Beers With Gary

[Ant68]

Meet up with Gary Stern and Frank Ballouz in Surfers Paradise this afternoon, Had a few Beers together and spent a few hours talking Pinballs and Meter Maids . Showed him around Surfers a bit ,doing the Tourist  shop thing, we had a ball . He Visited  Time Zone while there.
Had some heavy duty pinball conversations ,
Took them for a bit of a burn around GC , then Dropped them of at the casino .
Real nice bloke, great afternoon.
Tony 

[ddstoys]

Wow hi cool is that beers with Gary stern on the goldcoast fantastic

[v8racefan]

Wow cool

Beers with Gary Stern, what was his comments re: Timezone cavill mall?? how did Australia's biggest arcade centre rate???

[Ant68]

Wow cool

Beers with Gary Stern, what was his comments re: Timezone cavill mall?? how did Australia's biggest arcade centre rate???

He loved it ,he was amazed how big it was . The owner was sad to tell us that the pinball's don't do very well there , but Gary was very appreciative that his Pinballs where represented there and thanked him for supporting pinball  .
I noticed that the NBA and I think 24 or CSI pinball has a for sale sign on it , if anyone is interested let me know and I'll pass on the number I took a photo off.

[Ant68]

Plastic Apron's  ,first thing I said ,but looks like there here to stay .It's all about $$$
He told me to pass on there will be another LE game released soon , that will have the metal apron , and mirror back glass and plans to build one LE game per year ( or there abouts)
I said Gary ,home users need more bang for there bucks , more interactive features like there use to be . I asked him can't he come up with some type of bolt on features where buy interactive feature are added and removed when needed depending on which market it is heading to . He said that is exactly what they are working on right now , but these extra features will come at a price .
Plenty more pins on the way .

[Caveoftreasures]

the NBA, CSI, 24, batman, Spiderman etc pinballs down at surfers arent even 12 months old.

When I take my daughter down there, people are always playing the pinnies.lots n lots.
I do note, that arcade is set up really for the younger child market, although there can be lots of teenagers playing stuff, but parents always end up watching if their kids are safe and dont get too play much stuff.

it would be hard to swallow a plastic lockdown bar if i forked out 7 or 8 grand for a new stern. stern needs to increase creativity, not downsize a decent product.
where are all the great designers gone ?

[necroscope]

Thanks for posting ant,lucky you mate,i dont mind the plastic apron and as a noob didnt realise it was plastic at first and after playing on my BBH the plastic bounces the ball back into play on occasion so i prefer it over the steel apron.

[Ant68]

[ Invalid YouTube link ]

Thanks for posting ant,lucky you mate,i dont mind the plastic apron and as a noob didnt realise it was plastic at first and after playing on my BBH the plastic bounces the ball back into play on occasion so i prefer it over the steel apron.

Well there you go , EXTRAAAA BALLLLL
nice , learn something every day

[ajlaird]

Fantastic, it would indeed be fascinating to catch up with Gary. Well done!

[pinball god]

Excellent story, does he intend on Coming down to Melb or any other places in Oz?

[Ant68]

Excellent story, does he intend on Coming down to Melb or any other places in Oz?

No he's out of here , flew(virgin) down to Sydney this morning then caught a plane(united) this avo to San Fran then to Chicago, it was only a whistle stop here , he was in China promoting pinball there and arranged a side trip down under.
Spoke about China for a while , he was telling me that they are very very video inclined and would not look twice at a pinball ,but he's trying to tap into the market .
Franks leaving in the morning to Japan , he bummed around Pac Fair today .

[GORGAR 1]

Can I ask how the meeting came about? are you a personal friend of Garys and are there any pic's?

Great read.

Peter

[Ant68]

Can I ask how the meeting came about? are you a personal friend of Garys and are there any pic's?

Great read.

Peter

Yes a friend , was at his factory last Christmas with the family as well  ,we had a ball .We keep in contact .
Can I ask how the meeting came about? We pre arranged to meet after the show ,In his free time .We sat on the Cavil Mall for quite a while soaking up the scenery before hitting the streets.
I pulled him back from on coming traffic, the bugger was looking the wrong way down the street when crossing the road "holly crap,thanks for that"

[Prince]

The family and I just got back from the Gold Coast today and i must say, that Timezone is a coin ops dream.
Despite being huge and loud/noisy for that matter, I couldn’t manage a game on any of those Stern pinnies - My little one was too interested in the claw game machines.

Ps – does anyone here remember the old Timezone premises across the other side of the mall??

[Ant68]

The family and I just got back from the Gold Coast today and i must say, that Timezone is a coin ops dream.
Despite being huge and loud/noisy for that matter, I couldn’t manage a game on any of those Stern pinnies - My little one was too interested in the claw game machines.

Ps – does anyone here remember the old Timezone premises across the other side of the mall??

Yes it was in the City Beach Building