Big Bang Bar
Capcom, 1996
Wizard Blocks
Williams, 1999You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider Ballypinball.
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Quoted from mjsbowl:Thank you for sharing your experiences Dougram.
Oh my god this is the biggest load of bullshit I have read, none of what you say is even close to true
I have all the contracts between IPB and Williams and what gene did and didn't buy, could and couldn't do
Williams never licensed James from Pinball Inc to make any Ramps
Gene had exclusive rights to make replacement parts for 5 Years then non exclusive after that, and never had any rights to make Bally Williams Games ever.
Quoted from Bryan_Kelly:I have to admit, Wayne, your version is what I've always heard. And that was from those who initially tried to work with Gene in the very early days.
Yes I agree the guy is repeating what Gene Said to him, however what gene said 90% of the time was crap.
He said he owned Bally Williams etc etc, he was only ever a parts Licensee, exclusive for 5 years then non exclusive, wms could sell licenses to 100 people if they wanted to.
Quoted from Compy:He still has them. He was very helpful in allowing me to document his when I was building mine, also enjoyed exchanging a lot about the design history on the game with him. They work very well for how far along in the design process they were, and I rest easy knowing they're with the current owner and in good hands!
not all are in his hands, I have a few crates as well
Quoted from Mr68:While it's true Gene was a compulsive weaver of fiction, I believe a ratio of 90% is harsh. But I take your meaning.
Gene would base his stories on the truth and make them grandiose using exaggeration and yes, pure invention. The majority of his dishonesty were in gray areas that could neither be proved or disproved. Consequently he was rarely challenged and he never matured as a person in that regard.
- Life lesson alert for some people if they care about reputation.
One of the most common and repeated stories from Gene was that he lost a million dollars remaking Big Bang Bar. I can’t disprove that but many of us believe he actually made a tiny profit, broke even or lost a much smaller amount. - Gene was Gene and his being pretentious in no way diminishes his legacy of resurrecting and building those high-quality, beautiful BBB machines.
As far as Dougram recounting his history here, I find him highly credible. I’m hanging on to every word he writes and memories are now coming back for me. I don’t know who he is but he was definitely there based on his detailed descriptions and accuracy. Please carry on, Dougram.We were talking about the Wizard Blocks whitewoods and you may be confusing that with parts.
That's exactly what I have
Mr. Gillard:
You have previously expressed an interest in the assets of Gene and Georgianna Cunningham and/or the stock in Illinois Pinball. I am writing to inform you that I have received an offer of $500,000 for assets of Gene and Georgianna Cunningham including the stock in Illinois Pinball and have asked for Court permission to accept it. Attached is a Notice of Intent to Sell which sets forth the assets being sold and the conditions of the sale. Anyone who wishes to bid more than $500,000 for the assets listed will have to do ALL of the following:
1. File an objection to the sale on or before May 29, 2014
2. Bid an amount in excess of $500,000
3. Accept the same terms and conditions as the current bidder
4. Be willing and able to tender earnest money in the amount of 10% of the bid
5. Be willing and able to pay the balance of the purchase price within 3 business days after an Order is entered approving the sale
6. The successful bidder will have to remove all of the property from its current location within 45 days from the date an Order is entered approving the sale.
ALL OF THE PROPERTY INCLUDING THE STOCK IS SOLD “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ORAL OR WRITTEN, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF TITLE, QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY, AND FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR USE.
Please contact me if you need further information.
Wayne
I have a inventory of the pinball Machines
In the Cunningham personal bankruptcy
estate ...
This consist of 302 pinball machines
As far as Illinois Pinball is concerned
The only asset that was personally
Owned by Cunningham is the stock
In Illinois Pinball which would make the
Buyer of the stock the owner of
Illinois Pin Ball which includes the parts
And tooling,
However their is a pending law suit against
Illinois Pinball in the area of $200,000. Pinball Inc
So this would be a concern for the buyer,
And out of the purview of the Trustee
Because I P is not in bankruptcy .
We have been engaged with buyers who
Have expressed an interest In buying
The stock and the inventory .
Would you be interested in this package?
Thanks
Gene bought what was left of TAG a company Williams owned that made playfields, Williams was still finding pinball parts almost 10 years after they closed, we were told come and get them or they were going to the tip.
Some were tooling we didn't work out what part the tool made and others were parts like blank non populated circuit boards etc.
Gene paid $300k for 300 pallets of parts from Williams
Gene was buying pinball magic machines used to get boards to make a small number of BBB about 12 I was told.
the county said a lot of his rentals were not fit to live in and they bulldozed them and took him to court for unpaid rates and taxes and the values dropped on his other properties so he owed more to the bank than they were worth, he lost $1500 a game on BBB
Quoted from desertT1:What was the “Williams Process” for making playfields? Shoot, what was the “Data East Process”? I had a Hook for a while and while the art style was never my favorite, the Stealth Coat had held up very well over the years. So if Gary was “stuck” with the DE way I don’t know that it was really all that bad of a thing. Would love to know the differences though.
I can tell you that, they used a specialty coating that had a milky look to seal the playfields before printing, then clearcoated
that's why they were so hard
Quoted from Luckydogg420:Could it be something as simple as dunking the playfield in a glue solution to firm it up?
no it was a type of resin, 2 part mix and rock hard
Quoted from gdonovan:If he lost money on every BBB why was Kingpin even being discussed or make 12 more BBB games with used boards?
A lot of money to lose for the sake of vanity. Your talking over a quarter million lost on 180 BBB games.
he plucked $4500 price out of his arse based on stern prices at the time
and Gene told me himself as I had ordered 5 games from him, he lost $1500 a game, actually he said $300k he lost
he was selling the extra BBB for more money at the time, and Kingpin was more expensive, he said they had sanded the FPGA or reverse engineered it for Kingpin
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