Quoted from mrm_4:Same butthurt down voters as always
Downvoted for complaining about downvotes. Show a little backbone!
(Topic ID: 343117)
Quoted from paynemic:Ok. Jokes aside, it was not a bad experience. The parking lot was 2/3 full. Lots of workers, a few actively repairing games. Maybe 1/2 of the games working. Ratio was definitely worse for the EMs. Tons of very happy people. A few games that I played (that weren’t dark), also weren’t 100% (the chest shots didn’t register on tom, kinda critical). All in all it was a great way to spend two hours in Vegas (I generally dislike this town) and it cost me $11. Pretty cheap entertainment for a tourist trap.
That being said, if you’re coming with the sole purpose of playing a specific game (ie banzai or circus) you’re likely to be disappointed.
Side note, anyone else go to play location pinball and then you end up drawn to playing the same games you have at home? Maybe it’s just me.
Id be curious on whats broke on that banzai. Ive owned a couple and may take a peek later this fall on my visit.
Portland, OR
Quoted from Anony:And if they ever fix Banzai Run I vow to fly out from Canada and go visit. I've always wanted to try that one.
Quarterworld in Portland also has a functional Banzai Run
Maybe Tim can just change the name to PHOF museum, turn all the games off and just have people come through and take pictures? But then he couldn’t rip people off by putting quarters in games that don’t work right, well or at all.
Quoted from pinballplusMN:Id be curious on whats broke on that banzai. Ive owned a couple and may take a peek later this fall on my visit.
I don’t know but I’ve never seen it turned on at any time I’ve ever been there dating back to the first location and dozens of visits. No joke.
Quoted from fosaisu:Downvoted for complaining about downvotes. Show a little backbone!
Well played sir!
Although it wasn’t a complaint, more of an acknowledgement.
A complaint would be more like “oh come on really guys again, why?!!! I’m so sick this wahhhh”
Quoted from JethroP:Back to the 60's.....EM's and pay to use toilets. Great idea....more COIN DROP. Dedicate the coin drop to restroom maintenance. Oh wait...bad little kids would crawl under the door without paying!
[quoted image]
Nik-O-Lok is still alive and well in Indianapolis, Indiana. They lease the toilet locks. Both for main doors and individual stalls.
Quoted from MrBally:Nik-O-Lok is still alive and well in Indianapolis, Indiana. They lease the toilet locks. Both for main doors and individual stalls.
I remember locks on toilet stall doors in department stores when I was a kid. Haven't seen one of them in decades. But I've been to a few different foreign countries, Mexico for one, where someone stands at the entrance to the restrooms and requires you to pay before you can enter. I guess that's the low tech solution to a door lock.
Quoted from ConnorStowe:Thanks for the shout out to Next Level!
We used to have EMs on the floor, but they were simultaneously probably the least played machines from the general public while also continuously the ones that would have the most frequent issues (which is somewhat understandable in that they are 40-50+ years old). Ultimately we have to make decisions anyway in what games we can fit on the floor, so we opted to sell off the EM collection and focused on getting the full collections of Sterns, System-11s, Segas, Jersey Jacks, Americans, etc.
I absolutely would love to have EMs to give people a better breadth of the history of pinball at the Museum, but you can also still tell an interesting story as a Museum about the history of pinball from 1977 through today. Since we really focus on the playability of the games here, we try and make decisions of what games tell a good story of pinball while also maintaining the quality of experience for our guests. It takes us 4 full time techs for us to maintain the 250 pins and 250 arcades at play here.
Went to Next Level for the first time yesterday. It was incredible. Only stayed about three hours (was there with friends). Wish I had showed up when it opened.
Quoted from pinballplusMN:Id be curious on whats broke on that banzai. Ive owned a couple and may take a peek later this fall on my visit.
Apparently you'll need to meet Tim's requirements before you'll be allowed to volunteer your time!
Quoted from TheLaw:Just saw Director Darren Aronofsky talk aboot hanging out there on Seth Myers. playing some Taxi & Twilight Zone. Didn't mention the game broken or bad toilets; take that!
Saw that too, here's the interview at the spot they talk pins:
Quoted from arkuz:Saw that too, here's the interview at the spot they talk pins:
He must not have gone there expecting it to be as described on the website...
Quoted from DanQverymuch:He must not have gone there expecting it to be as described on the website...
...or, he understood that hyperbole in advertising is the foundation of Las Vegas.
Kitchener, ON
Quoted from JWJr:hyperbole in advertising
That’s an interesting take. I wonder what these guys call it?
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing
IMG_0250 (resized).jpeg
Quoted from Luckydogg420:That’s an interesting take. I wonder what these guys call it?
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing
[quoted image]
Puffery.
Quoted from MrBally:Vegas Urinal update:The urinal in the C-suite shitter in the building I work in also has a flush valve problem. It's a Sloan commercial, direct-wire flush valve too.
Located close to the PHoF. This is an outrage!
[quoted image]
It's an epidemic!
Quoted from MrBally:Vegas urinal update:The urinal in the building I work in also has a flush valve problem.
Knock, knock.
...Who's there?
Urinal.
...Urinal who?
Urinal lot of trouble unless you get that fixed quickly!
Quoted from Luckydogg420:That’s an interesting take. I wonder what these guys call it?
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing
PHOF false advertising is just another lawsuit waiting to happen.
Quoted from ConnorStowe:Thanks for the shout out to Next Level!
We used to have EMs on the floor, but they were simultaneously probably the least played machines from the general public while also continuously the ones that would have the most frequent issues (which is somewhat understandable in that they are 40-50+ years old). Ultimately we have to make decisions anyway in what games we can fit on the floor, so we opted to sell off the EM collection and focused on getting the full collections of Sterns, System-11s, Segas, Jersey Jacks, Americans, etc.
I absolutely would love to have EMs to give people a better breadth of the history of pinball at the Museum, but you can also still tell an interesting story as a Museum about the history of pinball from 1977 through today. Since we really focus on the playability of the games here, we try and make decisions of what games tell a good story of pinball while also maintaining the quality of experience for our guests. It takes us 4 full time techs for us to maintain the 250 pins and 250 arcades at play here.
You could have just said we don't know how to fix them and made it a lot shorter.
Quoted from littlecammi:Knock, knock.
...Who's there?
Urinal.
...Urinal who?
Urinal lot of trouble unless you get that fixed quickly!
Well, there's the B-suite facilities and the engineering ones. And if all else fails, the dreaded production area facilities are available with twenty stalls and ten urinals. No air conditioning in the Summer; only swamp cooling.
Sana'a
Quoted from poppapin:Well, 2 pinsiders think seth myers is funny.
Actually, it's three. I find his take on the madness of the world today pretty funny.
Quoted from vid1900:Most Pinsiders are sound asleep by 9pm.
"I'm lucky if I make it through the end of Hannity." -Pinside
Damn Vid, thought you were more of a Rachel Maddow fan. 
Quoted from poppapin:Damn Vid, thought you were more of a Rachel Maddow fan.
Vid was quoting Pinside -- he knows the demographic here pretty well.
Looks like the sleazy motel next door finally closed and is getting bulldozed. https://www.casino.org/vitalvegas/diamond-inn-motel-closes-future-of-beloved-pink-elephant-in-jeopardy/
Quoted from fosaisu:Vid was quoting Pinside -- he knows the demographic here pretty well.
thanks-obvious.gifQuoted from fosaisu:Vid was quoting Pinside -- he knows the demographic here pretty well.
Or the end of Anderson Cooper -"Wrongside"
Quoted from MrBally:Vegas Urinal update:The urinal in the C-suite shitter in the building I work in also has a flush valve problem. It's a Sloan commercial, direct-wire flush valve too.
Located close to the PHoF. This is an outrage!
[quoted image]
What's the bidet situation?
Quoted from CubeSnake:Weird....for a place that claims to be practically printing money, NEW
Looks like the sleazy motel next door finally closed and is getting bulldozed. https://www.casino.org/vitalvegas/diamond-inn-motel-closes-future-of-beloved-pink-elephant-in-jeopardy/
On a semi-related note, the Dream Hotel on the south side of the PHOF appears to have secured their financing and construction is scheduled to resume after the first of the year.
Quoted from cfh:there's only ONE pinball venue with bidets... The Ann Arbor VFW pinball facility.
I didn’t see those in the outhouses on Sunday.
Quoted from EMsInKC:You could have just said we don't know how to fix them and made it a lot shorter.
Ha, we do know how to fix them, just explaining our methodology for a place that is of similar size to PHOF for comparison. It takes us 4 full-time techs to maintain a public-facing collection of 500 pieces, with about 50-60 available in back that are either ready to swap out for a broken machine on the floor or are on a long-term repair run.
A Stern Venom is going to get played more often than a Blue Chip EM... but the games like Blue Chip needed more love, more often taking away the tech's time resources. Of course we could hire twice the full time techs and things would get done quicker, but then we're going to charge more for admission at our place. Or maybe we could get by with fewer techs if we just reduced the number of machines we ran or only had modern Sterns and cut out oddball things like the Spookys or Orbitor1.
Every business is going to make decisions on what to put in their collection. If you can't keep up with the amount of broken pieces then you either have too many games or not enough techs. If EMs were more popular, you'd see them in bars everywhere. Anecdotally you can see that more operators are still making the assessment that investing $7000 on a new IP is a better investment than $1000 for an older EM when considering coin-drop + repair costs.
I gotta tell ya all,I pm,d Tim about all this and he's not listening to this mess! He has his plan and he's sticking to it!
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:What's the bidet situation?
Best $35 I ever spent 
IMG_8964 (resized).jpegQuoted from hawkmoon:He has his plan and he's sticking to it!
I think the correct term in “Exit Strategy”
Quoted from Luckydogg420:I think the correct term in “Exit Strategy”
Are you talking about Tim or the toilet?
Quoted from hawkmoon:I pm,d Tim about all this and he's not listening
Seriously, did you expect him to?
Quoted from hawkmoon:I gotta tell ya all,I pm,d Tim about all this and he's not listening to this mess! He has his plan and he's sticking to it!
Tim is Tim. Love him or hate him, he doesn't give a shit. He will do it his way until he dies. Me personally, along with many others, do not agree with it. Our opinion doesn't count, never did. It just makes it fun to give us all something to bitch about.
Quoted from timarnold:Tim here at the PHOF.
We have had a variety of operational and corporate issues since the opening of the new building that have kept us occupied doing things that do not involve improving the quality of our product.
THE BUILDING- The contractor and the Clival Engineer made several large and tragic mistakes that have left us without clear title and a straight property line. We also got sued by a Real Estate Firm that thought they were due a commission on the purchase of the dirt lot. The billboard Company that we inherited when we bought the property sued us for blocking the visibility of his with our large sign on the street. The plumbing sub-contractor used fixtures that were below the quality called for in our contract and refuses to make it right.
We have also been in a legal fight with the State Tax Commission on a Sales Tax rebate due us on construction materials we paid for in the building of our new place.
These are NOT the kind of problems you can put off or in any way delay. They demand your complete attention, including many days of depositions, a 3 day trail and endless meeting. The mistake was in no way our fault, and an insurance has so far paid several million dollars in damages but we have reached an impasse with a small piece of land in the far corner of the lot that the the owner is not willing to settle on. All this time has taken our eyes off the prize, time needed for maintenance and repair of our games.
We also suffered a 12 week complete shutdown due to Covid lock-down and a slow ramp up after it was lifted. Then we had a HUGE rush of business as people who had pockets of Covid relief money all wanted to play all at once.
We have also had problems getting people WHO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING to fix machines. I hesitate to let a person who can not speak clearly or write legibly and has NO knowledge of basic mechanical skills loose on an expensive and complicated piece of equipment. The skilled helpers we do have all pitched in and worked extra hard, but we still had more machines going into the dead game bank than we had coming out for a long time. I have trained 3 people since we opened to do flipper and bumper repairs and they all three left due to legitimate life changes reasons. The constant noise and interruptions from customers is also physically and mentally DRAINING. Clay now lives part of the year in Vegas, and flatly will NOT help here during the hours we are open. It is also not practical to lift each machine up and move it to an isolated area each time they need repair. The cabinets are old and weak and trying to wheel anything thru a mass of people is difficult and dangerous.
My wife's mother died, and Charlotte has been unable to help at all for almost a year because she was there giving aid and comfort and taking care of the estate. Beth has also had family and minor health issues. Pirate John was out for back surgery for almost 6 months and just returned this week on a part time limited basis. All this along with the usual comings and goings of the non-technical staff add up to a "Chronic shortages and quality issues with staffing at all levels of the retail industry" (The Wall Street Journal)
But through it all, one thing has stayed constant, our level of dedication and commitment to what we are and what we believe in. NEVER was there talk of quitting, cutbacks or surrender. I ask the pinball community for a little understanding during a time in my 53 years in this business that can only be described as a PERFECT STORM of trouble. I would also like you to consider what we call "Embrace the funk!". Many people accuse us of being unprofessional, ass-backwards, or worse. But there is NO WAY any normal business model could have worked in a world WHERE NOTHING MAKES SENSE. Think of all the arcades, funlands, museums that have failed since 2006 when we went full time with this project. We have survived and THRIVED because we do a lot of things differently. At times, it may seem more like a bunch of guys with some pinball machines in an old auto-parts store and not a proper museum, but I would remind you that this industry has only recently obtained status as a legitimate form of entertainment. For most of it's life, coin operated games were a "bandit industry", run by fools and criminals on the fringes of society. "The funk" is baked-in to our past.
What is going to happen next? I look forward to a slow but measurable improvement of our quality as problems described above fall away. Traffic will return to a more predictable and normal level as the effects of Covid and interest hikes smooth out huge swings in demand. Spot shortages of supplies and labor will lessen, the cats will stop fighting each other, and the sun will shine again.
lots of excuses, but you refuse any real help from qualified people who have offered. this cluster is your creation, and the only reason you even still have business is the tourists that want to see the machines. unfortunately most are down when they arrive.
Quoted from cfh:there's only ONE pinball venue with bidets... The Ann Arbor VFW pinball facility.
and has an old school urinal that...
a) does not break down
and
b) serves a duel purpose
wash balls here (resized).jpgForceFlow posted this onto the other PHOF thread, but I think it’s more fitting for this one. That other thread should be for positivity and compliments; this one seems to be for criticism.
This was my response to the video
Quoted from Luckydogg420:Pretty shocking when you watch that video and look not just at the games he’s filming turned off, but all the off games in the background. Virtually every shot in the video shows games turned off. If not the game he’s looking at then the game next to it.
It’s true that he didn’t film the working centre aisle of modern stern games, but I bet if you counted every game shown in that video (by a non pinhead) I bet there’s more off than on.
For anyone looking to go and actually PLAY the games , this was not a good advertisement. If you just want to LOOK at rare classic games then this might be the place for you, but then you gotta wonder why the off games aren’t grouped together in a museum section.
Maybe I’m just cynical
Quoted from nsduprr:and has an old school urinal that...
a) does not break down
and
b) serves a duel purpose
I thought that was a sink for washing your hands. Learn something new every day.
Quoted from JethroP:I thought that was a sink for washing your hands. Learn something new every day.
Not much of a reader, eh?
Quoted from jake35:this cluster is your creation
Correct. So who tf are you to lecture Tim how to run it?
Don’t go.
Quoted from Blackbeard:Correct. So who tf are you to lecture Tim how to run it?
Don’t go.
I think it's more like, "If you don't want to read criticisms about the Pinball Hall of Fame, don't participate in the thread titled "The Pinball Hall of Fame is a Joke."
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat 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+!
