Do not expect a "finished" facility. We are moving games in and putting them in rows. We are NOT balancing or fine tuning them. This won't be much of a problem with the stuff we moved from Trop, as most of that is in really good shape.

Every day after the first day, things will improve. We have lots of people helping with getting games from storage re rubbered. cleaned and checked.

Pornge will be coming to his new home in a week or 2, after his humble servants have done all the work.

Walking distance from 14 of the 15 largest Hotels IN THE WORLD!

Masks are still a good idea and so painless. No problem with that!

As far as 50 percent or 100 percent, it makes no diff to us, since we are rated at 810 people and we are not yet anywhere near being full of games.

The Big Ass fans will stir the air a LOT, and the 40 foot ceiling height will give high volume of air.

I feel very safe being inside this wonderful new building!

The Government gives standards that we are required to enforce when it comes to Covid.

It is simple. WEAR A MASK! No part way, not just a gauze covering or a face shield, A FULL MASK, all the time.

99 percent of our customers have NO problem with this reasonable requirement.

Others chose to frame this as a personal freedom issue and refuse to comply.

The science of wearing a mask is solid. It is not painful or limiting. It DOES help stop the spread of Covid.

Our position is simple. Mask up or get out.

Playing a stupid marble game is never worth anyone getting sick.

Also, keep in mind that in a loud room, our staff, who ARE wearing masks, must speak loudly to be heard. Some people take this as gruffness or rudeness.

All of us at the PHOF are getting very tired of telling people over and over to mind simple public health rules that are for everyone's protection. Playing some stupid mind-game with grown adults who refuse to be safe also takes us away from working on improving the machines.

Government goons kicking down your front door in the middle of the night IS an issue of FREEDOM. Not being allowed to vote IS a FREEDOM issue. Wearing a simple cloth over your mouth and nose is just common courtesy. Grow up, shut up and mask up!

The thinking on the signs changed when the property to the South was sold to a LARGE casino project. The original design was less bold and changed color like a jukebox. We figured that when the new Hotel is built, there will be very limited visibility when driving up the Strip, so we needed a simple sign that would be easy to see and hard to miss while costing less on the BUILDING, while the sign out on the road grew in size and price.

I spend a lot of time driving around Vegas on service calls and errands, and I see a lot of BAD signs. Fancy flowing script, strange proportions, too many words. Our only goal on the new design was to leave no doubt what was inside the building as you grasped a quick glance driving up the Strip. The Faux neon tubing was installed this week and will be illuminated at night as soon as the electrical contractor finishes a rework on a breaker panel.

As far as our charitable contributions, yes, we have cut back to almost nothing to get a world class facility we and the pinball community can be proud of. Many people claim to be CAPITALISTS, but are scared to death of CAPITAL. We took a DEEP plunge and went for it, knowing a simple fact. That the end of this project, ALL and more of the money we spent on this magnificent building will be returned 100 percent or more to our charitable partners. Very seldom does real estate go DOWN in price. It would be even less likely to drop on the Strip, where there are only 35 owners of property all the way from Sahara to the Famous Sign. More than half is owner by one of 2 major casino companies. I am amazed daily by the fact that this little bumble-fuck backwards armature pinball club somehow landed on some of the most productive real estate on the face of the Earth.

As far as the estimations of what this whole project was going to cost, it was very close to what we figured at the beginning. The Land was paid for first, the out-the-door price was 4,567,500. We signed a CONTRACT with a builder for a set-price of 4,100,000. There was NO clauses for price increases. There were several CHANGE ORDERS. These were mostly involving Public Works, a pesky drainage issue, and fixture changes. The contract did not include professional fees, taxes, permits, and quality control-testing. Take it all home, park it in the garage for a nice round 10 million. The final number will be very close to this amount.

Where the problem arose with Covid was on the income side. We were CLOSED for 12 weeks. NO income at all. Then there was a slow and still happening ramp up to today where things are approaching what we were doing at the old spot on Trop. We DID come very close to running out of CASH ON HAND to pay bills. This happened a LOT during Covid to many businesses. I could have solved the whole problem by reaching into my pocket for MORE of my own money, but it was pointed out by other members of our board and outside advisors that it shouldn't ONLY being about Tim making things happen. There were and are still many in the pinhead community that wanted to help. And they did. And I thanks them again

Yes, this DOES represent us selling a bit of our credibility, karma, customer goodwill, or what ever you want to call it. But please keep in mind that all contributions were 100 percent VOLUNTARY. Those who could not afford or didn't like this project were free to NOT help.

Traffic has been very good considering the impact of the Pandemic, which is just now starting to lift. Going forward, we are looking for better results as the whole entertainment sector improves, lifting all boats. The backlog of broken games is shrinking daily, as less time is being spent on construction related matters.

All remaining Covid-restrictions will be lifted June 1st EXCEPT wearing a mask, which we will continue to enforce until the Gov says to stop.

Tony is busy building a custom topped for the next Stern game, Baby Yoda fighting a Baby Shark in a miniature shark tank.

We are classified as a "Public Assembly", which puts us in with higher occupancy places like theaters and stadiums. More restrooms are required per square foot of space that a standard retail use. The water fountains are also now a part of the code.

All this pales in comparison to the MASSIVE amount of 480 volt 3 phase switch gear and transformers and the 1080 gallon-per-minute sprinkler system required for Public Assembly.

Locks are only for times when we are cleaning or in the small amount of time between "last round" and locking the place down to prevent stowaways.

As of today.

Still mask required. Must cover nose holes at all times.

NO mask required if you show Vac card that matches id. We will accept phone picture with your name on card. We will give you a sticker for your shirt, you can play with no mask. This might change soon. We do what the Governor says.

Tim here at the PHOF.

Please keep in mind that we all work very hard 2 shifts a day, 7 days a week. No vacations, no sandbagging. If you were a normal pinhead, you would think that would be more than enough time for a staff of trained people to get everything all dialed in all the time.

The truth is that because we did 4.8 million quarters in the coin slots in the last full non-covid year, we have a very fast moving target when it comes to repairs. As soon as we get one done, another pops up. This leaves less time to get more machines out of storage and get them worked thru.

On top of that, we have a building that will NOT LEAVE US ALONE! We are involved in several legal actions involving the purchase-construction that I can not talk about here that have taken up massive amounts of time. Try sitting thru an all day deposition listening to lawyers drone on about the meaning of a word in a contract while thinking of all the machines you are NOT fixing.

We are also facing shortages in parts, supplies, labor, even soft drinks, brought about because of Covid wrecking the supply chains. We get thru it all by taking more time to re supply and paying more for what we need.

We had to get out of our old location on Trop in a hurry because our lease was up and the landlord was under no legal obligation to allow us to stay beyond the end date. We had planned to pick a starting lineup, move in only those games that we selected and have them all ready to go when we opened. The building was behind, the County would not issue us an occupancy permit and the electric company took 8 weeks to do a simple hook-up. In the end, with only 6 days to go before we lost our old space, we just had to grab and go.

Then the Airport made us take our storage containers out from in back, which put 50 pitch and bats that were stored there on the floor at the last second. They are still there.

Then Sega Operations, Buffalo Bills and several small operators went tits up out-of-business within a month of each other, and we got to feast on some incredible bargains being offered on used equipment. This took time and more stuff was just thrown into the new location. Long term this equipment at PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR will make for a more interesting product mix and higher profits, but in the short term it just looks like clutter.

AS far as me being a control freak, that all depends on how you look at it. We have made many moves in the last few years to push decisions and responsibility down the chain of command. We also have stated policies that outline who and what can be decided by others and what I have to have a say in.
Yes, I have an opinion on most everything, but I am also willing to listen to others as long as it does not involve SAFETY or POLICY matters. Many other pinball centered shows have closed up in these strange economic times. One of the reasons we have been able to get thru everything that has been thrown at us is because there is a central control person in charge of everything. If you need a ruling on something, you ask and you get one. Quickly and finally. Right or wrong, things get done. I have worked in other situations where NOBODY was in charge and it was some of the worst times in my working life.

In the near term, I see the clutter and broken games becoming treasured attractions for the public to play. I see the tourists we are not getting now returning. I see only brighter things just around the corner. I refuse to change the way we operate around here to a totally PROFESSIONAL model. There will always be handwritten signs, a store cat, cheap prices and the best games we can provide without fancy sideshows. Just what we have always been. A big dark room full of pinball machines. YOU CAN PLAY!

Tim here at the PHOF. I would not recommend the Diamond Inn. There has been a lot of drug trouble and strange people hanging out there lately.

There is a Motel 6 on Tropicana.

OYO is next door to that.

Excalibur and Luxor have on line deals, but watch out for sky high RESORT FEES.

A bus runs all the time up and down the STRIP, 2 dollars exact fare or buy an all-day or all-week pass. Busses are clean and have BUS POLICE.

One of the main reasons we kept coming back to the vacant lot that became the new PHOF when we were looking to get off Tropicana was the proximity to the Famous Welcome to LAs Vegas sign. The parking lot there is jammed with tourists day and night, and those are our peeps. Cheep, low rent, day tripping tourists. Just across from the Famous Sign is also a LARGE private jet parking lot which is also always full. These are NOT our peeps. They come for the high roller dining and entertainment options.

The supply of customers is a classic pyramid. A very wide base of those looking to spend less, and a very narrow top of luxury customers. Since we have so many machines, our SUPPLY is automatically geared for large masses of people, and not to the one-on-one interaction the super rich demand.

We have never hidden from our desire to appeal to the bottom of the pyramid. We will shout it from the highest mountain. Free means a LOT to people in these harsh economic times. The movie theater industry took a very WRONG turn several years ago with a high-end approach to ticket and snack prices by improving seating and offering Sushi or other gourmet items and raising prices to the point it was a 50 dollar bill to take your brats to the picture show.

Most people will never admit that they shop AT ALL on price for entertainment. They claim they just buy what they want and pay whatever. But the reality is that they DO look for a bargain and ARE very tired of constant price increases. The public votes with their wallets and they are still flocking to our attraction.

Sure, we do charge 1 dollar for the newest games, and we have just raised our drink prices 25 cent across the board in reaction to our costs going up. But we also have kept and enlarged our selection of classic 25 cents-a-play EM machines. We think of these our "value-menu". Great old machines priced like back in the day. Combined with the free parking and free admission policy, the parking lot is full.

Tim here at the PHOF
We have been working 7 days a week since we opened tyring to make our attraction better, but have been running into many setbacks along the way.

First and foremost is COVID. Closed us for 12 weeks, and when we opened, it was at reduced hours with very little traffic. Pandemic related shortages are still hitting us hard. It takes more time and effort to get the things we used to just take for granted would be there when we needed them.

Several legal problem with the construction of the building have sucked up HUGE amounts of time and money. Last week, I spent 3 whole days in court for a trial, after the other party backed out of a mediated settlement.

We prioritise the repair of broken machines with the most popular being fixed first. That leaves more than we would like of the older games sitting awaiting repair. Keep in mind that there is NO talent with the skills required that I can pick up a phone and order in. We are for now KEEPING UP with breakdowns, and hope that in the coming weeks we will start to pull machines out of the dead game list and back to operation. The busy summer season will start to taper off Aug. 9th and be back to off-season by early Sept.

The public has become VERY combative and difficult. People are angry, disruptive, and rude. Children are out of control on a routine basis. Parents no longer disiplin and the incredible amounts of sugar and caffine I see youngsters with makes calm behavior impossible. Twice yesterday I had to tell parents not to put their infants on the playfield glass, and both times, they insisted there was no problem with this behavior.

A lot of these problems could be solved by throwing money at them. Hiring a lot of expensive staff, security guards,and middle management. But this would be passed on to our customers in the form of HIGHER PRICES. Paid parking. A 10 to 20 dollar admission charge, doubling the numbers of coins to play are all on the table. We are one of the few things you can do on the Strip that does not charge for parking or admission. People are always complaining the fees and cuts the casinos have instituted in recent years.

I would like to ask everyone to appreciate the AMATURE nature of what we are and what we do. No professional business would have ever attempted opening a room full of obsolete, cranky, worn out machines. They would have opened your standard Chuck E.- Gameworks- Dave and Buster joint full of kiddie casino stuff. Sure, we are fucked up most of the time. What yall need to do is EMBRACE the funk and realise what makes it fun it that it NOT new and nice.

Time to get back out on the floor and work!

Tim here again.

In the last year we have started a gift shop, going from nothing when we opened to almost 10 percent of our income. Right now we are selling just shirts and hats along with a few low cost item like used pinballs.

Ramping up to get to this point took a LOT of time and effort. We are 2/3rds of the way thru a 16,000 piece order of tie dye shirts. They arrive from the dyer in Montana on pallets, which must then be transported to the printer. They have to be hauled back to the PHOF, checked, sorted and stored. Then they have to be replenished in the showcases. This has taken away time from repairs. The hope is that once the last third arrives and moves thru, we will not have to spend any effort on this for a long time.

Same with the toys we need for the crane and keychain machines. Just got a 440 case order in from China. Each box must be counted, opened, mixed together with others of the same size, reboxed and stored. Keep in mind that during Covid, we bought NOTHING, not even knowing if or what we would be in the future.

I am sure there are a lot of pinheads that would say "You should be a pure pinball operation, NO TOYS OR GIFT SHOP!". I would like to remind everyone that the ONLY reason we can devote a large amount of our expensive floor space to QUARTER EM GAMES is because the merch and toys pull the weight of the money losing EM's. A compromise, sure! But one that taxes the STUPID (crane players) and rewards the SMART. (value menu EM players)

We are being tested on a daily basis, but one thing that has NEVER wavered. Our staff's comittment to showing up EVERY day, 98 hours a week, and working our asses off. By continuing to take a long term view and slowly and methodically making tiny improvements, we will make our museum better.

Without losing money.

Tim here at the PHOF.

I understand more than anyone the frustration felt over games that are down, but you should keep in mind several factors working aginst us.

SHEER VOLUME-With e huge amount of traffic we have playing the machines 80 hours a week every week of the year, ANY kind of a quality standard is a very fasst MOVING TARGET that is hard for those who do not work 365 a year to understand. About half the people who offer advise say that we should close one day a week, or for a whole week and do nothing but get caught up. That's not how it works in retail. You have to be open when people want to arrive.

SURGE- Customer volume can change from peak to bottom by a factor of 3, often in as little as a day or 2 on holiday weeks. This makes it hard to control what gets fixed and in what order. I will admit to using a "dead games bank" system of failure management. WHen it gets busy, you let some EMs sit for a while and concentrate on newer more popular machines.

SIDESHOWS - While pinball has always been and always will be the BIG TENT in our circus, the side shows earn LOTS of money that we use to subsidise our beloved flipper machines. Selling soft drinks, candy, merch, and most importantly, CRANE MACHINES make it possible forr us to continue to offer a HUGE "value menu" of 25 cent pinball machines. These other offerings do take a considable amount of time. If we did away with the sideshows, you would have to pay 50-75-1.00 to play the older stuff. Be careful, you might get what you wish for.....

"But I would gladly pay more to play old machine!" BULLSHIT! Americans have always shopped on price, not on quality. The screams of pain would be endless and loud! By letting the punters pull the freight for the players, we can find a middle path that serves both.

DESIGN - These machines were only built, like everything else in our economy, to be as good as they need to be. "Five to ten, then buy it again!" is the manufactures mantra. To keep older stuff working past this point is a fools errend. It means constant frustration and disapointment, fixing the same problems over and over. Our "mantra" here at the PHOF is "If it was easy, everybody would be doing it!' We are the GODS THAT WALK THE EARTH because we get very close to doing the impossible every day.

COVID - Continues to hamper our efforts in a thousand ways each and every day. We can't get the things we need from the outside, and on the inside,the tourist economy we depend on for customer base is still below what it used to be.

LEGAL PROBLEMS - Of which I am limited by our advise of council NOT to discuss, only some of which if generally known, is a NIGHTMARE! I just wrote a $80,000 dollar check to our legal team yesterday to cover the cost of a 3 day trial of a matter only our close advisors even know about. COnstant meetings, zoom calls, angry picket lines on our sidewalk... the headaches are endless and draining. "There are too many broken games!" comes the cry from the pinball community. All I can offer in reply is the sound of TINY TINY VIOLINS.....

LACK OF CRUCIAL SKILLS - Not to sound like an old man here, but kids (Anyone younger than me) do not have mechanical and logical skills needed to analise and solve complex problems. Gone are the culture of kids taking apart and tinkering with stuff which wires your brain on how to work thru a problem. Now the solution to every broken gizmo is to throw it away and BUY A NEW ONE! Forget about communicating.Speaking in complete sentances with out stammering or describing a problem with simple technical terms is not to be found. I can tell a newbie to go "Put a 45 degree bend about 5 MM up on a #6-32 machine screw." and they look at me like I'm from Mars!

MOTIVATION - Working outside the usual for-profit world is both a blessing and a curse. Our staff is very motivated to perform, but easily pulled away by the need to provide time and money for their own self interest.

TIM IS GONNA DO IT HIS WAY - This project would not have come as far as it has without a LOT of compromise, innovation and help FROM THE OUTSIDE. I go out of my every day to consider opinions and ideas from others. Sadly, at the end of the day, SOMEBODY has to make descions on things, and a lot of the time, that person is me. I fuck up a LOT, but please consider the alternitive, ANARCHY. I have seen many failures over the years of business because NOBODY was in charge. LVPCC is still mostly a "Timocrocy", but is moving towards a more active and involved Board of Dirrectors with more advise and ideas from the outside.

PLANNING - I have almost given up. It just doesn't work anymore. You get a plan and a direction, and a day later, you rip it up and start again. I am NOT giving up on our values or our mission, buit I am having to learn to just take things as they come a lot of the time. These are NOT predictable times.

PORANGE - Off topic for a second before I go, our longtime store mascot, POOR ORANGE has been retired . He has been moving slow, the other cats have been mean to him, so Sophie and her dad have taken him into their home where he will sit in the sun and stare off into space.

LUCK - In closing, I would like to point out the PHOF has had a lot of LUCK! Things have gone South in a lot of ways, but a loads of stuff has gone very well, without us doing anything! Every day is an ADVENTURE, every customer is a FOOL!, and who knows what will happen NEXT!

Please keep in mind that the Spinal Tap on the floor is a VERY EARLY prototype, one of only 3.
There are a variety of mechanical and programming issues on any machine this early in the process. Homepin wanted a location that would run the wheels off the machine with constant play in a location where there are high level techs at all times that can give them feedback. I have already forwarded several problems that had developed. The reason it was off yesterday was the MYSTERY SWITCH ISSUE came back. At random, it will stop sensing all the playfield and coin [door switches. A 10 minuet nap and it is happy again.

The sound is a hot mess, no coordination between the game play and the clips from the movie. Rules are not complete.

Small puddle that came in under one of the back doors.
No other damage.