I will be making a donation and continue to visit the PHOF, but in my experience it's hard to meet Tim. On my first two trips to the PHOF, I said something along the lines of, "Thanks for all the hard work you do." That's it, nothing else. No long winded comment, yet both times his response was, "I'm to busy to deal with people like you." The first time, I figured he was just having a bad day, but after the second time, a few years later, I figured that was probably just his go to response with dealing with the public. I love the PHOF and have a great respect for what Tim has done in sharing his collection with the public, plus making donations to the Salvation Army, but I think it's okay to admit that he has not created a super welcoming environment. Hoping that can be improved in the new location. Either way though, I'm sure I'll continue to frequent the PHOF on my trips to Vegas.

EDIT: I understand that dealing with patrons can be annoying, but it's no harder to say, "You're welcome, but I've really have to keep working." then the response that was given. I think both statements end the conversation, one is just a bit more friendly.

wait, how do you get angry at things so milquetoast such as PBS and NPR???

Tim,

First off thank you for the update and also thanks for all you have done for the hobby. I have only met you once in person and with just that very short conversation I realized just how dedicated you are to both pinball & raising money for charity. Hopefully more people from Pinside & RGP will step up and give you a hand with some of the cost of this move. I am doing all I can to help you and will try to do more shortly.

One question (or idea) - have you talked to the casinos to see if any of them might be interested in supporting your cause in exchange for some advertising inside the PHOF. With the money they take in each day perhaps one or two of them might consider a decent donation in exchange for some type of nice banner advertising them. Even guys like Pawn Stars, Count's Kustoms & Rick's Restorations etc might be worth checking in with. $10,000 or $25,000 is likely "chump change" for those guys and chunks of money like that in exchange for some advertising space on a wall might be good for everyone? Just a thought!

In any event keep up the GREAT WORK! Hope to see you again soon!

I had basically the same experience with him until he realized I was truly there to help his cause. I said hello & thanked him for all he had done with the PHOF. His answer was brief something to the effect of if you really want to say thanks toss a few bucks into the bucket" & pointed to the Salvation Army bucket in the corner. I told him I already tossed a $100 into that and at that point he talked to me a little more.

One of the great answers I got from him was when I asked him why he started PHOF in the first place his reply was something like this. "ten years after I retired when I was still a young man I realized there was only so much booze I could drink & only so many drugs I could take so I needed to find something else to do with my time". I though that was a great answer. Then he explained the charity end of things to me a little, asked if I wanted to hang around a week or two and fix machines, then back to work he went.

The first time I went to PHOF many years ago after it just opened up, I saw Tim sweeping the floor. I thanked him for opening one of the few places left to play pinball and told him I was going to spend the whole day pumping quarters into all the games, while my non-pinball friends, who I came to Vegas with do others things. He said, If I really wanted to support the place, I should have brought my friends with me. Tim being Tim. Anyway, I will always support PHOF.

Pretty sure you misused the old school (30s maybe) but trending for millenials make-believe word you looked up today... 'a person who is timid or submissive.'

TA has done nothing but coin op in his entire life. He is not a designer of stuff and things, he is THE director of stuff and things (by his own admission). So the admission to his show of stuff, and things is what it is. Gruff, or tooled, or lax, or hard working, or passive agressive, who cares. He gets it done, has donated a craploadola of money and dedicated his [w|l]ife and played his fife to the tune of millions of dollars to local and other charities. Good for him, the following mininions over the decades. If you get up and can say the same thing, that you have a solid or transient following, gets food on Fridays occasionally as a thanks, and once a year you dial back for 2-3 hours on Thanksgiving for those that are lost and destitute, well, then you are TA. Otherwise you're a poser, wanting to be something behind a keyboard.

God Bless, or Allahu Akbar, אלוהים גדול, or whatever is your agenda, PHoF and SA along with the mission of doing for others without much of a prejudice or conviction is amazing. Would like to see 10,000 people donate 100 dollars in time, or real money (the issue here), or STFU about it. Its a much bigger picture than pinball and folks enjoying it, its about CONTRIBUTION.

I'll assume that TA is the bank for the bridge loan right now, and at 5.2% from my simpleton calculating noodle that is about right for the loan % considering the risk and the market. TA deserves the 5.2%, or 48,000 dollars a year for the loan, after all if he did loan it he deserves a return on his investments. The markets are about that now, so this IMHO is a high risk (low for him, but high for anyone else) speculative investment. The funny part is he knows the markets, knows the customer, has a plan of action, and is executing it piece by piece. Its a lovely thing to see. Shall we all learn from it, by watching, participating, and enjoying?

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Check your specs. “Milquetoast” was being applied to NPR and PBS, not PBHOF or Mr. Arnold.

ayyyyup.
Nothing but respect for Mr. Arnold.

Who's Mr. Allen?

Indeed, its Tim Arnold.
Keeping pinball alive in Vegas and building a Bigger vision.

Yeah, after the second time I didn't attempt to converse with him on my subsequent visits. Which is fine, he obviously owes me nothing. I also stopped reporting broken games. I knew enough not to report minor stuff, but there were times when a ball would get jammed or something that made the game unplayable. The times I brought this to the attention of staff they always start with, "We don't give refunds. We're hear to make money for charity." I'd explain, that I wasn't looking for a refund and just wanted to let them know there was an issue with the game. That usually smoothed things over, but the initial contact was always negative. I just feel like a simple, "Thank you for letting us know." would be a better response. *Maybe it's just me.*

People wanting to converse with Tim, are like people who want to pet my dog while I'm out and about.

There is no reason for them to pet him and put their germs all over him, so I just say "He bites."

Done.

Sounds like the type of attitude that would just make me want to throw money at them.

People downvoting me because I said I have no problem with Tim, think he does a lot for many. But think he should take time to post at least once after asking for money....that's funny shit right there.

I sincerely don't care if it's charity or not....you ask for money, least you can do is follow up....

Which he now has (interestingly shortly after I pointed it out....but Maybe imamaculate coincidence....).

Wishing him well in his ventures...

If you think Tim read your post and then responded because of it, you are delusional. I can pretty much guarantee you Tim has read exactly ZERO posts in this thread.

I'm still going to make a donation. I've been very hesitant to post anything negative, because I really do love the PHOF. Even with it's flaws it's my favorite stop in Vegas. I do hope those are some things that perhaps can be tweaked to make it even better. Perhaps having a dedicated repair space would be a step in the right direction.

Duly Noted.

Hall of Fame implies something really special...a major achievement....something really special. But my recent visit to the PHOF was anything but special. I found every game I played had issues. Lacking maintenance, or the ones I wanted to play were just plain turned off...out of service. If you can't maintain the games you have, why move to a bigger place and add even more games? Seems to me the name should be changed to Pinball on Tropicana, then you could just tell your friends your going out for some POT.

I'll be comparing PHoF to the Museum of Pinball (MoP) in Banning, CA next month.

We know the state of the hardware in PHoF and the attitudes of the help there. I'm betting that MoP has perfectly maintained pinball machines that are rewarding to play, some 550 of them. Probably the same price if you're just dropping coins. Cheaper for sure if you go to an event like "Pinball Madness" where all 1,100 pins & video games are on free play.

For me - giving to charities by playing pinball doesn't justify the bad experience you know you'll have at PHoF. Very good concept that falls short.

And I'll be stopping by the Tropicana place too - mostly to look at things like "Chicago Crane Steam Shovel" which will take your money but just flat don't work, no sign, no refunds.

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......mostly to look at things like "Chicago Crane Steam Shovel" which will take your money.....

that is what vegas is all about, machines that take your money.

at least most of it goes to charity though at phof.

I was at PhoF at the beginning of July. Only game I came across that had an issue was a bowler. I let a volunteer know, and he gave me MORE quarters than I put in the machine to go play more games.

Are we talking about the same PHOF? Is there another one I didn't know about where most games have no issues, and they give refunds?

Let's face it: the current Pinball Hall of Fame would not qualify for the Hall of Fame Hall of Fame.

Maybe it will all fall into place in a shiny new building which will be so much closer to the action. Maybe.

You guys expecting that in the new location all the games will have clearcoated playfields, and the floor covered with lush wool carpeting are going to be disappointed .

Tim gives you an accurate recreation of what a real arcade used to be like (just without all the smoke and way more games).

" I went there, and the game I wanted to play the most, Medieval Madness, was broken!" - Yep, the more popular the game, the more specialized the parts, the more likely it will be broken and awaiting parts. Try playing one of the other 450 games.

" I want food and beverage" - go to Chuckie Cheese around the corner, they even have beer.

" If Tim would just do ************** like I want him to, the PHOF could really be something" - Sometimes you just have to open your own arcade and show them how it's done.

" If Tim would just make the place **look** like a HOF, my wife would actually enjoy it and play the whole day with me there" - Your wife would be bored in a few minutes even if the place looked like the Bellagio. She only plays a few games with you at home to spend time with you. You never come home and find her feverishly playing by herself.

"My AFM looks WAY better than the one at PHOF!!!!" - One day when all 2500 AFM have been clearcoated, or have decals put on their cabinets or new playfields; Tim will have the only original specimen left on earth.

Rinse, Lather, Repeat

MOP seems to be only open for special events? Probably don't get the traffic PHOF does, hopefully those machines should be nicer!!

I don't get some of the negativity. As far as I'm concerned its the only place I know of to play good old pinballs machines for a quarter. Heck I'm not some enthusiast that is very particular about playing pinball. It's a place I like to go to when I visit Vegas, which lately has been a few years, but it's still a stop I make and drop $20 worth of quarters. If a game sucks my quarter I don't cry about it and I don't even report it. It's quarter who cares? How much did you drop in that slot machine before you went to POHF? If the game is broken who cares? There's other games to play. Who cares how TA runs his business? Let me say that again....his business not yours. Also there's other things to do in Vegas. Just have fun while you are there and don't be so critical. You guys have all these suggestions about this and that and how the new place should be. It's going to be designed the way TA wants it to be designed. Just saying ya know ease up on the guy. I'd say he has a lot riding on this and the best all of us can do if we want too of course is donate to the cause or not. Really its your call.

Right. To each their own. I give 100% of my donations to charities and 98% of my pinball money to places where I enjoy playing.

The way I think of it - in most museums you just look at things. That's what I'll do mostly at PHoF. Enjoy the views.

I would add that I watched the hour YT video someone posted in this thread featuring Tim. Time very well spent.

I learned a ton about real estate and operating a retail business. You also get great insight into the man. Recommended.

Would it be cheaper to build a storage level on a first floor instead of basement? Less maintenence issues as well.

With our luck, a low flying airplane would hit it and burn up all the games with jet fuel

Yellow box next to Harley dealer

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MOP also has dozens (about 50) highly qualified volunteers at the event, and a couple in house full time or part time folks, and yes the games are generally in MUCH better condition as a result of a few weeks a year use, and literally folks driving in for events from as far as the Mississippi and beyond. One thing to be kinda concerned about MOP also if folks are bitching about SA and PHoF, is the apparently religious links to church/es in MOPs world. Not saying its bad, but if folks are going to complain about religion and pinball, well then all being equal it seems that would be fair game.

As for the PHoF recent buy, they had to spend the money somewhere/how. You can't just hoard money in the millions with a mission statement of 'for a building and improvements' without some issues with the IRS and tax status. Its also not responsible management of money if the mission is not executed sooner or later, and we are in the 4-5 years of hoarding stage. The next door building made no sense, in the past few years, and was a silly fun stupid idea really to begin with in honesty. That part of Trop is dead, dying and never to see revitalization in our lives. Its section 8 heaven down there now, and getting worse with real estate buys and sells, and tax delinquencies sales. PHoF got their property next to them for 11 years back taxes, about 311K as I recall. Not bad for investment if you think God isn't making land any more, but with splitting seas and faults in the plates, that is not actually true is it...

So, back to where they bought... It does look pretty pathetic of a location/destination. Time will tell, but remember they HAD to do something with the money, responsibly or not when it comes to economic reasonable thinking and lacking emotion..., they simply had to build or donate it all at some point. I'm thinking that time to jmp brk or lda. I'll guess it was time to jmp to a new $FC58

Tim is not a religious guy.

He said that when he looked at all the charities, the Salvation Army had the highest "dollar in/dollar out" ratio of actually helping the less fortunate people of Vegas.

And don't forget Vegas has a huge population. It's county has the 6th largest school district in the USA.

like a sponsorship?

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Never said Tim was, said that some folks complain about SA being focused on the world of God and getting some 'bias' about their help to others (which in my experiences [and that is plenty], is total BS), and that if you complain about TA and the SA, you may want to consider that it seems pretty clear to me that MOP folks are pretty church focused down there in the freaking middle of nowheres-land.

Will there be pinball in heaven?

He does state that he is a Christian and believes in Christian giving. He certainly doesn't dwell on it. This is in the same YT video.

Don’t care, I won’t be going.

Don't worry, there is pinball in hell

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Yes indeed, there will be pinball in hell, but if you like EM's you will be forced to play SS, and if you like newer games you will be forced to play EM's. If you've been really bad you will be subjected to flipperless bingo pinball for eternity. And the games will all be poorly maintained. And the games you really want to play will all be turned off and out of service. Pray you don't go to hell.

You forgot the part where they don't have balls.

LTG : )

Sounds a lot like visiting Dodel's basement... Depending on what you call hell and enjoy or not.

Your reading comprehension is almost as bad as your writing composition. Noone complained about being focused on “the world of god”. Some, like myself, question many of the practices of the Salvation Army. Never said that they don’t do good work in the community. I’m not a fan, but that won’t stop me from supporting the PHOF in spite of where the money goes. Now let’s keep make believe magic fairies in the sky out of this thread.

Does 'Noone' have a first name too?

Ask Odin. He might know.

even at photoshoots, peter noone found time to pray.

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