I'm not.

I suspect he will stay open as long as his parents continue to subsidize him. My guess is that it's their name on the lease.

does this make any sense to anybody out there?

The second paragraph, especially.

wtf (resized).PNG

Yes....I can think of at least one individual this makes sense to and that one believes it is true....I'll give you a hint...

Their games aren't at grandma's anymore.

Seems to be saying, if you want to play pinball, don't come!

It is a weird response. I would guess it may not be up long. They even edit out their own videos/responses.

Welcome to our HUGE MEGA Arcade !

I know you wanted to play pinball, but have you seen Galaga?

*Honestly, when the real grand opening happens he better have all the machines up & running with full credits on everything. If not, the locals will not return and that is a deathblow for a small town arcade.

Anyways.....

That’s gonna be a problem. No returning customers. Get it right before you open the doors

Help me to understand here . A young kid who enjoys arcades, pinballs, and sweatpants went around cultivating a collection of heavily abused games (junk or parts machines)
Notwithstanding any potential hoarder sickness, he now wants to open a location and charge people admission to play them without any repair, upkeep or restoration?
Is there a liquor license to pad the income source?
In what way is this a museum?
I sincerely hope he can succeed, just not seeing any business plan here. The more arcades and game exposure the better. I just fear it all could prove the opposite.

My collection, for what its worth to any individual, is open for all to play. I would love to share it! I dont have enough room for every title obviously, so i bought themes I enjoy personally. There is no door charge of course

lol

That basically says "These games are old crap, so get used to it".

How about: "We are very sorry that your were disappointed with the number of games which were not working during your visit. We're working hard every day to get the games up and full working. Please understand that these games were in storage for quite a while, and some are quite old. There will always be issues, but we're committed to doing our best to keep the problems to a minimum. We hope that your next visit is much better in that respect. Please contact us directly, and we'll give you a discount on admission for your next visit."

How hard is that?

To me it's saying "our pinball machines are in horrible condition but have you checked out Galaga?" In response to a guy who said he was there for the pinball.

you tweaked that huge

I'll be working in Ephrata tomorrow and will stop by the Gameseum but not sure I'll be paying the $10 per hour entry .... do the math, at 25 cents a game, that's 40 games an hour you'd need to play to break even which is highly unlikely .... $5 to $7 per hour seems better to me and I'll even explain my thoughts to Steven if he is there. I will report back what I see and if he lets me in for a few courtesy games. Want to tell him that regular hardware stores nuts would solve the problem of missing leg bolts until he can get the stripped bracket plates replaced.

Should I send pizza?

Note sure I'll be there that long to eat a few slices !!!!

Not sure paying 25 cents a game in 2019 is a. reasonable expectation. Im still going Saturday.

That depends on condition. I haven't seen much under $1.00 around here.
-Mike

It's not. But there's a place called Village Arcade where you can play EMs for 2 or 3 games per quarter. Love that place.

I cannot Fathom how cheap you have to be to think $10 an hour for pinball in a brick and mortar location in 2019 is too expensive.

Jesus Christ dude. Kid has bills to pay.

Someone let this man order some damn pizzas!!

I'll stop being negative and try to say some positive things about this new arcade . . .

1. If you enjoy very old pinball machines, average arcade games and smoking meth, then you may very well love this place. I'm not saying the owner has anything to do with drugs, but Ephrata is flush with the stuff and you should have no problem finding some once it gets dark.

2. If you wanna take a break from pinball to enjoy some female (or male) companionship, there are "pay by the week" apartments just down the street where you will be in luck if you have some of the meth I referred to in my first point.

3. If you enjoy being around the type of people who, upon hearing about an arcade opening, say "OMG! I wonder if they have the PacMan?!" . . . You will love the crowd that goes there.

Good luck....he doesn't take anything construed as criticism well at all if you have been following his FB page. He will ban you from commenting for even the slightest hint of anything he doesn't like. Don't even misquote what games he has....that's a ban also.

Seriously....jeeze...

It's okay if they have the pacman....just watch out for blinky syndrome.

Are you saying all I needed this whole time was cigarettes?!! Now I feel ripped off!

“Somebody order a pizza?”

Nobody offers 30 minutes or less. Or it's free anymore

If his ego was any larger he’d Need a wheelbarrow to carry his sack around . I left the groups he was posting on . He’s a know-it-all and expects only favorable responses to his perceived expertise and ideology.

There’s still probably leftover cookies from the opening. If you freeze them they will last for weeks.

For those planning on going, please take copious pictures! I'm curious on the condition of the pinball machines in the Mega arcade. I wonder if Stevie will get his pants all sweated up if he doesn't want people taking pictures of his games. Now that I think of it, has anyone seen pictures of the place other than his??

I keep asking and asking.....

Plus, keep asking for info on museum pieces (thought that was the business concept point behind name that was going to differentiate the trademarked name from other little game rooms).

ALSO STILL haven't heard a word about this whole home system setup.

Both these things were repeatedly mentioned on the LLCs website for a long time, and I want to know how it came out.....

There's no excuse for not having a game list on his web site...unless he doesn't want people to know how low quality his collection really is. Someone needs to update the Pinside maps with his pins at least. We know he has Comet and F14.

I've been wondering on the museum aspect as well. I'm betting he gets a tax break by labeling it a museum. Just because you have "antique" machines in house, does that qualify? There has to be more he has to do to hit guidelines; ie, have programs for the public, have a set up showing the mechanics of games with explanations on cards?
Simply having old games doesn't make it a museum in my opinion. There needs to be more on the education side of it.

Calling it a museum and doing a pay by the hour deal is usually a way to get around having to buy a tax stamp for each machine. But I do not think Ephrata borough or Lancaster county has any amusement machine tax in place. So it's probably for some kind of other tax break.

Charging by the hour is an easy way of getting out of fixing the coin mechs on every one of his games.

I don't know what kind of programs there are for him to participate in, but I'm sure he would have to provide proof at some point that he is complying to get those breaks. It could be something as simple as saying, "Hey everyone, we're having a presentation every Tuesday at 2 pm to educate you on what makes a machine works," then make an effort to do that, or to have it open for schools to come out, for a price (great money maker!) to satisfy that requirement to have the tax break. Other arcades have this in place, Pinball PA comes to mind. (Don't know if they get a break or not)
Teaching children how to fix a flipper bushing or how many leg bolts you need can show your expertise in this area.

Lol, how true. Maybe he thought if he named it a museum he would get to the paperwork in the future, just like how he might have thought he would have all his machines bulletproof when he wheeled them in the building, or purchasing pants without a drawstring.

On the other hand, others have mentioned how he brought crap games to shows, so that's probably isn't true. He's use to skating, boasting and everyone else picking up the pieces for him.

Simple. The games that aren't working are the museum pieces.
Look at them, but don't play!

Fuckin okatu is crushing it!

I doubt he will be paying any taxes, so a tax break is moot. Adding up all the expenses(rent, utilities, parts, etc.) I doubt revenue will cover them all.

I guess I'm comparing his bunch of EMs and arcades games he has to other pay by the hour places in the area that I've been too, if he had newer Sterns, JJP, etc. then I think $10 a hour is good value for your money. Pinball Gallery in Malvern, PA about an hour away with many newer games is $8/hr or $20 for the day and they have a lunch special from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm of $5/hr. Also, the Silverball Museum in NJ has good value for $12/hr or $25 for the whole day. It comes down to I don't care what something costs, if it is not good value for the $$s, then I have a hard time paying for it, whether it be $10/hr at Gameseum or the overpriced $100+ is cost for a day at Disney.

I agree.
For comparison CP Pinball does $5 hr or $20 for an all day pass and that's for 100 machines in top condition with new sterns & JJP titles.

Yeah but do they have a Buzzy Buzzy Bee???

My rub is that Pinball gallery charges admission, then charges $1/pp on new machines to benefit charity. So I'm up to $20/hr if I'm going an hour each way down there to play "new" pins.

True. However, Pinball Gallery will allow you to come in and play ONLY the new/charity games and you can skip paying the hourly admission.

Fuck that, everything should be included in the admission!!

This kid has to learn the art of NOT typing.

The word salads he keeps unleashing on his customers and potential customers say nothing with an incredibly large volume of words. This is NOT what people need to be reading, it comes off as a confused mosaic of excuses and non-sequiturs that will only serve to lose him business. The entire hodgepodge he crapped out could have simply been boiled down to "Our team is working to ensure our pinball machines are in top condition. Please bear with us as we make this a reality!" or something.

You are never going to convince people who are annoyed that your shitty collection of bargain basement, free, and dumpster find pinball machines are not working that they are not annoyed. It doesn't work that way. Tell them what you are doing about the problem and when they can expect it to be fixed. Don't talk down to your customers and tell them they are idiots for thinking a bunch of machines you promised they could play should be working, and that hey, we have a Galaga you can play instead.

The proprietor acted like a dipshit in various online arcade forums from Day 1, and that's great, he's entitled to do that and has taken advantage of that right just like many before him. But he's in customer service now, and simply can't behave the same way. Customers and potential customers are less likely than ever to respond well to that treatment, and since the only way most humans interact these days is through customer reviews, that's incredibly bad news for his new business venture.

Stop treating your customers like they are idiots.

Q: "Why don't you have the full size blue and pink Ms. Pac Man I remember?"
A: "You are a moron, the ugly, smaller cabaret version is way more awesome!"

Q: "Why are half of your pinball machines broken?"
A: "You are in idiot. It's more like 46 percent are broken, and also you moron don't you know that pinball machines are always broken that's just how it is, despite the fact that I told everybody I'm a pinball machine repair pro when I was begging for their money. STFU and come play Super Mario Bros!!!"

I'm just suggesting a lighter, more direct, and less bullshit infused approach.

That's great if you're local. Not so much if you travel over an hour to visit for the day.