1. My earliest pinball memory dates back to when I was about 6 or 7 years old. Another kid in the neighbourhood belonged to one of those families that seemed to have all the toys and downstairs was an EM pinball machine (no such thing as SS machines at that stage). I remember it wasn’t overly reliable, or they just didn’t want all the neighbourhood kids playing it, but one day it would be working and the next it would have something wrong with it. The more I think about it, the more I think it may have been a Gtb Surfer. Whatever it was though, the seed was sown, I wanted one of these very very cool machines. To me it was unheard of to have something like that in your own home, I only thought they were made for shops.
2. Wow, my all time favourite pin and why. This question is almost impossible to answer for me. There are some great machines that fit the bill from all eras. So what it came down to for me to answer this one was if I could only have one machine and had to sell every other machine which one would it be? My answer – I will never only have one machine.
I would find it near impossible to sell my Atari Superman machine – artwork is spectacular and I love the gameplay. Anyone who says that Superman is a slow old widebody hasn’t played a nice dialed in example. I think it would be extremely hard for me to sell my GnR machine as well. I have had 4 of them now and still love the game.
3. My fav pinball manufacturer. At the moment I would have to say Gottlieb. If I had of answered this question a few years ago I would have said Bally/Wms hands down. My tastes and experience have changed though and looking at my collection, it is no coincidence there are more Gtb machines than any other. I love the simplicity of their ‘70s machines, EM and SS machines alike. To look at the playfields you’d think that the game will be a piece of cake, the rules are simple but to actually work through them is nowhere near as easy as it looks. I love the look and the sounds of 70’s machines in general which relates back to childhood and my memories of corner shops and milk bars that always had a machine or two in them. In saying Gtb machines, I still have a soft spot for Bally machines of the late ’70 and early ‘80s. The artwork and themes/licences on those machines is on the whole is stunning. When it comes to DMD machines, I would probably say Wms machines.
4. Favourite game in my collection? That is like asking a parent who is your favourite child. Each game is special for it’s own reason, whether it be a childhood memory, gameplay, collectibility, the thrill of the chase and how long it took to find that particular machine, the road trip to pick the machine up, every machine has it’s own special place. To answer that question though, I guess see my answer to Qu 2.
5. I have been collecting since 2006. Like many of us, I got to a stage in life where I had had enough of pissing my money up against a wall and had settled down to family life. The hobby keeps me poor but I wouldn’t have it any other way, afterall, the machines are an investment aren’t they, or is that just BS that we all tell the Bride?
6. My first game was a Wms Bram Stoker’s Dracula. After getting the bug to buy my first machine, I started hunting around, looking on eBay and speaking to a few guys. Then I remembered another mate had an old EM machine that had a retailer’s sticker on it. That retailer ended up being Michael Shaloub. I bought the machine off him which in hindsight was nothing more than a container special. It took a while but I got it up to a very nice playing level.
7. Yes, I still have the machine.
8. What am I currently working on? Hah, trick question obviously. Probably about ¼ of my collection. It is pinball, there will never ever be a day when each and every machine is working 100%. There is a small group of us who always joke about the 30 year old wooden box with 30 year old electronics in it – what hope have we got. My latest pickup was a Gtb – The Amazing Spiderman. It needs a full shop out (I don’t do restos) so complete topside strip down, clean, replace posts, rubbers, pop bumpers, drop targets, flipper kits and any other readily available parts I can get my hands on. Clean assemblies like the drop targets, slingshots etc. I am currently waiting on the parts order to arrive from PBR. I take my hat off to the guys that have the skill, time and money to do a complete resto on a machine, Crashramp’s FG machine springs immediately to mind, but I am just not on that level. My machines are what they are, some are battered and bruised and bear the scars of what must have been a successful time out on site, others aren't too bad. With my machines I aim to get them playing 100% and as nicely as possible so irrespective of how the machine looks, anyone who plays it will walk away thinking it was worth having a game and the machine played well. I think sometimes we get fooled into thinking it is a competition to see who has the nicest example of a machine and that “your machine has more wear then mine so mine is better.” I have come across too many guys with this attitude and it simply isn’t warranted.
Anyone who has a machine, takes pride in that machine and keeps it running should be congratulated and their machine appreciated for what it is.
9. Most wanted game, well that changes regularly as wish list machines are acquired. Some are kept whilst others weren’t quite what I was expecting. There are a few machines that have evaded me thus far. TMNT is one of those machines. As my kids are getting older, the desire to buy one isn’t as strong but it does bug me that I told them I would find one and never have. Right at this moment, I would like a Metallica machine to complete the trio of GnR, AC/DC and Metallica machines.
10. My best all time bargain would probably be a Wms - Pennant Fever pitch and bat machine. I scored it for $150. As it turned out, the machine was a prototype which was conrfimed by the games designer Mark Ritchie. The actual machine is also featured on the IPDB. My machine has two different serial numbers on it, one handwritten on a piece of masking tape and then a standard serial number inside the cabinet which was added when the machine was sold as a normal production machine. It didn’t take too much to get the machine running thankfully. Did you know that Pennant Fever is the only Wms Sys 8 machine?
It is one of those odd machines that will never leave my collection in the foreseeable future and is great as having something a bit different in the collection.
11. Worst miss, well they all hurt. The one that springs to mind was a DE Simpsons machine that was a good deal. A fellow member had first dibs on it and well, both of us ended up missing out on it. DOH!
12. Freddy - Nightmare On Elm St. The machine was nothing like it was described to me and had major playfield wear.
13. I’d like to think of my collection as a good mix of machines that has something for everyone and every taste. The current line up includes – Pennant fever (Pitch & Bat), Jacks Open (my only EM), Superman, Gtb The Amazing Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, Joker Poker, Sinbad, GnR, AC/DC Premium, BSD, 6MDM, Fish Tales, Hook with Close Encounters to come. So there are good crash and bash machines as well as some more strategy/rule related machines.
14. My gamesroom – a disgrace!!!! The deal with my Bride is that there are no machines in the house so my machines have to live out in the garage which is cold in winter, hot in summer, dusty and always seems to have bloody dog hair in it no matter how often I sweep it out. My dream gamesroom would be like a bit of a hidden dungeon that no-one really know exists, purpose built that has nothing but WOW factor. Yeah sounds like a toss but when I win Lotto I WILL have it.
15. Yep, I have 2 x 60 in 1 arcade machines and an electronic dart machine.
16. Hopefully still thriving. Things are looking positive at the moment but I am fearful that as us middle aged to older guys that were around before the takeover of video machines, get older and leave the hobby for one reason or another, the hobby will decline. I sincerely hope that the current resurgence of pinball will get younger guys involved in the hobby and it will be strong for many years to come.
