I knew Gene and Illinois Pinball and had spoken with some of his suppliers, pinball restorers, customers, competitors, Gene’s friends and family and pinball enthusiasts. Being an avid reader of Rec Games Pinball, it was fun to watch BBBr unfold. I passed on BBBr when it was announced at Expo because of Gene’s business acumen and his lack of knowledge on how to build a pinball machine. Building pinball is hard was a well known mantra even then and it was believed to be an insurmountable task for a newbie to make a pin. My bigger concerns were the significant unresolved issues to building BBBr and the speculation of whether Gene would go out of business before delivering the first game. Gene’s health was sometimes questioned too and the possibility of Gene having a heart attack and leaving Georgeanne with an incomplete project were real. There was always a possibility Gene might be confronted by angry supplier or a spurned team member and the ensuing quarrel lead to fatalities or prison. The game was supposed to be built in five months yet took 2.5 years. That was a long delay and it allowed time for much speculation. With Gene, the more you knew, the less you’d be inclined to sign up for BBBr.

The enthusiasm for the theme and knowledge about original BBB machines were powerful aphrodisiacs for many original buyers of this remake. There was a sense of pride in knowing you were supporting this dream come to fruition. But there were so many issues and risks that I decided to wait and buy a HUO BBBr after they were delivered. Knowing it would take a few thousand dollars over msrp to pry one loose was ok if the game could be made. The game was originally priced at $5k and the market price on day 1 release of all games was $10k. BBBr reached new heights over the years, selling for over $25k at one point, before drifting backwards and today average around $15k.

Following the close of B/W factory in 2000, there was an existing inventory of pinball parts available from pinball suppliers to meet minimal needs for a few years. However there were hard to find parts, known as unobtainium, and the list began to grow. Common things in small quantities like flipper rebuild kits, coin doors, circuit boards, cabinet hardware, locks were available for awhile. Specialty items such as cabinet decals and stencils, plastics, diverters and game subassemblies were in shorter supply and might require locating a collector with extra parts or posting a wanted ad on Rec Games Pinball or Mr Pinball. Demand for parts was strong and growing while the supply of was fixed and slowly dwindling. Not many suppliers were joining up to make parts for a dying industry. Everyday Joe’s were shopping nicer games for resale and restoring player’s condition, rougher and non-working games. High-end restorers had an endless supply of work and an insatiable appetite for new parts. Most of the restorers had developed strong connections with parts suppliers.

This backdrop explain why Gene’s announced purchase of B/W parts inventory in 2003 was hailed as the second coming. Finally parts would be available. Hard to find stuff would soon be here. Gene was going to build BBBr’s plus start a thriving parts supply business,at the same time. Following initial progress setting up some inventory and listing some parts, the inventory project stalled. By 2005, Gene still didn’t have a clue what his actual inventory was nor what kind of unobtanium treasures were crated. Many boxes were not logged and promises of providing many needed parts to the industry had gone unfulfilled. The parts were there, it was the system was fbar’d. Gene didn’t have a strong interest in selling parts and by putting his family and friends in charge exasperated a solution. There were many false starts, a lack of focus, honest mistakes, incompetence, thievery, back stabbing, mistrust, broken deals, lies, deception, extortion, threats and intrigue. By 2009, Gene sold remaining B/W inventory (estimate as high as 90% of original cache that was purchased SIX years prior) to Pinball Inc who had prearranged and immediately resold the parts inventory to Pinball Spare Parts Australia. It took Pinball Spare Parts only one month to get their online store setup and another three to finish logging all parts. Bally / Williams pinball inventory from 1999 had finally entered the 21st century.

Regardless of all Gene’s adventures, wheeling and dealings or personal ethics, making 185 BBBr’s was a remarkable feat I’d label a huge success. That Gene felt he lost $300k might have outwardly colored his personal opinion of the venture, but I’d like to think he was more proud about having given people what he had promised. As proof of this, Gene was knee deep in designing and preselling King Pin. He had hoped to learn from mistakes and expected to make money selling King Pin plus more BBBr at a higher price. He was talking about producing Wizard Blocks afterwards. Gene was a dreamer, confident in his abilities to create pinball magic. To him, nothing else mattered, least of all what he had to do to make that happen. Gene risked his own fortunes and flew too close to the sun ——- R.I.P. Those on the short end of Gene’s deals are less generous in their assessments.

Yeah for regular ones, but not that many sold for top dollar. Numerous listings traded hands over $20k.

As I understand this is prototype #001. It was followed by some engineering sample games and that led to production machines being made. Is it wrong of me to say a prototype is not the same game and would never play as good as a production machine? If so, then maybe it is the importance of or nostalgia factor which is the basis of its value.

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.

Soa the rumor Gene started, that he lost $2k per machine was probably his paper loss. The rumor that Gene started that he could build BBBr for $3k, means he made $1.5k per machine. I heard Gene make both statements and they sounded contradictory. I personally don’t think Gene included all costs, losses and free labor hours for assembly into his calculations, and had he done so, he would have found another $1.5k and made close to zero profit per game. But Gene believed he was making $1.5k per standard game and a good bit more on the prototypes. Gene was super excited about building Kingpin, in spite of unresolved issues and he wanted to make more BBBr’s.

So the takeaways here are - Gene made 190 BBBr to recreate magic. Gene considered BBBr to be a success and he earned a nice return for his effort once the games shipped. Gene was proceeding full steam ahead to develop Kingpin. Simultaneously, Gene’s management of his financial assets resulted in his bankruptcy and self implosion. As BBBr was being made, Gene likely had a neutral cash flow from operations and he was able to juggle his parts business, rental houses and warehouses. However, at some point that stopped and Gene went out-of-business. His bankruptcy had nothing to do with the BBBr effort, which earned him profit at the end of the day.