I visited the MOP during the initial opening and flew back to CA to spend three days fixing games with the team before the second opening.

Met Tom and Reiny and several others in person. All very talented and generous people with their skills and time. It was a wonderful opportunity to see such an ambitious vision come to life and be able to participate in making it happen.

I also discovered new games I might not have otherwise found until much later, like Skyrocket. After rebuilding it at the museum, I had to have one for myself. Such is the reason why we need living examples for the public to put their hands upon and play. More desire = more attention = the hobby lives for another generation.

With ReplayFX gone and MOP to follow… and the PHOF’s new land survey challenge and the PPM’s ridiculous restrictions imposed by the city after moving in… and with Pinball Rescue going out of business (thankfully Shay taking up the slack!)… public pinball has been dealt some hard blows lately.

Nevertheless, people who truly care and WORK to preserve pinball, bring it to new people, and foster goodwill among the caretakers and suppliers of the hobby as well as training newcomers with patience and kindness are the ones who will carry it forward and be remembered for doing so.

My hat is off to John Weeks & company & all of the volunteers and promoters for entertaining so many during the MOP’s now-legendary run.

Skyrocket! The one I personally brought back to life (and convinced me to get one for myself). In the halls of EM's, this is my all-time #3 game.

Some nice rares in there too. And a Zwackery! arcade cab... wow. That one is highly covetable.

Agree. Rarity, schmarity. If it don’t get played, it don’t stay.

Tragically, the lesson repeats itself yet again: Never open a "moonbase" amusement business out in the sticks just because the rent is cheap and space is plentiful.

If you build it, they may not come.

I find it is usually best to combine the powerful eye-catching "pull" of pinball with some sort of high-profit "push" item (like alcoholic beverages, or heck, just ordinary beverages). Tim Arnold has repeatedly mentioned his soda machine is his #1 profit earner. Heed his advice.

On my North American pinball tour, Blairally was extremely grateful to have their ball bowler repaired. Not because it made tons of money, but because customers would park in front of it for hours and drink many gallons of beer.

What's the best of all worlds for pinball? In my opinion: Breweries. Every brewery needs a unique draw to pull people further than the local bars, and the inventory sells for top dollar at a price which cannot be undercut... literally selling it at the source.

Contact your local breweries and get some machines in there. They have the space. They have the product. They need the pull. You just might be the answer they've been looking for.

True, but MOP didn't survive outside of the city either.

Moonbase venues always tempt the imagination due to the low price per sqft. and ample space ("Wow, look at the empire I could build!"). But unless you have the sheer magnetic pull and bottomless resources of Disney World, building a Pinball Field of Dreams doesn't typically work out.

How many times has this happened in our hobby? Too many. Makes me sad.

Double dip and advance the wha?

MOP was marketed as an amusement headquarters. An arcade oasis in the desert. "A place to spend a few bucks and play tons of games". Got the t-shirt, drank the beer. What's the diff to the average visitor? If it wasn't a public venue, why was it open to the public? If it wasn't a business, why did it operate like one?

Doesn't matter anyway. I'm not here to argue semantics or derail this thread. I'm a little depressed to see yet another huge pinball venue bite the dust and throwing out 2c to future pinball dreamers... don't build another moonbase. Tour your local breweries and see the possibilities.

(and don't overspend at the auction... here we go!)

Pooks, XSV, Jay, a lot of you folks are 100% on target and understand the reality of pinball-as-a-business-venture.

Without knowledge, without a sincere level of passion, and without a solid business strategy... every pinball-based venture will fall apart. EVERY ONE. 100% guaranteed. Always.

Even when all of the fundamentals are in place, pinball only lives on because we want it to... through sheer force of will!

PHOF caters to the masses and takes all the hits of having a huge public location in the middle of a tourist city. Tim works himself to the point of physical and mental collapse. It's amazing he had the energy to launch PHOF 2.0 considering the stress and backlog. His games aren't collector quality and never will be, nor will they need to be. It's all about the quantity, and believe me, Tim knows the game better than anyone else playing with those big boy casinos and managing tens of millions of quarters flowing through those coin slots. He's also been quite generous with sharing his strategies and information, but few want to follow in the footsteps required to do it. It's a life-changing level of commitment. Perhaps only a task for an insane man.

Quantity also wins for Asheville with its hugely favorable location, attractive business storefront, and media coverage constantly funneling streams of new visitors in the door. Enough to keep the cash registers full no matter what happens. They're the big winners of the pinball hobby. Others include Up-N-Down Lounge, Quarterworld, Ground Kontrol, etc... all of them able to sell alcoholic beverages too (except PHOF).

Pooks (Decades Arcade) and I and a handful of others across the continent represent the mid-tier. We lack some of the advantages of the big guys and have to make it up somehow. Oftentimes by catering to other passionate weirdos like ourselves who want "boutique pinball" at the best possible quality without wrecking our day jobs in the process. We operate on slim margins and put in a lot of overtime to keep things running. Some months are a wash, at best. But we persist! FOR YOUUU!

In my case, I have neither a good storefront (looks like a bank from the outside), nor the ability to offer alcoholic beverages on demand. I'm also limited in terms of indoor space... can get maybe 65 maximum in here. So if I can't expand "out", I'll move "up"... putting the focus upon an extremely high quality experience in terms of lighting, gameplay, variety, refreshments, merchandise, special events, perks for sustaining members, etc. Even then, as good as RPM has gotten over the past three years, I'm constantly having to innovate to keep pace and stay competitive. It never stops. I just worked 38 days straight.

Pooks has a solid strategy by anchoring himself to a brewery. I strongly believe pinball + brewery represents its ultimate evolved form... combining a low-profit, high-maintenance attraction with a high-profit, out of the way product with lots of floor space to burn. It's so perfect it hurts. Every brewery should have some pins in it. Enough perhaps to set the public's expectations no matter which one they visit.

Anyway, don't get me started... I got auctions to watch and money to hopefully -not- spend. Hopefully. *gulp*

I've hung out with the PHOF crew a few times. Usual procedure is unlocking each machine, picking out all the coins, lugging heavy sacks to the counting machine on the floor, dumping them in... ka-chunk-ka-chunk-ka-chunk and away it goes. Everyone's hands were tinged gunmetal grey by the end, likely covered with esoteric bacteria from all over the globe. It's a living, eh? One of the reasons I'll never do coin drop. In a brewery, however, that's a whole different matter...

OK back to the biddin's! *rubs hands*

Don't see Twitch going yet but Captain page has a (live?) video window.

That Skyrocket tho. EM prices might reveal... uh... something?

Wooo Skyrocket skyrocketed. I personally worked on that one. That's what convinced me to get my own!

Any guess on Spanish Eyes? Surely not four digits... egad!

Oh lord already $1300...

W H A O O O O O O

The Red Max is rare, but, holy... glebugherndddtttppppppppth

Crazy time. Full-on crazy time. But hey... there is one upside: A lot of people are seeing value in pinball and perhaps games they've never seen before.

GEMINI! Oh dear... here we go...

OK now Bronco is just pissing me off. Super common, super boring, shoots up past $2500 in seconds.

Bronco.

$4200 for Bronco. Before fees.

For Bronco.

...Bronco...

...

..

.

...Bronco will haunt my dreams...

Sega Samurai such a pretty cabinet. Sega was an incredible company. Probably the most innovative of all.

Zwackery and Varkon back to back... here we go...

Jumped the shark? I think we killed it.

It is Mr. Bronco?

Has to be. Just has to be.

We have an Off-Road and people love it. But $5000+ fees love? Maybe not quite that much.

Cobra Command is so freakin' good. But that price... ouch.

Sega Hot Rod such a cool game. Almost never see it… probably because it runs on a floppy disk.

Honestly I’d pay $$$ to visit a Sega Hall of Fame from the early EM days onward.

They were the most innovative of all.

I want a Power Drift DX. The epitome of the sprite era, IMHO.

LOL "I've heard those EM things getting them going... usually just a simple thing just get in there and *boom*... ok and the bidding starts at $3600..."

I have no doubt I'll get calls. Already overwhelmed as-is...

Seriously... this run of EM's makes that $2600 Skyrocket look like the deal of the century.

I want to go to sleep, but horror movies tend to keep one awake...

Skyrocket at $2600 and Strange World at $2900... not scary-horrible like the others, but still haven't seen one single EM near sanity.

So much for acquiring a Vampire this auction...

Hoo boy. Almost bid to win that Round Up.

Almost.

Would’ve been a steal if it was the Krull pinball machine…

Race Drivin'? Looked nice and shocked at only $600! Might have caught some folks off guard before they logged in.

No worries. I have one. The museum will soon have one too. Do I need a third? Well... who says this hobby was ever about needs anyway?

I'll probably sit this one out. Very very probably. Almost certainly. Just about guaranteed. Yep. That's most likely what I'll probably just about do.

Which lot# is the end for tonight?

Fear not... if you missed out on the Freedom prototype, find yourself a production version. I'll eventually have a replacement playfield, plastics, and mech kit to convert it to the prototype.

OK everyone a big round of applause to our California purveyor of pinball clubs, CaryCarmichael who attained the Freedom Prototype. *woo woo*

Hey Cary... this means it'll be available for play for the peoples, yes?

Nearly pressed the button on that. One of the only good deals today thus far.

"Now this is a truly great game. It's really cool. Lots of things to do and I really like playing it. Just a really great playing game in an era of great games... and a great buy."

Greatness is great!

Now I wish John Madden was voicing this.

Warlords cocktail is the one to watch coming up IMHO

Man... I wish I had the space and 3-phase power for that FX Simulation unit. Whoever buys that and can put it to good use is getting an incredible deal on a legit thrill ride.

Depthcharge is one of the earliest arcade games I can remember playing. It was at a local 7-11. The *ping* sonar fascinated me while watching those little white barrels tumble into the darkness and explode. Such a perfect balance of patience and reward. Also loved to see the bonus countdown at the end… and get some extra time for the effort.

24k is a helluva lot for a prettified version but you can’t argue with rarity and having the best it ever got.

I wonder… with all the Mame cabinets and remakes and such… are there people who recreate these translucent mirror games too? Like Samurai? Also quite a looker!

“Again”

“…and again”

“this is a game… again…”

Warning: Do not play Captain’s drinking game with the word “again”.

Good points Aurich, and scarily, this is also happening in the housing market as homes across the country are gradually being turned into LLC’s and corporations.

Imagine this was an auction for the remaining homes in your neighborhood. Kinda changes the whole slant, eh? The disappointment from losing bids on your favorite pinball machine vs. living in your car after not being able to win any auction at a reasonable price.

A taste of what looms ahead for all? Hope not.

Anyway, probably better get the games you want sooner than later… yeesh. This was nuts.

Very cool memories @quartermaster!!! I’ve seen and played an Indy 800 on location in the old days… what an awesome machine and period of time to experience it in. So cool that you also had one!

I’ve seen dozens of AMAZING arcades come and go. Some with chandeliers, electric go-carts (indoors!), prototypes I’ve never seen anywhere else like a small cityscape under glass with elevators and mountains and space ships flying throughout it, the Exorex VR prototype, and since my cousin was the manager of the flagship Showbiz Pizza where it all started, double that for prototype animatronic concepts and Showscan projection reels. Also one of my father’s friends owned one of the largest distributorships for arcade and pinball machines across the entire region (O’Connor Vending), so literally every visit through that huge warehouse of games was like going to Disneyland.

Suffice it to say, with all of that inspiration growing up, it inspires me to push The Arcade Experience as far as it can go… especially in light of the fact that we may be living through the “second Renaissance” and perhaps the last of the amusement experiences we grew up with. We lost ReplayFX, now MOP, the PPM has been unfairly limited by the city regarding their huge pinball annex, and Tim’s PHOF is still carrying the flag high and mighty but has a lot of work ahead nonetheless to fully realize the dream. We gotta support the ones left!

If prices keep skyrocketing, it makes the P3 (Multimorphic) even more of a value proposition. Gerry positioned it to be like the first home console of pinball with swappable games, playfields, and networked play. Compared with the prices we’ve seen at the auction, I’m leaning toward the idea of attaining a P3 for the museum so that it can network with other owners and perhaps inspire a “third Renaissance” where pinball enters a sort of Minecraft stage where people can increasingly build and code their own games and spark another niche within the hobby. We have to keep creating!

Anyway, pardon, another long-winded reply. Pinball has taken some big hits since 2020 in terms of closings, price increases, and the limited opportunity of social gatherings due to the pandemic. Just horrible timing. But… we ain’t done yet. The joy of interacting with physics is a universal wonder which time will never erase… and few experiences do it better than pinball.

@vicjw66, don’t fret. Find yourself a production Freedom and throw it in storage. I’ll have a conversion-to-prototype kit made for about 20 people before too-too long.

Meanwhile... on Amazon... the Timex Weekender Pacman is only $42.

38mm case, 9mm thick, moving Pacman on the second hand, and Indigo blue maze function.

Forget the high auction prices and have some fun. But don't wait... they sell out.

timex (resized).jpg

The rares went for $$$$, but most were in excellent condition for fair prices.

I bought Pop-A-Card ($900), Top Card ($650), Show Boat ($450), and Laser War ($2400).

All were very very nice. I’m thrilled the ghost of Banning passed us by.

Yep, and delivery. But again, condition was so nice that it justified the purchase. Cost less than my existing Pop-A-Card did from a fellow collector two years ago.

Yay EM deals! Hope we see more.

That was fun. Stupidest Banning buy in my opinion is still Gottlieb Bronco... was a stupendous $4200!!!???!!!

It is? Looks kind of quaint, honestly. Plunge, wait, then not much to shoot with those 2” sling-mounted flippers. The exit to the shooter lane shakes it up a bit, but otherwise looks similar and less action-packed than Playball or Wild Wild West.

Also with 1725 produced it’s not exactly rare, but then again I haven’t seen one in person before.

What am I missing? Something special about the rules?