I would assume my story runs parallel to most these days. I grew up in the 70’s and was playing electro-mechanical machines by the age of nine. Anywhere I could find them I would play. A dime here, a quarter there. Then the solid state machines with electronic scoring, sounds and eventually voice, replaced the bing-bong of the EMs. This was my era of machines. Even the onset of the arcade boom of the 80s couldn’t keep me from returning to my first love. After graduating high school I traveled the world for 20 years with the US Navy and still managed to find time for pinball. It seemed in those days that every enlisted club around the planet had pinball machines in them. If the sailors came, beer and pinball would soon follow.
At one point I even found time to own a couple of machines. I had a Duotron and a Gorgar that I rescued from some hapless owners and managed to turn them into playable games. Eventually they were sold off to help finance a bass boat, but I always knew I would come back to it. In 2003 I retired from the military and settled down in Corpus Christi to start a second career. Work and fishing pretty well dominated my life until that fateful day when I discovered the Texas Pinball Festival.
While thumbing through a book of things to do in the Lonestar State I came across an article about the Texas Pinball Festival. Loads of classic arcade and pinball machines and no quarters required. Seriously? Oh yes. That was 2012 and we’ve been back every year since. It just keeps getting better and I highly recommend going. It’s a great show run by fantastic people. In 2013 I bought my next pair of machines (Six Million Dollar Man and Black Pyramid)so I could have some at home to play and bring them to the next show for others to enjoy. I’ve been adding to my collection ever since and my rebuilds get ever deeper.
In the process of working on my own machines, I have discovered the challenge of finding everything I need in one place. And with shipping as high as it is, it becomes increasingly important to get as much as I can in one place. My idea for a store I would want to shop at would be to have all the basic needs for a scratch build as well as play field swaps and major overhauls. There are plenty of places out there selling Novus, light bulbs and fuses. I want to sell the stuff you cannot find elsewhere or that can be found but are scattered across the web at a half dozen different stores. The other side is to build and offer up wiring harnesses. A scratch build requires all of the wiring which can be hard to find at best and downright dangerous at the worst. You never know what you will get off of e-bay and Bally actually created about 6 different configurations for the majority of their games. I will try to match what I am offering with what CPR is currently turning out so a scratch build can go off without a hitch. You can buy a play field and source or build a cabinet. Plastics are readily available and play field machinery, switches and control boards can be bought. The wiring? Not so much. I will also be producing what I think are some helpful items for everyone from the newest guy in the hobby to old pros saving another machine from the dumpster. My forte at this time is the Bally early solid state from 1977 through 1985 when the addition of the 6803 all-in-one board took over for the traditional setup. Most of it will apply to the similarly run Sterns and I hope to add products for early solid state Williams and Gottliebs as well. I am currently constructing an “All About Bally” database that will have all of the useful information I have gleaned across the web over the past five years. My hope is to present it in a way that is helpful to all from new machine buyers to competent repair guys. Thanks for stopping in!
Shawn
At one point I even found time to own a couple of machines. I had a Duotron and a Gorgar that I rescued from some hapless owners and managed to turn them into playable games. Eventually they were sold off to help finance a bass boat, but I always knew I would come back to it. In 2003 I retired from the military and settled down in Corpus Christi to start a second career. Work and fishing pretty well dominated my life until that fateful day when I discovered the Texas Pinball Festival.
While thumbing through a book of things to do in the Lonestar State I came across an article about the Texas Pinball Festival. Loads of classic arcade and pinball machines and no quarters required. Seriously? Oh yes. That was 2012 and we’ve been back every year since. It just keeps getting better and I highly recommend going. It’s a great show run by fantastic people. In 2013 I bought my next pair of machines (Six Million Dollar Man and Black Pyramid)so I could have some at home to play and bring them to the next show for others to enjoy. I’ve been adding to my collection ever since and my rebuilds get ever deeper.
In the process of working on my own machines, I have discovered the challenge of finding everything I need in one place. And with shipping as high as it is, it becomes increasingly important to get as much as I can in one place. My idea for a store I would want to shop at would be to have all the basic needs for a scratch build as well as play field swaps and major overhauls. There are plenty of places out there selling Novus, light bulbs and fuses. I want to sell the stuff you cannot find elsewhere or that can be found but are scattered across the web at a half dozen different stores. The other side is to build and offer up wiring harnesses. A scratch build requires all of the wiring which can be hard to find at best and downright dangerous at the worst. You never know what you will get off of e-bay and Bally actually created about 6 different configurations for the majority of their games. I will try to match what I am offering with what CPR is currently turning out so a scratch build can go off without a hitch. You can buy a play field and source or build a cabinet. Plastics are readily available and play field machinery, switches and control boards can be bought. The wiring? Not so much. I will also be producing what I think are some helpful items for everyone from the newest guy in the hobby to old pros saving another machine from the dumpster. My forte at this time is the Bally early solid state from 1977 through 1985 when the addition of the 6803 all-in-one board took over for the traditional setup. Most of it will apply to the similarly run Sterns and I hope to add products for early solid state Williams and Gottliebs as well. I am currently constructing an “All About Bally” database that will have all of the useful information I have gleaned across the web over the past five years. My hope is to present it in a way that is helpful to all from new machine buyers to competent repair guys. Thanks for stopping in!
Shawn
