New York, NY
Another one bites the dust. That’s several this week.
Sorry to hear it the place was a fixture and proved me wrong I didn’t think they’d last a year but they figured out a way to make it work.
(Topic ID: 273175)
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Modern wasn’t burned, looted, or vandalized.
I’m not one to get bitchy about a thread I start but let’s keep it on topic please.
Quoted from RandomGuyOffCL:Ahem...you’ve derailed many a thread young man!
Fuck!!
Ok fine. But any deep dive into why modern is RIP certainly casts light on the embarrassing national failure that is our virus response and denial. That’s the actual cause here, not Antifa.
Damn just derailed my own thread!
Anyway, it indeed sucks ass. They are selling everything and have two weeks to do it, so interested parties should reach out to modern ASAP. They are on Facebook promoting the sales. Lots of primo titles.
Quoted from belairjoe:always sorry to hear anyplace closing for any reason..how many years were they open?
five or six years I believe? I was invited to participate early on when it was Al and Steve Epstein dreaming it up, and I didn't personally believe that this could be a successful venture with Midtown Manhattan rents. I was clearly wrong - that team, along with Steve Zahler and of course Eddie and Dahlia Cramer - were able to make the place a success and my hat goes off to all of them. It's a shame that team broke up for reasons documented elsewhere but they can all be proud of what they did. The place really raised pinball's profile in NYC and it certainly filtered down to me; I got lots of customers for pinball machines who had re-ignited or discovered pinball at Modern, and lots of NYC league and casual players came out of that place.
Quoted from IdahoRealtor:It may help them out to copy and paste the price list here. Pinheads are nuts. If prices are fair they'll have no trouble.
Check Facebook for Modern / Steve Zahler if anybody wants more info on this sale. You can also contact Steve through the Modern website, as well as see the game list. There's not a price list as of yet I think he's dealing with people individually.
Quoted from DudeRegular:Really hate to see places shutting down. I saw it on facebook as well. Pricing for the games is below. No idea what has sold already.
Price list for their games:
TITLE PRICE
Black Hole 3,500
Captain Fantastic 2,500
Deadpool Pro 5,700
Dialed In! Standard Edition 7,250
Fish Tales 4,300
Fun House 5,500
Game of Thrones Pro 5,500
Gorgar (playfield wear) 1,500
Guardians of the Galaxy Pro 5,200
Iron Maiden Pro 5,200
Jackbot 3,750
KISS LE (Limited Edition) w/topper, mods 12,800
Metallica Pro (magnet wear) 4,950
Revenge from Mars (has LCD upgrade) 3,350
Scared Stiff 8,000
Shrek 3,900
Six Million Dollar Man 1,400
Slugfest 2,200
Spider-Man (Stern) 4,550
Star Trek Pro SOLD
Star Trek: The Next Generation 4,950
Star Wars (Data East) 4,900
Star Wars Episode 1 3,150
Terminator 2 3,200
The Addams Family 8,100
The Beatles Gold (signed by Cousin Brucie) 6,900
The Munsters Premium B/W 6,450
The Walking Dead (Pro) 4,950
Wheel of Fortune 3,950
White Water (2 boulders cracked) 4,500
World Cup Soccer 3,450
XENON 2,500
My guess is he either doesn’t care if he sells any and will drag the rest back to jersey (both he and his son are big time completion players) which depends on room, and/or there may be some bargains at end of the month when lease is up. I’ll probably circle back at that time and see what’s left.
They also have a lot of former customers who might not be too hip to market and just want to lay out for the game they used to play there.
Either way, he can do what he wants they are his games. We’ve seen other places have “everything must go!” Sales without really meaning it; remember that place in New Hampshire?
Who is going for that $13k KISS Le?
You can be sure if I ever lose my lease it’s gonna be motivated seller time!!! Come
To nyc and pick at my carcass!!
Quoted from iceman44:It’s a shame the state and local response is destroying so many small businesses
This is just the tip of the iceberg for NYC
Christ here we go again...
Texas is a fucking hot mess right now so stay in your lane cowboy!
If you are nice I’ll let you ride it out here on my couch, if we ever lift our quarantine against the Lone Star State 
Quoted from MK6PIN:True I suppose. Memories aren't much good if you can't share them...
AB2B564E-2019-45DB-A835-32069DEB522D (resized).jpegQuoted from MK6PIN:Possibly profitable in his case...lmao!!
It’s pretty nuts Willie did that album to help pay off the IRS.
I love how his friends bought his stuff at the irs auction and gave it back to him. Leave Willie alone!
It’s probably just a hoax and will disappear as if a miracle.
Thanks guys! Always nice to hear from the “been banned from the covid thread for months” crowd
Just remember to remove the tin foil when the clouds arrive
Quoted from MK6PIN:This thread is actually about a landmark pinball place going out of business, of which is a sad thing.
Maybe the COVID geniuses can debate in the proper thread.
They are banned from it LMAO!
That’s why they go into unrelated threads to shit them up with their tired third rate Laura Ingraham routines.
Quoted from iceman44:How about “See something, DO something”?
I just gave $2500 to tunnel2towers.org last week
New York based charity.
What do any of you DO besides run your mouths?
That’s the kind of person i am. So stick that in your tin foil hat and smoke it
Thanks ice!
It’s generous and appreciated.
Plus it’s always nice to see blowhards throw around some petty cash and think that buys them some respect. Cute!
And when did I trash Tejas? Some good food and some great music has come out of the lone star state...
0DF19970-6747-4B31-85BE-3D53EECF69F9 (resized).jpegQuoted from belairjoe:how much were these guys paying for their lease? not asking for exact number but what is the cost to lease a small store front ?
I do not know. Rumors from some people involved were around 9K a month. Had no idea they could
Make that nut but one time partner the late and loved dahlia Rowan’s “birthday / corporate / private event” program apparently were the real bread and butter of the place.
They also had a pretty brilliant staffing system where volunteers worked for free (all The pinball they could play). There were lots of folks who took them up on that offer. Remember, technically the place was a “museum,” a loophole that allowed them to avoid the arcade tax that bars had to pay on games.
If there was an angle, modern found it. Very New York hustle I appreciate it.
Quoted from iceman44:I don’t have to buy respect Levi, I’ve earned it brother over many years with my 2000 clients
They love me and my firm!
As for a blowhard throwing around petty $$$?
I Challenge you to DO something positive for your community rather than live on Pinside all
Day
20K post and you say I’m on pinside all day? I only got 17k bro
Dammit Ice!
And I’ve had a very productive day. Checked out Put in an application for a sweet new apartment to share with my babe, picked up my newly setup Les Paul Custom silverburst, met some customers who are gonna buy 2 games from me...
And even managed to shoot the shit with you!
I keep telling you baby, don’t worry about me so much. I got it figured out here and I’m doing fine.
Quoted from iceman44:Good for you brother! I’m happy to have helped make your day. It’s been fun. I’m off to the shooting range
I’ll be hunting wild hogs tonight that are tearing up my front yard. You city folk don’t have those kind of problems.
Btw, Don’t get mugged on the way back from selling those games
Send me some hog meat bro
And yes I’ll be very careful on 26th street in chelsea. Hopefully I can avoid being mugged by the yuppies going to art galleries and super models doing photo shoots. Pray for me!
(Does everybody in Texas still think it’s 1982 here?)
Quoted from Tilt:got tired of reading post debating world situations in a thread that i thought would be a good read and such. But once i saw the prices for routed games, my mind changed since obviously he doesnt want to sell 95% of them
I do wish he was a little more motivated. 20 games or sale for sale 8 blocks from me would be nice to pick something up.
Quoted from Pdxmonkey:Was Modern even making money pre corona? Without booze and in a high rent district seems tough.
They were open a real long time. I don’t think they’d operate a money loser for 6 years just for the hobby
I think it’s hilarious the Brotherhood of the Covid Thread Banned somehow thinks they are irking me by endlessly shitting on deblasio and Cuomo.
I really don’t give a fuck about those two, gang. Why would I? Have I ever professed any particular alliegance to those guys?
It would be like me insulting your dog catcher. Hey, billy joe is a moron! Take that you hillbillies! And you know what? Your town council alderman is an idiot! BURRRRRN!!!
I guess when you watch Fox News 30 hours a day you start to think every single thing in life is a with us/against us trial by ordeal. It isn’t.
Quoted from radial_head:Well that’s odd. I heard the same thing about your neck of the woods!
[quoted image]
https://news4sanantonio.com/amp/news/local/they-wouldnt-give-me-a-bible-man-with-violent-criminal-history-given-99-year-sentence
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ksat.com/news/local/2019/12/09/boerne-softball-coach-accused-of-sexually-assaulting-17-year-old-player/%3foutputType=amp
https://www.kens5.com/article/news/crime/boerne-police-department-releases-dash-cam-video-of-forceful-arrest/273-5f3bb0cd-b2fc-4bc8-b19c-51da2b2a9ba1
Make no mistakes people, Midtown Manhattan (and most of NYC) are drastically safer than any of “safe midwestern suburbs”. There is overwhelming data to prove that. Sure every part of the country has an underbelly, and statistically speaking the underbellies of cities are far shadowed by the underbellies of the rest of the country.
Modern had to close due to the lease being up in combination with the economics of it not being feasible. Not looting, not vandalism, not rioting or violent crime. The risk that cities face right now is that the density is NOT helpful for the economic stability of any business there. No doubt they are being SLAMMED due to the shutdown. What it should tell us is that a large majority of businesses run on an incredibly small profit margin. Airlines to hotels to bars to arcades. Being kind and supporting these businesses in any time we can is without a doubt what we should all be joining together to do, whether it be through legislation or donating money where we can.
I pray for ice.
Iceman, be careful in your crime-ridden, diseased hellhole buddy! Don’t try to be a hero.
New York City: safe, healthy, secure, and awesome.
Quoted from iceman44:Stay safe boys. Lol
It’s a sad thing to be besieged by Meth in New Hampshire Radio Head.
https://bonfirerecovery.com/addiction-treatment/the-hidden-meth-epidemic-in-nh/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/abc7ny.com/amp/shootings-in-nyc-2020-violence-crime/6321800/
Don’t worry fellas, we are armed up here in Texas!!!
The only thing I gotta worry about are 350 pound Hogs!
Not even one comment about that dick taking down his ex girlfriend and that baby. Wtf
Ice, I hate to break it to you:
I never click on your links.
Quoted from guss:Shinglehouse PA no crime no viruses.
Yeah but I hate getting the shingles.
Ok so now that the Banned Covid Crew Uncle Ben’s Fan Club has been thrown out of Yet another thread - until they resurface elsewhere for yet another brief and unwanted reunion tour - let’s get back to business....
Has anybody successfully made a deal on one of the modern games? Or come close?
I wonder how many have sold so far, or if prices are coming down to the realm of “reasonable.” Anybody?
Quoted from Eddie:$9000 Monthly when it first opened. I believe it then went up.
Seems like that was pretty cheap for the area, no?
Quoted from pookycade:That is surprisingly lower than I expected. In downtown sleepy Charlottesville, a storefront will run you $5K. But yeah at say $15 a head that’s a lot of people you have to have run thru to break even.
Rumor was it was those birthday parties/corporate events that really paid the bills.
Quoted from MK6PIN:Not me...I recall that Black Hole looked pretty clean, when it was killing me. Overpriced for sure, but wouldn't mind throwing a little higher price as I've always wanted one, maybe helps them a little, and a piece of history from the joint ( grew up in NY, relatives still in Queen's)
Where are they selling them?
Just contact Zahler through the modern pinball web site or Facebook page
Quoted from DaveH:I miss the days when an awesome place closed, and we were all sad together as a pinball community... Damn, still sad about it 5 years later.
rip reciprocal
Owner was an asshole I hear...
Quoted from Coindork:I had only been going there for a few years whenever I was in town.
That said, a lot of pins that were on the floor always had price tags on them, so they were “for sale” under normal circumstances.
Yes the prices were high relative to other regions of the US, but I just chalked it up as being NYC pricing. Not to mention a lot of people in the city don’t have a vehicle and even if so certainly not a vehicle capable of hauling a pin.
I had always assumed part of the service was they could help deliver it and set it up.
The point was not to sell games; they needed games on the floor for customers. So they’d put a ridiculous “can’t say no” price on a game and if it sold bonus. They sold very few games that way but when they did it was for a killing.
Lease running out in two weeks, everything must go....you would think it’s time to shift gears a little on that strategy.
Unless he has a basement or locker that will fit all that stuff.
Quoted from Eddie:There was a devious reason that the machines were priced the way they were.
Modern Pinball opened as an arcade illegally in NYC. There are no Arcades allowed in NYC. Times Square is an exception as it is run by the state under state law. In NYC you are limited to 6 Vending machines, Arcade, Jukeboxes etc on a premises. Laundry mats excluded. In order to circumvent the law. Modern Decide that they would be a Pinball "store" that was "interactive"
In other words you can test a machine you may want to purchase. So what they did was to use your "Entry fee" as deposit money towards buying a machine. Yes you would have to hold onto your receipts for redemption towards your purchase. Of course they were an Arcade and not a store so they offered the machines for sale at an insanely High price in order for them NOT to be sold.
How can you run an arcade if you kept selling the machines?
This they knew would only work for so long so they decided to apply for Museum status as well. As a Museum they could stay in the illegal zone.
As a Museum they would have to be Non-Profit. Non-Profit doesnt make money so they just applied for Museum status so that they could operate as usual until the status was approved. It never could be approved as they never met the criteria which is intensive but they could always reapply.
So in the meantime they just ignored the law altogether as they were never on the radar in that regard.
So basically the insane pricing was just a scam in order to illegally open an Arcade.
The prices were also set so high as to keep buyers returning forever and testing the machines knowing that the "Entry fees" would take years and years if ever to add up to a purchase price.
Another Reason the for the insane (But Logical from their plan) prices is that the first machines in the place did not belong to the owners but to Allen Cihak and he didnt want his machines to be sold.
The machines were rented from him and at an insanely low fee that was to be more reasonable as Modern got rolling.
It was a low fee at first as a gesture from Al to get Modern Pinball open and running in the first place as the owners did not have any capitol to buy their own machines.
Modern was to also pay for the upkeep and repairs of the machines but they never wanted to buy the needed parts.
Modern did get rolling but the owners never lived up to their agreement with Al and never gave him a fair share for the rentals as was the original plan.
Al was caught in a bind as he needed his rental money and therefore couldnt simply pull all of his machines which would have closed Modern.
Al had to wait as time went on for the owners to slowly purchase machines of their own before he could remove his.
All in all what kept Modern floating the first 3 years was my tech work and my wife Dahlias' Birthday parties.
The Parties were the highest grossing days at Modern and they were her brainchild which the owners fought against having, until she offered to Volunteer the first High end Parties for free to show what could be done to improve the business.
After 3 successful parties they tried to take advantage of her thinking she would continue setting up ,Organizing and hosting parties for free!
They Finally agreed to pay her to run the parties for a measly $100 plus any tips she may make.
Dahlia only agreed to that because she loved doing it and wanted to make sure the parties would be to a high standard.
They wouldnt even include B-Day cake in the cost of the parties to give an idea of the cheapness.
Dahlia would use her payments and tips to purchase cakes and other extra party favors as she didnt want to be humiliated by her clients.
Modern was that cheap.
They were Cheap in every way to the point where they fired all the staff so that they could get free student intern labor.
Or they would get people to work for free but they were allowed to play the machines in exchange.
Basically it was also illegal.
As I said Im not sorry that the place finally got what it deserved and am surprised that it took a virus to do so.
I am sorry that the public lost a Pinball Venue and a place that kept Pinball alive in NYC.
As a union guy I always wondered what kind of labor laws they were violating with their slave labor but hey the kids signed up for it. Free pinball!
Quoted from TigerLaw:That Shrek looked competitively priced. If I were local I would have considered grabbing it assuming it’s condition was as good as I remembered it to be. I have some buddies in the area who probably would be willing to check it out for me but shipping rates are simply crazy right now. I remember being surprised years ago when shipping quotes topped $300, now they routinely top $500.
Yeah I saw that $4k for shrek. My guess is it’s a hot mess or he’d be asking $5k.
Navl is expensive but you can basically get two for one shipping on pins, if that’s still true not bad.
1 year later
Quoted from UNCgump:Is this just an expansion of the DUMBO location? Or elsewhere?
It’s in Dumbo so I guess the former.
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