(Topic ID: 285970)

Pinball Hall of Fame is running out of money

By timarnold

3 years ago


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  • Latest reply 1 year ago by Roostking
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    18
    #736 3 years ago

    People seem to get pissed at Tim because he knows how to leverage things- money, people, good will... he is rough around the edges but he is very diligent and caring for others. He has taken a passion for pinball and turned it into a force of good will, giving back something to everyone he comes in contact with, wether its a donation, recommendation, promotion or just getting the right people to talk to the right people, Tim seems to always figure a way to get it done, on a shoestring budget and by pissing off the least amount of people, or sometimes, better yet, pissing off just the right amount people to get them to do the right thing. If nothing else, Tim is effective and hard working and is not out to be your friend, but out to complete his mission. If it wasn't for the PHOF, there are machines I would never have got to play, and he has done more for pinball than almost everyone who would criticize him here on pinside. I donated $100 bucks to the GFM campaign and I drop $40 to $50 bucks into the machines when I visit, which is often since its just a short trip from Phoenix. If I have any coin left and its time to go, I just walk down the line and drop them into the machines and leave the credits on them for others to play. Tim gets the donation, and who knows, some young kid just might catch the pinball fever after playing a couple of free games.

    1 year later
    #849 1 year ago

    It all depends on what you get out of going there and dropping coin into his machines. I get to play some really nice examples of some classic pins when they are working, and Tim gets to keeps the doors open so that I can. How he does it, who profits, who looses, who cares? Don't like Tim? Then don't donate time or money or go play his machines. He doesn't really care. It's that simple really. It gives me something I love to do when visiting Vegas beside loose huge sums of cash and that's just for parking and food, not gambling.

    #868 1 year ago
    Quoted from Electrocute:

    I’d consider myself rich if I made that much. Was taught to “live within my needs”

    I keep trying to "live within my needs" but God or karma keeps throwing money at me. What I really need is a new, cancer free liver, but money doesn't buy one of those off Amazon.

    #878 1 year ago

    If I retired in Vegas, I would maintain them for the cost of free pinball... I even can solder, use a meter, and troubleshoot. But until then, I rely on the few, the proud, the overworked, unpaid, and dedicated fools who keep the lights on in my stead. Always enjoy going, no matter what's not working.

    #957 1 year ago
    Quoted from PtownPin:

    I agree....it all kinda makes sense now...this is a short term project, which is very unfortunate

    One man’s passion for pinball can not keep PHOF going forever. When Tim finally has that aneurysm when someone stops him and says “Hey, I lost a quarter in that machine right over there, the one with the sign that say it’s out of something?”, we will pile his body into the cabinet of an Evil Knievel machine, set it afloat and aflame in the Belagio’s fountain, as we give him a great Viking funeral and say goodbye to the last great pinball entrepreneur of Las Vegas. It will be “Good bye Tim (and the PHOF) we knew ye well.”

    #991 1 year ago
    Quoted from hassellcastle:

    not just a hall with disorganized rows of machines.

    What you speak of is called curation. The PHOF has “post it notes” and “index cards” depicting some interesting manufacturer, operator, or industry specific anecdotes, but if you can’t read Tim’s hieroglyphics or the hand written pencil has been smudged, your best off not tracking Tim down to ask about it. It is amazing how much he can squeeze onto a 5x7 index card, though. I wouldn’t necessarily call it “curation”, but there are nuggets of trivia to be unearthed once in a while. If you are looking for Smithsonian displays of pinball history, PHOF is not your destination. If, however, you got an afternoon to kill in Vegas, you will loose way less money at PHOF than most anywhere else on the strip, play some pinball and waste some time. If your lucky, maybe have some fun. What else is Vegas for anyways?

    2 weeks later
    #1140 1 year ago

    Ok, the old farts will understand... here is Tim in a nutshell.

    At pin Expo in Chicago back in the 90's, Tim did something that would piss everyone off almost every year. But it was not because of any malice or ill will. Because he had money, he used it and donated every year by buying half the charity raffle tickets for the donated older used pinball machine they raffled off. To Tim it was win-win. He got a used pinball machine for his collection, and the charity got his money. He nearly always won, and it almost made some guys not want to buy a raffle ticket, you were getting shitty odds of winning. Gentlemen
    side bets were common on wether Tim would win again this year. You could tell immediately when you saw him after the drawing if he won or lost. Was he normal Tim at PHOF Tim, then you knew he had lost. If he was smiling, well it wasn't the smile so much as the pep in his Step, you knew he had won. Ok the smile has so seldom been seen that it has been theorized that Tim’s has gone extinct. It’s also the only indicator of any connection you might be making when talking to him. If you can make him laugh, he softens his edges considerably.

    Now these were all old EM machines, but some in really nice shape. So if you are wondering where some of the PHOF museum pieces came from, this was one source.

    I happened to be at the Expo Registration desk when Tim walked up after he finished giving his yearly seminar, and he was asking Robert, and I quote "So, have you drawn the raffle? Did I win like normal?" Rob said no, they were doing the drawing at the banquet. But then I blurt out "like normal? Why do you think you've won?" At which point Tim just held up a fistful of raffle tickets and said "Because I always buy half the tickets." and walked away.

    #1142 1 year ago

    Oh, also going this weekend, staying at the Excalibur. Anyone want me to spin a slot for them? I’ll do a free $1 pull in honor of the first 50 pinsiders who PM me. I will PM you with the amount that was won and donated to the “Send Bublehead to PHOF to Donate” Campaign. I’ll take $1 to pay for the pull from the winnings and donate the remainder to the PHOF. I will PP (F&F) a generous gift from me to you to show my relative gratitude in relation to the amount that was donated to PHOF in your name or donate all gifts and winnings to PHOF if you so indicate in PM. Let’s have some fun AND donate to PHOF.

    #1150 1 year ago

    Well, nobody PMed me, so I took the $50 and bought a souvenir at at PHOF....

    Ok, the volunteer behind the counter gave me the sign for free after I asked. She said it's the strangest ask she has had , said most just steal them off the machines. She asked only that I think about donating a few dollars in the bucket up front for the SA.

    So I donated.

    I think the sign fits the wearer....

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