What I like about Tim & PHOF is he has always done it his way - on his terms - then gives all the profits to charity. How can you do any better than that in life?

Now it is time for the pinball community to step up - reach into their pockets and keep Tim from having to pay a ton of interest on borrowed money. If 1000 people send just $100 it would cover 10% of his current shortfall. If a few people give a little more and maybe some vendors touch base with him about doing some advertising for them in exchange for a bigger donation (maybe something like a 3x5' banner on the wall for a $1000 donation (or whatever) - which would be tax deductible for that vendor since PHOF is a non-profit) and next thing you know between that and Tim kicking in some of his profits from this year and all of a sudden there is no "bridge loan".

A few people doing just a little COULD be a huge help here. Even just $10 or $20 from a few hundred people could be HUGE. I will do my part as soon as I have some extra cash but for now I just wanted to give this post a little bump and tell Tim to keep up the great work!

From talking with Tim in the past about tech help he is always looking for anyone willing to donate some time. I would PM him directly to double check but I think you can safely assume if you are in Vegas and want to help out he will welcome any help he can get.

Sounds like a two year plan - so I would assume the current location will be open until new building is approved & built.

I wouldn't want to be the painter - on a roof in Vegas just couldn't be fun for any reason let alone trying to do artwork on a roof for hours on end.

EXACTLY

And remember he was a Millionaire before he turned 40 so he isn't a stupid guy! Now he gives tens of thousands of dollars a year to charity and people complain about how he runs his business?

Are his machines the best working examples all the time - HELL NO! But is he doing it all for the right reasons - I think so! And if your willing to work for free - like he does - he will be more than happy to put you to work!

We can't even keep the couple dozen machines in our collection working all the time. I wouldn't want to be the guy trying to keep a couple hundred machines that are getting played daily working 100%. I agree Tim could do certain things better but I am also 100% sure he is doing things better than 99% of us would if we were in his shoes. It is easy being a Monday morning quarterback but it isn't easy getting things right all the time when 100% of everything is on your shoulders. But what impresses me the most about PHOF is the money given to charity - who else in the hobby has done anything even close?

How about getting back to money for Tim & PHOF? If you want to talk about other arcades and Disney why not just start a post about those instead of a half of a page here?

Tim - If you happen to read this post how about an update with any new news?

One thing I have yet to be able to figure out about Pinside is why a few people need to take almost every topic off subject at some point. I know I post too often on some topics - I know not everyone will agree with me or anyone else for that matter. But how does a post trying to raise funds for one of the best pinball places in the world end up talking about a place that "once was" on the other side of the country?

Tim can use some help and I think it is important for all of us to do what we can to help him. I agree machines at PHOF are not always in the best of shape but I seriously doubt anyone else in the hobby has done as much for charity as Tim has. I am one of the guys hoping he spends some of the "profits" on a full time tech (or two) but I also realize Tim has the right to run his business as he sees best.

Anyway back to the "regular program" have fun kids!

I do agree with everything you said just like the "price police" bashing someones asking price on a machine. Bumping most post is good regardless how they are bumped but getting way too far off topic can sometimes totally derail the original message.

None of us are "perfect" no forum is perfect. But with certain topics I feel it is important not to forget why the topic exist in the first place and that is my concern here. I know there is kind of a love / hate when it comes to people like Tim (PHOF), Clay (VFW), or Steve Young (Pinball Resource) but without some of these guys the hobby wouldn't be anywhere near what it is today. And as much as this is also very off topic I think we all should be very thankful for what guys like these three have done for this hobby.

Keep bumping this topic anyway necessary! Lets all try to help Tim with his move anyway possible. Now back to work for me!

My point with the love / hate is people love having places like VFW, PHOF, etc but in Tim's case hate many machines being in poor repair, condition of the building, etc. Plus as several people have pointed out Tim is no social butterfly either. Not saying I would be any different after years of having people break machines in my collection just saying what has already been said.

From my perspective I think Tim does a great job overall but I know a lot of people feel differently. But back to the subject of the original post - "a million dollar bridge loan" Tim is trying to pay down. Everyone who reads this post or goes to PHOF please try to help him with that. Money is going to a good cause!

Kind of my point exactly! Walk in the mans shoes before you start complaining about what he is or isn't doing. He didn't start a go-fund-me page he came to the pinball community and asked for a little help. Yet people here are talking about what machines were at Disney 15 years ago? How about talking to your friends in the hobby and having them kick a few dollars Tim's way instead of buying another new machine to hide in their basement or a color DMD and LED's for a machine that plays fine without them that basically no one is really going to see anyway.

Flame away but the cold hard facts are Tim has done a hell of a lot better than 99.9% of people would have done if they were in his shoes. Now it is time some of the talkers reach into their pockets and help the guy out a little. As I have told my kids for years "excuses are easy - man up and do the right thing".

What people need to realize is Tim has dedicated most of his adult life to PHOF and giving the proceeds from PHOF to charity. Up until this point he has never asked the pinball community or anyone else for help. Now he is trying to do something to bring his collection to more people in a bigger & better facility and he has reached out asking the pinball community for a little support.

If you have never met Tim personally or have never talked with volunteers at PHOF about him you will never understand. To Tim is is all about these machines and money for charity. Is he perfect - hell no. Do I think I or anyone else could have done it better - I really doubt it!

Give if you want - don't give if you don't want to but please understand you are not talking about someone looking for a handout you are talking about someone who has devoted a lot of his life to the pinball hobby without asking for much in return. Now he has put over a million dollars of his personal money on the line to accomplish this and is asking for people who can to help him out a little.

If you are waiting for follow-up comments from Tim don't hold your breath. If you expect a lot of fan-fair about this move I doubt you will see any of that either. Tim just isn't that type of guy - he will quietly get this done with or without the help of the pinball community but it sure would be nice if some of us show him we respect what he has done for the hobby.

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.

I would expect the "old location" to be the actual location for close to 2 years (or longer). Building a building always takes plenty of time between permits, inspections, etc and I have to assume Vegas would likely be harder than most places. Regardless I am sure we will hear plenty when time for the move is getting close.

It is my understanding that Tim has personally backed the loan so he didn't have to sell the building he is currently in until the new building is actually built. I think the idea of asking for donations was to save some interest cost not because he needed to pay off the "bridge loan" in full or anything. PHOF is owned by Tim and profits from that go to charity but as with most people Tim's personal assets will likely have nothing to do with the business.

Bottom line is Tim has always tried to keep overhead as low as possible to give as much as possible to charity. I have to assume the idea of saving interest money by asking for donations is yet another way to keep cost down and nothing more. Maybe I am not understanding things correctly but that was my take on things.

Tim doesn't need our help PHOF does. Tim personally loaned the club 1.2 million dollars and the club is paying interest on that money to Tim. All Tim asked for is a little support from the pinball community to save the club some interest money on that loan. You could say Tim is the club but IRS sees it differently because it is a non profit.

In any event I am sure Tim will do just fine but I know I'll do more than my share to try and help him. As you said above "who has done it better as far as the money end of things go"?