Like alot of the guys that aren't really close but aren't that far have said I too would like the 10 pack idea as going once and a while would be all I could do living an hour awy. It would be neat to do a pinside meetup night like once a month type thing too.
One potential idea for a fundraiser event is to invite people attending the Chicago Pinball Expo which is near Wheeling, Ill. to visit your place while in the area. Thursday would be an ideal day since not much is going on at Expo till the evening when the main hall opens.
Great space and great concept. The price is right for a hardcore pinballer. Playing AC/DC LTBR LE and blowing $5 in less than a hour would add up big time over a year . Would love to have a place like this down in N.C. , good lunch with the endeavor hope it does great.
Quoted from GravitaR:One potential idea for a fundraiser event is to invite people attending the Chicago Pinball Expo which is near Wheeling, Ill. to visit your place while in the area. Thursday would be an ideal day since not much is going on at Expo till the evening when the main hall opens.
GreAt idea. In fact we will have a booth at the Chicago Pinball Expo this year.
Quoted from GravitaR:One potential idea for a fundraiser event is to invite people attending the Chicago Pinball Expo which is near Wheeling, Ill. to visit your place while in the area.
It couldn't be more convenient. From the Westin North Shore where Expo is held, SkillShots is just a straight shot up Milwaukee Ave. It's less than a 10 minute drive (3.77 miles).
Quoted from SkillShots:So if i'm doing the math right that is $600 for the year which is steep. We did a lot of research on our annual price point and $300 seemed to be most accepted. I agree on the lower price point for people, we need to come up with something but people who buy the full annual membership will get so much more even if they only come once a month. We will come up with some pass things I think because we want pinball to be available for everyone, but the place has to break even and retail space is not cheap as you know. The space is 3,600 sq. ft. That holds a lot of machines!
$600/year does seem steep, however, there's a comparable model here in New Orleans relating to Mardi Gras krewes. People often pay $600-$2000/year to participate in Mardi Gras parades, and this often results in 2 annual events and little more. So what we'd be offering would be a lot more than typical Mardi Gras krewes... and, actually, our group may end up parading in Mardi Gras as well (hehehehe - we have a sister organization we are welcome to parade with).
However, the proof is in the pudding. I'm skeptical too that we're going to find a lot of long-term members who would pay $100+ a month. But I'm offering this deal initially to see if we have a smaller number of more substantive benefactors who are willing to pay more to make the club more exclusive. In all likelihood, we'll have a larger group of more modest dues-paying members. This is a new frontier in business models and nothing's written in stone.
No matter what, we are going to figure out a way to accommodate our friends outside the area and on Pinside. : )
Quoted from PinballHelp:$600/year does seem steep, however, there's a comparable model here in New Orleans relating to Mardi Gras krewes. People often pay $600-$2000/year to participate in Mardi Gras parades, and this often results in 2 annual events and little more. So what we'd be offering would be a lot more than typical Mardi Gras krewes... and, actually, our group may end up parading in Mardi Gras as well (hehehehe - we have a sister organization we are welcome to parade with).
However, the proof is in the pudding. I'm skeptical too that we're going to find a lot of long-term members who would pay $100+ a month. But I'm offering this deal initially to see if we have a smaller number of more substantive benefactors who are willing to pay more to make the club more exclusive. In all likelihood, we'll have a larger group of more modest dues-paying members. This is a new frontier in business models and nothing's written in stone.
No matter what, we are going to figure out a way to accommodate our friends outside the area and on Pinside. : )
Hey man I get it, it's ALL a work in progress. We want to offer more moderate pricing as well but the members will be the lifeblood of the club. They will be working directly with us on what pins we should buy next, advising us on tournaments, etc., so we can't devalue the membership. If we are successful in Vernon Hills, we would open one up more south and one downtown. That would be the ideal situation. Then we are accomodating everyone who wants to play in Chicago. Takes money time and though and we need to get the first one right. We just signed up for a booth at Comic Con in Chicago in August to promote our shop too. I think if we get the word out enough people will come. And there will be a Pinside night!
I'm curious to know how many Pinsiders have signed up for a membership so far.
FYI, I just made this thread a sticky in the "All Pinball" sub-forum.
This is an incredibly difficult thing to pull off. We had a similar club here in Detroit, with 100 games, private (not open to the public), membership (far less than $300/yr too), etc. It went well for a while, then problems developed, heads collided, and things fell apart. Pinheads are vengeful. Cities are really difficult to deal with. Add it up and it's a formula for disaster. It doesn't surprise me that they couldn't get their project off the ground.
I think a better approach is to do what the Shark's Club in Howell Michigan is doing. That is, put pinballs (as many as they will take) into an already established bar or movie theater or coffee shop or other venue. Then the city doesn't have you by the nads to any great extent. But to open a "pinball only" venue is difficult, and the city just has so many things to hang their hooks on, and to prevent you from getting the place open. After all everyone wants a new coffee shop, but no one (but us) wants a new pinball arcade (which is how they view this stuff, using that dreaded word, "arcade.")
"city just has so many things to hang their hooks on, and to prevent you from getting the place open."
I head that games works has / had some special deals worked out with the city.
They also make money off of food and drink as well.
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/join-skillshots-pinball-membership-club-and-donate-10-to-pinsidecom/page/2 and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
Dekalb, IL