Holy crap, I'm LIVING for this thread... I rarely get time to come on here to browse, but today was a national holiday (Canada Day) and tonight has been YouTube and Pinside. What a ride back in time! As far as CPR goes, we're some of those folks that could "write a novel" on Gene and IPB ... but so many years have gone by, that a ton of memories have been lost. Most of it was just haphazard business dealings. Gene never did anything in writing. Gene could be our best buddies one part of the year, then shafting us - no longer going to let us have artwork another part of the year. The first couple years of CPR were very bumpy due to this kind of IPB activity, shifting royalty deals, and artwork uncertainty. By 2007/2008 it's what drove us unto the arms of Mr.Pinball Australia as the new "alternative WMS licencee" and make royalty-paid Bally/Williams licensed parts via Wayne Gillard. But cutting ties with Gene meant the end (for a long while) of getting access to original factory films. Everything had to be redrawn from scratch after that. Then there were the years of the IPB / PinballAustralia feuding.

As the many years went on, Kim would sometimes call us occasionally to ask a question. Loved Kim. Loved Gene, really. In retrospect, even with all Gene's bravado and that damn unpredictable ability to abort a verbal deal in a microsecond ... even though we couldn't work with him, there was something about him that was magnetic, funny, and family.

To be honest, at least with us, in the final few years before the bankruptcy, he had... mellowed out? Don't know if that is the right word. He was offering to have CPR use his original films for playfields, he just wanted a fair shake at some kind of a royalty. He wasn't being controlling or money-grubby. He was being fair and helpful, where the olive branch was being held out - and I had the choice to grab it or not. No pressure. We actually turned him down several times, as we had a stockpile (years worth) of crisp fresh vectored playfield art packages from Stu by that point. We had no room on the docket to make deals to borrow his artwork, at the time. I remember feeling bad, because wisps of his financial hardships had begun appearing in the air. Would have been nice for some of his artwork to yield him some coin. He tried. The difference in his disposition at that time was palpable, compared to all those years prior.

Anyway, enough of that.

THAT HOUSE !!! Wowwwww those pictures of the current-day state of the property are shocking to me. We visited Gene back in 2005 to make our handshake-deal on doing classic Bally playfields on an ongoing basis. This was after the 'debut' Fathom run in 2004. 2005 was going to be Centaur. Then Xenon. Then Eight Ball Deluxe. And so on. That is why we went there, and we were flying home the original Centaur factory films... the first set he was going to let us borrow. So of course, that weekend we got the entire tour. Everything. All the warehouses. That house. The giant indoor pool oasis.

But that house... damnnn. He had us through most of it. If the listing says 5500 square feet... I almost cannot believe it. Maybe they don't count the pool building addition. Dunno. I'd estimate more like 12,000. At the time, I was so dazzled by the immense scale of it all... Imagine it all completely furnished, fake trees, plants, paintings, artwork, books, slot machines everywhere, etc. It was tight to walk around, because there was a slight "hoarder" thing going on. Soooo much "stuff"... the place seemed never-ending. And all of it was crammed full. I never noticed it was made up of multiple builds and add-ons. I'm only seeing that clearly now, looking at the real estate pictures. Back in 2005, that pool 'oasis' room was mind boggling. He had fake palm trees in there that were 20-30 feet tall... tiki torches and strings of lanterns... tons of loungers and stools... it was bigger than most indoor hotel pools I have been at. Could easily handle a party of 50-100 people. But it felt so huge, so lonely, so cold... echoes for days... like an abandoned YMCA. I think it's heyday was long in the past. But as somebody mentioned, yes, this was kinda like a patchworked "Playboy Mansion" type of place. All the eccentricities of a wealthy man chasing his ideas and dreams, changing interests and projects as years go by, throwing money at this, throwing money at that. Such a unique place. Gene's World. Crammed with his lifetime of trophies and trinkets. Wall to wall. It was soooo "70's" with the colors, carpets, woodgrain... and it smelled that way too. I have to say, it made my life feel "small" ... he had accomplished so much, thus accumulated so much. It blew my mind. And while one could say life isn't about "stuff"... you'd be right... but man, it was overwhelming what one man could collect and buy over a lifetime to that point. I had never seen anything like that, in person, before in my life. Not on that scale. He was charming for the whole visit. Definitely daunting though, in his presentation of his lifestyle. We were there for a business deal... it felt like the deal was so small (for him) we were like Girl Guides selling cookies at his door. Does that make sense? We were so naive and green in 2005.

ANYWAY - - - I TOOK PICTURES DURING THAT VISIT

I STILL HAVE THEM

So I'm going to post them below. Maybe you can all spot things you recognise. Some are from his giant barns (collections) behind his house. Some are from the IPB warehouses. A few are from the Big Bang Bar assembly building (???) ... it hadn't even started yet, but he had most of the parts. Plus some odds and ends. If I know something, I'll label the pic(s) the best I can.

IPB Truck parked at Gene's place
Illinois PinBall POOL PLAYER machines

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Pool Addition - What it looked like in 2005
Pool Addition - What it looked like in 2005
Example of artwork in Gene's house

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Molds Molds Molds - as per story told earlier in thread !
One of the larger IPB warehouses
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Fresh BBB Lockdown Bars
Holding a rare pre-production Centaur film positive
Factory drawings - Centaur
Factory drawings - Centaur

Another warehouse - cabinet side art
IPB Repro KISS backglasses 2005
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Cabinet side art
Cabinet side art

OMG ... NAPPA !!

I had completely forgotten about that time. Memories get hazy.
In hearing those words again, I just remember bits and pieces. I recall us feeling snubbed, as CPR was not invited into NAPPA. When at the time, CPR was releasing more reproduction items than all NAPPA members - combined. And we were definitely in North America.

The "north" could have been dropped from the name. A little bit of it was kinda like a "MAGA in pinball" attitude. But even then, it wasn't *really* about geography.

It was a snub at Wayne Gillard at Mr.Pinball Australia, and anybody who made parts under Wayne's license, rather than Gene's. Gene didn't like people jumping ship, and switching to working with Wayne, to produce Bally/Williams items. So he came up with this "alliance" concept, under the theme of a type of patriotism thing - setting them apart from other producers who were thus 'foreign'. Appealing to domestic production, rather than overseas.

But CPR wasn't overseas. So it was more about labelling the IPB/Gene "family" of businesses that (at the time) still worked with Gene's license, and paid Gene a royalty. That's really all it was, regardless of the concept, or marketing. We knew that. Most knew that. But Gene ran with it anyway. He wanted to draw a line in the sand, for whatever reason, to distinguish "Wayne" producers from "IPB" producers.

I don't remember how long the "alliance" marketing lasted. But I don't think it lasted that long. I don't recall "NAPPA" doing or meaning much, as far as customers buying things, or the hobby itself caring. The hobby just wanted 'stuff' - playfields, plastics, glasses, ramps, etc. They didn't care much about where it came from, or whose license it fell under.

Yikes. This hits the gut hard. In hearing of this error, I can reveal EXACTLY what happened to them - and how easily that error was made.

Since we ran hundreds of TAF playfields a few years ago, I have first-hand experience using the original films (the exact films Gene owned). Side note, the TAF films came to us from PPS, where PPS had gotten them in the IPB estate. Just so people understand the provenance...

Anyway, I feel bad for the silkscreener that Gene had outsourced to. I'm sure Gene simply gave them a stack of woods, the TAF film positives, and said "silkscreen that artwork onto these boards". One may think it would be easy as that. But it's never that easy. Even if you have the complete stack of original film positives, and follow the Pantone colors noted on each layer... there is a little more to it than that, when it comes to TAF.

This is where some intimacy with the project is required. That poor screener didn't stand a chance. He did exactly as he was told - and that is where the error comes from. You have to know how the Addams Family playfield is supposed to turn out - and why it looks the way it does. Gene dropped the ball in simply handing over woods and films. So unfortunately Gene got the predictable results I would expect, knowing the structure of that artwork.

So what happened?

Nobody missed a screen. A film wasn't missing. Nobody forgot anything. The screener printed everything correctly. I know this is true.

BUT - the way Williams made the TAF layout - there was a distinct layering "trick" in play... that you'd have to recognise and know about in advance. It's not noted on the films. This is why you have to be intimate with the final look beforehand, to know what you were trying to achieve.

The trick with the rug pattern is that it's not a discrete layer. Wrap your mind around this -> All of those botched playfields DID have the rug pattern! The problem was, the flowery pattern was hidden under the red layer. So the actual ink was there... and the screener did his job... but the final look was wrong.

HOW !! ??? (Pic below)

The key is that the red layer HAS TO be about 20% see-thru. BAM.

Without that - the playfield is going to have a failed print. There had to be a level of transparency in the mix of the red ink (couldn't be standard opaque). The film for red simply says "Pantone 200C" ... but it says nothing about opacity. Yikes.

The rug pattern is part of the DARK BLUE layer. All those little flowers go down when the dark blue screen is printed (which comes before red, in the sequence). Then when red comes, the red rug ink goes down OVER TOP of those dark blue flowers... and voila... you can see the muted flowers in the red ink. It looks like another off-red color was used... but no... Williams didn't add another screen to the layout... they utilized what they already had... saving a whole screen.

And get this -> the rug pattern isn't the only thing on that playfield that used that trick. Yikes. There are shadowing effects in *several* more places in the red layer. Look at the "GREED" book. There are dark blue patches hidden under the red there too... giving depth/contour effects to the binding of the book. So if Gene's playfields didn't have the rug pattern... that means they were also missing all the shadowing effects all over the playfield too. So it was more than just a rug pattern problem.

So the poor screener did the printing with normal all-opaque inks (I mean, they wouldn't have known) - and Gene got exactly what he told them to do. I can only imagine the tussle when it came to paying the bill. I'm sure Gene fought tooth and nail... might have even gotten the job for free (refused to pay?). When it wasn't the fault of the silkscreener at all.

Sorry if this may be off-topic in this thread. I just read the TAF PF anecdote and cringed "I know EXACTLY how that f*cked up" heehee

Layering tricks on the TAF playfield

Somebody more intimate with the BBB game-specific parts could sit down and rough-up a crude BOM.

I remember doing it back during that period for myself... and I couldn't get over $2500 to make one. Keep in mind, you have to know wholesale costs based on *quantity* manufacture. For instance, pop bumpers wouldn't cost what you see at Marco to buy ONE or THREE... you'd have them molded fresh, in quantities of 1000, in Chicago, for like $1 each. Bulb sockets by the 5000. Dimes each. And so on.

The BBB playfields were "free" ... Gene didn't pay a cent for them. So put those on the BOM as $0.00. I know this for a fact. I'll elaborate a bit below. I think somebody earlier in the thread explained the backstory too.

In fact, Chicago Gaming (CGC) was so pissed at Gene during that era, that it almost ruined CPR's ability to work with the Duba's.

Back in 2007 or so, we had really wanted to switch from the initial baltic birch plywood stock we started CPR with, to the "real deal" playfield gameboard stock. We had found the ACTUAL mill that was still doing gameboard stock (the last place doing it). They were producing it exclusively for CGC, who were making Stern's playfields. They were called American Hardwoods (formerly Weber Inc.) and were located in Wisconsin. They wouldn't let us order any gameboard stock, a 'secret recipe' they had been doing for decades, treating it like Kentucky Fried Chicken's 11 herbs & spices. Not unless we had permission from CGC.

So this is where we had to reach out and meet Roger Duba... thee patriarch of Chicago Gaming Corp.

Roger was quite the character. Old and tough. But sweet as pie once you broke through, got comfortable with you, and lowered his defences. His main beef with me was that I MUST NOT be working with (or for) Gene Cunningham... and that not one penny of CPR playfields went to Gene's pocket (LOL). There could be not one stitch of involvement between IPB and CPR ... or Roger wasn't going to help us at all.

Roger loved to talk on the phone once he got comfortable. And we got comfortable! That is when he told me the entire BBB playfield story, and clarified why he had to vet us for IPB involvement. Yes, it is true that Gene 'held them over a barrel' to force their hand to make the BBB playfields, to cover a made-up "fee" that Gene wanted, for use of some kind of a patent CGC was allegedly breaching - and Gene threatened to sue. So under this duress, they grit their teeth, caved and made the BBB playfields. Gene had said that's all he needed to make everything square. So they did them... but man, Roger simply *seethed* in hatred for Gene. It was palpable. (On a side note, Gene had essentially already revealed this story in 2005 when we visited [see my BBB playfield photos earlier]. Standing right there, at the racks of BBB playfields, Gene told us "You know what, I didn't even pay anything for these - Chicago Gaming had owed me, so I had them pay me in playfields" or something to that effect)

So I assured Roger that we had recently completely cut ties with Gene, and were working with Wayne Gillard Mr. Pinball Australia instead. In fact, under that arrangement, we were actually COMPETITION to Gene. At least in Gene's eyes. Roger loved that ! I expressed my desire to make the best repro playfields, using his exclusive real-deal wood, and thus way better playfields than Gene (or his partners) could ever produce. So Roger Duba agreed to allow us access to the American Hardwoods runs of gameboard stock (which they ran once or twice a year for Roger). We were so happy. Roger personally called the president of the mill and instructed them to do any business with CPR that we wanted, and the rest is history.

We had a few good years with American Hardwoods, until their parent company closed and liquidated that mill to pay off a bankruptcy somewhere else in the country. But the president there, in his last days before they locked the place, passed the gameboard 'secret recipe' over to another nearby competitor - and referred us to them to carry on the legacy of that wood. Even set up a conference call to make introductions between us. We've been getting our wood from that mill ever since, trucking it up from Wisconsin USA to Nova Scotia Canada. Years later we even tweaked the original recipe, turning the dark brown cores (usually sweet gum) to white ash, and tripling the thickness of the face veneers. Roger and CGC never came along on that mill switchover (he didn't like that mill or something) and they decided to source their wood elsewhere. I don't know how that turned out for them. It's probably been a decade since we've talked to CGC. Does anybody know if ol' Roger is still with us ?