I have been considering operating these machines and would love to hear about earnings. These would all be Pro and Standard. Is WoZ reliable at this time to route? I am considering starting to operate a few machines and would really appreciate anything you guys could share.

Thanks!
Dave

Thanks LTG. That is interesting that you mention that another op would not allow it. At the location I am considering, there is an op who has video games but the site owner wants pinball and the op does not want to bother with Pinball. I talked to the site owner and asked him if he had an exclusive deal with the op and he said no. When you say the other op wont allow it...what right does he have to do that?

I get what you mean about people disclosing earnings. I would be happy with relative statements like AC/DC is my best performer or XMen does not earn. Or any game on location get 40 -50 plays per week.

Thanks,
Dave

Thanks very much for your feedback LTG.

The thought was that the other op would continue to provide the video games and I would handle the pinball since the site owner wants it and the other op is not interested in providing it. I hear what your saying regarding the possibility that the other op would get upset. I will discuss that potential issue with the site owner. Thanks again LTG!

The establishment is a restaurant / bar. The machines would be located in the bar section. I am leaning heavily towards AC/DC for a first machine. I would then consider either WoZ, Tron or XMen for a second or third machine if things went well enough.

Thanks to everyone for your responses. Based on your comments, I have decided to not go into a location where there is another operator. In this particular case, if the business owner really pushes (he has been for weeks) to get pinball and still does not have any luck, than I will discuss the possibility of my supplying pins with the current operator. If I get a hint at all that he will be a problem...I will walk for sure.

Thanks again!
Dave

I really appreciate all of this feedback guys. I have another question:

Do any of you ops ever have some sort of contract with the business owners? And if so, what do you feel are the crucial things to be sure are included?

Thanks!
Dave

Knew I would get some comments when I said WoZ. The reason why I figured WoZ is because around the corner from the bar is the restaurant. It's a family restaurant and the kids are drawn to the video games. I though it might be a decent draw for the family crowd. Not sure I would take that risk with how expensive WoZ is though. The other reason is that my secret agenda is to develop this place as a decent location for pinball and also to start a new league and host it there. The place has a bar, excellent food and plenty of room for several pins.

One concern I have is that I am not an experienced enough pinball technician to fix these machines if something big happened thus leaving me with the need for a technician. If I start out with new or relatively new machines does that make a big difference.

Callout for experienced technicians in the Central Jersey area (Monmouth/Middlesex county) for possibly providing support. Please PM me.

Yeah...you would think that with 13 machines (starting collecting in mid 2006), I would be more confident in my abilities. Here is some of the work I have done on my older games:
* For boards which were shot, so I took the easy path and replaced the PS, Driver and MPU boards.
* I have stripped playfields and underneath apron, and rebuilt the flippers and kickback assemblies.
* Periodically a diode breaks loose and requires soldering.
* I have also replaced coils
On my BW pins I have mostly just had to replace micro switches, resolder some connections and replace a couple of coils. Of course I have done the easy stuff like shooter springs, sleeves and such.

All of my Sterns were bought NIB and have been very reliable. I did need to Tweak a few things on my LoTR out of the box (mechanical issues) but no problems whatsoever. I am amazed at how reliable these pins have been.

I worked very hard (and spent considerable $) to get excellent specimens of TZ, CV, ToTAN and SS which have required very little work. Just the basics like coils, flippers and the occasional micro switch...but that is because I am a freak with switches working perfectly. I had a switch on my ToTAN (#68) which takes a second or two to register and experience told me just what to do. I replaced that switch and it works perfectly. I think I have the TZ bridge rectifier problem as sometimes in the summer if there is a slight loss of voltage, the machine will reset. I have dragged my feet to fix it.

The most ambitious repair that I performed did not go as planned. My WoF wheel would never stop spinning so there was a transistor which needed to be replaced. No problem right...I'll just order it and replace it. It was a surface mount though. Urgh!!! I got out my magnifying glasses and tweezers and desoldered the transistor but a small portion of the trace broke off. I ended up ordering a new board and replacing it. Oh well...it's only $ and I love that game. I forgot about once I was able to play it again.

I guess what it comes down to is that if I end up with an issue, I don't necessarily fix it right away...I have plenty of other pins to play. With 13 machines, there are always things not working 100%. My brother is very good with the soldering iron so If I have a good amount of that work I have him comer over. We do some repairs and play for hours like when we were kids. I guess I can't imagine performing repairs at a business. The though of that makes me uncomfortable.

By the way, if I got the help from other people, I would always pay them. I would never ask anyone to work for free.

Thanks to everyone for all the input I got on this thread. I have found it informative and really appreciate it!

Do you guys do most of your repairs at the location? At what point do you bring the pin back to your shop?