1. Earliest pinball memory?
I must of been around 8 years old and my brother and I would walk past an old Greek corner shop on the way to and from school
they had 2 pinball machines outside "Swinger" and "Fandango" both set on 10 cent play,we used to go without lunch so we could have a game
everyday.
2. All time favorite pin? Why?
My favorite pin would have to be Gorgar because it was the first speaking pinball and it changed the way pinball was designed from there on
when it first was released I must of put hundreds of dollars in it learning how to master it, a few years later I bought one from a place in Brisbane called
United Coin Company for $500 it was one of many pins that I would own in my lifetime.
3. Favorite pinball manufacture?
Hands down I always had a thing for Zaccaria because to me they were the most reliable machines, the playfields were so full of colour and looked brand new and needed little service, and were mostly past over by operators because of their fairly unknown name.
4. Favorite game in your collection? Why?
Over the years I have collected, then sold, then collected again, then married, then divorced and worked overseas so I really don't have much of a collection to speak of anymore I am sure a few others out there will understand what I mean but my favorite game in my past collection was Bally "Playboy" I have kicked myself for selling that one.
5. How long have you been collecting?
I have been collecting on and off for over 30 years
6. First game and how did you find it?
My first ever pinball was Fandango by playmatic I bought it from the Greek corner shop near me after the owner went broke, it cost me $85
it was the first of many pinball machines that I would own, in all I have owned and sold more then 100 machines.
7. Do you still have it?
Sadly the answer is no, I sold it in 1990 when I got a Tech job in Taiwan
8. What are you currently working on?
Currently I am working on developing Virtual Pinball type machines with multiple tables built in, the cabinets are hand made out of 18 mm plywood and use
all new Bally, Williams and Stern original parts such as side rails,lock down bars,front doors,hinges,glass lift rails,legs,and with 32 inch LCD for playfield and
26 inch LCD for backglass, and a pretty beefy computer to run all the software.
9. Most wanted game to add to your collection?
I really want to get "Attack from Mars" but the price tag has me waiting unless I can buy one cheap and restore it.
10. Best all time bargain game added to your collection?
Well few weeks ago I bought "Klondike" from EBAY and my brother is restoring that for me it cost $320 must be the EBAY bargain of the year, so far he has it all mechanically working and we are just waiting for some parts to get here from USA so he can finish it and move to the playfield restore.
11. Worst ever miss – tell us about the one that got away!
A few years ago saw a Zaccaria "Magic Castle" sell for $450 buy I really wanted that one but was outbid at the last moment by a dollar.
12. Worst ever purchase – tell us about the game you wished you never bought
There have been many but years ago I bought a Gottlieb Black hole to add to my operation run, in every shop it played up so much that I had to take it back
I stripped it down and replaced everything, went over the boards, playfield and such and put it back out again, few weeks later it started playing up again,
it was in the workshop getting fixed more times then it was out on site making money, it really was a Black hole for my pocket and cost me hundreds of dollars.
I eventually used it for parts to fix other Gottliebs then sold the rest to another operator.
13. Describe your collection
My collection looks rather sad at the moment a fully restored Bally Rolling Stones and a Fully restored Bally Kiss (Both for sale if anybody is interested )
14. Describe your gamesroom
Once again pretty sad as we have had to move many times over the last few years so the collection was sold off to cover costs and children, so we don't have a gamesroom at the moment saving that for when we get our new house, at the moment there are 6 of us living in a 3 bedroom unit with a new baby so no room for it.
15. Do you have other games other than pinball?
Yes almost every console game ever made from Atari to Playstation 3 but they are all packed away except the Xbox 360 which my son plays all the time, we have a 3 sided 1069 in 1 table that I made a while ago but it is stored at my shop.
16. Where can you see the hobby in 10 years?
I see it getting more expensive to buy pinball machines as they start to get hard to find, I really think Digital pinball machines will take a slice of the market but
for the purists these will never replace real pinball machines.
