is pinball having a come back

[swinks]

here is a article of interest.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21200001
http://techland.time.com/2013/01/28/pinball-makers-see-a-comeback-in-the-making/

[Caveoftreasures]

The first article ends with > "If it aint broke, it aint Pinball" etc which was a really dumb thing to say after a reasonable article.

Perhaps the author should have said "if something stupid is written, it will be by a idiot journo". Modern machines that are maintained, last forever hassle free, espescially in a home environment IMO.

Other than that, its good to see that Stern, JJP, and Heighway Pinball all have completely different ideas on what the pinball community wants.

Who will u give your brand new in box pinball money to ? should have been the last question of the first article. 

Thanks Swinksy(Jady) for posting.

[beaky]

Good to hear.
But as far as the breakdowns go most machines back in the day were played to death, then you had some techs that would just "patch" the problems due to not having the correct parts or not having the time due to the 10 or 20 other amusement centres they had to drop by on any one given day.

then remember a lot of machines were several years old and really needed  "full shop jobs" but again only the parts that failed or were visibly about to fail were replaced.

if you drive your car day in day out and only replace parts when they fail then you will have a lot of breakdowns after a certain amount of KLM's, but most of us don't do this, we service the car and replace parts that wear at set intervals so we have less break downs.

if you want less breakdowns then service the machine on a regular basis

[Strangeways]

As far as Australia is concerned, Pinball MADE a comeback 6-7 years ago. Glad to see the rest of the world catching up ! The Home market has increased worldwide.

Regarding the operating industry, Stern are only in the position of a small increase in demand due to the success of AC/DC. They needed a strong follow up to set the standard, and we are still waiting. Now there is competition, which puts the pressure back on Stern. This is great for the industry, as competition will be fierce in the next few years. So pinball still has a bright future.

I think the biggest problem with siting pinballs in venues is the poor service provided by operators. UNFORTUNATELY, the only time machines are maintained or fixed is when the coin mech is not accepting coins. This attitude needs to change, and it is the biggest problem. Second they need to keep their machine presentable by ensure they are clean and all the lamps are working. The game must play correctly. Thirdly - ABANDON this swipe card rubbish. Recently, I was at a location where the pins were filthy and they had swipe cards. My buddies had a heap of loose change and wanted to play the pins - but they had the swipe card arrangement. This crap system is foreign and not accepted by the wider pinball public. The money that should have gone into the machines went to the TAB.

Regarding maintenance - mechanical / moving parts have wear and tear. Nothing can change that except "preventative maintenance". See above - Operators will only FIX problems associated to the coin mech ! I'm concerned that when JPP site their games - who will repair them onsite ? You need trained and competent technicians.

So pinball is have a comeback ? GREAT - But this is coming from Pinball Manufacturers.. It is up to OPERATORS to lift their game and ensure the games are functional and presentable. The home market is already thriving, nothing to change there..

[GORGAR 1]

Hey Nino back in the "hey day" of pinball's did they have techs that did certain areas say East/west and so on? in other words how did they know a machine had an issue. Also our coke machine at work is connected wireless to the net and when the coke gets low it apparently lets coke know and they send a guy out to refill, why cant pinball's let someone know there's a fault via the net ?

Peter

[Retropin]

Approx 10 years ago i applied for a job as a tech in an amusement arcade... i was doing an electrical engineering diploma at the time.
The job was mine if i wanted it.. wage was $15.50 an hour.

Theres your reason for not having good techs right there

[GORGAR 1]

Approx 10 years ago i applied for a job as a tech in an amusement arcade... i was doing an electrical engineering diploma at the time.
The job was mine if i wanted it.. wage was $15.50 an hour.

Theres your reason for not having good techs right there

Yeah $15 an hour isn't going to attract good people I agree, is that why time zone techs don't even know how to take the glass off lol

Peter

[Homepin]

Yeah $15 an hour isn't going to attract good people I agree, is that why time zone techs don't even know how to take the glass off lol

Peter

Yes, the word "Technician" is bandied about way too lightly these days IMO - Nail Technician, Tyre Technician FFS............

[Retropin]

Yeah $15 an hour isn't going to attract good people I agree, is that why time zone techs don't even know how to take the glass off lol

Peter

Yes, the word "Technician" is bandied about way too lightly these days IMO - Nail Technician, Tyre Technician FFS............

SUBWAY "Sandwich Artist" shits me

[Freiherr]

Don't know what has happened to all the good technicians but this is what I remember from the late 1970s.
A lot of the bigger arcades in Sydney (with 30 or more pinball machines) had one or two parlour owner/operators on site at all times. They usually cleaned playfields on a weekly basis and replaced broken rubbers or blown bulbs. The glass top was cleaned on a daily basis as there was a lot of tar and soot from cigarettes as most players were smokers and had the fag resting on the glass top. These guys knew that well maintained machines brought in more players with their cash.
A qualified technician usually came once a week as part of his rounds and repaired any major faults that reqired electrical or mechanical skills. He was on call as well and it was rare to see an out of order sign on a machine for more than 24 hours.
Ah, the good old days of the pinball golden era.

[Strangeways]

Hey Nino back in the "hey day" of pinball's did they have techs that did certain areas say East/west and so on? in other words how did they know a machine had an issue. Also our coke machine at work is connected wireless to the net and when the coke gets low it apparently lets coke know and they send a guy out to refill, why cant pinball's let someone know there's a fault via the net ?

Peter

The only board repairers were at "Leisure and Allied" - They had some Electronic Technicians who used to repair boards. This would be late 70's when the SS machines were released. There were plenty of field technicians that worked for operators with varying experience. Board repairs were never done onsite, and almost all we had in operation went to LAI. If my memory serves me correct, one of the technicians was Russian or another nationality nearby.

EMs were different. Technicians didn't fix EMs - "Mechanics" used to fix them ! That's what they were known as. These guys knew EVERYTHING about EMs, Juke Boxes (valve) and Bingos. My Father and Uncle were very knowledgeable in this area. Mechanical and electrical. Electronics was left to Technicians at LAI.

Operators did have a "gentleman's agreement" about locations. My Father's route was North of the city - Carlton, Brunswick, Reservoir. He had some country locations and he was operating in as far as Woolongong in the 50's and 60's as there were no operators in NSW (yet). Some of his Billiard tables, Soccer Tables and Bingos were left up there as he grew tired of driving up there. But this is very early on in the infancy of coin op in this country. He focused on Cafe's "Wog Shops" as there were no arcades - they didn't exist except at places like Luna Park. Hamburger Shops, Take Aways and even Milk Bars. He owned one Shop in Edwardes St in Reservoir that used to have a dozen Bingos, 6-7 pinballs and a Juke Box. That was the closest thing to an arcade in the 60's.

These days, anyone who can hold a soldering iron is a Technician. But back then (60's - 80's), they were Mechanics and Technicians. These guys knew their work.

[Freiherr]

These days, anyone who can hold a soldering iron is a Technician. But back then (60's - 80's), they were Mechanics and Technicians. These guys knew their work.

Spot on. Kind of went down hill in the early 80s. I have been out of pinball since 1983 and do not know what happened in the next golden era in early 90s. Were the arcade machines well maintained as during the 70s?

[Crashramp]

As far as Australia is concerned, Pinball MADE a comeback 6-7 years ago. Glad to see the rest of the world catching up ! The Home market has increased worldwide.

Regarding the operating industry, Stern are only in the position of a small increase in demand due to the success of AC/DC. They needed a strong follow up to set the standard, and we are still waiting. Now there is competition, which puts the pressure back on Stern. This is great for the industry, as competition will be fierce in the next few years. So pinball still has a bright future.

I think the biggest problem with siting pinballs in venues is the poor service provided by operators. UNFORTUNATELY, the only time machines are maintained or fixed is when the coin mech is not accepting coins. This attitude needs to change, and it is the biggest problem. Second they need to keep their machine presentable by ensure they are clean and all the lamps are working. The game must play correctly. Thirdly - ABANDON this swipe card rubbish. Recently, I was at a location where the pins were filthy and they had swipe cards. My buddies had a heap of loose change and wanted to play the pins - but they had the swipe card arrangement. This crap system is foreign and not accepted by the wider pinball public. The money that should have gone into the machines went to the TAB.

Regarding maintenance - mechanical / moving parts have wear and tear. Nothing can change that except "preventative maintenance". See above - Operators will only FIX problems associated to the coin mech ! I'm concerned that when JPP site their games - who will repair them onsite ? You need trained and competent technicians.

So pinball is have a comeback ? GREAT - But this is coming from Pinball Manufacturers.. It is up to OPERATORS to lift their game and ensure the games are functional and presentable. The home market is already thriving, nothing to change there..

There's three pinball machines in three different venues in my area and I'm sorry to say that all three are in a sorry state. they've been this way for as long as I can remember too. If anyone who wasn't familiar with pinball was to start up a game they'd never put there money in another one again.
Coin mech still works though so all good!   

[Caveoftreasures]

Luna Park in Sydney has a Star Wars Data East, a Rescue 911, a Last Action Hero, and a Shadow.

They were the dirtiest, sorry-est, uncared for machines u have ever seen.
They hadnt been cleaned for years, or maintained, and no one played them at all.

Why do operators bother placing machines onsite and never fix them or even wonder why they are not collecting any money at all, just plain stupidity. This operator, also took all the bulbs out of all the backboxes of all machines to supposedly save the translites from bulb burn cause they were on all the time....another really dumb thing. The condition of the cabinets and general abilities of the machines were good, just not clean or serviced at all. No wonder people think pinball is from another era 20 years ago. A few hours of help would make these machines look current and fun.

[Crashramp]

Luna Park in Sydney has a Star Wars Data East, a Rescue 911, a Last Action Hero, and a Shadow.

They were the dirtiest, sorry-est, uncared for machines u have ever seen.
They hadnt been cleaned for years, or maintained, and no one played them at all.

Why do operators bother placing machines onsite and never fix them or even wonder why they are not collecting any money at all, just plain stupidity. This operator, also took all the bulbs out of all the backboxes of all machines to supposedly save the translites from bulb burn cause they were on all the time....another really dumb thing. The condition of the cabinets and general abilities of the machines were good, just not clean or serviced at all. No wonder people think pinball is from another era 20 years ago. A few hours of help would make these machines look current and fun.

Funny you mention that, Luna Park in Melbourne have some of the best looked after sited pins I've seen in years. Monster Bash, Revenge from Mars and Family Guy. All look great and a pleasure to play.
Anyone know who services these games?