I can remember being in the arcade ca. 1980 and LOVED playing a machine called "Head On"...the pins in this arcade were pretty well rotated. When they got a Space Invaders (pin) I thought, "THIS is the next generation of pinball" because there was still a predominance of EM's in arcades at that time. Then right after SI came Black Knight (the good one, NOT BK2K), Meteor, etc. At that time I pretty much abandoned vids and stayed with pins from there on. I bought myself a brand new SI pin and after that BK, Fathom, etc. I'd rotate them out pretty heavily in my garage-cade. Man, I wish I'd kept most of them! Buying NIB in those days -especially if you were a kid of 17 like I was- was not for the weak-hearted. The operator whom I dealt with had to "vet" me so to speak to make sure I wasn't placing these on location. I think he pretty much trusted me after his "gumbas" (his words) delivered pins to my garage and saw my set up! Best times of my life!

Thanks for the kind words! I started really young..was around 9-10 years old when I saw a coin-op player piano at Lake George. I was hooked and started scanning the local papers for pianos for sale. We're taking like 25-50 dollar pianos here! I'd find one, drive over to see it on my bike, and had 2 college guys that would pick up and deliver it to my garage for 25.00 (!) as I was too young to drive. I taught myself how to restore them and did pretty well money-wise. By the time I was around 16, pianos were starting to wane, but pins were around and were dirt cheap. So I migrated to them and with the sizable amount of $$$ I had made from pianos, I was able to parlay that into pins & vids. It just seemed so easy back then but I cannot fathom how a parent today would let his kid do what I did! My sincere thanks to my mom who always had faith and pride in what I did!

If nothing else, he'll grow up strong! lol Pianos are simply unimaginably heavy! Makes a Gottlieb Haunted House seem like it's made from Balsa wood....