Ric has sent me his questionnaire submission, as I think he is not online today - So I'm posting his answers on his behalf ;


1.   Earliest pinball memory?

My earliest pinball memory is from when I was about 3 or 4 playing pinball in the Hydro Majestic in the Blue Mountains. We had gone there for a family holiday and they had three pins set up, a Bally Flash Gordon, a Bally Kiss and a Bally Space Invaders. We played the Space Invaders the most as it had an MPU fault and basically gave you unlimited credits (at least 20 at a time for each 40c you put in), followed by the KISS.  I also remember that the Flash Gordon had a broken right flipper. How I remember that and not what I did last week still astonishes me.
 
2. All time favourite pin? Why?

This is too hard as there are so many fantastic games out there. X’s & O’s has to be one – mainly because it is the machine our family owned and it is such a great, skilful game for the early 80’s (although in many ways it was an update of WMS OXO)

At the moment, my favourite game would have to be the one that starts first time when you press the start button.


3. Favourite pinball manufacture?

Bally in the era of the early solid states, late 70’s to early 80’s.

Bally really hit their stride here, a fairly stable solid state system which was backed by fantastic artwork and gameplay and which combined great original titles with  good strategic licensed themes.

4. Favourite game in your collection? Why?

X’s & O’s for all the reasons above  and will be stated below.

5. How long have you been collecting?

About 8 years now.

6. First game and how did you find it?

The first game bought by my family was a Bally X’s & O’s, which was bought from Jason Douglas (then Happy Days amusements, now Pinball Mania). I remember we spent about an hour and half in a small shed that he had his games for sale in and played a number before settling on the X’s & O’s. It had various niggling problems throughout its life and sat lifeless for a few years.

After suffering through techs who had been trained on 90’s Williams games and had no idea how to fix a 80’s Bally that was blowing a fuse and I decided to read up and fix it myself. After that, I went out and bought my first machine, a WMS F-14 Tomcat that I found in the trading post.

7. Do you still have it?

Still have both the X’s & O’s and the F-14 Tomcat.

8. What are you currently working on?

I am currently working on managing the collection and getting the projects in a way that they can be worked on to reach completion. Most games I have are projects, however work has unfortunately drained all my time over the past couple of years which has stalled the projects. In brief I am working on:

Finishing the building of a cabinet and stenciling on a GTB Royal Guard
Re-assembling a GTB Soccer
Playfield restorations on a CC Sound Stage and WMS Super Star

9. Most wanted game to add to your collection?

At the moment none. This may sound odd however I would prefer to have all my games working at the moment rather than add new ones.

In the future, I would like to get a Phantom of the Opera and Dolly Parton, both games my partner really would like in our collection.

10. Best all time bargain game added to your collection?

GTB Soccer - $150 from the trading post – although the backglass was beyond salvageable I managed to find another in the US in 8-9 condition

11. Worst ever miss – tell us about the one that got away!

Self-inflicted miss – working CFTBL in really good condition for about  $2,500. I passed on it because I had too many projects and had just moved house. With all the other expenses of moving house, I couldn’t justify spending that amount at the time and passed it up.

12. Worst ever purchase – tell us about the game you wished you never bought

None really. I have often thought twice about the Zaccaria I have however it is a really neat game and sits nicely within the collection. Although if any of the boards ever die, I might re-think that statement

13. Describe your collection

A huge work in progress. The collection started when I was single, studying at uni  and living at home. Now I am happily in a relationship, working full time and in my own place and time is a great commodity. Most games are projects meaning not in working order however all are basically complete and just need time to get them up and running.

The games are

Bally X’s & O’s
Bally Judge Dredd
WMS F-14 Tomcat
GTB Soccer
CC Sound Stage
WMS Super Star
GTB Roller Disco
GTB Black Hole
Zaccaria Devil Riders
GTB Big Brave.
GTB Royal Guard

14. Describe your gamesroom

Currently, not really a gamesoom – more shared space with my brother’s band – otherwise, the work area basically contains games in lots of parts in somewhat of an orderly mess.

15. Do you have other games other than pinball?

I have a dedicated MK1, a GTB four player cab and an LAI cocktail

16. Where can you see the hobby in 10 years?

I think this depends on a lot of factors.

In my eight years, I have seen large leaps forward and a massive expansion of the hobby, which I think can be attributed two main causes.

Firstly, the internet. Without the internet, there would be no AP, no access to ebay for parts and no Marvin repair guides as a staring point. The internet has allowed sellers of games and parts and collectors generally a massive amount of resources to enable them to be able to communicate with each other. Without this resource and the ability to bounce ideas and problems off other collectors, I think many people would not have become involved.

The other aspect is innovation – the innovation to make new parts and new replacement boards and LED systems has helped popularise games that eight years ago were considered dogs. When I begun collecting, 80’s GTB’s (other than Spiderman, Black Hole and Haunted House) were considered by many to essentially be dog games. The new boards available for these games have changed that perception and these games are now sought after.

For me, the biggest issue is hampering the hobby is maintenance – for hobbyists like the members on this forum who are both willing and able to get inside the game and diagnose a fault, the hobby is very accessible. For those with a home game that is having an issue, finding a good tech is quite difficult and expensive. I see this as a big factor in the hobby growing and I think it will consolidate in the next ten years. Even DMD games are now at least 15 years old so I see these moving from the home-use buyers back to the collectors