Jonathan...looking forward to reading your reports and meeting you this weekend

O Snap!
OS.jpg

You reporters are all alike. Such a tease.

Hey Jonathan, thanks for the "slight" update....

Real quick, you noted that TBL is playable. We heard from a fellow pinsider yesterday that the DP guys were being quite about it being playable. Is it really playable?

Thanks again for your coverage...

Awesome. Playable Hobbit and TBL's
Should be a great news weekend

that's reminds, brYan, I'm bringing you a "gift". not saying what is it though. (I'm cheap, but not that easy)

look for me

I would if I knew who your were. LOL

Jonathan - the man!

Thanks again Jon for the reports....I am sure there are a number of "Lionman" fans that will be at the Pinball Life party.

No worries about the update on TBL, I won't tell anyone. See you soon!

If TBL and TH are indeed playable would be great to see some vids!

TBL---count on it.

Link??

From your report: <<<I managed to come up with some questions that lead to Dave dishing up stories from his Bally days. According to him Bally was the company where the most alcohol was consumed during working hours. There even was a full bar in the office section which was always open and your glass would never be empty. >>>

I can confirm although I never set foot in the Bally executive offices upstairs on Belmont. Bally's Park Place Casino-Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey was constructed in 1978-9 and opened in late December of that year. The executive offices were on a "hidden" floor above the casino. There were 5 true executive offices for the Casino President, The Chairman of Bally's Park Place, The Secretary and the Chief Financial Officer. Also, one more office was for Bill O'Donnell, The Chairman of Bally Manufacturing Corporation, which owned 86+% of Bally's Park Place who planned to stop by every couple of weeks to see how things were going.

Unfortunately, in order for the casino to open, O'Donnell had to step down because of some issues with the licensing process. His office was used by the next Bally Manufacturing Chairman, Bob Mullane. Eventually, Mullane was tossed out because of incompetence. That office eventually was occupied by a friend of mine, Bally's Chief Information Officer, Bob Conover. Bob was also Bally Systems (of Reno) President but since Bob was a New Jersey resident, his primary office was at Park Place. In the Summer of 1998, I was in the area for work so I stopped in unannounced to pay him a visit. His secretary said he was on a conference call with Reno and could be on for another hour. She said I could wait or go walk around the casino. I was walking around the quite new Wild, Wild West casino section for a few minutes when I was paged. I was told c'mon back up as his call ended.

We met for awhile and he gave me a quick tour of the office area, which was decorated in a Eames Era style. As I said, his office was Bill O'Donnell's old office and he showed me proof; There was a door that is simply a small closet in all of the other offices. This one, however, was quite large, about 6' x 10'. Inside was a fully stocked bar, still with some of Bill's selections. I can assure you, there was no Kessler or Canada House garbage there. Also, the glassware was not the stuff you see at Ikea.

Bill O'Donnell knew how to run a company.

Did the world record get broken for continuous play?

http://www.pinballnews.com/news/worldrecord2014.html

They announced that it was broken during the Expo. I know every time I walked by, he was flipping away.

But i heard it was not official , even though he went 50 hrs
because he did not have an approved referee/observer
according to Guinness rules.
and that is part of reason why he quit his quest at 50 hrs.

any confirmation?