When I was your sons age I had to wake up at 05:00 to help my father carry pinball machines, through the snow and ice!

Whenever I roadie with a pin in the back of the truck, I always hope a fellow pinhead spots it and gets stoked. I know I do the rare time I see it happen and almost wanna reroute, track em down and talk shop over a couple games!

My son isn't old enough to help me move games yet. Thankfully I can do a lot myself (I set up a DP Pro by myself the other day after it was delivered into my basement) and have friends that can help move. But I can't wait until my son can help me... especially when he can take over 50% of the weight.

But yeah, as long as your son enjoys the hobby, he should be able to help out and bend his normal schedule every now and then. This hobby ain't easy.

Happy kid? Great dad.

When I was 15 it was me with the pinballs and “hiring” my dad to help move them. I didn’t want to be up at 0500 though.

I’ve had buddies over the years help me out. Nothing compares to having my twevle year old break down a game with me load and deliver. He shares my passion but we also have great father son time. So yes your another Badd-Ass Dad!

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Definitely bad-ass dad. It’s all about the time you spend with your kid.

I am “forcing” my 14 year old son on a road trip tomorrow morning to pickup a Mini Cooper with a blown out clutch for his first car.

20 hours round trip , he misses school (straight A student), and we get to spend time together listening to music and hanging out.

Best vacation day ever!

Only if you have a strong back… this car isn’t going to push itself onto the trailer…. Lol

Any sort of time you can spend with your son is good Dad stuff! Most Dad’s drag their kids to the hardware store or something boring as hell, pinball is sick and any kids of this generation would agree, especially with the weird “retro nostalgia” happening.

He gets to spent time with his Dad AND do something way cooler than normal! Excellent

I should resist a comment, but what the hell.
You sir, are a GOOD dad...that being said, I don't think this situation qualifies as what I would consider BADASS.
Any dad that will spend the time with their kids and find something that they can do together is good times with memories. Obviously you want to be that Dad that spends time with him, even your pin name reflects that, Super!

BadAss? That could maybe be too, for another reason...but having your kid help you move a pin..not so much. Like saying, "I'm badass" why? because my son and I moved a pin together and he was willing to get up early to help me.

Again, enjoy those special times with them, as we all know they grow so very fast, and we all should strive to be that good Dad.

We'll see.

He gets to pick out your old folks home.

Do they change your depends once a day ? Or once a week ?

Then we'll know who's who.

LTG : )

I have 3 sons. All have called upon to move games(they are all college aged at this point). My middle son is built like me and we are the usual moving crew. The other two need to bulk up a bit, but they are good for moving games around the house. The road trips we have to pick up games are always a fun time(plus dad buys food and drink for the trip). Great bonding moments.

Any time you spend with the kids is well worth it and being a good dad. They remember every bit of it as you will find out..

LTG reminds us they pick our nursing home. That is one way.

The kids ( are out and gone) still call me to ask questions about work and life challenges. They call their Mom about relationship stuff. We are both real glad they still "like" us enough to call! .

You’re a great dad! Cat’s in the Cradle.

My younger son (now 19) is my road warrior.. he NEVER says no. His first question is "what are we getting". He's been with me for at least 4 trips over 7 hrs each. Last two were over 10 hrs. Bad Ass Dad for sure.. this is how we get our time in.. no phones, no GFs, just the two of us truckin pins all over Florida.. great stuff!

Bad-ass dad…he would cherish those memories for the rest of his life
My 17 year old son has been helping me for years with no complaints
From driving across town to pick up a pin to a 12 hr round trip to San Diego
Every time I tell him
“Let’s go pick up a pin” his eyes light up and it’s ready to go in a heartbeat
He’s leaving to the marines soon
Iam sure going to miss him
That’s us at StarFighters pin Festival we also went to Zapcon

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I always let my son play first game for helping me lump in and out.Graduated grad school last weekend

Love it! I started buying pinball and arcade games when I was 14. Bally Skateball and Atari Spaceriders for $225 total. Had to ask my parents to help me pick up the games from an operator's warehouse in the Chicago suburbs, so a little backwards vs your situation. Now, my 8 year old son loves to help me clean up project games and install mods. Most of all, he loves to spend time together playing them.

surrounding yourself with good people I see …

No sons, two daughters and neither are interested enough to be any help. I brought my nephew on a particularly hard retrieval once (late EM, step basement stairs with 30 inch steps, turn at the bottom, barely 3 foot landing at the top and a stair chairlift in the way that had to be lifted up and over. I think he actually thought it was cool to help, he is the one who likes to come and play the pins.

Honestly it sounds like a lot of Bad-Ass Kids in this thread. Congratulations to all you great parents out there.