Humble Beginnings

[Vengeance]

Scott's post over on MAACA has made me think about my history of collecting games, so I'm in the process of trying to update my pinballowners.com profile to include every game I currently own along with every game I've sold. It's tough, I know I'm forgetting some as I can remember a game I bought and it never even made it in the house for some reason, I bought it put it in the garage and sold it before ever setting it up and I can't for the life of me remember why or what game it was.

Anyway I digress, as a result of my search down memory lane, I found pictures of my gameroom back when I was first starting out.

It's funny looking back, I mean, I had seating, and decorations, or just general space LOL.

Now a days, if I find a spare square inch I cram another pinball into it. Seating??!! PFFFFFFFFFT couches take up valuable pinball space.

Weird thing is, even though I have way more machines now I look at those pictures and think it looks nicer down there in my unfinished basement then it currently does in my new place with a finished basement.

I'm hoping when I build my building and I have much, much more space that I can get back to that, an entire experience rather then as many pins as possible crammed into every nook and cranny.

Time will tell, but it makes me smile to see these old photos.

 

[WARLOCK]

Adam,
Very nice. We all began somewhere. We are all heading somewhere else too.
Scott

 

[Chris Bardon]

Wow, that's a far cry from today, that's for sure. I don't really have pics going back that far-only been doing this a couple of years. had 2 games in the old place, and then when I moved, I went straight from 2 to 6 in a month, so since then the basement has looked pretty much the same save for a couple of lineup changes. Give it a few years though, and who knows where I'll have tried to expand to

 

[necro_nemesis]

I remember a pic of you hugging your gift NIB LOTR.

 

[frolic]

hows the trip getting your pins into the basement? mine is a nightmare. I have to remove the head.

 

[stiffler4444]

ha ha...I bought that Haunted House out of that basement......got it home and spent the next two days trying to figure out how to get the sound working...lol.......damn old connectors........ :lol:

 

[necro_nemesis]

hows the trip getting your pins into the basement? mine is a nightmare. I have to remove the head.

Adam's moved since those days. One of the main considerations for this current house was the man cave, access and a planned future expansion. He's really gone a long way to cater to pinheads and his obsessions. :mrgreen: It's is appreciated.

 

[Vengeance]

Small World

I can't remember if the sound was working when I sold it or not But yea those old games hate traveling

Do you still have it?

ha ha...I bought that Haunted House out of that basement......got it home and spent the next two days trying to figure out how to get the sound working...lol.......damn old connectors........ :lol:

 

[Vengeance]

hows the trip getting your pins into the basement? mine is a nightmare. I have to remove the head.

The basement in these pictures was exactly like that, I could get a machine down the stairs with the head on but then I had lots of drywall to repair afterward

Now in my new place it's a straight shot down 5 concrete steps. I've even gone as far as to hookup a pully system so I don't ever have to lift machines out of my basement again.

Then in about 3 1/2 years I plan to break ground on an outbuilding with 2000 square feet of empty space to fill with nothing but pinballs

 

[stiffler4444]

Small World

I can't remember if the sound was working when I sold it or not But yea those old games hate traveling

Do you still have it?

ha ha...I bought that Haunted House out of that basement......got it home and spent the next two days trying to figure out how to get the sound working...lol.......damn old connectors........ :lol:

Oh ya, it was working great when I came to buy it and it worked perfect once I played around with the connectors for a while. I'd probably still have it, but not being much of a tech on those older units, I was always afraid it would quit on me. Turned it into a real nice BK2000.....and now that's gone too.....

 

[Vengeance]

I remember we were having a problem with the lower left flipper, as it was rubbing on the plastic for the lower PF. I think I remember even throwing in the Haunted House pinball mat Your Wife or Girlfriend came with you I think if I remember correctly.

I miss that game, hell I miss almost all the games I've sold (Except T2 I'm done with that game).

You should have kept the BK2K I love mine But I can see how in a smaller collection it would get old fast.

Oh ya, it was working great when I came to buy it and it worked perfect once I played around with the connectors for a while. I'd probably still have it, but not being much of a tech on those older units, I was always afraid it would quit on me. Turned it into a real nice BK2000.....and now that's gone too.....

 

[stiffler4444]

Ya, that was me and my wife...she LOVED HH and it was hard to convince her to let it go (had to buy a Cyclone to appease her). I do still have the HH mat though...lol......

I have regretted moving my BK2K out, but when the basement is finished, I'll be bringing in more games, maybe some repeats....

 

[frolic]

The basement in these pictures was exactly like that, I could get a machine down the stairs with the head on but then I had lots of drywall to repair afterward

Now in my new place it's a straight shot down 5 concrete steps. I've even gone as far as to hookup a pully system so I don't ever have to lift machines out of my basement again.

Then in about 3 1/2 years I plan to break ground on an outbuilding with 2000 square feet of empty space to fill with nothing but pinballs

Nice. I'll be moving in a year and the games room will be high priority in any houses we look at.

 

[Vengeance]

Nice. I'll be moving in a year and the games room will be high priority in any houses we look at.

It was a major deciding point for us as well.

That was one of the reasons we bought the house we are currently in. Access to the basement is very easy so for the interim I can house my collection and move things in and out without issue, but I have the room to expand when ready.

Anyone else got some old timey photos of their gamerooms? Those pictures were taken back in 2007.

 

[necro_nemesis]

Probably from '04 or '05 I'm guessing

A year or so later..

 

[DRANO]

This was maybe 3-4 years ago.
My first 3 pins in order from right to left.

We had just spent 6 months renovating the basement and I had a sweet amount of space for maybe 10 pins, a home theater, an overflow room and a massive workshop/laundry/furnace room that would have been great for repairs and restoration work.

Sadly, we sold the house and moved further downtown. Now my collection has almost quadrupled, but it's also spread out all over the place.
Needless to say, I miss my house in the burbs and will likley be back there soon

 

[mwong168]

Nov 2010 - My first pin HS next to my PinMAME and SF2 Mame cab. I also had my desk with gaming computer and 4x8 pool table too on other side of the room.

Nov 2010 - Got rid of HS after 72 hours and brought home my first DMD DM the following week

Nov 2010 - Brought home a WCS94 and wife starting to worry as this is 3rd Friday in a row!

For those who have known me since I got into the hobby and been to my place recently know the rest is just history

 

[Aerostarz]

My first pin, which was in my Slot car room. At the time the other room in the basement was dedicated as the kid's playroom.

Well, after that i started moving games into the kid's playroom :roll: