Newspaper article about my son and pinball

[DSB]

A good story. Well done to you both.

[Replay]

Good article, pinball champ in the making!

[Caveoftreasures]

excellent. I would be proud to bits. 

[Pinlinds]

Thanks for all the positive replies, very much appreciated.
I'm already working in Sydney and I must say it is good to see a number of locations with good quality pinball available to play onsite, Coogee Diggers, Frankie's Pizza, Courthouse Hotel etc, over twenty machines in total. Best thing we can do is get out there and play them and get our kids and their mates to join in, once they try it most of them do enjoy it if you just explain the concept.

[swinks]

I saw the story on Sterns Facebook as well

[ktm450]

Fantastic stuff, great story, our three boys have all been diagnosed with autism also and love playing pinball, one of my 6 year old twins absolutely kicked my butt on WSC94 a couple of months back 

[carbonROD]

SUPER COOL story that should make us all proud of this hobby...no wonder you're a proud dad! LOVED IT! 

[Wotto]

I can only reiterate what others have said - GREAT story and thankyou for sharing that here.
Just a really really NICE story all round

[Pinlinds]

Fantastic stuff, great story, our three boys have all been diagnosed with autism also and love playing pinball, one of my 6 year old twins absolutely kicked my butt on WSC94 a couple of months back 

This country is so great when it comes to helping kids with issues, I'm still amazed at how the system kicked in and the level of help that was provided. Nick will lead a full normal life because he was taught how to deal with his autism. I'm quite sure I would be diagnosed with the same thing now, but I was always just told I was super shy. It took me years you learn how to 'learn to be more social' and I still battle to meet new people. But like Nick once I get to know them its all great.

[ktm450]

I'm the same as you, and my kids, I see a lot of me in them. I have also always been awkward socially, but good academically, was dux of the school, but not interested in uni, much more interested in mechanical things and working with my hands so became a fitter and turner.
It is great all the help available, most people would not be able to tell my kids are autistic, it is only when they get overwhelmed with too much going on that they shutdown or act out. Mainly sensory issues now, but they are all beautiful kind hearted boys

[Freiherr]

There are many great people who we admire and not even realise they were/are autistic. Despite their shyness to socialising, they have contributed so much to society. The fact that they are all geniuses highlights the fact that we should be thankful that they walk the earth. I look at it this way. We all have a degree of autism, some more than others. In our private minds we dream of things that mankind can create and enjoy. We are all individual and peculiar in our own special way. That's what make life so wonderful.

http://www.presidiacreative.com/famous-people-autism/

[dealers choice]

Great atuff. good luck to your son in future tournaments. 

[pinball god]

Always good to read nice stories like this. Makes life worthwhile. Thanks for the read.

[Pintoxicated]

I was thinking about your boy the other day and was wondering how he is getting on....any more tournaments on the agenda?

Has anyone ever looked into introducing pinball into Autistic schools or programs?  I might be dreaming but I would like to look into doing something with our local Aspect Centre or who knows, maybe even assisting with some type of event locally one day.

[Pinlinds]

Nick is doing really well at school this year, he has found an interest in woodwork and metalwork and just got As on his report card for both subjects.
I think I may have found a future cabinet restorer I can get some help from....
I am working in Sydney already but due to schooling situation Nick is still in Sydney with mum and his sister is here with me. It could be slowest family migration from Canberra to Sydney known to man! Nick was here last week and was going to participate in the weekly comp at Coogge Diggers, I play there on Wednesdays whenever possible and it really is a good night out. Unfortunately under 18s have to leave the pub area after 7pm so Nick couldn't play but Norbert is looking at getting families and youngsters in on a Sunday during the day.
I haven't seen much about pinballs being used in autism treatment but the idea certainly holds merit; I was contacted by a family in Canada who also saw the article about Nick and the mum contacted me and told me that her son is autistic and loves playing pinball both at home and in active competition. The family felt he had benefitted a lot both socially and in terms of hand-eye coordination.

As for me well I'm currently putting pinball machines on site in Sydney and will be launching a more comprehensive coin operated round during the course of the year ahead and into the future this will include redemption and videos such as Big Buck hunter - I've operated machines in the past and it's a side of the business I enjoy.
I hope to have at least two bigger pinball venues in the near future, one on the lower North Shore and one in the Western suburbs to host teams and competitions and generally promote pinball to the public out there and help build the APL. As much as I'm aware pinball on site is unlikely to turn me into a mega millionaire I also know that if we don't keep as much presence out there as possible the industry will die and one day so will the value of our games. An item only has value if there is demand. Once kids are shown how to play pinball, they really do enjoy it!

To that end I may take me a little longer to get going as fast as I wanted to. I took a contract with a media organisation until the end of this year, they hired a number of very experienced contractors including myself to upgrade their financial system and no sooner had we completed the full system design work - the most important and hardest part of an upgrade - than we were all given notice and the work was sent to a cut price offshore mob to do the rest of the work! I can't see it going too well, the offshore crowd's technical expert sent me scripts to run and kept asking me questions for the wrong type of database even after he was told on a number of occasions verbally and in writing what the right database was, I've had years of experience with these situations and they always cost more than anybody is told they will!
Anyway long story short I need to hold off on some purchases until I've secured more work as I've no idea how long it will take. I've already had to back out of a Spiderman purchase and I feel awful about that but I now sit a with a mortgage and rental to pay (yep two homes at the moment!) so I need to keep an eye on spending.

Fortunately for Sydney pinball players in addition to other machines bought last year and earlier this year I had also paid for a new Star Trek Premium and new Iron Man several hours before we got canned so those will still arrive. Nick gets really excited about unboxing events (and so do I).
I'm using the time I have between gigs now to complete the setup and promotion of my business so I'll be putting some updates up here and on the other forums soon.