On my last trip to Vegas;
Money spent on slot machines - $1.00
Money spent at PHOF and the Riviera annex - over $30.00
Helping keep Pinball alive - PRICELESS
Congrats Tim, from another satisfied "sucker". 
Later,
EV
(Topic ID: 70716)
Madison, WI
Now that is great new for the future of pinball. 
Thanks (and congrats) to Tim and everyone who has volunteered over the years. Also, thanks to all the suckers that helped fund it. 
Quoted from CarShark:What does that mean?
Mr. Bally is probably not a big fan of the Salvation Army is my guess.
Quoted from vicjw66:Mr. Bally is probably not a big fan of the Salvation Army is my guess.
Just make sure the money doesn't go to the Militant Wing of the Salvation Army.
Frau-farbissina.jpgWas there in September. Had a blast and so did my wife. She resisted a little, but a few games on POTC later she was wanting one. We played a lot of games, but have many more to play next time there. Chexx is on the 'to buy' list too. Always wanted one of those.
Quoted from rcarlson:I have foolishly blow my vacation money playing pinball at the PHOF... and what a great time I have had
At least you didn't blow your money on hookers and gambling.
All of us at VPcabs.com are very excited for you Tim. Thanks for what you do and thanks for letting us be a small part of it!!!
Have been there 3 times in 1 year and its amazing .....congrats Tim keep up the great work you're doing there.....
Thanks you from everyone who enjoys playing pinball .....
Nice job Tim. You are an inspiration to many of us. Keep up the great work. You will be rewarded in heaven.
Way righteous. Congratulations!
Personally, I am overjoyed to be a "sucker" for the PHoF.
What is it with the fragile, humorless pinheads on this string? Go play some pinball and lighten up!
Great job Tim et al...I've had the good fortune of being at the PHOF twice and Tim's residence before the Hall of Fame was open and had a great time. Congratulations and thank you for all the work and dedication you've had for the pinball industry.
THANK YOU!!
Great job Tim et al...I've had the good fortune of being at the PHOF twice and Tim's residence before the Hall of Fame was open and had a great time. Congratulations and thank you for all the work and dedication you've had for the pinball industry.
THANK YOU!!
About 10 years ago I heard about this guy in Vegas that lived outside the city and owned a warehouse full of pins. I also heard that once or twice a year he opened the place to outsiders and for a donation , let them play everything for the night. The money was donated to charity. Six months later I was in Vegas with my brother and I made a phone call to Tim on the remote outside chance that maybe we might run into one of his open house nights. Sadly, we missed it but Tim invited us to stop by anyway. When we got there, Tim was busy rebuilding a mechanism for something but stopped what he was doing, and proceeded to throw on a bunch of switches and circuit breakers. The place came to life and he told these two virtual strangers from Boston to play all we wanted and to just let him know when we were finished. Afterward he explained how some day he hoped to find a building in Vegas that would allow him to open a Pinball Hall of Fame. We left him a decent donation that he never asked for and he again generously gave us three DVD's of pinball promos and a few other souvenirs.
Well Tim , you did it. You not only opened your PHOF, but you've even paid the place off.
Congratulations ! Well done. Thanks for all you've done for preservation of the hobby , but even more thanks for the charitable works you've supported. You deserve every accolade.
See you the next time I get back to Vegas and hopefully again on the tube.
Quoted from mikepin:Great news but TIMMY please clean up the place some and MAYBE pay someone to fix stuff.. You are going to KILL yourself there and we will have NOTHING.... Put some flyers, translites,even schmatics on the walls to dress it up.. I will GLADLY donate a bunch if you will put them up....
Tim, way to go and congrats....I visit the PHOF every year that I go to Vegas.
Pacak, you are a ruthless piece of work. This thread is meant for Congrats to Tim, his hard work, and the PHOF. Not your backhand slap about the cleanliness of the place or the condition of the equipment. If you want to talk cleanliness, maybe you should consider your own personal hygiene and the foul odor that permeates your booth area at Expo.
Quoted from vdojaq:Tim, way to go and congrats....I visit the PHOF every year that I go to Vegas.
Pacak, you are a ruthless piece of work. This thread is meant for Congrats to Tim, his hard work, and the PHOF. Not your backhand slap about the cleanliness of the place or the condition of the equipment. If you want to talk cleanliness, maybe you should consider your own personal hygiene and the foul odor that permeates your booth area at Expo.
Bam !
Congrats Tim, I wonder how many pinball enthusiasts and pinball parlor's or places to play you have inspired. I went to Tim's Fun night about 12 years ago. At the time I owned about 5 pins. When he told me of his idea to have all the game's he had acquired available to play everyday to the public, I was inspired to open Lyons Classic Pinball. In the 10 1/2 years that we have been open many of the pinball arcade's that have open in Colorado and a few that I know of in other states have told me that LCP is why they started there businesses.We are very small compared to PHOF and have a lot less visibility and have made a big difference in what exists today so I can only imagine the HUGE inspiration Tim and The Pinball Hall of Fame have been in the resurgence of pinball today.
Thank you Tim see you soon
KC at LCP
1 month later
interesting phof video:
http://techcrunch.com/video/pinball-hall-of-fame-techcrunch-makers/518076892/
Larodde
Just saw this thread. Congratulations on getting out of debt.
I have been twice and had a blast both times.
Even got to meet and talk with you on one of the trips. What a great place.
Beverwijk
Quoted from MrBally:FYI, I am neutral regarding the Salvation Army charity and do periodically donate to the organization as well as the PHoF. I did find Tim's "SUCKERS" comment a bit offensive though.
He was just making a goofy joke though....right?
Quoted from ghostbc:Congrats Tim, I wonder how many pinball enthusiasts and pinball parlor's or places to play you have inspired. I went to Tim's Fun night about 12 years ago. At the time I owned about 5 pins. When he told me of his idea to have all the game's he had acquired available to play everyday to the public, I was inspired to open Lyons Classic Pinball.
Tim certainly inspired our effort at the Vfw Ann Arbor pinball musuem ( http://www.vfwpinball.com ). The Norm and Shaggy videos also contributed quite a bit of money to Tim's efforts (around $50k last time I asked Tim), and got us motivated. Tim's influence has been great. He provided a road map of things to do (and not do!) when opening a pinball place. His help has been invaluable.
Congrats Tim!
I volunteered a day of my vacation last summer to help fix up games and had a blast!
For the comments about the broken games, Tim only has so much time in the day to work on them while running around to keep the place operating. Local, skilled volunteer labor is a lot harder to find than it sounds.
It's amazing the kind of stuff that breaks when the games get played as much as they do.
While this is great news for Tim and the PHOF and I totally applaud his efforts for pulling this great feat off, I wish he would take a small amount of the proceeds and re-invest in maintaining the games there, especially if he was able to get out of debt so quickly. The volunteer model simply can't keep up. Many of the games there (and at the Riviera) are unplayable or have key parts not working that make the visit somewhat disappointing. I was hoping that maybe I just caught PHOF on a bad day, but it was same story each time I went. I would certainly drop more coins if more of the games that were on the floor that I wanted to play were working.
Quoted from RazerX:While this is great news for Tim and the PHOF and I totally applaud his efforts for pulling this great feat off, I wish he would take a small amount of the proceeds and re-invest in maintaining the games there, especially if he was able to get out of debt so quickly. The volunteer model simply can't keep up. Many of the games there (and at the Riviera) are unplayable or have key parts not working that make the visit somewhat disappointing. I was hoping that maybe I just caught PHOF on a bad day, but it was same story each time I went. I would certainly drop more coins if more of the games that were on the floor that I wanted to play were working.
I keep seeing this, but I was there a couple of months ago and besides WOZ and a couple of EMs, everything was plugged in and playing well. Pinball Circus seemed a bit weak, but that could have just been my lack of skill.
Quoted from cfh:Tim certainly inspired our effort at the Vfw Ann Arbor pinball musuem ( http://www.vfwpinball.com ). The Norm and Shaggy videos also contributed quite a bit of money to Tim's efforts (around $50k last time I asked Tim), and got us motivated. Tim's influence has been great. He provided a road map of things to do (and not do!) when opening a pinball place. His help has been invaluable.
Maybe some new Norm and Shaggy videos are needed for the VFW! Those videos should be required watching for most.
Quoted from PEN:He was just making a goofy joke though....right?
That's how I took it... just a joke. Hope the pinball hall of fame goes on forever. In much the same way PAPA is trying to keep pinball relevant for future generations, the PHOF has to continue on as well so that an important piece of Americana is not forgotten. I am very thankful for people like Tim Arnold, Kevin Martin, and Mike Pacak who all do their best to make pinball better. If it wasn't for people like this, pinball would not be nearly as much fun or, have a bright future.
Quoted from PismoArcade:I keep seeing this, but I was there a couple of months ago and besides WOZ and a couple of EMs, everything was plugged in and playing well. Pinball Circus seemed a bit weak, but that could have just been my lack of skill.
That's good to hear! I hope they can keep pace now.
This is fantastic news! Can't believe I missed this thread when it first got posted...
I admit, when I was there last year, there were a few games that were down that I would've liked to have played. But hey, I've been playing pinball for about 30 years now and I KNOW when I go to a place that has more than three pins, chances are one will be off, one will be great and in fantastic shape, and the other one will be limping along, barely playable. It's to be expected almost. To have as many as they do there, and have the vast majority of them working, with such a small support staff, is nothing short of amazing. I was there for about 4 hours and Tim was out on the floor working on 3 different machines, all at once it seemed.
Unfortunately, RazerX, I think you've just had bad luck there. Did you at least have good luck in the casinos? I'd hope that bad luck in one place means good luck in the other.... 
I've been to the PHOF and look to return soon.
If you're in Vegas and a pinball fan of any sort, you NEED to visit. It's just awesome. So much variety.
I was there for about 5 hours and spent maybe $30 in quarters. That would've been about 1 hand of blackjack at Wynn.
I left with pinball elbow though.
Well worth the trip.
Kudos to you Tim! Great to see this sir. KT and I had a great time out there playing pinball in the desert and having you on the podcast a few years ago. Happy days dude!
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