGP and he said I could. I saw it as very good news as I thought the parts drought was finally over, and maybe, oh maybe, the pinball division might open back up. As it turned out a lot of folks were not fans of Gene and didn't see it the same way as I did, I found myself embroiled in many RGP "fights" defending the guy I barely knew (and honestly who probably did not even know my name). Kim knew me however, I enjoyed speaking with her on the phone about parts orders and catching up a bit at Expo.

I always made it a point to go down the street and visit Gene's show during Expo after he was banned. I mean, that hotel did have the best baked potato buffet in all of Chicago before the walls of the place literally crumbled in on itself.

I THINK you mean "just before Rick came in and assumed possession of everything he legally bought at a federal-government-forced auction due to Gene being a massively leveraged college-town slumlord who got into unbelievable financial trouble from bank margin calls and IRS inquisition when they got wind of his mostly-cash business during the crash of 2008."

Or, more simply, karmic justice.

Gene was the embodiment of "he who dies with the most toys wins" and wasn't shy about rubbing it in your face. That's why I look back and smile knowing how everything ended up. I probably wouldn't care if he hadn't personally tried to screw me over.

Bryan_Kelly and Mr68 know what's up.

I'm glad some of you have pleasant memories of him. I do not.

I dont think rick is any peach or lacking of culpability. The truth of it all is likely somewhere in the middle and lost to he said, he said sort of stuff.

I always wondered, how was Rick the one to be able to buy it all at the federal auction? did other have a shot and he just outbid?

can you share what he did to screw you over.
I know he wronged lots of people that never wanted to discuss when he was still around.

Good pic. You can really see how Wonka derived from that WB whitewood.

that is horrible!

I think I would have made sure #8 left in the back of my car as payment

The next great Pinside debate!
The ethics of renting and being a landlord vs the ethics of buying seized assets for pennies on the dollar at a bankruptcy auction.

I have pictures and video that I took at the auction when Gene was cleaning out space to make room for all the parts coming in back in 2001. I bought two games, Rocky and Mata Hari EM. version because that was all I had room for. Wish I would have had a huge truck to bring more games back as many of them went dirt cheap. What a fun day that was.

John

I first saw Gene at an Expo seminar in '98 or '99 and he always had a half to full page ad in Gameroom Magazine as a collector trying to get one of every Bally pin title.

I had no personal interaction with Gene but I heard from several individuals that his tactics at game auctions was to buy anything Bally, even when he had multiple copies of a certain title and outbid anyone that truly wanted that game, out of spite and just because he could.

A true hoarder to most.

GEORGIANNA LANE

I have to ask if anybody knows the backstory on Georgianna Lane... IPB used to have their company address based there. Looking at the address (map below) I assume this is where some of Gene's warehouses were? Or the main building where Kim and the workers went every day?

SO I'M WONDERING... how did the street get named after Gene's wife ?

Did Gene have enough local influence that he got a street name changed ? Or was this a street and buildings that HE built ?

I mean, no matter how it happened... he left a street in Bloomington named after Georgianna Cunningham... which will be that way 'forever' essentially. Even in year 2120, eventually nobody in town will have a clue where the name came from. Like we all do with most streets named a century or two ago in our towns. Kind of a ballsy thing to do for your wife.

Anybody know ?

georgianna lane.jpg

Is his wife still around in BloNo?

He had a tone of family it appears.
https://www.pantagraph.com/obituaries/gene-cunningham/article_e00b3c76-2f75-5057-8ea1-ee0204848271.html

Attended Chicago Expo in '05 and recall Gene having a booth there. I got to view a video in a seminar (by Mark Bakula and Don Caldwell), of a tour of Gene's "holdings". What stuck out to me was the fact that all Gene's commentary revolved around how much stuff was worth, how he had all/most of item X known to exist, and how he'd laughed at the $ people had offered for rare items. Sadly, it really did seem like most of his joy was in having stuff that others didn't.

If memory is correct, Gene's stuff at his booth was pricy or wasn't priced at all; if you have to ask....

Couple more recollections... the video from Gene's showed someone playing Wizard Blocks. For me (~4 years into the hobby) it was like Indiana Jones seeing the Ark of the Covenant . Especially as my understanding of the lore was that it was (barely functioning) when in fact there was substantial game play.

Gene insisted on pinball being two words (pin ball), IIRC to honour ancient history of the game. Maybe this thread title needs an edit .

Not Gene related, but I attended an in person "Internet Get-Together". Mostly RGP people and flame wars were a topic. Nice to see some things never change .

Looks like a glorified driveway. Wouldn't be surprised that if you build a new street on your own dime, the city lets you name it (within reason).

Yea, at a minimum Gene owed Mike Pacak a game in return for parts Mike provided to Gene. Gene stiffed Mike and that was the end of Gene's attendance at pinball expo. All Gene had to do was deliver Mike's game and he's be welcome again... obviously that never happened.

Instead, I was with Mike at Kennywood one day when he got a call from his guy at the Westin that Gene had booked space in the same hotel for his pinball show at the same time as Expo. Mike just about drained a cellphone battery shutting that shit down pronto, and Gene had to move his show down the street to the no-tell-motel.

That is how I have seen it work. You develop it, you file the paperwork to name it, it is yours.

Nothing unethical about that. Auctions are used when stuff has to sell, now, to satisfy creditors. If pennies were paid, that means no one else valued the stuff any higher. Should Rick have let it go to the landfill instead?

That's one way.

Or, the county which shall remain nameless oh let's say in Washington St., can rename a road after a family that lives on it and thus by doing so, transfer the maintenance requirements of said road to that estate.
DON'T ask me how I know that.

I know who got Mike's BBB. He may tell his story here. He may not.

Speaking of shows, it was a blast dealing/fucking with Gene in his booth. He would let guys like me and Chad Keller dig through all his bins of stuff under the tables. We'd get a box of stuff together and ask him how much. Sometimes he'd just look and give us a price. Sometimes he wanted to add everything up. You never knew. I'll never forget the time he wanted to go for lunch and was going to cover everything up. Chad and I said we'd take care of things for him. We got a lot of funny looks when people walked by. Sold a few things for him though.

Gene was too tight to bring help with to shows. He'd pull up in his box truck and offer anyone lunch if they'd help unload his truck. I helped a couple times. That way I got to be one the first to see what he had. Don't know anyone that got lunch.

And finally, while mingling in Gene's booth, you would eventually hear someone ask about buying the stock from Williams/Bally. Gene would say, "sit down. I'll tell you about it." I shit you not, you could walk past the booth 20 minutes later and the poor guy would still be there and Gene would still be talking.

It sounds like he was a cunning, ham of a guy.

This is fascinating... like a motion picture fascinating!

Knowing zilch about him and very little about the history of pinball during that time... he seems like he had more of a hoarder mentality rather than someone interested in actually making a business out of all of it.

I’m blown away by all of this.

I can verify this 100%! Gene used to stop by my place on his buying trips and in one of those he tells me when we were talkkng that “since I was never at his place, I want to show you some artwork in the house” so he pulls out the phone and proceeds to show me some the Dave Christensen nude pinball art for various games and then he continues on with the pictures of his wife which were large paintings in display in the house!!!

Yes she is and your question prompted me to call her just now. She's 80 years old, in good health and living on her own in Gene's childhood home.
She's one of the sweetest ladies you could ever meet and she misses her husband very, very much. Gene married way above his station.

I'm just enjoying this thread! I thought that I had played some rare titles, but this showed me machines that I didn't even know existed!

Thanks for the videos and pictures! Great reference material and fun to play "Name That Pin!"

I wasn’t leaning one way or another. If you took at objectively, how it was meant, it was that both are taking advantage of someone else. Renters take advantage of those with less money and benefit by simply owning, passively earning. Banks take advantage of folks who over-leverage, sometimes their own fault sometimes not, again totally legal but from an objective point of view it can be seen as ethical and not.

Somebody is taken advantage of, no need to pose this as a hero situation, obviously neither party is perfect or truthful.

I recall a whitewood BBB populated playfield being lent to Gene. Then it was all Lawyers...

glad to hear it. It does sounds like one of Gene's endearing characteristics was his pure love and infatuation for his wife.

I only talked to her twice on the phone. She sounded like a sweetheart! I'm glad she's doing well.

I didn’t really have any business transactions with Gene. I did have dinner with a group of people at one of the shows and ended up sitting next to Gene and his wife. They seemed like nice folk. Years later I was able to get the Star Jet from his collection when pps offered games for sale to the general public. When I saw it on the list, I jumped in the truck and got there as soon as I could. It was kinda rough but looked like it would clean up nice. I was so focused on securing it that I didn’t really focus on what else was there. I know I should have picked up the Mad World as well, but pps was asking $600, which at the time was a bit pricey. Star Jet ended up really nice and I consider it one of the jewels of my collection and for that I am grateful for Gene’s hoarding. Unfortunately, a very sad looking Gene was just sitting in a chair watching people haul away his stuff.

Great stories, thanks to those who have who have shared!

You hate the guy...That's all I can surmise from that.

I didn't hate Gene. He never did anything to me personally. What I hate is what he did to some really good people.

I don't know how many games Gene saved that wouldn't have gone to other collectors anyway at auction, hard to say. I do know this, at my first auction in the mid-90s one of the veterans told me that if I was asked do not tell Gene what game or games that I might have a strong interest in trying to win. He said, "Gene will just keep bidding against you until it is his game, even if he already has multiple copies at home and even if the price is high. He will do it not because he really wants the game, he will do it because he knows you really want it." That may explain some of the feelings about Gene on RGP when the Williams buyout was announced.

I've driven down that *lane* many times. Its a gravel driveway.

thanks

WHat was the bid?
did anyone bid it up at all?

i think i counted five unique Fireballs.

Out of curiosity - what WAS the high bid? Very fascinating discussion indeed.

It's not my place to say what the winning bid was since it was not PBL.

I was simply clarifying that other bids could have been made once the original bid was placed. Were they? I don't know. I didn't end up raising the bid. That's my business and I feel comfortable sharing that bit of info. Beyond that, I am not at liberty to say, sorry.

I found it odd that Gene had so much stuff left in ~2012. About 4 years earlier he had supposedly sold everything to another pinball parts seller(s), yet he still had rooms, no buildings, full of parts in his possession when I took the pre-bankruptcy tour of his properties in ~2012.

All true, but all his creditors lost money.

I find it odd that Gene's home property... with what... 7 acres?... and that crazy huge house... is valued at only $219,000

Having been so dazzled in 2005, that place was bonkers to me. Truly what a crazy 'multi-millionaire' property felt like. Now it's like a sad dead relic of an eccentric hoarder.

Heck, my first house was a new build for $189,000 back in 2001, and that was middle-class expensive here, at the time. Only 1300 square feet total, and 0.2 acres. I've seen it sell and re-sell a few times since I moved in 2004... and it's been as high as $269,000 the last time.

It's amazing how bigshot legacies can crash and burn. I can only imagine the money that was spent on that property over the decade(s). Seems like such a plummet in value. I'm sure Gene spent more than $219,000 for just the indoor pool addition. So much for appreciation of value across time. Maybe it's because it's a foreclosure sale. Maybe it's because the place is a haphazard mess of a multi-construction layout. Maybe Gene never got the correct inspections or permits every time he did something, so it's loaded with code violation caveats. Maybe it's all of the above. But $219,000... damn, at the time I visited, the whole place easily felt like a $2 Mil+ property / "estate" ... how the mighty fall

Strip club in Allentown was a eye opener with Mike from CPR trying to deal with him. I tried my luck later but gave up with the bad vibes business wise I got from Gene. He wanted me to pay for a lawyer before I could even make a playfield. I did buy a couple of EBD playfields which had issues & were full price. The last time I loaded his truck at TPF because no one would help, & as like others have said never got a free lunch. Sorry he lost it all, but some people do not know when to sell stuff. It was definitely better parts wise with Wayne & Rick. Gene liked to screw people over business deals. Glad I escaped having to deal with him.