Pinball Collectors, Collections, and Why They Collect (Case Study #1)

Today on Pinball Aficionado, we're going to take our first look at the world of collecting; the people that do it, the games they go after, and the reasons why they do what they do. What drives someone to go and fill their house with machines that cost thousands of dollars and take up massive amounts of real estate
 and weigh a ton!

Some of FLECOM's collection in his living room

Historically, that great hobby we call pinball can usually be divided into two general realms. One is the world of the operator and location games, where pinball machines are out in public spaces and are playable by the masses. The other world is that of the home collector, where individuals (usually after getting their first machine) go after and acquire games they are interested in owning and before long can have rooms, and then houses full of pinball tables. In years past, a majority of pinball owners were operators, but in recent decades there has been an ever growing shift toward collecting, so with that, let's look at our first collector.

COLLECTOR CASE STUDY #1:

Collector: FLECOM

Location: South Florida

Number of Games: Over 20

Reason for Collecting: Mental Illness 

Mental Illness??? Wha?!?!?!...................

Pinball Aficionado: "Do you go after any particular types of games, eras, or the titles from a certain designer or company?"

Flecom: "I buy games that I can find for a good price, then fix them up and restore them to a playable condition. I really love seeing these games come back to life, that's when I know my hard work pays off.

My main focus has been finding good deals on games that I feel play well and then fixing them up. I tend to prefer DMD games with good flowing shots. As for designers, I do like John Popadiuk and am very happy to own all 5 of his released games including his self described 'Trilogy of Awesomeness' (Theater of Magic, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and Cirqus Voltaire)."

PA: "You say you have over 20 games, do you have them all in once place? Where do you put them all?"

Flecom: "I'm a collector/operator, I have several games here in my place, the rest are around, wherever I have room for them, including some on location at Arcade Odyssey.

PA: "What was your first game, and how did you come about acquiring it?"

Flecom: "My first game was a Data East Star Wars, which I picked up a little over 3 years ago. I was watching 'Pawn Stars' and saw they had a pinball machine in an episode (I think it was a KISS). I thought owning a pinball machine might be neat, decided I wanted one, and went to Ebay to see what was available. Seeing that nothing was for sale nearby, I then went on Craigslist, found a DESW for sale and bought it. I picked that game as I'm a Star Wars fan. Little did I know that it would lead me into this hobby."

PA: "Very Cool! Thanks for your time."

Flecom: "No problem."


So, all you aficionado collectors out there, why do you collect? What kinds of games do you go after? If you'd like to be featured in a future profile, shoot me an email!

Till next time!

Stern Factory Visit!

On August 8th I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Stern Pinball and tour the factory. I was headed to Illinois to see family and had the opportunity to stop for a bit in Chicago and thought "Why Not?". 

Me at Stern

So I messaged the great Jody Dankberg (Stern's head of Marketing, really awesome guy btw) and got everything set up.

What an experience! As soon as I got out of the car and walked up to the building I see this group coming toward me:

(L to R): Greg Freres, Steve Ritchie, Mark Weyna, Chuck Bleich, and Steven Martin

I went nuts!!! I ran up to them, shook their hand, chatted them up and took their photo LOL. Greg is responsible for some of the most recognizable pinball art of the last 30 years. Steve R is known as "The King of Flow" for his distinctive pinball designs, Mark is a program manager and is known by fans to have helped create the great game "Scared Stiff" during his time at Williams Pinball. Chuck is the senior electronics project engineer, who used to be the electronic engineering manager at Williams for decades. Finally, Steven M is production art manager at the company, and worked on Star Trek with Steve Ritchie, Greg, and others.

After meeting that group, I went inside (some of my family was with me) and got ready for the tour. 

We were herded into the company showroom/arcade where we saw the latest games they had produced. 

ACDC Luci Premium with Metallica Pro

My nephew (and Pinball Aficionado in training) on the new ACDC LED Pro!

A Stern Rawhide (the first game old school Stern produced) with Melony beside it...a hint of the future???

The Room also had Mustang BOSS Prem, Mustang Pro, and ST Pro

ACDC LED Pro was real flashy, speaker panel is cool looking in person.

Here's the new Swinging Bell toy for this version of ACDC Pro

It's a simple pendulum that attaches at the base and uses the target (no optos or code revisions needed)

Shot from the top (I want one for my game now heh!)...

Metallica Pro, looking nice and BRIGHT....

Gary's Stand-In watching us play...hehe

After we played for a few mins, our tour guide came in....

The amazingly knowledgeable and friendly Jack Benson!

Heeeeere's Jack!

Jack was awesome! He is one of Stern's newer programmers (his first project was coding Mustang...wait what?!) and now he's busy working on the ST Code update, holy cow! He knows a TON about pinball and was the best tour guide as we proceeded to go through the factory.

Star Trek cab waiting for its playfield...

I only got a few pics in during the actual tour, as Jack was telling us everything and I kept asking him questions and we were moving fast. The two principal games that I saw being made was a ton of ST Pros and several Iron Man Vault Editions, (there were a few ACDC Pro's and a Mustang Pro getting completed, but ST and IM just dominated the line it seems).

Iron Man getting ready to kick ass...

Miles and Miles of wire....................... ;)

A Mustang Pro nearly ready...

ST Pro playfields getting ready for insertion...

ST Pro being worked on...

A ST Pro Playfield...

After the tour, I thanked Jack and gave him a Pinball Aficionado T-Shirt...

He's DEFINITELY an Aficionado! Are you? ;)

After the tour Jack took us back to the arcade room and then told us to wait a minute, and next thing I knew, my jaw hit the floor! George Gomez, John Trudeau, John Borg, Mark Weyna, all legends of modern pinball design stopped in and we chatted, it was surreal, like a dream!

George Gomez!!! (Vice President of Game Design)

John Trudeau!!! (Senior Game Designer)

John Borg!!! (Senior Game Designer)

We started talking to all of em, and it was great, talked about game routes, operating, collecting, arcades, bars, design philosophy, their time in the industry, it was great, really really great!

These guys, and their teams, and everyone they work with are responsible for some of the greatest and most respected pinball machines of the last 30 years, and it was so gratifying to meet them, the minds behind these great games!

After that, they all had to get back to work (bummer.......) and we were escorted out to get back to the rest of our trip.

Stern Pinball

It was a great time at Stern, and I want to publicly thank everyone that I met and made this visit possible: Jody Dankberg for making it happen, Steve Ritchie, Greg Freres, Steven Martin, Mark Weyna, Chuck Bleich, Jack Benson, George Gomez, John Borg, John Trudeau, and though I didn't get a chance to talk to him as he was busy, I'd like to thank Gary Stern. Finally, I'd like to thank all of Stern's very hard working employees on the shop floor for keeping pinball manufacturing alive and well in Chicago, to all of you, from the bottom of my heart: THANK YOU!

Pinball Showcase: Ripley's Believe It or Not!

"Just Hanging around Mon!" -- Shrunken Head

I was talking to someone the other day who loves pinball (has owned games, and maintains games on location) and yet she told me that she'd never had the chance to play "Ripley's Believe it or Not" before. That made me sad, as it's one of my favorites from Stern Pinball. That gave me the idea to do this showcase (which we'll do for a random game every now and then) here on Pinball Aficionado. This is not a review, just a showcase, taking a look at a game you may or may not know about, so that if you ever come across one in the wild, you might be more inclined to play it.

With that, let's look at our first showcase ever: 

Ripley's Believe It or Not!

RBION!!!

Ripley's was designed by Pat Lawlor and his design team, and released in Spring of 2004 by Stern Pinball. 

The Stern 2004 sales flyer front (thanks to IPDB and Stern for this image).

The Stern 2004 sales flyer back (thanks to IPDB and Stern for this image).

The game is chock full of material (talk about a loaded playfield)! 

Ball view of the Playfield...

It features not 1, not 2, not 3, but 6 POPBUMPERS, two playfield magnets, multiple diverters, 6 standup targets, 3 flippers, a shrunken head toy, a secret temple device with it's own built in dot display, two ramp systems with  5 ball paths to three separate exits, 2 spinners, 3 scoops, including one with an old school vari-target and up-kicker! Phew! That's a mouthful. 

The Vari-Target and the upkicker with its wireform...

The Shrunken Head...

Ball Return with one of the exits at the bottom...

If you look at the layout, it's similar to other games designed by Pat Lawlor (I guess it's true, there's only so many ways a ball can get to its destination lol). Many have compared the layout to his Twighlight Zone game from 1993 (that game also had some similar scoop, ramp, flipper, and pop bumper placement).

A shot of the Secret Temple (with its screens) in the back, and three of the pop bumpers in front...

Artwork on the game was by John Youssi, Lawlor's main artist guy on most of his collaborations. The artwork evokes an almost 1930's adventure theme, with exotic and mysterious locations and items featured in a dazzling array of comedic colors. Interestingly, the game's look was pulled from the Ripley's source material and not the television program that was popular during that time period with Dean Cain and Kelly Packard; I for one am happy with that decision, as the original source is more iconic and not as fleeting as a reality TV show. By the way, could this mean, in some roundabout way, Kelly Packard was technically screwed over by them twice? (For those that are unaware, she was going to be featured on Golden Cue in 1999 but the game got a re-theme and she was dropped) Eeesh, oh well, regardless glad they went with the hand drawn artwork for Believe it or Not!

Whoa, stuff looks pretty big from down here....

Ripley's has some very funny sound effects and quotes thanks to the efforts of Chris Granner, sound guy extraordinaire. The shrunken head comments on your play, the idol makes farting noises, game has planes, boulders of doom, even slot machine sound effects. Did I mention the fire walker screams when he burns alive (wha?!?!), tons of fun for everyone I say ;)

Rules were done by both Lawlor and Louis Koziarz, and it's mode based, meaning you need to complete all 7 continents (modes) on Robert Ripley's quest to reach the secret 8th continent of Atlantis (final wizard mode). It's a classic Lawlor mode setup, with the added feature of the secret temple toy. This toy employs a great tic tac toe system where certain ramp shots light a 3 by 3 grid and completing tic tac toe unlocks certain awards that can really help you along. Game also includes the Believe it or Not feature, a neat twist, where a novice player can side step certain requirements and get later game goals faster, and more easily.

Coming out right after the release of both "The Simpsons Pinball Party" and "Lord of the Rings" (two of the most beloved and produced machines in modern Stern history) people expected lightning to strike thrice and yet Ripley's had the unfortunate experience of falling short of those two giants in the eyes of many pinheads and pinball aficionados at the time. This was because the rules, while deep, were not as complex as those two previous games, and the ball movement wasn't as "flowey". This lack of flow was not helped due to a purposely weak right upper flipper (as originally intended by Pat Lawlor). Though its strength was improved upon with a code update, by then it was too late, and as a result of the weak flipper and lack of flow, the game got a bad rap in those first crucial months, and sales flopped. The game would be closed out by Stern, and distributors were left with many unsold units in their warehouses. 

Years later, thanks to a resurgence in pinball, and a chance inclusion of this game on The Pinball Arcade app for console and smart phone, it has been rediscovered, and people who had bashed it 10 years ago, and had not played it as it's somewhat uncommon, are realizing how solid of a game it really is, and so prices for the title have been up.

RBION on the Iphone...

As this is not a review, I'm not going to grade the game, just want to say that it is a solid game and if you ever see one, be sure and try it out, chances are you won't be disappointed!

FUN FACTS:

Ripley's Believe it or Not began as a newspaper feature in 1919 and evolved into comics, radio programs, books, television shows, and 32 "odditorium" museums all over the world! 

Original Ripley's Believe it or Not comics from the 1970's...

Ripley's is one of Keith Elwin's favorite games, if you don't know, he is currently considered one of the best, if not the best, pinball player in the world. He loves it so much, here he is doing an hour long tutorial on how to master the game and get the highest score possible for PAPA (The Professional and Amateur Pinball Association):

In 2004, "Hand's on History" a TV show from the History channel visited Stern Pinball headquarters and did a behind the scenes look at the making of this game from start to finish, check it out below!

When Ripley's was included in The Pinball Arcade, the increased exposure of this sleeper gem caused more people to take notice and resulted in a marked increase in aftermarket price (here in FL, prices rose from around $2000 in 2009 for an excellent example, to near 3000 in 2013) here's gameplay footage for Ripley's Believe It or Not on Pinball Arcade:

The World of Pinball Collecting: How to Buy Your First Machine Part 2

Following up on my last post, (about buying your first machine), my buddy also asked me about how old the games are and how you can tell an older game from a newer one. The difference in age comes down to what we pinheads call EM and SS or Electromechanical and Solid State. Electromechanical refers to games made before 1975 or so, which comprised of relays, bells, score reels, basically lacking any kind of micro-circuitry or circuit boards. These are the kinds of games you would see in old movies in the background of old bar or diner scenes. These are the types of games you see Elton John and Roger Daltrey playing in that famous Tommy Scene.

An Example of an EM Game

Games made after 1975 were made with printed circuit boards and computer logic. This allowed for more complex rules and paved the way for digitized sound, and later, more advanced scoring displays. These are the kinds of games that are made today.

An Example of a modern SS Game

As for maintenance, that is a constant when it comes to pinball ownership. Gotta remember, that silver ball is flying around that table between 4-6 MPH and is striking everything in sight. This means things can break, fall out of alignment, the rolling of the ball can leave tracks, wear on the wood, and of course dirt and soot can build up and gunk assemblies, targets, and saucers. Because of that, games need to be maintained, at the very least the playfield needs to be cleaned regularly, preferably waxed and polished often. Issues and malfunctions need to be fixed and the owner needs to either become handy, or know who to call* to fix things when issues pop up. 

*Note: if you're located anywhere near South Florida, FLECOM is a really great tech!

Now if you're new to the hobby and want to buy a machine and any or all of the maintenance aspect is scaring you, don't fear!!!

While this may look scary:

Yikes!!!!!!!!

In reality it's not that big of a deal. Everything in a pinball machine is designed to be maintained and games usually ship with manuals to help the owner out (it's not rocket science, honest!). Also, no one person is expected to know everything, so that is why pinball aficionados come together on web forums like Pinside, RGP, and on more local forums to help each other out. Local forums also facilitate how to find nearby techs that you can call to help when you're in a real bind and don't know what to do!

After telling my buddy all of this, I thought his head was going to explode, thankfully it didn't and he's more excited than ever for his family to get their first game!!!

Now it's your turn! What other tips can you think of to tell my friend on buying his first game?