[JonathanLB]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

Actually they just paid over 4 million for a new site near Russell Road. And they are proposing to build a new building shaped like a pinball machine on the site. Apparently they have 800 machines in a warehouse to go with the 200+ in the present facility.

Sounds like a fascinating non profit. Only in Las Vegas....

That's awesome, I'm excited about it. In Portland we have Ground Control, one of the most successful (for profit) retro gaming "barcades," as they call them, where you can drink and play retro arcade games. It's a really awesome place and so successful they just expanded into a nearby lot, doubled the size of their business, and took a bunch of stuff out of the warehouse so they could have more room for everyone. They have pinball machines as well. I'm big into retro gaming and somewhat into pinball. I have a MAME arcade machine that runs almost any older game, and I also have a virtual pinball machine that was a lot more expensive (because of the multiple screens to run it and more sophisticated architecture) but it's a ton of fun. It can virtually emulate quite a few tables, I think I've only bothered to put about 80 or so onto mine, but it has a great physics engine so it feels just like playing the real thing. I was definitely impressed, you can even hit the side of the cabinet and move the ball, it's super responsive.

I would really like to check out the Pinball Hall of Fame, sounds amazing.

[WVREDLEG]

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

In Portland we have Ground Control, one of the most successful (for profit) retro gaming "barcades," as they call them, where you can drink and play retro arcade games.

There are 4-5 in the valley.

[JonathanLB]

Originally Posted by WVREDLEG

There are 4-5 in the valley.

Wow, talk dirty to me. That's awesome! lol. I knew there was at least one, but I wasn't sure about others, I'll have to check them out. My favorite thing (not sure if any offer this) is when Ground Control has their twice-a-month "free play" nights, so it's $5 entry fee after 5 p.m. and every arcade machine is set to free for the rest of the night. It gets super busy, and they make their money on drinks mainly, but it's always on off nights like the first Tuesday and last Wednesday or something like that. No issue for me as I'm self-employed, but it's such a great deal to just play whatever you want for $5.

[WVREDLEG]

http://hiscoreslv.com/

One of the options. Games are free. Dig through the webpages and it has the list of games at each location.

[JonathanLB]

Umm, 24 hours and the games are free? What in the... Wow. Even the things I think are nice in Portland are still horrible compared to the same thing in Vegas. That is absolutely amazing lol. Thanks for the link! I'm so excited.

[David56]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

Actually they just paid over 4 million for a new site near Russell Road. And they are proposing to build a new building shaped like a pinball machine on the site. Apparently they have 800 machines in a warehouse to go with the 200+ in the present facility.

Sounds like a fascinating non profit. Only in Las Vegas....

I think the Tim Arnold story would make a great movie or documentary, from a pinball perspective, but also as a classic, if somewhat quirky, American success story. If memory serves, he started with one machine in his parents' garage in the 1970s. He added machines, outgrew the garage, and eventually opened up pinball parlors near Michigan State University in East Lansing and near University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I was at MSU during those early years and his places were packed, especially one at MSU next door to a very popular bar on the main road between campus and the city. He amassed a fortune one quarter at a time. As pinball declined in popularity and video games came on the scene in the early 1980s, Tim didn't sell his machines back to the manufacturer (they offered a pittance), he just saved them (600-800 machines). He moved everything to Las Vegas in a large part because the climate was dry (good for pinball machine storage) and friendly to nonconventional businesses. He was a huge benefactor of the Salvation Army when he first put his machines into a building and made them available to the public. The article I remember reading stated the Salvation Army considered him an angel from Heaven, or something to that effect. There's so much more to the whole story and I might have made some minor errors in what I've written, but you get the gist of it.

[lvmensch]

you know I really should look him up. I came from the last of the EEs that knew about Relays and Vacuum tubes...I got semiconductors as well but did at least get exposed to relay systems. In fact I think I designed the last copier done by Xerox with a relay control system. A one off specialty machine that went into a Federal Agency...but a quite complex relay system. Then again the pinball machines may have gone more electronic then I think...By 1970 it was obvious. Maybe I will drop in though I have to be careful the Admiral does not find out. She will not approve.

[JonathanLB]

What a great and cool story! Usually the owners of these types of places are also huge fans (even if the place is for profit), they’re big on preservation of these past classics, and they restore a lot of older machines themselves. It’s very cool as a big retro gaming fan.

[David56]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

you know I really should look him up. I came from the last of the EEs that knew about Relays and Vacuum tubes...I got semiconductors as well but did at least get exposed to relay systems. In fact I think I designed the last copier done by Xerox with a relay control system. A one off specialty machine that went into a Federal Agency...but a quite complex relay system. Then again the pinball machines may have gone more electronic then I think...By 1970 it was obvious. Maybe I will drop in though I have to be careful the Admiral does not find out. She will not approve.

Electromechanical relays were common in pinball machines until the late 70s when solid state electronics started to appear. If you visit PHoF, ask a tech to open up a 1960s to mid-1970s machine. You'll see it packed with wires, switches, reels, motors, etc. Then ask to look at a 1990s solid state machine that can do so much more than the earlier machines. It is nearly empty by comparison as most of the components have been minaturized into transistors, chips, and circuit boards. I used to own 9 machines from the 1950s through the 1990s. Most of my friends have no background or interest in electronics or machines, yet they seemed excited about seeing the inner workings and seeing how these have changed over the decades.