(Topic ID: 232201)

Do you think it should be shutdown?

By Luckydogg420

5 years ago


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  • 67 posts
  • 42 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by goatdan
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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    Topic poll

    “A broken routed machine ”

    • Should be turned off 79 votes
      55%
    • Should be left on 8 votes
      6%
    • Depends how bad the problem is 56 votes
      39%

    (143 votes)

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    There are 67 posts in this topic. You are on page 2 of 2.
    #51 5 years ago

    Here's a related question: When leaving a note on the game for the location/game-op, where's the best place to put it where it'll be seen (and hopefully stay there for the op to see it)? Coin door? Apron area of the playfield glass? Backglass?

    #52 5 years ago
    Quoted from Deez:

    I don't think anyone is disagreeing with this. I think the disconnect is regarding what is considered broken. I would consider a non functional flipper to be broken and turning off is fine. I wouldn't consider a non functional sling shot to be broken. Also I don't consider the drawbridge being disabled on MM to be broken. The game compensates.

    Lame. Your machine is broken, fix it. "the game compensates" LOL... Only the "route" guys think this is acceptable, I'm shocked!!

    This is why location pinball will never work. Some newbie puts in $1 and the right sling doesn't work and hes like, WFT?? This POS is broken. Owner says, hey man that's pinball, so sorry....lol

    #53 5 years ago
    Quoted from Spencer:

    Lame. Your machine is broken, fix it. "the game compensates" LOL... Only the "route" guys think this is acceptable, I'm shocked!!
    This is why location pinball will never work. Some newbie puts in $1 and the right sling doesn't work and hes like, WFT?? This POS is broken. Owner says, hey man that's pinball, so sorry....lol

    Theres a setting to turn the bridge off. So the game changes the rule set and “compensates” when you hit it.
    Matt fixed the game as fast as he could, within days, as soon as the gear arrived in the mail.
    Location pinball works.

    Your all encompassing situation about all owners telling some newbie “thats pinball” is basically you shitting all over every operator. And THAT DOESNT WORK and then I predict we will hear you back peddle and say something like “well not ALL owners are like that.”
    There are too many good operators on pinside for you to wage that war.

    Someone turned the game off because they didnt like the temporary setting. Thats not cool.

    #54 5 years ago
    Quoted from CrazyLevi:

    No.
    Not your business. Not your problem.
    A good way to piss someone off big time. A good way to get into a serious confrontation if the owner/op/staff sees you.
    If you really can’t resist the urge to be a do gooder put a note on it warning op/players.

    Good advice

    #55 5 years ago
    Quoted from mrm_4:

    There are too many good operators on pinside for to you wage that war.

    I don’t want to wage a war, but I got some questions.

    If one of your machines had a problem like multiball won’t lock balls. The game is mostly playable, just one feature is broken. Would you purposely turn it off until parts came in, and put a sign on it saying out of order. Or would you leave the game turned on collecting money until the parts arrive? Even if you know that everyone dropping a quarter in that time period would leave the game disappointed, some of them probably never coming back to try it again.

    If you come to one of your routed machines that a customer turned off, and left a note saying multiball doesn’t lock. Would you leave the game off until parts arrive. Or would you turn the game back on so that it can earn more money while you wait for parts?

    Like I said

    Quoted from Luckydogg420:

    How about a drywall screw going down into the playfield blocking a lane to a major feature of the game, like a ball lock? I’ve seen this one before

    In my personal experience the operator had no interest in fixing the problem. Multiball wasn’t possible, and the screw blocking the lane was high up the playfield around a corner. You wouldn’t notice it until after you spent your money.

    I understand that there are lots of good operators trying their best, but there are also a lot of poor operators just collecting money giving the rest of you a bad reputation.

    The debate lies in where the line is drawn and if the customer has enough of an enjoyably experience that they want to come back.

    #56 5 years ago

    I only turn off a game when something likely to damage the machine is broken unless I know the operator. If the feature isn't game breaking like a dead sling or pop bumper I leave it on regardless.

    #57 5 years ago
    Quoted from Spencer:

    Lame. Your machine is broken, fix it. "the game compensates" LOL... Only the "route" guys think this is acceptable, I'm shocked!!
    This is why location pinball will never work. Some newbie puts in $1 and the right sling doesn't work and hes like, WFT?? This POS is broken. Owner says, hey man that's pinball, so sorry....lol

    I operate games as a hobby as most pinball operators around anymore. I do it for the love of the machine. It's asshole attitudes like this that cause there to be limited pinball in the wild anymore. It's probably hard for you to comprehend what it's like to work a regular demanding career and then try to keep 14 pins in top working shape week in and week out when you're sitting in your basement playing with LED schemes and gluing dolls to your machines, but I can tell you it isn't easy. The only way I can even afford to have this hobby business is by being fortunate to have a decent day job. That and I have an amazing community of players who come into my location and treat the machines as if they were their own because they appreciate having a place to play pinball.

    On a side note. I never just not fix issues. I pride myself on credit dot free pinball. The MM example was because I was waiting for a part. I even fix broken sling shots for the noobs .

    #58 5 years ago
    Quoted from Luckydogg420:

    The debate lies in where the line is drawn and if the customer has enough of an enjoyably experience that they want to come back.

    I would say that it all depends. I think it is important for you to realize that few if any of the general population would even notice this >>

    Quoted from Luckydogg420:

    one of your machines had a problem like multiball won’t lock balls. The game is mostly playable, just one feature is broken.

    and the general population dropping quarters is what it takes to keep pinball viable on route at all! If you take it upon yourself to turn off any operators game AND you are not contacting them to tell them about this issue, then you are in the wrong. I am sorry and I love pinheads (I am one and only starting routing games because I was tired of the poor condition of others that were not maintaining games), but as a hobby operator you need that game to make money and 99% of the people dropping quarters are not going to make it to that multiball and will actually walk away having a blast if they got to play a game that played well minus a feature they have no idea was even broken.

    Quoted from Luckydogg420:

    I understand that there are lots of good operators trying their best, but there are also a lot of poor operators just collecting money giving the rest of you a bad reputation.

    I would say you should reward the good operators by dropping quarters and calling or texting them with any issues (even the minor ones; good operators love hearing about any perceived problem and will fix it asap or even ask you to turn it off for them). I would say for the crappy ops that dont maintain games, you are better off learning your lesson once by loosing the buck on a game with a non-registering multi and then just leave it alone and no longer drop quarters. That OP will either eventually up their game or will lose the location to a competing hobby operator that maintains games.

    edit to be clear: we work really hard to maintain all of our games as best we can. We could not do it without calls/texts from all the great pinheads that let us know about any and all issues. I think that is part of the reason that they keep coming back also. almost 6 years and every single quarter has gone right back in to maintaining games and bringing in more and new games (that often cant be found anywhere else; esp in good playing condition). That said, little is more irking than coming in to a game that has been powered off because the right coin slot was jammed even though the left slot and DBV are working fine > someone was mad it ate .50 and rather than ask the bar for a refund they opt to power down a game for a week and not call.

    #59 5 years ago

    Good operators leave contact info on the games, and are responsive to issues.
    Good customers use that contact info to report issues.

    If the game has no contact info, and the games are unattended, yes, I'll turn off a game that's flat out robbing people of their money. Especially if there's a bank of machines that are little more than honey traps. If it's something trivial, I'll leave it alone. Future gamers should not have their first impression of pinball simply be "that ___ box that took my money and did nothing".

    #60 5 years ago

    I'm a technician at a local barcade and my answer is simple: Please don't.

    Unless the game is at a danger to itself, just go over to the nearest staff member of the machine's location and ask for your money back and inform the owner of the machine if you can.

    I understand trying to be helpful but from my experience, most of the time whenever someone turns off a machine they never bother to actually inform anyone what the problem is. So when I come in later that day to find a dark machine it becomes a long game of diagnosis to find what is usually a minor problem or in some cases no problem at all. It's frustrating too because this saps away time that could be used on games that have legitimate problems.

    While the issue of people turning games off isn't terribly frequent, I'm seriously considering laser cutting a bunch of plastic "power switch protectors" to help mitigate it at the bar in the future.

    -1
    #61 5 years ago
    Quoted from Deez:

    I operate games as a hobby as most pinball operators around anymore. I do it for the love of the machine. It's asshole attitudes like this that cause there to be limited pinball in the wild anymore. It's probably hard for you to comprehend what it's like to work a regular demanding career and then try to keep 14 pins in top working shape week in and week out when you're sitting in your basement playing with LED schemes and gluing dolls to your machines, but I can tell you it isn't easy. The only way I can even afford to have this hobby business is by being fortunate to have a decent day job. That and I have an amazing community of players who come into my location and treat the machines as if they were their own because they appreciate having a place to play pinball.
    On a side note. I never just not fix issues. I pride myself on credit dot free pinball. The MM example was because I was waiting for a part. I even fix broken sling shots for the noobs .

    Yeah, I'm clearly the one with the asshole attitude, while you tell me all about how much better you are and how much harder you must work than me.

    #62 5 years ago
    Quoted from jfesler:

    Good operators leave contact info on the games, and are responsive to issues.
    Good customers use that contact info to report issues.
    If the game has no contact info, and the games are unattended, yes, I'll turn off a game that's flat out robbing people of their money. Especially if there's a bank of machines that are little more than honey traps. If it's something trivial, I'll leave it alone. Future gamers should not have their first impression of pinball simply be "that __ box that took my money and did nothing".

    Well said, as a customer I agree

    #63 5 years ago
    Quoted from Spencer:

    Yeah, I'm clearly the one with the asshole attitude, while you tell me all about how much better you are and how much harder you must work than me.

    Not sure how you got that from what I wrote. Anyway if you're ever in Ohio stop in and play some of my pins. Hugs are always free.

    #64 5 years ago
    Quoted from Deez:

    It's asshole attitudes like this. It's probably hard for you to comprehend what it's like to work a regular demanding career and then try to keep 14 pins in top working shape week in and week out when you're sitting in your basement playing with LED schemes and gluing dolls to your machines, but I can tell you it isn't easy. The only way I can even afford to have this hobby business is by being fortunate to have a decent day job.

    Made it easy for you, your welcome.

    #65 5 years ago

    Had one time someone shut it off because the ball got stuck on the inlane switch. ( a very slight nudge knocked it loose).
    Then I had another time someone turned a machine off because the playfield was smoking so... Turned out a switch got stuck closed and burned up a coil and transistor. Based on those two extremes, I'd say turn it off when in doubt.

    I put a message box up one time, half the time you get dick drawings or stuff that is completely unrelated.
    Have my phone number on the pinside map, but not on my machines. Always been a little hesitant to do so, figure I have enough regulars so that give me the run down.

    #66 5 years ago

    Put up an email address, or a google voice number (which can do SMS). No need to post your home/business number directly, not when it's too easy for people to .. get overly nosy.

    7 months later
    #67 4 years ago

    Just saw this thread linked from another thread and...

    Quoted from Whysnow:

    I have had people turn off a machine due to a credit dot. That credit dot was because they played 20 games and never went out the left outlane.

    It's interesting - when I first got into collecting, I thought the credit dot thing was great because it would be so much easier to check the machines.

    As you know but for anyone else, it really isn't. You still open up the game and see what the game throws as test issues.

    The only thing the credit dot does is to stop people who feel like they are informed from playing a machine, often for no reason whatsoever. It's surprising how quickly location games can get credit dots just from people not playing well.

    As for turning off a machine, as I said in the other thread about leveling machines, ask the location. If the problem is bad enough, the location will turn it off. If the problem isn't a big deal, they work.

    There are 67 posts in this topic. You are on page 2 of 2.

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