"When I was a poor kid in the 90’s I would be that kid that swept the coin reject on each machine to see if I could find a quarter to play with, and a free credit on a game was like an unexpected gift that brought a little warmth to my heart."

This is without a doubt, the best thing I have ever read on Pinside(and probably ever will)

That was me, back in the 70's

Talk about Nostalgia...

God bless us all and I wish the PHOF well.

"Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot"

Joni Mitchell

This is without a doubt, the best thing I have ever read on Pinside(and probably ever will)

That was me, back in the 70's

Talk about Nostalgia...

God bless us all and I wish the PHOF well.

"Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot"

Joni Mitchell

I don’t think it needs all that. But whatever firm that used that survey data should have done its own title research and rechecked.

Some municipalities ask for a mathematical closure of the survey for this reason. It forces someone to punch in all the data and show an exact square footage within a certain probability, which can than be cross referenced with a city assessor/clerk

It’s also wild they would allow zero sidelot clearance for a building. Like think about it. One person builds out to their property line. How do they do that without crossing the property line? How would the neighbor ever be capable of building out to their property line? (But maybe this is just about a fence, which can be built on a property line but is often preferred to be on one side to avoid future disputes on maintenance). That’s why 5 foot is almost always the bare minimum of a side setback for a permanent structure.

There seems to be a recurring theme here the last several pages that it’s next to impossible to find and pay techs a large enough salary where they will stick around.

I would buy into that if I haven’t visited other large scale arcades where their games were well maintained.

This summer I visited Game Terminal in Nashville. They had dozens and dozens of pins and retro cabinet video games. EVERY pin I played worked PERFECTLY - strong pops, flippers, rollover switches, auto-launch, displays, machines balanced etc.. EVERY video game I played worked PERFECTLY - every fire button, joystick, switch, rotating knob, pedal, bright display etc..

IIRC, there were no games shut off or out of service. There could have been, but if there was I don’t remember it.

Much like PHOF, it costs $0 to enter. All of the video games were FREE. You only had to pay to play the pins, and they were a nominal price per game.

IDK what the secret sauce is but running a perfectly functioning arcade can and is done. Obviously there is a team of paid techs at Game Terminal that keeps all of those pins and video games functioning PERFECTLY.

(Unless I'm mistaken), it's because Game Terminal is ran by someone who also distributes and sells used game. It's essentially a show floor, so there is a lot of value in making a good impression because it will help them sell games.

And knowing some of those people personally, they do value a quality tech

FAA guidelines on properties bordering an airport. McCarren should have at least had a property line survey done from A to B.

Interesting. I've worked for an airport authority as a consultant, but never did development adjacent to an airport. Always learning new regulations...

Typical corner cutting. McCarren probably said Ok, your survey is good enough and went with it. There are all sorts of restriction on the building concerning height, lighting, entrances, everything because it's next to the airport. That's why Tim couldn't park his trailers there, FAA will not allow it post 9-11 rules.

Well, I agree with this statement - the place is well run, high end, the owner super friendly and quite a collection of games including a large Data East Collection. And also in the Nashville area is Game Galaxy in Smyrna, not glitzy but also with a lot of games, most all running well, very few down at any given time. Two different ends of the spectrum both doing a pretty good job keeping their games running in good condition.

The plot plan showing the property corners and dimensions was probably incorrectly recorded many years ago. As others have mentioned, the engineers/surveyors errors and omissions insurance and also title insurance should cover the issue except it can take a very long time to resolve the issue. It can take years as there will probably be lawsuits and the process can/will move insanely slow.

It really sucks that you can do your due diligence and purchase a property with multiple layers of protection and still get F’d. Even if awarded damages it almost surely won’t be enough to purchase the piece of property from the airport. The legal bills to recover any damages would be also be huge.

I haven’t been to Vegas in almost 15 years. I used to go for a long weekend once a year back in the late 90’s early 2000’s but never visited the PHOF due to the poor reviews of machines with issues and it’s off the strip location. I was thinking of going this year specifically to visit the new FHOF location but the complaints about the machines not being maintained has me wondering if it’s as bad idea.
I know it’s impossible to give exact numbers but approx. how many machines are powered on on each day and how many can be played by an average player without noticing significant issues?

The child in the story was said to be in the autism spectrum. This child may not respond to ‘big boy guidance’ or a lesson in behavior while in a stressful situation. The child standing in one spot and spinning around should not cause the phof staff to act like there is a drunk person acting stupid. Children with autism or on the spectrum sometimes do things like this to deal with stressful situations. Another example would be hand flapping or waving.

Sounds like Tim doesn’t like kids. He needs to make it 21+ if it’s such a big deal. I get it, he doesn’t want kids banging on the games, but the games are commercial grade equipment that can take the abuse. At 2 mil revenue or whatever he can afford to rebuild a flipper mech or just replace the entire machine.

I appreciate that you give your updates here on pinside. Happy holidays!

B92C2451-B14B-436E-BC21-4B28458E8982 (resized).jpeg

The fact you are having to spend your time on this DOES suck. I do hope in the long run, you are compensated for the mistakes.

However, this should 100% prove to you that it is time to hire a full time head pinball technician. Pay him a proper salary and give that person the trust and reins to create a crew. You trying to train green peas while running that place is absolutely time wasted of your talents and business needs. This new facility, now more than ever, needs you to be an owner and director, not a hands on repairman or facilitator. Something has to give.

He could also find a qualified person to be the ‘business manager’ and run the biz while he is the tech manager and operates a tech crew while maintaining ceo or whatever

How was the staff supposed to know this?
Parents need to control their children whatever their special needs.
BTW, I'm a grandparent of a special needs child.

I don't usually get involved in this kind of drama, and I wont speak ill of Tim, I certainly don't envy all the BS he has to deal with, but...

I live in Las Vegas, and I have 30 years of (SS) pinball tech experience, including becoming Bally/Williams factory trained and certified back in 1992. Plus I have a degree in electronics engineering. I was also the lead tech at the NY-NY hotel/casino arcade for just short of 4 years (2014-2018). I even have 12 B/W games of my own, all 100% clean, maintained and functional!

There have been multiple discussions over the past 6-7 years between myself and Tim, Beth, and another highly respected (but powerless) individual at PHoF, about me working full-time over there, and I've been blown off by Tim and Beth on the follow-up on every single occasion. And I feel pretty rear-ended over all of it.

I am 55 now, and this would have been a dream career change for me, and I would LOVE to get out of the casino/resort environment. But I can't and wont work for free, especially not for millionaires! I have bills to pay, and Las Vegas is a VERY expensive place to live! I must maintain at least a $75K/year salary (I am currently making more than that) to live comfortably.

Before the new building was even blueprinted, I was told they were going to shift to a for-profit model and have a paid staff, And I would be at the top of the list for lead tech. Obviously none of that was true or happened. I strongly believe, and apparently most of you guys agree, that this change of course would have certainly reversed the stigma of the PHoF being something of a pinball graveyard of dead games... Every time I think about what I could, and would have done to help that place be even more successful... I default to the text-book definition of "insanity".

I love how everything is somebody else's fault, you'd think Tim would get along great with the millennials and Gen Z. I have nothing but empathy about the repairs and dealing with broken machines, that's not the real problem the problem is Tim and how he treats people. Reality is that Tim is toxic, his toxicity flows through the community, negating any good will.
Other museums build communities, spread goodwill, he spreads toxicity and bad vibes.
You reap what you sow, spread bad juju, get it back in spades.
B

If this spinning is a coping mechanism, is it advisable to keep a child with autism around a bunch of blinking lights, sounds, dings, buzzes and whatnot that an arcade can provide? And what if the child had spun into a game and hurt himself? If they are suing now for hurt feelings, you bet your ass they would sue then.

You sure do have an axe to grind!

But you see he was training newbies! It does seem like he doesn't just want to pay a tech a proper fee and rather get cheap labor or volunteers helping instead at this point

Damn straight! I'm a loyal friend and Tim has hurt several of my friends and I have zero tolerance for that.
B

When my kids were smaller, I took them to Chuck E Cheese pretty often. For all my visits, I never witnessed a staff member yelling at the children.

I'm guessing your kids were behaved?

I saw a lot of bedlam. I saw kids standing on the skeeball so they could put the balls directly into the high score holes. I remember having an epiphany that Chuck E Cheese didn't give a shit, which struck me as the easiest path, because the alternative is you are policing children and yelling at random kids. Plus that can't be good for the blood pressure.

That, or as was stated earlier in the thread, give up and make it an adults only venue.

I think we can sum this all up in 3 points:
1:Tim is cheap (not using paid techs, but training noobs)

2:Tim WILL NOT relinquish control over his pins to a good paid tech.

3:Tim is a misanthrope, although I'm in full agreement with him/his staff for handling "the Spinner" the way they did. Behave, act civil or GTFO. Period. I would have done the same.

If a kid spinning around in a circle is grounds for yelling/throwing you out of a place then no one needs to goto that place. Ffs

I will step out on the limb and say 2 things. I believe Tim is afraid of giving up ANY control, and he is frugal.

If your kid is spinning and you don't remove them yourself you should all get thrown out and banned.

Trip advisor reviews indicate that was not an isolated incident. Basically don't take your kids (autistic, well-behaved, whatever) there because there's a high likelihood of get scolded, creeped on, and possibly get kicked out. It's an entire freaking building full of stimulating toys so kids are bound to get excited. Tim has always run it his-way-or-the-highway and he obviously has no patience for kids, so why not ban them all, make it 21+?

This was discussed at length in another thread along with some video of the incident.

I'll agree that this wasn't handled well by the staff. I would have offered the family a refund and asked them to leave my arcade as well if they couldn't control or calm him down. Its's not fair to the other patrons or safe for those involved to deal with a situation like that.

It's interesting how these incidents blow up and sometimes taken out of context. Vertigo Pinball has had thousands of happy families with hundreds of great reviews across different social media platforms.

But there is a theme with our handful of 1-star reviews. They all call us rude when we ask non-paying people - usually kids - to get off the machines. When it's really the parents who think the kids should be able to play for free if they are having a beer.

Do the kids that come to your place get scolded, creeped on, and possibly get kicked out if they act like a kid? If you have thousands of happy families and good reviews, I'm guessing no.

I have a buddy that has excellent pinball repair skills, especially ems. While in town for a few days, he offered to volunteer to fix whatever Tim needed but was promptly put on the pay no mind list. Tim refused to let him do anything.

I live close enough that for awhile, I was going to PHOF 2-3 times a month. The last few trips were so disappointing that I skip it now whenever I'm in Vegas. I never thought I'd say it, but I miss the Tropicana location.

Untrue and totally unnecesssary to the discussion.

Maybe they should. Kids are pricks nowadays!

I keep asking myself, “If it’s so hard, why not pay for some competent workers”

The tax sheet shows there’s enough money to afford one or two full time techs. There’s an example in this thread of someone that’s qualified, and already in Vegas. So the argument that it’s difficult to find good help is complete bull shit. An excellent example of what you should be looking for is literally on your doorstep looking to help

Chuck E Cheese didn’t give shit because it’s staffed with teenagers who don’t give a fuck if kids are jumping off the games. The owner has every right to yell at anyone fucking around his place of business. To his defense, it’s not a daycare or a giant Chuck E Cheese. Why people take their kids to Vegas is mind boggling.

Quotes from Trip Advisor reviews from 2022. Maybe this is why Tim can't get anything fixed since he just follows kids around.

Miserable elderly man with, thick glasses a pony tail and headlamp walks around and ruins the vibe. Was told he is a partial owner. Been here 3 times in 2 years. Each time we come with adults and kids he walks around and tells/ berates kids for running and not using inside voices.

We went with our 2 year old daughter. One of the employees (extremely rude older gentleman) followed us around and harrassed us.

We were visiting with friends from out of state with 6 year old child. The older man kept reprimanding us with everything machine we touched. Followed us around like a hawk. Staff not pleasant either!!

We proceeded to try to finish up our coins and went to the other side of the building hoping he would leave us alone. I can see the man follow behind us and watch us. Staring at us! (Creep) As my kids were playing the car games the one next to it was broken.. my 4 year old was sitting in that chair pretending the game worked. Just pretending to drive. Not yelling not climbing not jumping just being 4 thinking she was driving. My husband said great he’s coming back. I looked behind me and he’s Rushing towards me. He then proceeded to yell and say You need to get your daughter off of there this is not a Chuck E. Cheese.

Tom Arnold followed us out, threatening us and antagonizing the situation. He informed us that this was not a place for children.

Just a quick note: pinball guy Tom Arnold died a few years ago.

A few reviews out of almost 3000 with an average of 4.5 out of 5.

Look, I get it. Tim can be a curmudgeon and isn't the most social person in the world. A quick check on here will show that while I appreciate PHOF and what Tim has accomplished, I'm also one of his critics, especially about maintaining his pins.

I was just taking exception to the "creeped on" line. It has a terrible connotation especially when referring to children.

My bad. Meant it like "creeped up on." Didn't know how else to phrase it. Those reviews had me imagining Tim popping up from behind machines horror-movie style. lol

I had a teenage helper during summertime a few years ago before the local Chuck E Cheese closed. He said he worked there and if it was your honor/punishment of wearing the mouse costume, guys would ALWAYS wear athletic cups. He said the kids would basically attack you when you first came out and it was guaranteed you would be hit hard in the balls.

He also said the “mama bear protect their young instinct” was all too real as the police were called due to parent fight/arguments almost every weekend. It basically sounded like the Jerry Springer show in a pizza shop /kids arcade.

This is why you kick kids, or adults out, who cant behave.

Screenshot_20221229_131552_Chrome (resized).jpg

By any chance are you the guy that used to have the pins at NYNY? Those used to play like they were fresh out of the box. I'm bummed that they're no longer there.

Sounds like you dodged a bullet....

Thanks for running those pins there - was always a visit I made when working in Vegas! (Were you also at that smaller space just at the end of Fremont Street towards the Fremont East side near that old Heart Attack Grill area?) - those machines weren't there too long but also played well.

Sounds like he was the tech - not the Operator. The Operator used to post here on pinside... he had an arcade downtown too for awhile. His account is inactive now
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fremont-arcade-downtown-las-vegas-fremont-street-experience

This is accurate, the pins were owned by an operator, on a revenue share deal with MGM, I was the MGM employed, lead tech. The operator did major repairs because he was contractually obligated to pay for those parts & materials (since they were their own assets). The 2 owners were friends that trusted me, so I did minor stuff in between their visits and maintenance to ensure the games were never down. I also restored a couple of their games on my own, and I bought a few from them that I restored for myself.
I have not spoken to them since before covid, I know their machines are no longer at NY-NY, in fact there isn't a single pin in that arcade now! Their downtown arcade is also long gone... No idea what happened to them.