Hobby Operator Log

[smokedog]

Entry # 12 -
Tournament was good. I placed poorly again. This time I blame Creech for being the evil machine that it is.

Players enjoyed Metallica, all positive comments. Game held up well, though games did tend to be a little longer than I thought they would.

AC/DC's right flipper was sticking up early on. Turned out the coil stop had broken and had to some play to it. Pulled one from LotR in order to get AC/DC back into tourney play, and went in the next day to replace the one on LotR.

Iron Man almost ready to head out onto location. New magnet cores installed. Wear will stay. New PF will be installed when it gets pulled from route and set up at home. Tron will be leaving the location after a year's stay.

 

[smokedog]

Entry #13 -

Line up stands at Tron, AC/DC Pre, Metallica Pro, Creature and Iron Man. Games are holding up well. Only call out I got was 'Metallica is eating money'. Solution over the phone ... 'Bang the front of the coin door with your fist and press the coin return' ... 'Awesome, 2 loonies, 3 twonies and a quarter came out!' ... Man, you'd think some people have never been to an arcade.

Addams Family arrived at the shop, and once it is shopped out will be replacing Tron. Missing a part only Marco has. Cost is $2.50, after shipping to Canada is over $20. I'll order it through StarBurst. Lame that Marco changed the shipping to iGlobal.

Earnings are up, and our tournaments see new faces every month. Word of mouth has been good. Dropped by last week for a pint and couldn't even get a game in on my machines! All full. Which is a good thing.

 

[bstock]

This is amazing... I don't care where you are, people WOULD play more pinball if there were more operators like this. Nice well maintained machines that work the way they are supposed to WILL earn money. I'm convinced of that. Pinball is an amazing game and I think the fact that most people unfamiliar with pinball are exposed to too many machines that are in disrepair.

Smokedog you are one of a dying breed. Keep up the good work. Whenever I'm in Saskatoon (and I will be at some point), I will be pumping your machines full of money. If I'm lucky enough I may even have the pleasure of meeting you.

 

[smokedog]

Thanks for the praise bstock! PM me if you plan on being in toon town, I'll make sure to come for a pint. That offer goes out to all as well. Pinball is best as a social game, kind of the reason I'm doing what I do, and why I started the league.

My buddy was working late in his shop just the other night, listening to the local AM rock station. DJ queues up Metallica and proceeds to mention that a Metallica pinball will be released soon, and he would love to play it. Song starts, so my buddy calls the station and let's the DJ know that the pin is already released, and can be played at my location. Song finishes, DJ comes back on and proceeds to tell listeners to go play the pin now at my location! Hope to see a little bump from that.

Here's a short vid a local company did on the association a year and a half ago. Shows my location, though pins are in a new spot and the line up has changed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9iQbIsATC4

 

[smokedog]

Entry # 14

Got a text yesterday from a player. Metallica is taking money, but not serving up balls.

Quick trip out. LED from spot light stuck in trough. Smash a beer. Initials up on Iron Man. Back home in 25 minutes.

 

[smokedog]

Entry #15 -

Collect and clean day. Played a game on each after to ensure good working order. Creature won't start a game "Missing Balls". Peek in the trough, and there sits a star post. WTF? Found it's spot to the right of the pops, and it wont screw back in as it does not have enough wood to grab. Hmm, run home and grab the proper stuff to fix, or be a lazy operator? One toothpick from the bar, star post is back installed. Let's see how long it lasts! I will fix properly when it gets rotated out for shop out. Issue noted in Creature's log.

The log's are longer the older the machines get.

Metallica is the clear earner the past couple of weeks. Very popular with the players.

 

[tim.sanderson]

Too bad you didn't have a bottle of CA ... the toothpick trick would have worked even better!

Great reading as always. Keep up the good work!

 

[smokedog]

Entry # 16 -

Long time no post. I've bought a new house and have many reno's going on. More on that later ...

Was hard to get to the location for a bit as we had the exhibition going on. Really hurts earnings as all the regulars won't pay $6 to park, and the carnies just go play free ping pong.

Headed down yesterday morning to take a look at what I have to bring with me today.

- AC/DC has a right flipper button sticking randomly. Probably whiskey/coke combo. Will soak and blow dry with canned air.
- Sling rubber on Tron need replacing. AC/DC flipper rubbers need replacing.
- Fixed the lower play field targets on AC/DC. Left/Right had both moved over behind the posts and could not be triggered. Shoved them back into place.
- Will rebuild Creech's right flipper, as it weakens as games continue.
- IM is the clear dog. Even Tron is out performing it, and it has been in the same spot for over a year. People don't like getting kicked in the balls apparently.
- Metallica still the big earner

Addams Family is getting ready for location, but I can't seem to get that damn book case level. Going to pull the entire mech out and see if it's base is cracked. Kwik wood the chair wear and install Cliffy. Replace rubber's, top side tear down and clean. Replace thing flips opto's.

I'm in the middle of converting my single attached garage into a huge family room, half devoted to pins, half to movie watching. Looking forward to completion, which is only a week or two away. Replacing the single garage with a detached double in the back. One side for me to park, one side for a giant pin shop (finally! No more sanding in the house.) Super stoked, all should be complete by mid-October.

All the above means some pins are leaving I need to pay for it somehow!

 

[tim.sanderson]

All the above means some pins are leaving I need to pay for it somehow!

That is a completely valid reason for selling a few pins. I'm sure we all hope you document the construction process!

 

[smokedog]

I love playing at my location. Something just seems to be a little nicer than playing at home ... the pints maybe? The big screen sporting events? I can't put my finger on it ...

 

[smokedog]

Entry # 17 -

Holy sh%t! Long time since I've had a chance to post. Frikin busy life.

Good news is the reno's at home are done and I have a proper game/family room. Not huge, but can fit 4/5 pins comfortably. Bad news is the garage/workshop build got interrupted by nature, and the finish will have to wait until spring.

Location is down to 4 pins for now while I get some new ones ready. AC/DC Pre, Tron, Met Pro and NBA Fastbreak.

Since the last update:

- Tron has been solid, but earnings have dropped. I really want to bring it home for a full shop. Plus I want to reach portal!
- AC/DC - earns great! The 3x scoring LED board is constantly on. Canon recently started auto-firing, and one TNT drop is not registering.
- Met Pro - still waiting for code, sigh. Replaced a broken rubber mid way up the play field. Inserts feel like they are raised, which is worrisome. Reported to Stern. Not cool on a pin so new. Few flashers in the trough, but otherwise solid.
- NBA Fastbreak - took in on trade and it went straight into location. Fuse popped day 2. Following week flipper opto plastic interrupter broke in half (don't stock these, waited two weeks for part). Next day after being fixed the 7 opto board died (Ground short error on row 3. Took awhile to figure out it was that board that died). Swapped with one from my JM and ordered parts from digikey to fix. Plays great now!

Contract with the location expires in April, so will be renewing with new terms.

New season for the league starts on the 28th, followed by the IFPA Provincial Championships on Feb 8th. Hope to have a few new games in and bring Tron home. Games going in are Johnny Mnemonic, Mystic, Quicksilver, Star Trek Pro and maybe Stars.

2014 may see something big happen for pin in toon town! Early to discuss, but I am excited by the possibilities.

 

[smokedog]

Entry # 18

Apologies for the lack of updates! Life, new GF, new puppy, increasing amount of 9 to 5 work, etc. I plan to update more frequently (more than once every 6 months anyway!). I saw my name mentioned in another thread, so I will update the status of my location, and try to answer Sup3rdaddy's questions afterwards.

Well, January to April passed with a few fixes and a few machines going in and out. IJ 93' went in at one point, and was OOO (Out of Order) more than it was up. What a beast to maintain and fix on location. Worse than TZ in my opinion.

April was time to renew the contract with the location. They delayed for a long time and would not meet. As a business strategy (and since two new locations have popped up in town), I decided not to hold the leagues tournaments at my location, and I ended up pulling out AC/DC Pre and Met Pro (the two biggest earners) and left ST Pro, Whirlwind and LotR.

After a couple of weeks, the locations manager contacted me and set a date for the meet. Apparently, there were a lot of questions from customers regarding where the pins went, and when they were coming back. Once again, money talks and BS walks. Once they saw that their bottom line was affected that is.

The new contract negotiations went great! Every 3 months we review the contract to determine if the split is fair. More traffic (booze and food sales) means more percentage for me. As it stands, we are at 75/25, with 5% coming off the top for parts and supplies.

I have dropped the # of pins to 4 from 5. 5 did not increase revenue, it just split it up among machines and my weekly visits to clean took that much longer.

Currently at the location are Whirlwind, AC/DC Pre, ST Pro and LotR. Incoming are WoZ (end of Sept, will replace WW), MMr (will replace ST Pro) and potentially TWD (will replace LotR). I have a decent stable of pins at home, so every once in awhile a pin will swap in while a pin gets shopped head to toe. I tend to put every proactive protective measure on my pins before going on location, clean and fix regularly, so they stay in very nice shape.

Now, for questions I saw posed in the other thread ...

Get insurance. No question. It's fairly cheap (around $800 for the year), and that includes 1 million in liability.

You will not get rich doing this. I do it for the league, to promote pinball, and to help defer the costs of my collection. I'm into the fourth year at this location, and business keeps improving. Summer is slow, winter is great.

Rotate games. It keeps the players interests up. If something is still doing well after 3 months, keep it there (AC/DC for me). If it's a dog (I'm looking at you, Tron) replace it.

I'll try and keep up on the updates. My shop is getting insulated and boarded in the next two weeks, then I have to organize, take stock, etc. I have 2 personal pins in the restore queue, followed by 3 client restores. Busy winter plans!

Keep on flippin'!

 

[REVOLUTION]

This is great man, keep 'em coming. Congrats on the positive life changes as well.

 

[smokedog]

Forgot the obligatory puppy pic!

 

[smokedog]

Entry # 19

Collected, cleaned and updated ST Pro to the latest code. Good game just got better!

I am going to attempt to run a TOPS tournament on AC/DC, and see if it increases earnings at all. Should be ready to go soon.

New pin comes home tomorrow, then will head to the location towards the end of the month.

 

[smokedog]

Entry # 20

A few line up changes to report!

ST Pro left in a trade deal. The line up now stands at Whirlwind, WoZ ECLE, AC/DC Pre, LotR and Theatre of Magic. WW is currently for sale (with zero interest from buyers, the market has changed out here) and ToM will be up for sale shortly. Once those are gone, MM (Original) will go in.

Earnings are good, traffic is good, and we've had a few new members join the league.

Not much on the repair front. LotR Gimli VUK switch needed adjustment.

WoZ needed quite a bit to get ready for location, and a few issues have cropped up since. It's an early model, and it shows. No connector on one of the wires running down from Munchkin play field means no quick removal without adding a connector in (official tech support from JJP response), but I managed to get the Cliffy edge protector on it using the one screw and double sided tape. Cliffy at the trough eject and the throne room VUK. Mylar the shooter lane. Had to bend the ball guide rail at the crystal ball in order to stop the metal shavings all over the play field.

Once on location, first week W9 LED board died. A couple days later, board 18 died. Next day board 21 died. New boards are on their way from JJP, but I'm sure more will go eventually. Stinks to have to go to location so much just to reroute data cables/software adjust to get the light show working. As an OP, I would much appreciate one trip to replace all the boards, then several trouble tickets, several weeks wait and several trips to location to fix.

Yesterday went to re-attach one of the trees to a pop bumper, and noticed more metal shavings everywhere. Going back today to try and discover where those are coming from. Ball guide is my guess, probably. Sigh.

 

[eh97ac]

Still one of my favourite threads!