So my wife and I are taking the "plunge" and turning our 1st floor apartment into an AirBnB. I figured I'd document the process with as much info as I can to both document the fun/issues (mostly issues) for anyone else crazy as us to attempt this. The concept: three "game rooms" with different styles, themes, art. All with playable pinball machines which can also double as a small clubhouse for either tournaments/league play/private events. And yes I've heard the arguments against this, we've weighed the pros and cons and are still going for it. We also live upstairs so we'll be on the premises if any issues arise.

Here's what the three game rooms look like right now. We've already cleaned everything and started painting the walls. The blue room is going to be underwater themed, the black room outer space and the yellow room will be a speakeasy/bar. Have a lot of things to do today, mainly tear apart the kitchen and putting together things, but will be reporting back soon And that's my grandparents old piano! I'm tempted to put it in the speakeasy but we were planning on hauling it upstairs.

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Upstate NY, forgot I had that turned off.

Goal number one is the underwater room. Eventually we will have Stern Seawitch and Bally Atlantis down here, (maybe another surprise as well) but before we do we've got to get it painted.

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Struggled with seating layout a bit. We need there to be places for people to sit, especially if there was a small tournament going on. Eventually settled with some bar tables up against the windows. Pretty happy with how they look.

And nothing against our neighbors (they are all very nice) but this security film was easy to install and looks good with the blue walls. So far things are coming together quickly.

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Space room walls are dry so I started to move some games in. Oof. Slight issue. Games are going to have to be angled like this so I can get the glass out. There's got to be another way around this... Maybe removable side rail on one side? Held together with a long magnet? Lock down bar would lock the side rail in place. Just spitballing here but this will do for the meantime.

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My wife hard at work on the hallway mural.

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Not a ton of stuff pinball related to report about, just hard at work painting, kitchen renovating, getting things installed. My wife's best friend stopped over and painted a wall for the nautical themed game room.

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Figured out a solution to the "space" issue in the space room. If games are angled like so we have space for the playfield glass to get out. There will be a game behind Space Station and Bride (as well as two games behind the camera) - crisis averted!

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Also here's a picture of the games next to the Godzilla wall. No Godzilla pin yet but maybe some day!

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I'm happy to say that The Kickback Arcade and Inn is live. www.kickbackislit.com

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Yep bedroom included.

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www.kickbackislit.com ?

It's working on my end. Also - new additions to the space room.

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I've been meaning to post more. Thanks for the encouragement

So it's been 3 months since we've opened the doors. For those of you on the fence with trying this out I'd say: Do It!

Knocking on wood, the place is rented out a majority of the month and so far we haven't had one issue with damage or theft. It definitely helps that we live directly above the apartment but most people are extremely nice and respectful.

I say most because yes we've had some cleanliness issues with guests leaving messes and staining sheets and things. It is rare but there are days I'm sure the neighborhood can hear my wife and I swearing up a storm cleaning the apartment.

But as a whole it's been extremely positive. We've met awesome people and even have had tournament players rent the place out. We probably could charge more (right now it's roughly 60 a night plus cleaning fee) but I like sharing my collection with people. Although some guests don't even play the games, which is insane!

As far as pinball maintenance- yep I do have to fix games. But my collection isn't quite HUO games so it's to be expected, and it's much better from when I routed games. (Plus you can't beat the commute!) I still have some projects that aren't quite working, but most of those are my new "Dead on Arrival" project acquisitions. A majority of the games are working great.

Here's the current collection-

Nautical room:

Bally Atlantis (still a project)
Stern Seawitch
Gottlieb Atlantis
Williams Trade Winds (currently off the floor but coming)
Gottlieb Lights Camera Action!
Williams Whirlwind
Bally Who Dunnit
Bally Shadow
Stern Jurassic Park Pro

Space room:
Williams Swords of Fury
Williams Bad Cats (don't know why both of these are in the space room, they will be moved over at some point)
Gottlieb Aquarius (will be moved soon, game is sold)
Data East Time Machine
Gottlieb Count Down
Williams Pinbot
Williams Bride of Pinbot

And then I also put an Arcade 1up in the kitchen area.

As you can see, definitely some changes from the initial lineup but I've tried to keep it fun accessable games that casuals will like, but also good tournament games for the more advanced players. At some point I might have a tournament but, hey who knows?