Madame Tussauds rethinks Nicki Minaj waxwork display over saucy fan photos

You can't count on Pinside for anything other than it's slanted views.

People here will bitch about Pinball Pete's in Ann Arbor: "The MM was actually worn to the wood in front of Merlin!!!!! I could not believe the condition of the games !!!!"

As if a game, played 14 hours a day for 20 years in a college town, would not have some wear on the playfield.

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I've been to PHOF probably 50 times. Of course a few games will be turned off. But most of the games are working just fine.

I've never gone away with my soul crushed because there was wear or a broken plastic on some of the games.

If anyone thinks they can do it better, they should just do it.

Show me a Barcade that has a million dollars left over at the end of the year that they can donate to charity.

Show me an Arcade with 300 pinball machines where every game is working and none have a broken plastic or wear on the playfield.

If any of that stuff was doable, someone would already be doing it.

Tom was doing LEDs before you could commercially buy pinball LEDs.

He was actually soldering LEDs into lamp holders back in the day.

I have been there.

You aren't really trying to compare iplay pinball to PHOF pinball are you??????

LOL, that's funny.

(if you want to play Lasertag @ $12 for 10 minutes, or see 5000 Crane games all side by side, or pay $10 for a 9 minute 3D movie, iplay is your place)

I was at PHOF a month ago, nothing was falling down.

Not only does he have a million dollars at the end of the year, he has a million dollars to give away.

PHOF is a huge success.

If anyone knew a way to do it better, they would be doing it.

No and no.

You know what you said.

You implied that Iplay had a lot of pinball and they are working 100% of the time.

When I went there, there was maybe 3 pins and the WOZ was broken and turned off.

Tim did not build those games in his own secret factory, he bought them.

Nothing is stopping you (or anyone else) from buying a bunch of games and doing a better job on the next block and calling it The Pinball Wizard's Castle, World's Largest Pinball Museum, or The Pincushion - Pinball & Lounge.

There are at least 200 pins at California Extreme, AAPM has over 200 pins, James has 300 different pins in his warehouse - people have big collections - but no one can run a more profitable pinball arcade than Tim.

If they could, they obviously would.

With almost 900 reviews, PHOF has a 4.5 star rating on Yelp.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/pinball-hall-of-fame-las-vegas

With 1500 reviews, PHOF has a 4.5 star rating on TripAdviser:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g45963-d620854-Reviews-Pinball_Hall_of_Fame-Las_Vegas_Nevada.html

Obviously I am in the majority.

You are trying (again) to make an argument out of air.

As is often the case, the only people complaining are crybaby Pinsiders.

Do it, if you think you can.

Tim has said many times, to me and to others, that he wishes someone could do it better.

Fulfill his wishes, make a 65 year old man's dreams come true, relieve him of his burden.

Build a better PHOF.

This is exciting news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tokens only come in a few sizes.

Back in the day, players would go buy $50 worth at whatever arcade had the "morning deal", then spend them at another location, another day.

So you would open the cashbox only to find a bunch of your competitor's tokens.

You could throw them away, or put them back in your change machine, effectively advertising for your competitor.

Big Eddy told me he once did a "prisoner swap" with another local arcade of 7 bags of tokens. (each bag holds 4000 coins)

Are you still harping about nothing??

I've got 55 games and there are always a few that are broken, awaiting a part, or something - and those games are not being played 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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.

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When I was at Iplay, WOZ was broken, so 33% of their pins were dead - a way worse percentage than PHOF, and Iplay had a ton of employees, a beautiful building and nice carpet.

Sooner or later every employee will start stealing from you.

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

Maybe that's the reason for the expansion plans?

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.

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.

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Get real.

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

Great minds think alike.....

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

Yawn.

C'mon, you've got to have some fire in your belly if you think you can fill Tim's shoes.

You can't compare maintaining a few newer pins vs. 300 old ones.

Once Extremepinball opens his version of the PHOF, and keeps it open for a few years - THEN we can make an intelligent comparison.

Honestly, I look forward to that day!

Remember folks, the ONLY thing that makes the PHOF the PHOF is Tim.

Anyone can buy 300 pinball machines, put them in a crappy warehouse off the beaten path, and open an arcade.

But only Tim can do it and have a million dollars surplus at the end of the year to give to charity.

No one else in history has ever been able to pull it off successfully.

No one.

Remember Flipperspiel Wunderland?

Those games were in real nice condition, another Vegas treasure.

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You guys are in such a hurry to shortchange Tim.

Don't forget he bought the building for cash.

Then he bought the lot next door for cash.

That's millions of dollars.

He said those purchases regrettably cut down on his donations...

Tim's dedication to helping the poor is indeed saintly, but I think someone saying that he is the Black Knight is probably more accurate.

The place would look better with a real sign.

In Vegas, the permit fee alone for a permanent sign is $500, and if that sign can be seen from a highway, you need a second permit from the state for $250.

Then there is a yearly fee of some sort, but he did not tell me what it was.

The CONfidence Game.

If I'm going to scam you out of something, it's 10000x more satisfying if you willing give it to me, rather than me having to pop you in the jaw and take it.

That means you have to have a sense of urgency and CONfidence that you are getting the clean end of the stick.

Indeed he does.

I'd use the term idealistic.

True.

Think if anyone else took the reins:

I'm putting in Carpet, spruce the place up! Wait, you mean I have to have the carpet shampooed/extracted every month and it costs $2500 monthly ?? I'd skip a month to save a little money, but then the place smells musty.

I'm adding a snack bar, that will bring in more people! Wait, that means that the state requires me to have both men's and women's bathrooms installed? The state now dictates how big the bathrooms have to be? I now have to be Health Inspected quarterly? I have to pay for those inspections? I have to have a foam fire suppression system installed? I have to have a sanatizable ceiling installed over the entire eating area?? Drains installed every 12 feet in the kitchen?

I'm getting a liquor license - a Barcade will make more money! Wait, insurance is now $200,000 a year for liability? The insurance company is making me keep 2 bouncers in the evening? My food vs. alcohol equation is upside down, and now my premium is going up? Every time I'm out, my bartender is pouring from his own bottle and keeping the cash? Everyone needs an ID, even if they are just here to play pinball? My manager is comping cash sales on the computer and keeping the difference? I'm watching the DVR cameras more than I can stand, and I still can't see where the money is bleeding out. I'm making the employees flatten every box and using clear garbage bags, but I'm still short 71 bottles of premium beer this month.

I'm putting in a sound system, people will love hearing songs from the 70s and 80s, just like those old arcades! Wait, now I have to get an ASCAP public performance license??? It's over $1400 a year?

I'm going to LED every game with color. No one wants to go to a museum and see stuff that looks old. I made the entire Space Odyssey playfield blue at the top, yellow at the spiner and red near the flippers; looks just like a new Stern! It only cost $60,000 do do all the games, and you have never seen so much color - it's the bomb.

I'm putting up a permanent sign, people will appreciate that while they are playing pinball ! The permit is $500? The yearly license is $55? Oh wait, it's more because the sign lights up?? The electrical hook up needs it's own permit and inspection?

All this remodeling has exceeded 60% of the building's state equalized value, so now I have to bring the entire structure up to current code???

I'm no longer a non-profit, so now I have to start paying income tax, sales tax and property tax??

If someone can, they certainly will.

Misunderstanding settled.

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That would break pinball repair rule #1: never remove a game unless it caught fire.

We would always repair everything on the spot.

No time to pull games out of line.

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Nowadays, when you sometimes have to fabricate a part from scratch, or strip a playfield for a swap - an actual dedicated repair area would be a nice luxury.

Downdraft spray booth, powder oven, anvil, drill press, lathe, SMD station, sandblast cab, bobbin winder....

They were designed to be 100% repaired on-site.

If I ever saw my guys bringing a game back in the van, I'd always yell "That thing had better have caught on fire....."

There would be times where the bottom of the cab got busted out in a robbery, or an EM got flipped over on it's side, messing up every friggin' contact, but 99% of the time we got the game working in place, fast.

It is the PHOF.

My place looks like a pole barn pinball graveyard.

Tim told me he still had 200 games "ready to go" that have not been deployed at the PHOF.

He claims none are duplicates of what is currently in the hall.

I was not going to question him on the definition of "ready to go", but 4 hours of shop time, +$200 parts (switches, stops, rubbers, retro LEDs.....) per game, makes that a huge undertaking.

That is the first time I've ever seen a local TV news segment that did not begin with the song "Pinball Wizard".

(although the phrase was mentioned, lol).

You've got to charge at least $1 for a current game.

They don't cost $1200 new anymore.

I never said people go to the PHOF to see Tim.

I said that the only reason a PHOF exists is BECAUSE of Tim.

Tim does not want to talk with you, unless you are reporting a problem with a game.

You've got to feel sorry for Tim.

EVERY time I'm in there some guy has Tim's ear and it's the exact same thing:

Boring Guy: Yeah, I told my wife, if we go to Vegas, we HAVE to go to PHOF.
BG: Hey, there is a place by my house called Antonio's, I live in Florida, that has a Flash, and a.......a.......(honey, what the other game besides Flash at Antonio's?)...a....um...oh yeah, Meteor, but NOTHING like this!
BG: What is the electric bill in a place like this?
BG: I've got a AFM, it's in better shape than yours.....I was offered $8,000 for it, but I said NOOOO Way.
BG: Have you ever seen a rare game called Bushido? I played one at a rich guy's house in California.
BG: You know, if you fixed this place up with carpet and stuff, you could have a really nice place here.
BG: Have you ever seen Pawn Shop Wars? They had an old Bally on there, said it was worth $4,000, I'm like 'yeah right'. That show is fake.
BG: There used to be an arcade by my house, um....Player 1, that was the name of it....they had a pin I've never been able to remember the name of, maybe you can help me? It had a giant cue ball in the center, like a real cue ball that would block your ball......

I don't know how Tim puts up with it.

There really is no "problem".

Tim has a very particular set of skills. He can run and budget a business with great discipline; and he can fix coin-op stuff.

Tim says 90% of his income is from the locals.

If the locals had a problem with him, he'd be out of business.

If tourists had a problem with him, he would not have 1500 positive reviews on TripAdviser.

It's only the people on Pinside thinking that every game should be **restored** with a clearcoated playfield, LED color bombing, crummy decals on the cabinet, and for some reason need to tell a stranger that they own an AFM that seem to have a problem.

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Hardly.

Sometimes Tim walks past me and says "Hey, how have you been?" and that's it.

Other times Tim says "When you are done with that game, I've got something you are gonna want to see...".

My heart does not break when he does not want to talk to me, he's got work to do - and I've got a plane to catch in 45 minutes.

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Same with the high end car stereo shop that I service their CNC Routers. The owner is trying to help his installers do some fiberglass work and some boring guy walks into the service bay:

Boring Guy: "Ohh Man!!!!! There is a video on Youtube of a 60,000w subwoofer in a truck!!!! You can't believe it!!!!! The chick's hair blows out the window, bitch!!!!!"

Owner: "Yeah, I've seen stuff like that"

Boring Guy: "You want to see it???? I've got it on my phone here!!!!"

Owner: "No, this glass is going to gel in like 5 minutes"

Boring Guy: "No problem, you want me to show you ?"

Tim has plenty of passion for pinball.

He speaks at the expos with great enthusiasm.

It's only Pinsiders that seem to think that Tim does not pay them enough attention, because he does not want to spend 10 minutes with each patron hearing the list of pins they have at their house.

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You've ran a bar, so you know that some Strip Bars have the stoic, tough guy bouncer at the door who only looks at your ID and never speaks. You only occasionally see the owner drifting around the shadows, whispering commands in the ears of his employees.

Other Strip Bars have the owner at the edge of the bar who man-hugs everyone as they come in, points out the new girls and asks if you are coming to his XXX-mas party on Saturday.

Both Strip Bars make assloads of cash, and are obviously successful. They just have two different styles of being run. You can't say that either one is run better than the other.

That's whats great about running an arcade, you only have to interact the the public when giving someone a credit on a game that stole their quarter, or hearing that a game has a malfunction.

You don't have to hug them, listen to their politics, wish them a nice day or anything like that.

Tim can share his vast pinball collection, make some money for charity, promote pinball and not kiss any babies.

A lot easier than being a priest or therapist for someone who does not crave human interaction.

He has no problem handling his business, believe me.

Only because a few of you guys are so gullible.

The PHOF is not for sale.

No one can do what Tim does.

The whole thing was an excellent publicity stunt.

You don't open a Strip Bar because you like women.

Even working as a DJ for a month, you realize in about 2 nights that only the dumbest, sneakiest, lying-est, thieving-est, tramp-iest, most damaged souls work there posing as women.

You won't like the girls, the music, the smells or the drama.

I think I can honestly say 99.99999999% of the time, you only open a Strip Club for the money.

Exactly.

Nowhere is there a quote from Tim in that article saying that he is selling the PHOF.

Nowhere is there a quote from Tim that at 60 years of age, he is closing up shop.

Even if I were to approach Tim, as a person he knows can maintain all those games without a problem, and told him:

"Hey Tim, I'm ready to take over the PHOF. I've stashed enough cash to live two lives worth without a salary. I have a document stating that I will only give the income to charities you approve, and will not waste money on permanent signs, carpeting, alcohol license, snack bar, or other junk. I will also bring 12 games that you do not have in your collection. "

He would not turn the keys over to me.

Tim is just going to be Tim, until someone unseats him with a better Hall of Fame.

The name is just a trick to avoid paying coin-op licensing fees.

Just like when someone calls their arcade a "pinball museum". It's not really a museum conserving precious artifacts. It's just a trick to put an arcade in a town that has outlawed arcades.

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If this does not make sense to you, think of Mad Magazine.

It was a comic book, but when the Comics Code Authority started censoring comics, Mad suddenly became a magazine to avoid censorship.

"A rose by any other name...." - Shakespeare

Exactly.

Clients will ask why I have totally blank coin doors in my inventory.

Those are for towns that charge $250 per machine yearly license for each coin-op machine on the premises. No coin mech, not a coin-op.

There are also cities that don't allow any coin-op machines in a residence. Another great use for blank coin doors.

By going off the beaten path, he got that giant building for only $1.5 million dollars.

On the Strip, that same building might be $15 million.

Yep.

Once your nosy neighbor sees you carrying in "one of them there gamblin' machines" , the city gets a warrant and takes all your games (or if they are nice, gives you 14 days to get them off the property).

If there is one thing old people hate, it's video games and pinball.

If you ever watched The Space Invaders documentary, it has people who had to get rid of their game collections because of the city.

One neighbor who hated the other, told the city that he was charging kids to play the games in his garage. The city removed all the games.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/life/owner-says-pinball-hall-fame-alive-and-well-las-vegas

Now that would be something that someone could volunteer their time and donate to the PHOF.

Make some QR Code stickers to go on the glass near the apron.

Spring is here outside my window, PHOF remains in Tim's hands.....

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If you go there more than a few times, you will note that on average, 97% of the games are working just fine.

There are always going to be some broken games. That's just how pinball is.

There is a video from one of the expos in the last few years where Tim goes into great detail of how the assets are set up.

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