(Topic ID: 157227)

Tim Arnold looking for protege to take over HOF

By westofrome

7 years ago


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    There are 499 posts in this topic. You are on page 5 of 10.
    #201 7 years ago
    Quoted from vid1900:

    If you have 300 games being constantly played, especially the super popular or 50 year old ones - there are always going to be some broken down and awaiting parts.

    That's why you keep 1/3 of them in reserve and rotate them out into the back room, so no one sees the broken ones on the floor.

    #202 7 years ago

    Unfortunately I've never been to the PHOF but you'd be naive to not expect a large amount of games out of service and lots of games running with a few errors and issues surely? I can't remember going to even a small arcade and all games running perfectly. The closest example for pins close to me is timezone on the gold coast who fly over the newest sterns before we get them in Aus and they usually have around 10 machines at any given time - clearly they care about pinball but they always have one game at least operating with some issues.

    Maybe the expectations of people is too aligned to our home collections that can be ultra maintained?

    Also worth remembering that running a business in itself is a massive undertaking and if the US is anything like Aus then the paperwork associated with a Not for profit business would be rather significant.

    #203 7 years ago
    Quoted from jwilson:

    That's why you keep 1/3 of them in reserve and rotate them out into the back room, so no one sees the broken ones on the floor.

    Like Pinball Wizard in NH! That's one bitchin arcade.

    #204 7 years ago

    And let's all recognize the beauty of the sit down, Sega Star Trek vector game in the PHoF. Breathtaking!

    #205 7 years ago
    Quoted from jwilson:

    That's why you keep 1/3 of them in reserve and rotate them out into the back room, so no one sees the broken ones on the floor.

    I wish you guys could see the many 100s of games Tim has in "reserve".

    Maybe that's the reason for the expansion plans?

    #206 7 years ago
    Quoted from jwilson:

    That's why you keep 1/3 of them in reserve and rotate them out into the back room, so no one sees the broken ones on the floor.

    It's still fun to see the few broken ones.

    Although I go all the time, many people probably are only going to make it to the PHOF once or twice in their lifetimes.

    You can still appreciate the amazing art and design on a turned off game - let alone the instant trip down memory lane if that was a game you used to play.

    #207 7 years ago

    Who cares?

    All of this talk is a bunch of nothing.

    No one is going to open a bigger or better pinball Hall of Fame than what already exists.

    If anybody had the guts, money, or dedication, they would have already done it.

    #208 7 years ago
    Quoted from cfh:

    I'm with you. I've tried to work there and it's just too difficult. Tim is too strict and things that I see need done one way he sees as needs done another way. It's really painful. I just spent time with Troy who was out there for a number of weeks working full-time for Tim. He says he'll never do it again. Tim makes things a lot harder than they need to be, but that's how he wants it. I personally just can't deal with it and I think a lot of other people have a hard time dealing with it too. But that's Tim and how he wants to do things. It's his pony show so you have to play by his rules. That's just how it is. Deal with it or leave. Unfortunately I think most do the latter.

    If you are micromanaging Clay Fucking Harrell, you might not be a great manager of a pinball venue.

    This thread just makes me want to return to Pinball Wizard Arcade in NH. Sarah St John is a wizard with a set of wonderful autonomous techs hovering around the floor. No second guessing or micromanaging from her, just a massive warehouse of perfectly playing games.

    #209 7 years ago
    Quoted from cichlid:

    Who cares?
    All of this talk is a bunch of nothing.
    No one is going to open a bigger or better pinball Hall of Fame than what already exists.
    If anybody had the guts, money, or dedication, they would have already done it.

    Have you ever considered that somebody won't do it out of principle, based on morals, integrity, and a conscience???

    Consider it.

    #210 7 years ago
    Quoted from Cornelius:

    And finally, two of my friends got caught In flagrante delicto in the bathroom at the old location. they're banned for life

    LOL

    #211 7 years ago

    I like this thread

    #212 7 years ago
    Quoted from ryanwanger:

    1) Tim is worn out, and has been telling everyone this for years.

    This is an important point: regardless of the business's success, Tim is no longer sustainable. It will all come down to how he decides to handle this new era where he backs away one way or another.

    #213 7 years ago
    Quoted from NicoVolta:

    The answer is in Akira Kurosawa's "Dreams"... the film sequence about Van Gogh.
    "I paint like a train. No time to stop..."
    (as he walks into a background of black crows)

    So many thumbs up for you.

    #214 7 years ago
    Quoted from ExtremePinball:

    Have you ever considered that somebody won't do it out of principle, based on morals, integrity, and a conscience???
    Consider it.

    Just like the fabled Black Knight, Tim wants somebody to come along and unseat him.

    Only then can he rest knowing that he has been truly bested.

    Just like the Black Knight, no one has ever been able to defeat him. So he waits in solitude, undefeatable.

    #215 7 years ago
    Quoted from vid1900:

    It's still fun to see the few broken ones.

    I have to disagree again. Would you say it's fun to see a few dead pets? Would you say it's fun to see a few broken down cars on the side of the road? I wouldn't. And I don't like seeing broken games in a business. I believe that given the choice, the vast majority of people would choose to see a few working games, over a few broken games. My opinion.
    .

    Quoted from vid1900:

    Although I go all the time, many people probably are only going to make it to the PHOF once or twice in their lifetimes. You can still appreciate the amazing art and design on a turned off game

    .
    There's a reason that the most expensive works of art are perfectly illuminated. Pinball machines are no different. They were designed to be well lit. Given the choice, the vast majority of people would choose to see well illuminated back glasses and playfields, over those with no functioning lighting. My opinion.

    .

    Quoted from vid1900:

    ...let alone the instant trip down memory lane if that was a game you used to play.

    Yeah, I can just imagine the excitement: It's an emotional roller coaster ride of delusional exuberance, immediately followed by the heart breaking realization of not being able to play the game you haven't seen in 30 years. What a miserably disappointing instant trip down memory lane. My opinion.

    #216 7 years ago
    Quoted from vid1900:

    ExtremePinball said:
    I will, but only with Tim's blessing.
    This is exciting news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Heh, sure is, just missing one half of the equation

    #217 7 years ago
    Quoted from vid1900:

    Sooner or later every employee will start stealing from you.

    Then I guess you better factor that in or not hire employees.

    #218 7 years ago

    $300,000 for 250 card readers? That seems crazy high.

    What about RF? Cheap bracelets, cheap readers.

    #219 7 years ago
    Quoted from iwantansi:

    Great post from someone that actually knows.
    For everyone saying "He needs to LED all his games", hes already started or done most of the EM games and while most on here probably think that its blasphemy to LED an EM with cool white frosted bulbs, i think its better than having regular bulbs in the game using more power and further damaging backglasses, etc...

    Heck, he was putting in LED's before any were available in bayonet and wedge based packages when the PHoF was on Tropicana & Pecos. He had bags of LED's with PCB leads that he soldered across every light socket in the EM's and he added four diodes making a poor-man's bridge rectifier for both the GI and controlled lighting circuits. What a way to make a game look like shit. But, he did it to save electricity on both game power requirements as well as producing heat which required more juice for the air conditioning system. That part worked well. Those LED's were dim & ugly but you never had the ghosting issues that you get today even on EM's using the "pinball specific" LED's. Score reel LED conversions were funny looking on the Williams EM's with the BG removed.

    EDIT: LOL, I just posed this after reading post 150. I look at post 151 and see that vid said what I said hours earlier.

    #220 7 years ago
    Quoted from NicoVolta:

    $300,000 for 250 card readers? That seems crazy high.
    What about RF? Cheap bracelets, cheap readers.

    It's not just the readers, it's the entire infrastructure including servers, wireless hubs, kiosks, mainframe, etc. As a revenue share partner with The Big Apple Coaster & Arcade at NYNY, I was there when they converted the arcade from quarters to a card system. And they only had 175 games. I know how much it costs.

    Sorry my friend, I don't do "cheap". Do it right or just don't do it. I have certain standards of business to which I adhere.

    #221 7 years ago
    Quoted from ExtremePinball:

    I have to disagree again. Would you say it's fun to see a few dead pets?

    Clearly you are just grasping for anything you can to argue about.

    An out of commission pinball machine is not comparable to a dead pet.

    When you go to the Auto Museum in Vegas, you can still admire the cars, even if their not lit up or able to be started.

    They still bring back fond memories, working or not.

    Pet_Sematary_(resized).jpgPet_Sematary_(resized).jpg

    #222 7 years ago
    Quoted from ExtremePinball:

    Given the choice, the vast majority of people would choose to see well illuminated back glasses and playfields, over those with no functioning lighting.

    Get real.

    Most people would rather see a turned off Black Gold, than to have never been able to see one in their lifetime.

    #223 7 years ago
    Quoted from cait001:

    If you are micromanaging Clay Fucking Harrell, you might not be a great manager of a pinball venue.

    I can't wait to use that line tomorrow night. Repeatedly....

    #224 7 years ago
    Quoted from MrBally:

    EDIT: LOL, I just posed this after reading post 150. I look at post 151 and see that vid said what I said hours earlier.

    Great minds think alike.....

    #225 7 years ago
    Quoted from NicoVolta:

    $300,000 for 250 card readers? That seems crazy high.
    What about RF? Cheap bracelets, cheap readers.

    Those guys who run Sacoa don't afford $100,000.00+ cars by selling $50.00 card readers.

    #226 7 years ago
    Quoted from vid1900:

    Get real.
    Most people would rather see a turned off Black Gold, than to have never been able to see one in their lifetime.

    I love the artwork on Black Gold. One of my absolute favorite works of pinball art. From the "font" used in the title, the oil derrick on the BG and three on the PF, the girl on the bow of the boat as well as the ones on the PF plastics. The right combination of colors everywhere. Okay, all of the girls on the boat....

    #227 7 years ago
    Quoted from cichlid:

    Just like the fabled Black Knight, Tim wants somebody to come along and unseat him.

    Only then can he rest knowing that he has been truly bested.

    Just like the Black Knight, no one has ever been able to defeat him. So he waits in solitude, undefeatable.

    Tim did say "I'm not selling this place to some clown to ruin"

    #228 7 years ago

    Gotcha, but MGM can afford to drop $300k on a nice secure turnkey card system for their casino ticket redemption arcade. Which is great when your row of pins happens to be sitting underneath that avalanche of coin... but otherwise it's overkill. A scrappy and determined arcade like PHOF doesn't need to be Dave & Buster's to acquire many of the benefits of digital payment.

    See, we Makery-types are rather used to creating miracles by innovating on the cheap. Lots of brilliant people here... physicists, EE's, microcontroller designers, etc. We're not limited to expensive off the shelf solutions. We've launched several successful Kickstarters and countless deployments for small businesses and Fortune 500 projects. Point being, we'd rather engineer a better solution than pay for an overpriced card reader infrastructure or yield to an antiquated token system.

    RFID is worth a look. Whatever the method, coins suck. No one carries cash anymore, it can get stolen, and tokens can be counterfeited. It has to be a digital solution which delivers metrics, player demographics, score tracking, collaborative gaming, and secure cash control.

    ...and it need not cost more than the arcade itself.

    #229 7 years ago

    As for the token "problem": in Italy Arcades used to have their own tokens as well. To prevent (or in response to) tokens from other locations being used they started working with tokens with a special shape. On the coinslot a piece of metal would be mounted that only accepted coins with that shape. Others would not fit. I found it a very clever solution. If any italians are reading this maybe they can comment on whether it worked?

    tokens_(resized).jpgtokens_(resized).jpg

    #230 7 years ago

    i found those tokens in the bottom of a great many of our Zaccaria pinballs!

    #231 7 years ago
    Quoted from unigroove:

    On the coinslot a piece of metal would be mounted that only accepted coins with that shape. Others would not fit.

    Yes, I have many pins from Europe with that system installed on the coin slots.

    The Amusement park in Auckland, Rainbows End, has also used that system for 20+ years. You go to the counter, buy a bag of tokens, the more you spend on the tokens the better the deal. You can't use them anywhere else so you either use them all on your visit, or come back another day and use them up.

    rd

    #232 7 years ago

    The route operator I worked for ('79-'85) had an arcade adjacent to our shop. We switched to those keyed tokens in 1982 to eliminate the "foreign tokens" problem.

    The token vendor (not sure if it was Van Brook-Virgil Vance) promised to not sell the pattern he sold to us within a 250 mile radius on the map. They also sold the metal plates for the coin doors. The transition/learning curve was a PITA for customers, especially youngsters. We had posters made up showing how to insert the new tokens......

    #233 7 years ago

    Slotted tokens were used in the US too. Hated those.

    17
    #234 7 years ago
    Quoted from CrazyLevi:

    I keep getting texts and emails from people about this and what a great career option it is for me

    Me too. I got emails from all around the world telling me to buy the PHOF. (Even though it probably isn't for sale)

    It was the point of some discussion at the IFPA World Champs over the last few days.

    I would love to move to Las Vegas and do it. However the thought of negotiating some sort of deal with Tim seems a bit daunting ...

    It sounds like ExtremePinball looks in the best position to do something with it. And while it does well now, as Vid points out, it can be so much better.

    Here's what I would do ...

    - build a storage/workshop area out in the back yard. Get everything "non revenue gathering" out the back.

    - make a dedicated competitive area up against the wall. Make PHOF the west coast version of PAPA for competitive pinball, which is growing daily. Get some TVs up on the wall PAPA style.

    - location is fine. You couldn't make this work on the Strip, the rent would be $1,000,000 per annum. I'm always amazed by how many people are in the PHOF, which proves people will drive/taxi/uber there for the experience of playing pinball. With little or no effort in the advertising department.

    - Improve the exterior, it's amazing what a coat of paint and new signage does. And it's not expensive.

    - carpet tiles.

    - customer service area up the front to sell tokens, drinks etc. Put a human face by the front door.

    - install another bathroom.

    - machines arranged in eras.

    - I think the number of machines there is fine, especially if the storage/workshop goes out the back. Spread them out a little.

    - pinball machines break. But you should be able to aim for high 90s percent of working games. If they're not working, out the back they go to get fixed. Wheel out a replacement.

    There's a few ideas for starters.

    rd

    #235 7 years ago
    Quoted from smailskid:

    I like this thread

    I like turtles

    #236 7 years ago

    I don't think this organization can be bought anyway. I believe the assets just have to be given to another not profit organization. So that makes the situation even more difficult cause you can't make him an offer he couldn't refuse. But I guess that's only if you plan to keep running it as a NPO. ive never heard of someone buying a NPO to start a for profit company. Not sure how that would work.

    #237 7 years ago

    No need to turn it into a For Profit business. The NFL knows that.

    #238 7 years ago

    I think Terry from pinball life is in Vegas....coincidence?!!

    #239 7 years ago

    If I understand correctly, the only thing that makes this place such a lightning rod is the location, name and number of machines. It's really just an arcade and no different than somewhere like Cactus Jacks or the Silverball Museum? It's not like they have a annual televised game induction ceremony and are accredited by the International House of Pinball to be the arbiter of all the best pins. Yeah, it's non-profit and Tim seems like a unique cat, but if it was called Arnold's Arcade instead of the Pinball Hall of Fame, would its operation be this controversial?

    #240 7 years ago
    Quoted from chuckwurt:

    I don't think this organization can be bought anyway. I believe the assets just have to be given to another not profit organization. So that makes the situation even more difficult cause you can't make him an offer he couldn't refuse. But I guess that's only if you plan to keep running it as a NPO. ive never heard of someone buying a NPO to start a for profit company. Not sure how that would work.

    I'll admit that I don't fully understand how non-profits work, but I have had some experience as my dad worked high level in one for many years...

    From what I understand, basically a non-profit is the same as a for-profit company, with few differences about how money is collected and where it goes. I'm not sure the comments people said about having merchandise, as I know a lot of non-profits who make the lion(man)'s share of their profits through similar means.

    I can say that a non-profit might not be able to sell it's organization, but it could absolutely sell everything else. The non-profit my father worked for just recently sold one of their assets for millions of dollars to a for-profit company in a really shady situation. There was nothing anyone could do about it. If Tim wanted to sell out to someone, he absolutely could, be it non-profit or for-profit. It would only be what Tim could do with the money afterward that would be up for question - and that I'm not sure of.

    #241 7 years ago
    Quoted from bangerjay:

    I think Terry from pinball life is in Vegas....coincidence?!!

    I hope its no coincidence .... Terry would be cool there.

    rd

    #242 7 years ago
    Quoted from bangerjay:

    I think Terry from pinball life is in Vegas....coincidence?!!

    I think the Olympics needs a larger venue.

    #243 7 years ago
    Quoted from Lame33:

    Yeah, it's non-profit and Tim seems like a unique cat, but if it was called Arnold's Arcade instead of the Pinball Hall of Fame, would its operation be this controversial?

    First, I don't think it's operation is that controversial. A conversation on how to best operate it isn't in the grand scheme of things that controversial.

    I do think that if it was called something different, the same thing would happen with it. Basically, for better or worse, Tim put himself out there for years and years to make this place and keep people within the pinball community updated about it's happenings. By doing so, he got the community to buy into it in ways that it may not have otherwise. Due to it's very smart location, as well as the amount of machines it has - including rare machines - it has long been a location that many people talk about.

    #244 7 years ago
    Quoted from Bryan_Kelly:

    I think the Olympics needs a larger venue.

    Next year...

    #245 7 years ago
    Quoted from shimoda:

    I would love to take this on, but I'd want the PHOF located somewhere other than Vegas. Would love to put it somewhere more central to the country, St. Louis, Chicago, even Atl (good airport).

    If you're going to be flying anyway, Vegas is one of the absolute cheapest to fly in and out of, and it has an ample supply of tourists visiting all the time...

    #246 7 years ago

    This is getting pointless. Conjecture, is Tim on pinside, or to busy fixing machines?
    Let's start the Bidding here and now. Serious bidders only please. I know the codger too, I'll show him results.
    Opening bid, I'll start it, and I'm serious.
    $120,000.00.

    #247 7 years ago
    Quoted from drsfmd:

    If you're going to be flying anyway, Vegas is one of the absolute cheapest to fly in and out of, and it has an ample supply of tourists visiting all the time...

    "The proof is in the pudding", the PHOF's numbers show where the best location in the country is. Anywhere else is a crap shoot. People speak glowingly of Pinball Wizard in NH, but every photo I've ever seen of the place is empty. Not a criticism of that place, just my observation.

    #248 7 years ago
    Quoted from Ericpinballfan:

    This is getting pointless. Conjecture, is Tim on pinside, or to busy fixing machines?
    Let's start the Bidding here and now. Serious bidders only please. I know the codger too, I'll show him results.
    Opening bid, I'll start it, and I'm serious.
    $120,000.00.

    That wouldn't buy the Pinball Circus there.

    #249 7 years ago

    I heard pinball circus is actually working these days. Out of the 25 or more times I've been there, only seen it work Twice!
    My offer stands.

    #250 7 years ago

    Ohh, my offer is for the games, I would never keep them there. New location.

    There are 499 posts in this topic. You are on page 5 of 10.

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