Quoted from too-many-pins:OK - Here is my issue with all of this. I'll try to keep it as short as possible and break in down into 5 main points.
First off Tim is by far the most successful arcade operator in the world so why would he change the way he does things?
Second - yes Tim did start a go-fund-me to raise a little extra money because of unforeseen issues Covid caused. But that $200,000 from the go-fund-me amounted to less than 1/2 of what the sign alone cost so it isn't like everyone "stepped up" and funded 1/2 the cost of the new building or anything like that.
Third - Tim devotes nearly 100 hours a week (for free & not even taking lunch money out of the PHoF budget) according to what the volunteers told me when I was talking to them on one of my visits. Any rational person would have retired at his age instead of taking on something like that new building but Tim loves to work and to give back to society so that is what he does.
Fourth - If you don't like what is going on at PHoF why not volunteer and help Tim get machines fixed instead of bitching about the place.
And lastly is the "definition of insanity" -- definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Basically everyone knows Tim isn't going to change so why keep beating a dead horse.
Now for why I always jump in and defend Tim. It isn't because I know him well in fact the two times I talked to him in person he was as abrasive as everyone says he is & maybe even a little worse. But he is human and I know I wouldn't like to keep reading negatives about what I was doing if I was working my ass off FOR FREE and I was doing all I could to keep improving things.
Again it is really pretty simple - either just accept PHoF for what it is / volunteer to help make it better / or just don't go at all. But bottom line is expecting things to change as long as Tim is running the place is a perfect example of insanity.
Have fun debating how things should be / what Tim should be doing / etc. Bottom line is it is what it is and it isn't going to change just because a few Pinsiders think it should.
I've been three times. Not to the new place, but to the old. Each time I went, the game conditions were worse and worse. Not just broken machines. That would actually have been preferable to games that were barely wheezing and basically not playable.
If he couldn't keep the games working decently with fewer of them out on the floor, how is it even possible to keep them going when you've added more issues to the pile?
As for volunteering to help, well, I live way too far away to do that. But even if I didn't, people who have tried this have found that you basically can't dive in and fix games. You have to do it his way, no questions asked, and if you don't, hit the bricks, pal. That's not going to encourage people to want to help, because that would be for free too. There's a lot of roads that lead to the same place, and while I would never even come close to claiming I have 10 percent of his knowledge, I can fix games, but I'm not going to do it for someone who is going to be looking over my shoulder and telling me what to do all the time.
I've met him and tried to talk to him a couple of times. Tried being the operative word. I know the guy is busy, but to put it bluntly, he's an ass. There's a nice way of telling people you don't have time to talk, and then there's his way. Really, his persona and treatment of people who come in to play the games is a bigger let down that the condition of the games.
People think Steve Young is abrasive. I've never found that to be the case, just doesn't have time to waste on people who have no clue, but Tim is what Steve's reputation is, on steroids. And it is fact.
Life's too short to deal with that and with a bunch of broken and broken down games too.
Kansas City, MO
