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Pinball wizard Danny Daly flips his fortunes after $30,000 theft
Nathan Davies
Sunday Mail (SA)
July 05, 2014 8:16PM
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Danny Daly with some of the pinball machines at Game Room Essentials, Gepps Cross.
Danny Daly with some of the pinball machines at Game Room Essentials, Gepps Cross.
WHEN a thief stole $30,000 worth of pinball machines and video games from Danny Daly’s fledgling business last year, he admits he seriously considered throwing in the towel.
The 42-year-old former Holden assembly line worker had invested part of his redundancy package in the machines, hoping to turn a passion for retro gaming into a business that could support his young family.
“Someone who had a key to the building I was renting stole four pinball machines, seven arcade machines, a jukebox – it totally destroyed me,” Mr Daly said.
Now, thanks to the support of the gaming community and construction company Bianco, Mr Daly is back and bigger than ever.
GameRoom Essentials, housed in an unused Gepps Cross office building that Mr Daly rents from Bianco at a discount rate, is now home to 37 pinball machines – Australia’s largest publicly accessible collection.
There are also dozens of vintage video game machines, a canteen and plans for a band stage and a mini-golf course.
Mr Daly said he was yet to pull a wage from GameRoom Essentials, but was amply rewarded by the joy of young people “playing the silver ball” for the first time.
“The kids have never seen anything like it,” he said.
GameRoom Essentials is now running Saturday night family “lock ins” where, for $25 for adults and $15 for kids, retro gamers can get a serious case of flipper finger over five hours. It will be a familiar concept for those who remember the old Downtown arcade in Hindley St.
“We get big families coming in and having a ball,” he said.
“Amusement arcades have become very expensive. Then you always have one of the kids who has used all the credit on his card and has to stand around while his brother keeps playing games. That doesn’t happen here.”
The lock-ins have proved so popular that GameRoom Essentials has now expanded the concept to Thursday nights.
“We’re calling it the ‘husband crech’,” Mr Daly said.
“If the wives want to go shopping on a Thursday night they can drop their husbands off here and we’ll look after them.”
The arcade is also hired by schools who teach students with behavioural issues and charities who supervise people who have trouble integrating with society.
Mr Daly said that while he hoped to one day make a living from GameRoom Essentials, for the time being all money raised is being ploughed back into the business.
“I get a lot out of the enjoyment of the people who come here to play,” he said.
“Everyone has a pinball story.”
Mr Daly said the next stage of development would involve an indoor mini-golf course and a stage for bands.
He said he hoped to provide a location where bands could get some exposure in an all-ages, alcohol-free environment.
Anyone interested in helping to fund the expansion can contribute to the crowd-funding site through the gameroom essentials facebook page
Originally published as Danny flips his fortunes after theft
