How can some people get away with being like that and we still say we love them I'll never know.

I'll be seeing the old grump tomorrow. I can hardly wait, he makes me laugh.

I went to visit Al just yesterday. I have purchased 3 games from him and he has always been nice to me. When I visit, he lets me play any game in the house. I kinda feel like you get what you pay for. He's a great guy in my book! Aaron is too!

That's interesting because I called him looking for a HS about 6 weeks ago and he quoted me a price. It was more than I wanted to pay but he made it seem like he had at least one in the warehouse.
Also, when I reminded him I'd bought my Diner from him several years ago, he asked if I would sell it back to him so I guess he must be moving his share of pins.

Al has the personality of a dog turd and anyone who says he doesn't is full of shit. We all know that and that's what we love about him. There's nothing more fun than dickering with Al. Sometimes Al wins and sometimes we do. Al has a hard time saying please and thank you. That's just the way it is. For me and a couple buddies, he says thank you by calling us when he gets something special in (like the HUO TZ that came this week) or when he has something he wants to move quick. Al says thank you by letting us use his shop truck now and then to move games. Al says thank you by letting us know when he has a bunch of games coming in.

We've never quite figured out Al's prices. He seems to be high on some titles but can be low on others. Makes no difference. He's the only game left in town. You can buy from Al or you can buy off CL.

And as others have said, Al pays some good money for used games. Enough so, it's easier to sell to him than it is to a private picky collector. Out of the 21 games me and a buddy bought in our warehouse raid a couple years ago, Al bought 14 of them and paid us good money for them all.

I think Al is now 71 and if you ask him if he's going to retire some day, he'll tell you no. What the f'k else would he do he says.

Al lets people have a dozen Metallica LE's shipped to his building too lol.

When I sold him that DM I called told him the price and condition and he said Ok bring it over. Simple as that no questions asked.

Show does. We're picking them up tomorrow. Too bad the old guy will be at the car show all weekend.

Wonder if that was the DM I saw there a while back. He was asking $3k for it.

I don't remember being asked if I'm doing anything. N/M I only bring bad karma to the PB Warehouse.

You would have to ride in the back of Duanes truck if you come along. You can sit on the Jukebox or pin that we are picking up. What are you doing tomorrow Matt?

I know who bought that DM. He ended up paying $2,400 and I almost fell over when he told me. Buyer is a super nice guy, so I was nice and enthusiastic about it cause he was happy with the purchase. I couldn't bring myself to tell him that he could have saved $1,000 fairly easily.

The one I sold to Al was for 1700 bucks Damn thing looked new. So unless it was all minty and shit I doubt it was the one.

YES 1700 bucks is top dollar for DM lol to me anyway

Just got back from Big Al's with a METLE in the back of my truck. The place was jumpin and the lovely and talented Aaron was helpful as always.

Yeah I just got some pictures from BillyD with his in house. Congrats!

I just spoke with Al on the phone a couple hours ago. He was at a car show. I inquired about trading my EATPM towards a NGG but he wanted $4500 for the NGG....

Al does not like to deal on the phone.

Aaron is a good guy. He has always been more than fair with me when buying games. Not sure I would say he is "lovely" but hey, I don't judge.

They were all going to ship to my place but it didn't make sense to have everyone book plane flights

Might have been it. Looked minty to me.

The last time I was there Al had a HUO DH that he was asking $5k for.

The one I sold him was very nice and had the full home swear ROM set in it. As well I replaced the upper flipper plastic with new that's always broken.

Mine had swear roms

I went to Al's yesterday and found the LOTR pinball I have been eyeing. Price tag was 5595. What price do you think you could get with cash?

I also saw the TZ, but it wasn't marked but it did look really nice so I wouldn't be suprised if it was HUO. This is one thing I didn't like about the games, some were marked, others weren't

Please tell me where all the nice DM are at $1400 ! Those days are over.

Even Popeye, Hurricane, Party Zone, Gilligan and Black Rose have risen sharply. Ones I consider on the low end heap.

Sign me up for the 1400 DM as well. I am thinking of buying the 3K one he has now. It looks very nice.

The hook machine he had there didn't seem overpriced. It was 2195 I think

Is John at Pinball Plus still open?

John does not have a walk in storefront anymore. He does private sales and home repairs currently. That keeps him busy

If your a car guy and you happen to go see Al,ask him to see some pics of his car collection.When I was there his blue 56 Chevy was sitting out front.He showed me pics of his other toys ...all very nice

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I spoke with Al on Thursday and he was getting ready for the back to the 50's car show Friday-Saturday. With all the storms and rain I hope he got out of there quickly. I heard some horror stories with flooding and damage down there last night and cars being lifted and going for a rain rush toward the grandstand.. The front arcade Pinball on a Stick was open last night for patrons and Brian Millard's T3 got flooded. It's a mess in the TC with 22% without power today in Minnesota.

Sad to hear that T3 got flooded, but is PoaS slated to make a comeback at the State Fair? The Fair just isn't the same without it.
Lost power at 8pm last night, got it back 12 hours later. Friend of mine totalled her new vehicle due to high waters, and even I lost a car(hydrolock) several years ago during a freak rainstorm.

Brian can chime in on this, but the talk is to have a nice lineup of pins in the center area arcade this year. The old small room to the right was owned by the Butterfly house and they still have it selling the crap and nick knacks.

I've bought from Al, and his tech Aaron is a stand-up guy as well. It just takes a while to get to know Al, but he's a good guy.

Bought a Jurassic Park from Al/Aaron. Had a problem getting in my SUV. Aaron went to his own truck and gave me a ratchet strap to hold it all in. I will buy another machine from them. Aaron has been spot on in the advice he freely provides. Watch for their sales. That's what go me in there the 1st time.

I didn't say there was a steady supply of them out there, but you can certainly get one with even a tiny bit of patience. This was several months ago too, not today's pricing. DM is not a $2,400 game just like Hook is not a $2,200 by a long shot. Al is retail so he can price pins like that, but we all know retail pricing is not the norm.

I stopped in there today and noticed that the TZ was marked $5,795.

Aaron told me that they have one NIB Metallica LE unspoken for: $10k.

+1

They were also prepping a decent JD (no topper) that I suspect
will be asking in the ballpark of $3k for.

I'm bummed I didn't get a chance to get out to the Fairgrounds to visit with him. Haven't been feeling great. I am excited to get out there later this week and pickup another game from him hopefully.

The wife and I stopped in there on Sat... Someone was picking up a South Park. The TZ looked nice. They've also got a super nice HUO Dirty Harry, but it's around $4,995 if I recall correctly.

you guys must like getting ripped -off a lot?

I haven't picked up a machine here yet, but here is why I would.

No cut-throat finds on craigslist. If I want the machine, I go there and pay for it and pick it up when I can. No more emailing the guy, waiting for a response, Getting a response, him almost deciding not to sell to me, trying to find a time to meet . etc.

Machines are going to work and have no hidden surprises. You're paying for his pinball shopping knowledge, so no surprises anywhere that a non trust worthy seller might hide.

Best of all? convenience. If I want a machine, I can go there, pick from 40+ titles and leave happy. No searching craigslist or pinside for months, only to miss the deal by 5 minutes because I wasn't glued to a computer.

If you think Al is a ripoff why don't you open a store than and show us how its done after paying all the bills and overhead etc??

I used to bring him games when he was at either the Chicagoland show or Pinball Expo. Always paid good, never a problem.

I bought a RBION from Al last year and had a very poor experience overall with him and his business. I was told pin was collector quality and his tech would go through it and the game will be perfect. Get the pin shipped to me and condition is not even close to cc. Ball trough opts out, game launching unlimited balls, cabinet is gouged everywhere and someone had drawn graffiti on the head showing a joint in the monkeys mouth saying a bunch of silly things. Long story short Al had a bunch of excuses saying it was perfect, later changes his story to he thought it was perfect to then saying he actually never saw the game and h is tech never shopped it out like he was supposed to. I was going to return it as I had paid via cc. He didn't want this so I suggested a $200 price reduction and Al almost had a heart attack. In the end I got tired of calling him as he never would return my calls and we worked out a very small refund. Buyer beware.

Dougram69

and don't forget about the 30 day warranty.

WOW, that's hard to believe.

Every time I have either talked to Al on the phone, or in person, he is literally the real life version of every Clint Eastwood character for the past decade - grumpy guy that is a man of few words, has no time for anything else outside of getting what he is after, and enjoys a cigar(s)... His business sells for a HIGH premium on product that is 'typically' in average condition. If you absolutely want something, he likely will have it in-stock (for a clear reason) or on route earning money; but you will definitely pay well above average for the opportunity to get the pin you're after.

I get he has to make a living/successful business, so it's hard to knock him for asking the insane prices he does on pins; but seems like every time I went there, he either had a new truck or an amazing looking Corvette parked out front - so it's hard to swallow his line of "I can't give these away" when you try to talk him down on price to fair market value.

In all fairness, they do occasionally have sales and some pins can be bought for 'reasonable' prices (i.e. a semi-decent routed LW3 for $800 late last year).

How is Al doing these days? Someone in Mound had a TSPP on CL about a week ago for 3K. Wonder if he got that or not.

I got my wpt from Al. When I stopped in I met Aaron who was a great guy! Talked to him about my lwjp issues and he had some great ideas. wpt was priced very fair compared to the CL prices, and Aaron had it all cleaned up. I would buy from Al again if the machine was priced good.