Terrible news. A sad day for pinball.

LTG : (

Looked like a really happy, peaceful guy. Glad you had some good times with him.

Steve was looking forward to attending Pintastic New England this year, before we had to cancel. I was talking with him a few months ago about topics for reminiscences at (what would have been) the 2020 show. I first met Steve in the late 1980s, when pinball fandom as we know it was beginning to come together. He was known as a pro-pinball operator then, but he did so much else after that. I knew that there were so many things he did for pinball that we would have to get the topics organized for a fireside chat. Some of his contributions may get overlooked, but this thread is a good first step to gather the memories.

In addition to PAPA and the Broadway Arcade, I'll remember Steve for the hardcopy magazine called The Flipside, keeping the Century Club going (a trade group of industry veterans), and his role in founding Modern Pinball NYC. When PAPA tournaments were held in New York, he was relentless in getting media coverage that helped keep pinball visible.
.................David Marston

Such a warm and friendly guy... May his contributions to pinball never be forgotten. My condolences to his family.

Are you in one of the photos CrazyLevi? I see you on the forums a lot and always like to put a face to a name.

Sorry for everyone’s loss. I never knew the man.

A very nice man who I had the good fortune to meet a few times when my office was at 50th and Broadway.
Back then, I spent quite a bit of time at Broadway City which was a wonderful place.

My condolences to his family and friends.

Cool! Never heard of Never Beef. I don’t think I look like anybody. And certainly not like my younger self!

Sad news RIP

A kind soul and gift to pinball, to say he'll be missed is an understatement. RIP

My brother and I met him last year at ReplayFX and had a great conversation with him. He had so many great stories and was certainly a legend in the world of pinball. RIP

Steve was a pioneer of modern pinball, who juggled many balls, yet always had time to talk. He was a tireless promoter whose lifetime of work touched many people, most of whom never realized it or even heard of him. RIP Steve.

A fucking nightmare

Rip. A life well lived

I don’t believe I ever met Steve at any of the shows, being one of the younger ones here, but I certainly know who he was and what he did for our game. His legacy will live with the game forever.

Attached is one of the video clips someone here aforementioned.

RIP. Condolences to his friends and family.

Sounds like a great guy....Condolences to those who knew him in NYC.

Thank you for your contribution to pinball! Rest in Peace... my deepest condolences.

One of some many things - Steve was also editor and publisher of The Flipside... PAPA provides some digital copies
https://papa.org/about-papa/

So sorry for the loss.

Rip, he was always super nice, thanx for all you did for Pinball..

Competitive pinball as we now know it would not exist without Steve Epstein. A giant in our hobby. My condolences to all who knew him.

I met Steve a couple times at pinball events. The first time meeting him was at Modern Pinball in NYC when they first opened. When I would see Steve, we would always talk for a while about life and pinball. He always seemed to know who I was or just pretended (LOL). Steve was always a super nice guy to me. Very sad to see about his passing. Condolences to his friends and family.

We were all saddened to hear the news. Steve really lived and loved pinball and helped New York City expand their love too! Think of how many new people he got interested and addicted to the silver ball! That wide smile of his made you like him from the get-go! Steve now has a new job ahead of him---getting God to become a Pinball fanatic! Todd and the Tnt folks

thanks for posting this, Levi. Steve's passing is a big loss. I only learned of him being sick a couple of days ago. I'll miss seeing him around at events.

just want to add a few more pictures i found..

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Oh man, sorry to hear of his passing. Northeast legend.

Always had a smile and friendly demeanor . Chatted a few times with him and played him a few games with roger sharpe in the 92 expo.

Extremely sad. Steve was especially accommodating and friendly. His contributions have been critical to Pinball as we enjoy it today.

I visited that arcade many times while visiting from N.J. as a kid.

Someone interviewed Steve on one of the pinball podcasts. I enjoyed his stories. He was very entertaining. RIP.

Wow, shocked to hear that he's gone. I had many interactions with him during the early PAPA tourneys. A great guy that I was hoping to re-connect with someday. Pinball has lost one of it's best.

A sad day. A non-pinball guy was just telling me the other day that he remembered going there to play pinball when he was a kid in NYC. Was Broadway Arcade the one that often had celebrities like Lou Reed and Kiss hang out there?

Sad to hear. Condolences to friends and family.

Thanks for posting this video. I was actually standing right by Rick Stetta when he did that interview.

It was funny because, while Rick was a nice guy, he was also quite the flake. When Steve Epstein said that they were going to interview Rick, a bunch of us were concerned about how he would come off. He actually did quite a good job. I wish that they had shown more of his interview because he did a great job of describing how/why pinball was different than video games.

Pretty sure it was Jeff’s pinball profile

Not sure about Lou Reed and Kiss, but I did play Gilligan and Addams with the original Real World cast there. I played with, I believe, Norm and Julie and a few others who I can no longer remember.

Just looked it up - "Celebrities play pinball at the Broadway Arcade, including Lou Reed, Roberta Flack, Matthew Broderick, Paul Simon and a host of Broadway stars and cast members and members of the orchestras, who run in during rehearsal breaks, between matinees and evening performances and even during intermissions." No mention of Kiss though.

Not surprising, it was just a few doors down from Les Miserables and the theater Letterman was using (forget the name).

Very sorry to hear the news. I met him briefly at Modern Pinball during a trip to NY a few years ago. I was able to thank him for his contributions to the hobby. That was my only interaction with him, but he was very gracious.

Damn. I’ve been out of the loop for a while and just learned this from Allen C.

Very sad news. I had the pleasure of meeting Steve on the grand opening of Modern Pinball. I was the first to walk through the door, and Steve was so happy to spend a little time chatting. A couple years later I ran into him again at the baggage carousel at JFK when flying in from a red eye.

What a great guy. Condolences to his family and friends.

I’m pretty sure this was the shot I took on opening day in 2013. Steve manning the desk.

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