How about a gameroom....corner ... ? Kinda don't have my own gameroom - YET. Air Force housing at the rate I'm getting is great, but the sacrifice is no man cave ._. ....for now! Even got the appropriate shirt for owning pins - a Life is Good shirt that says "Mr. Fix It" on the front with a drill.

And it's true - life is good. Now go play some pinball!

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Wouldn't that be four-some if you got involved.... ?

Man, you guys have some flat-out amazing gamerooms, and in some cases, game buildings!!!

Just did a couple days ago! I was like "What in the world?!?!?!" Fricking awesom 30-45 seconds of craziness!

ZOMG, I am so jealous - that looks really awesome, man!

ok - i HAVE to ask...what's in here??

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I KNEW IT!!!!!

Not really a gameroom, more like "spread across the living room and dining area .

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My wifey is polar opposite. She keeps telling me "to get MOAR!" .

It's a talent ...

After a long time waiting, I finally have relegated the machines to their own room. It's a very humble beginning, but it's my beginning, and I like it !

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Hheheh - you guys crack me up. Yeah, that's Lil' Miss. She never leaves her daddy's side practically. She is on the desk nearly ALL the time.

As for a 4th pin, there's one coming sometime down the road - RFM. And it goes downstairs - wifey gave me approval before I even had to ask .

Well, after those fancy dancy rooms, here's a rather humbling video and pics...

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Only for the right pin . I told my wife 3 pins was it; they aren't leaking out into the rest of the house, and anymore than 3 seriously tries both my patience and my sanity. Now, if I could snag a TZ or MetPro at around $3500, I'll make a 4th one fit.

Seeing as to how that won't happen though, I think I'm safe .

Teo - do you have 2 or 3 Cactus Canyons in your collection ...??

The pinball room as of today. Was able to find a way to fit 4 in here after all.

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And the Bates sign !

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You know, it's your fault (and others) I have 4 in here now D: ....!!! If I had #5, how would I get #5's PF glass out with RFM directly its opposite D: ?? (although, I won't deny, I want a 5th ).

Thanks ! It just happened to work out that I left enough room to put HS2 between the signals. I have read about building a circuit to integrate the big traffic light into HS2's lil' traffic light. Maybe......down the road.....

Finally got some updated photos of the room as of tonight. Some people here have some truly amazing dream arcades/gamerooms. I'll get there one day; this is the best I can do while living on base here at WP AFB.

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The main view of the pinball room when walking in.

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40" Samsung TV from 2009. Acts as my entertainment, laptop monitor output, and VERY helpful when reading pinball repair shop guides. It is on a full motion wall mount, so it can be tilted any direction in the room - basically I can make it to where I can see this TV from any machine in the room. Got tired of walking back and forth to read a 15" laptop screen.

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Stuff on the walls.

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My wife and I meeting Christopher Lloyd at the 2014 DeLorean Car Show.

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Some of my tools in the closet for pinball repair. There's 2-3 plastic tubs/portable toolboxes out of site in this picture. Boxes to the top right have full sets of HS2 and BSD plastics. The stacked speakers are factory original speakers from HS2, BSD, and RFM. One habit carried over from car restoration: don't throw anything away ... at first.

More to come down the road I'm sure!

As of 07 Oct 14, somehow I got 5 in here !!! Six will be...well... prolly not happening ._. .....

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I remember buying your JP. You did some outstanding work, man. Glad to see you back here!!!

As for my game room, HS2 is out and Metallica is in. T3 is turned off out of sight with this photo. It leaves Thurs/Friday. Once it sold, and trust me, it did - I unplugged that sucker form the wall and refuse to play it.

One thing I've learned, as soon as you sell a game, DON'T TOUCH IT. That's when something will break every single time.

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As of tonight !!!

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So, this is months away (30 Sept 15 to be exact), but my wife and I will be closing on our new home this year . We are having a developer build a home with about 3200 sq feet. Floor plan for the finished basement is as follows:

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The area where the pinballs are is an additional 15'3" x 9'6" - not part of the 35'4" x 14'2" of the main basement. There will be neither a wet bar nor sliding door. We could not make it a walk-in basement. Things are in their infancy, but for now, this is the plan for the basement. Poor table will be a Valley ZD-8 - acrylic window ball return system and all . Yes, I do plan on keeping the pin collection small; I may add 2 more machines. I am pretty happy with 4; I could make 2 more fit - probably BSD/Sopranos/AFMr.

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It hasn't gone anywhere for 3 years, and I've played on and off since 1996, so I'll give it a bit more than that .

I want my finished basement to have a lot of variety. My wife and I plan to host social parties maybe once every 6 months or so. Pinballs are cool, but not everyone is "oooo ahhhh" about them. That's why I plan to have a couple facets of social entertainment. The pool table will definitely draw the crowd, and then some waiting to play pool will hit pinball.

We're also putting in either a 2 or 4 post lift in the garage for "workshop" days. Got some cool ideas coming down the pipe!

The unfinished storage area is where the washer and dryer will be going. There will be no "finishing" that area .

You guys crack me up. I'm telling you - I actually HAVE the willpower to say "enough" at 6 pins .

I can't wait to prove you and everyone else wrong .

I didn't buy a Valley ZD-8 pool table to sell it later. At 700 lbs going down the stairs, it will come as an amenity with the house before it leaves.

Guys, I know we're pinheads here, but some of us can actually "hold the line". Some of you are happy with 20,30,50, 100 pins. I am happy with 6-7, and I have plenty of room for that many before I start giving up other hobbies for just one.

I respect your love and passion for the silver ball, but seriously, my drumset and pool table aren't going anywhere .

Last change in my room before the house begins to get built. Shovels start going into the ground 01 July. House should be wrapped up by mid-October (should and will are two very different things).

This will be the last time I have 4 pins until we move into the new home. Metallica has been tentatively sold and will probably be out of here by the end of next week or at most 2 weeks from now. Sold it to pay cash for a nice used Honda Fit. Pinball is nice, but a dependable vehicle in the winter takes precedence. The last time I had a new vehicle, I was 17 in 1998. I have owned my 1994 Nissan truck from November 1998 - present day, and I have been driving a 1993 Jeep Cherokee each winter here in Ohio. It is time for something new .

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It'll look something like this:

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The area the pins are in will be about 14' x 9.5' - just about perfect for 4 machines. I may use the media room as the pin room and place a nice TV where the pins are in this picture. Just too early to really state what my plan will be moving forward.

You have to think about this 4th dimensionally. If I go into the future, I could risk running into my future self. If I do that, there are two possibilities:

1. Seeing my future self would put myself into shock and I'd simply fall down and faint or...

2. The encounter could create a time paradox, the results of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space time continuum, and destroy the entire universe! Granted, that's a worse case scenario. The destruction might in fact be very localized, limited to merely our own galaxy.

On top of that, if I were to never return to the present, my bills would not get paid because I would never have gone to work from the day I go to the future from the present, which could result in loss of my job and me going AWOL, destroyed credit, bankruptcy, and homelessness.

The perils of owning a time machine o_o...

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Kinda comes with owning a time machine .

I am with you as long as I can fit between the machines comfortably to work on/diagnose them. I am one of those nutcases that prefers space between my machines in case I have to service them for any reason. I cannot stand moving and shifting my machines every time I have to work on one of them.

Not to come across on obnoxiously obvious, but, not buy so many machines?

Just throwing that out there .

I prefer to move around my pins rather than move my pins around.

It's not so ridiculous depending on how you see it.

I'll help clear it up: 5'9" and 165 lbs.

Now the question is: what are my other 3 games going to be because once MetPro goes I'm down to 3.

Actually, I am good for 6-7 .

As stated before, I don't want that big of a collection, hence, another reason I am good with working space between my pins.

Like you said, different strokes for different folks. I hope you enjoy having 20+ machines; I would go crazy with keeping them all 100% up and running.

Thank you for the carpet sliders suggestion. I prefer Pin Footies though. Carpet sliders tend to warp and come from underneath the leg levelers - at least with my games they did.

Does the rotary phone work???

It is still a couple of months out, but here is where my 3-4 pins will go. Coin-operated pool table and other goodies to follow suit in late October.

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About 840 sq ft (the basement, not the whole house ).

Plenty of room for the pool table, drums (potentially two sets now, a right hand and a left hand setup), and some other ideas I am toying with.

That is exactly the point ! I don't want 20+ games. I only need 3-4 as I enjoy other hobbies .

Went and saw the house today. Concrete floors are down now! Sorry about the finger in the picture =/....

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Went and saw the house today. Took photos of a lot of things. As this is a "game room" thread, I'll share the basement photos.

Remember, it will be a finished basement when it is all done except the area behind the stairs (laundry room).

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Thank you . I will disappoint most when I say that I plan to put 3-4 in that lil' cubby hole to the far left opposite the foot of the stairs, and that will probably be it.

Search for my name in this thread, and you'll see there are a lot of posts explaining that I plan to hold the line at 4 and keep room for my other hobbies .

Getting that 7ft Valley ZD-8 pool table (read: 1 piece slate) is going to be a "good time" down those stairs. I plan to go get some 2x4s, some truss supports, and cut them at angles to support the stairs. The pool table is 700 lbs and with 4-5 guys working it down the stairs, the stairs will need some support or we risk them bowing.

That was not an option per the builder. Trust me, we wanted to do that very badly.

More progress of the house. As before, since this is a game-room specific thread, I will refrain from spamming with home photos. Here is where the soon to be finished basement is as of today:

In this picture, I am standing where my drumset will be. This is a straight on shot viewing the entire finished area of the basement. Pool table will go to the left of the foot of the stairs (if you are standing on the stairs, THAT left).

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Another angle of the same thing.
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The area where JM, BSD, and ACDC LED Pro will go. A 4th game will follow. That will pretty much be the cut-off for me.
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Shot of what will be the media room. I am working on what to do in here. Maybe a big screen LCD on the wall with all my 90's consoles (3DO, CD-i, etc) in a media center and a wireless surround sound system for movies/games/some sports parties. We'll see.
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Up close shot of the media room.
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Standing in the media room doorway looking back at the basement. Directly in front of this shot is where the Valley coin-operated pool table will be.
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And finally, another shot of where my pins will reside.
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And for those of you wondering, here is where the progress of the home's exterior is currently:

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Yep, it's a 3 car garage. One stall for my wife's 2006 Mustang, one for my 2012 fully electric, zero gas used Nissan LEAF, and one for the Turbo VR6 engine DeLorean.

More work has been done to the new home and the basement. As usual, I'll keep it to just the gameroom/basement:

Drywall now up in the media room.
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Standing in the media room, facing the rest of the basement.
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Drywall up in the area for where the pins will go.
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Shot of the rest of the basement. This would be if you were standing with your back facing the pins.
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Here is a shot of the exterior of the home as of Saturday. More brick has been put up now. Siding will start going on later this week.
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We plan to close 8-9 Oct with a tentative move-in date of 12 Oct. I'll be moving the pins myself if you're wondering.

Yep, my wife and I were just talking about this today. We do plan to paint before the pool table comes in. The pins can be scooted away from the wall and covered in tarps, so yeah, painting will definitely occur early. Thanks for the looking out!

More looking out on your part. Thanks ! We have like - I think - eleven lamps in the basement ceiling, so putting in a pool lamp would have cast a shadow on the table. So we opted no pool lamp, which is a crying shame cause I really wanted one, but when you have 11 lamps in the ceiling (don't quote me, I think it is 11), hey - that's enough .

We went and saw the house with our project manager this weekend. We close on the house 09 Oct, and we move in starting that weekend. The big, big move will be 14 Oct, as the rates are the cheapest both mid-month and mid-week.

Here's the progression of the basement. As usual, no other pictures except the exterior of the house (trying to keep it a gameroom specific post - I should just make a thread on this as this is my very first home ever outside of rent, apartments, townhomes, shared housing, etc).

The drywall is up, paint has been applied, and the ceiling panels are now in place as well as the light fixtures.

First, overall shot of the basement. Cubby hole to the far right is where the 3-4 pins will go.
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Focus in this picture is the cubby hole for the pins.
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Quick picture of the media room. What will go here is still TBD.
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Here is looking from the threshold of the media room back out across the basement. Directly in front of this POV is where the pool table will go.
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And finally, here is the exterior of the home. Pretty much done except for the grass sod being laid out, driveway and sidewalks being paved, electric meter as well as A/C unit still need to be put in, some exterior lights, etc. It's getting there that's for sure...
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Basement is done. The house is nearly complete. We close Friday, 09 Oct - in 6 days !

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Well, my wife and I have been in the house for about 9 days now. We still have so very much to do. Unfortunately, 2 Men and a Truck caused damages to both some of our furniture and our brand new 9 day old house. Their vendor is coming tomorrow to fix most of the damages, while the damages to our furniture will be in the form of reimbursement (I am assuming here.) Vinyl flooring will have to be replaced as they moved the refrigerator over it and caused the legs to gouge two holes in it. I repeat, brand new 9 day old home, and we had damages sustained in the first 5 days -____-....

It'll be ok and fixed soon, just needless to say, a bit frustrating.

On a lighter note, here is the gameroom in its mess. At least the pins and part of the drums are up.

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And here is the pool table waiting to be dismantled tomorrow and taken down to the basement .

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Thanks, man . The DeLorean got an engine upgrade with a turbo-charged VR6 from VW. Now, acceleration is something like this:

Needless to say, it'll hit 88 mph now .

As for the pool table, I have to give my wife credit on that one. The Valley ZD8 table comes with a mahogany finish, and wife said "Go orange, it'll really bring out the wood color." Once again, as usual, she was right.

The billiard team quoted me $450, which I will happily pay. That is for dismantle, moving down the stairs, and re-assembly. The ZD8 is indeed a one piece slate table. I believe the slate is 1" thick and about 300 lbs by itself. The table as another 300ish.

They can do it for me. I'll save my back and life insurance policy.

Their operations manager came for my walkthrough, and he told me they would move them as long as I had them ready to go. I think that was their way of "Washing their hands" of the situation if something went wrong. I packed those things with so much plastic wrap, it was unreal. All 3 made it to their new home safe and sound!

In Indianapolis, plutonium might be available at any corner drugstore, but here in Ohio, it's a bit hard to come by! I'm sorry, but I think I'm screwed .

So the vendor came today and fixed everything but the floor and the entertainment center. Two Men and a Truck and I get to do some talking from here.

On a lighter note, the pool table is in, leveled, and ready!

The team that did it was Absolute Billiard Service based right here in Dayton, OH. They service pool tables as far as Canada to Chicago to Virginia to Georgia. If you need servicing of a pool table, I HIGHLY recommend them. They were truly professional, they had ALL the tools and supplies they needed to get the job done, and they took care of everything. They shop vac'd any mess they made, took down the U-Haul blankets keeping my doorways and walls safe after the job was done even though I hung them, and placed all my doors back on their hinges for me. Complete A+ service all the way.

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It currently resides in the Fort Wayne area. To respect the owner's privacy, I'll leave it at that .

More pictures from today. Getting a Valley table does not exactly happen very often, and seeing as how now this table will practically come with the house if we ever sell, I feel this is appropriate to share .

Disassembly

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A couple doors had to come off
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Here we go down the now reinforced stairs. I had six 2x4s in a 2 row by 3 column setup every 4 stairs supporting each side of the stairs as well as right up the middle.

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It sits while they take a quick break .

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Legs going on and being leveled.

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Now they are measuring to make sure there is 60" around all sides of the table to allow for plenty of space when shooting a shot.

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And here it sits - all 700 lbs. Rest assured, this table isn't going ANYWHERE now, and it isn't becoming my laundry table.

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That might very well be the brightest room on Pinside ...

o_o ....

Dang RD.

*jumps off bridge*

Man, some of guys have game room "mansions" - absolutely gorgeous jobs everyone!

I finally got my trifecta of NIB games completed as of yesterday. Took nearly 2 years, but hey, I am 100% pleased with them .

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The cherry on top will be when I bring home AFM. That was the game that got me started on pinball in 1995 at a laser tag chain known as Q-ZAR. Fond memories - I missed whole laser games to keep battling martians. It won't be happening anytime soon, but that's ok - things worth doing are worth waiting for. We'll get there!

Nice Gretsch set!! Got one in my basement as well !

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Here's how the basement looks as of 01 May 2016

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Got the idea from a couple Pinsiders to get flyers of every game I own or have owned in the past. It gives you a real sense of "how far you've come along", "how much money you have spent" or "how flipping nuts you are". Either way, I love looking at the fylers and thinking "wow.....I'm a spendthrift...!" .
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Crazy to know I have 4 more to hang still: RFM, Met Pro, IMVE, TWD Pro (and TWD Prem technically)...

Here we are with the new line up!

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Man, it was exhausting just to watch two guys get that monster down the stairs.. If we ever sell the house, that table comes with the house....!

This monster is a Valley 1 piece slate coin op table. It was a bit amusing to hear the guys say "is it bad that we are considering moving the slate the easy part?"

Needless to say, I'm glad I didn't do it

That is part of the plan down the road . BSD is eyeballed to be next.

Don't be too hard on yourself, bud. Bottom line: you have BSD. I dont. No matter the condition - you at least have one !

Thank you for your kind words!

You're too kind, bud. Thanks! I'm glad you're getting such great enjoyment out of it. I'm sure you've done some work to it as well; you're prolly not giving yourself enough credit . The big thing about your game is you have ALL new Homepin boards all under the PF, so you never have to worry (99%) about the Mist circuit and the Opto banks ever again (mostly). I don't think Homepin makes the Opto board anymore (or they are on hold for a while) so man, enjoy it for all it's worth!! You could always get a new cabinet, decals (search around Europe pinball sites; they're out there), and transfer your boards, PF, and hardware, and boom - you'd have a smoking BSD! I truly did enjoy bringing that one back from the brink, and I'm glad someone like you got it that truly appreciates it for what it is.

I had a BSD that was as nice as the games here in my current collection (think I got it summer 2015 and let it go Oct 2015). Ironically, it's all of 10 minutes down the road from here. Weirpinball (who I sold/traded it to) sold it to a fellow collector that I believe is Pinside-less but is a member of our local community.

Unfortunately, that fella has learned why BSD is such a great game, so as close as it is from me, I'll probably never see that particular BSD back in my collection. That's ok though - we'll get another one someday!

Not a major upgrade, just some little things added today. Got the remaining flyers up on the wall today. Only one I can't seem to get is TWD Pro. Oh well. Also, waiting to get TAF. I am not paying $16 on flea pay when I can get it for $3 or so at a show....

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Finally was able to pick up a pair of Eagle Candy gumball Machines from a fellow Pinsider who was awesome enough to hang onto them for me since the Ohio Show in March. Got the pair with the stand for $40. They house 1" gumballs, which I ordered today and will fill them up soon enough!

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Hey! Thanks . In all fairness, credit should go to Mudflaps here on Pinside. I saw him do this in a post a year or two ago, and it always stuck in my head to copy it one day. Once we closed on the house, I felt it was time.

I guess the best way to say it: "Imitation is the best form of flattery."

Got Supersonic up and running! Started swapping the bulbs to LEDs - mainly to preserve the backglass. So cool to have an oldie with the Class of 92-95 group!

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Cause another DMD is going in there soon . Prolly BSD or CFTBL.

I like Supersonic being to itself. Something about the contrast of the DMDs and the early SS fits the mood well.

I remember everyone told me my pool table would be gone. I told them: "Don't think so..."

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I aim to make sure I am not wrong .

Holy shit..... ....I'm happy with just 4 pins and a pool table, and then this guy shows up and has a gas station o__o....!!!

Over the weekend the future Mrs. and I turned this:

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Into this:

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We had a fun time doing it together.

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Teach her to bad mouth TAF D: !!!

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Also did Jayden's first LED swap. Taught him how to use basic hand tools. Remember, he is 5 yrs old doing this.

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Let him do some of the bulbs himself:

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12 years from now when he walks that stage to get his diploma, I'll get something caught in my eye...

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I'm a blessed man.
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Video here:

Safe and sound : )! We have a cover on it as AFM and TAF PFs are on top of it until I properly store them to ensure no warping of the wood as I get ready to do AFM's PF swap once I return home late August/early September20180722_135633 (resized).jpg

It is truly unreal to see how much has changed over the years. Between my last picture and this one, I will have bought and sold GOTPro, TF Autobots, SS, and TS. I definitely missed a couple picture updates here. I am back at WPAFB base housing as I reach the 65% mark of my military career this August, this is the current state of the collection.

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AFM hits its 6 year of ownership mark this month. Addams will hit that this July (I think). BSD will be there next January.

Creature looks like it is getting a new home in the very near future. We'll be back to "5" games soon, and that's ok. When I retire and have a full finished basement again, we can consider loading up with more games then. Everything in its time.

To see you make a room go from the 1970s to modern day is so inspiring. Well done!!