(Topic ID: 102486)

Why does the hobbyist not want to put a game on route/location?

By ZenTron

9 years ago


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  • 97 posts
  • 49 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 9 years ago by barakandl
  • Topic is favorited by 4 Pinsiders

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    #22 9 years ago

    From experience, let me assure you that if you think the points everyone is making are overblown or not valid, you are mistaken. Vid and Lloyd summed it up pretty good. I don't have a lot to add other than:

    -Kids sitting and standing on your games. People sitting drinks on your games.
    -Restaurants and locations have fires. Be prepared to lose everything.

    Your games need to be gone over and need to be bullet proof. That little annoying ball hang at home that you have to pull the glass and free up becomes a major problem when the game is on location. It may happen once a week at home. It will probably happen every day on location.

    Don't expect to put the games out and have money just pour in. Things will break that you had no idea could break. You'd better have parts on hand to fix it or your game will be down. Shooter rods, flipper bats, plunger links, switches, optos, springs, stops. DMDs will go dead. WPC display controller boards will fry.

    If you are running anything older than about the year 2000, you'd better have spare boards on hand. SAM boards are pretty reliable and are new enough that they don't have tons of issues. Once you start getting into stuff older than that, it usually has been played quite a bit and stuff breaks. You'd better have the parts on hand to fix it. And your WPC game that has never reset once in its life, well...don't expect that to continue once it has been on all day every day. You'd better know how to properly fix it, reseating the connectors and replacing BR2 and C5 isn't going to cut it.

    I can go on, I'll stop there.

    #52 9 years ago
    Quoted from phishrace:

    1. You don't need to start your own corporation to operate pins. Why on earth would you suggest that? You can run your business as a sole proprietor. Very easy.
    2. Most areas don't require individual game licenses
    3. A business license is $100 or $150, if you choose to get one. No big deal.
    4 and 5. Insurance often isn't required. If your routing older games, it's not needed. Insurance for liability is overkill. Show me one example (with proof) of a an op getting sued because his game hurt someone.
    6. Business owners can be quickly trained to removed stuck balls. I never get calls saying come down here right now.
    7. Again, please provide proof of this happening.
    The negativity towards operating games is here is ridiculous. Especially from the old timers. Way to support the hobby guys. The only down side to operating games is that you usually don't get to see folks enjoying your games. If you can live with that, it's all good.
    If anyone would like advice on operating their games, feel free to pm me. You obviously won't get much help here.

    1) Correct. I'm a sole proprietor.

    2) My area does. Each game requires a $20/year permit.

    3) $200/year in my area, required.

    4 and 5) This is very bad advice. I was at my location when a little girl got her finger stuck in a coin return door. It was an older WMS game with the metal door, so it is much sharper than the newer doors with plastic return covers. Girl screamed bloody murder and the parents jumped up and got her finger out before she could do any damage to herself. I know this story is a big "maybe" situation and nothing bad happened, but it easily could have turned very bad for me. Stuff like this is why you have insurance. There's no way you can guess the things people will do and whether you will get blamed for it. General business liability insurance is $300/year. No way would I run my business without it.

    6) Operator's preference. If you trust your location, let them free stuck balls. My location does.

    Netativity: If telling the truth is negativity, so be it. I'd rather tell people up front what I deal with and let them decide. If it was easy and you made tons of money, there would be pins all over the place. I'm not saying don't do it, just go into it with your eyes open and know what to expect.

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