Introduce yourself thread...

[Ken]

^Cliff notes version: This is my friend Tim. His balls are as smooth as eggs.

Seriously laughed hard at this and my friend Tim's story! Sorry folks Tim's 2 friend positions are now taken. We'll start a wait list if you want to apply.

[Ken]

OK so I was asked to cover a co-workers shift ON NIGHTS tonight. I'm bored, tired and don't really feel like working so I'll make a real post.

I lied earlier in the thread. My name IS Ken. I think I know most people on here but I tend to meet someone, not see them for a while and forget their name when I see them again. Ran for example, pretty sure I met him at last chance but would have trouble remembering his name if we were face to face. Please take no offense if I reintroduce myself multiple times. For the last 15 years I've pretty much been a home body when not working. Raising my kids and little else. Missed a lot of pinball in that time and am REALLY enjoying being back in the hobby.

I first remember playing pinball at Zayre department store in Racine in the late 70's. They had a food area up front with a couple of machines. For some reason I remember that they had a special slot for Susan B. Anthony coins. Video games soon took over and although I would mostly play vids in the arcades for the next decade, I'd usually play one or two pinballs before I was out of quarters/tokens. Then the early 90's came. And the bar closest to my house ALWAYS had 2 pins. I played most early 90's games there with my buddy who you guys will eventually meet.

From '95 to 2013 a lot of no pinball stuff happened. Then in 2013 I found pinside. I had been keeping an eye on pinball prices off and on for a long time and the latest search brought up pinside. I met a ton of people in 2013 and never plan on looking back. It's been a great year and I look forward to many more geat times with you guys. Pretty sure I've said it before but THANKS to all those who opened their homes and collections to me and my family. It's nice to show them good people in the world when all they hear about is negative stuff.

[Methos]

I first remember playing pinball at Zayre department store in Racine in the late 70's. They had a food area up front with a couple of machines. For some reason I remember that they had a special slot for Susan B. Anthony coins. Video games soon took over and although I would mostly play vids in the arcades for the next decade, I'd usually play one or two pinballs...

Wow...there is a name from the past. Zayre. We had one in Milwaukee, right next door to a Kohls on 27th and Morgan. I used to get alot of my Atari 2600 carts there...they had an orange star like emblem...kind of like WalMart is today now that I think about it. The clothes area was always a mess with hangers and clothes laying all over the floor. I have not thought of that store for damn near 20 years!

[Ken]

[quote="Methos] The clothes area was always a mess with hangers and clothes laying all over the floor.[/quote]

At our store that was because we would play hide and seek while mom was shopping. Used to love hiding in the middle of the round clothes rack.

[Tmac]

Hi my Name is Todd, I blame you idiots for getting me addicted to pinball!! Tmac on Pinside and here. Mac comes from people calling me Mac for short and my Dad being a teacher in town he was called Mr. Mac. Tmac came about when playing softball one year. I do have many more nicknames but space is limited.

In the 80's 90's I played more arcade games then pins. I play a pinball machine now and then though. Early 2000's when living up North Dar Hey, a local bar had an Addams Family. I just love playing it. Something about trying to complete the game learning the rules on the fly. I didn't care about the score, I just wanted to finish the game if I could.

Fast forward to 2010 I am working at the Waun-A-Bowl. We have an Addams Family as a pin on location. I was hooked again. Other games came and went. T2, Lord of the Rings, Scared Stiff etc... I get to know my repairman... Tully! (Steve) We talk pinball know and then. He tell me to go to Expo or MGC. Well I did MGC and had a blast. I talk more with Tully and we decided to host a pinball tourney at the Waun-A-Bowl. Local guys and gals we were thinking, something small for fun. Well now we are about to have the 4th Annual Waun-A-Pinball Tourney!! Tully tells me about Pinside and I meet even more people at events, more importantly local pinheads. I even meet people from the Twin Cities and travel to do events there. I feel part of a family...the only thing is I don't have a pinball machine. (sappy music)

2012 the virus takes hold!! Now my Brother lives in a Town west of Madison. I go out there and play a pinball machine at a local bar with him. That pinball game was Creature from the Black Lagoon. I loved playing it, especially against my brother doing a best of 7, 9. I had to have one. I looked somewhat for one but funds weren't there like I would have liked and I have a small Condo (Space), plus Pinball prices were rising. Then Mike S. sent me a text. I met Mike at Waun-A-Pinball and from Pinside. He gave me a heads up on a CFTBL for sale in Northern IL. Well with help from Tully I had my first pin last May. Now I am looking to sell my 1995 Corvette so I have funds for Pinball. If I ever get the room I'd like to have a Monster/Horror Themed Collection. I have no idea how to work on them but they sure are fun to play. Making all these pinball friends, I know if I need help they will come to my aide. I do know I need some pinball greese! (inside joke Up North)

[TomGWI]

Hello my name is Tom and I am addicted to pinball.
I live in Appleton. I was always into video games growing up. I loved playing games like PacMan, Donkey Kong, etc. One day I was surfing the net and discovered MAME. I discovered all the games I loved growing up. As I was searching about MAME, I came to find Visual Pinball and PinMame. I loved playing the pinball games on it and the bug started. I then found out that people actually had machines in their houses. I was blown away when I discovered people actually had full sized arcade and pinball machines in their homes.
I bought my first 2 machines in 2008. A DE Batman and a Slugfest. Yeah, I said Slugfest! They were games I remembered playing when I was younger. I then started to get the bug bad and the games multiplied. I meet some great local people who really helped me learn how to fix machines and the in and outs of the hobby. I then started going on RGP to learn more. I went to my first MGC & pinball expo in 2009 with a few buddies.
Anyways, here I am today planning and playing in tournaments and the first Fox Cities Pinball League and goofing off with you guys.

[rdexter]

My name is Ryan Dexter and I'm new to the group. I was lucky enough to get back into pinball right when this year's league started so I have been able to make a couple league nights at Hilton's and Tim's houses. Growing up I had a SS Charlie's Angles pinball machine in my basement.

Life happened...went to college, got married, had kids.

Last year I got re-introduced to my love of video games by picking up a game I played a lot as a kid in the old arcades: NBA JAM. I also picked up a new cocktail table arcade that plays 60 games. Then the pinball bug hit me - pinball cant be beat by any of the new video games..it's too real, too much going on...pinball's beauty is unmatched by the video screen resolutions and pixels. Christina (my wife) told me that I could not have a pinball machine in the house ....way too big and gaudy. I became obsessed - bought books, joined Pinside, played games on route, went on the Internet and found Wisconsin Pinball. Hilton was the first to introduce himself to me online (now I know its because he is constantly monitoring everything...thanks for that scolding of posting a CL ad on Pinside ). Hilton introduced me to Tully who helped me fixed my NBA JAM arcade monitor that was running blind. I wore Christina down with my constant pinball talk and I purchased my first table this winter from PaulyB which looks awesome next to my arcade and keeps with the basketball theme - Bally's NBA Fastbreak.

My other hobby is running. I have run over 70 marathons and ultramarathons (more than 26.2 miles) and have a blog that contains some of my adventures: http://dexterthepunisher.blogspot.com

Our "super" kids are aptly named after our love of being active: Chase (12 yrs), Cruz (10 yrs), and Dash (8 yrs). Also have two weimareners that I like to run with:

To make a living I'm a structural engineer licensed in all but 3 states. That's pretty much it. Thanks for being such an awesome group of guys. I'm really enjoying getting to know everyone.

[epthegeek]

I'm Eric. The creepy six-foot ginger.

I made this thing: http://soldmy.org/pin/ccc

As seems to be a trend, I grew up an arcade brat. Was at the arcade as much as I possibly could be. Turned up my nose at early arcade ports for old home systems (think: Atari 2600, NES) as inferior crap, etc. Would daydream about having a basement full of arcade games with friends. Got a job at the local Aladdins Castle as soon as I could (had to be 18) and loved being there, hanging out with gamers and games all day and getting paid (badly) for it. That's where I got introduced to really playing pinball by the manager who was an avid pinball fan. I ended up being the guy who took care of the pins at Aladdins and learned a lot about maintenance and simple repairs. At some point MAME happened, which killed off any need to have a bunch of arcade cabinets since the games play essentially the same, so the basement full of arcade games changed to a basement full of pins instead. First game I got was Twilight zone back in .. hell I don't remember. 95 maybe.

I'm not really a great player, and I appreciate the machines almost as much as mechanical works of art, and straight up art, as I do the playing part.

Thanks to making CCC and taking it to Expo in 2012 I met up with a bunch of other pinball fans and things just rolled from there picking up steam.

[Hilton]

nice to see this thread getting some legs

[jpolfer]

Hi, I'm Jon Polfer.

I was co-director of the WI State IFPA Championship and run two monthly pinball tournaments in Milwaukee (Fink's Bar on 2nd Monday of each month, Uptowner on 3rd Wednesday).

I live in Milwaukee.

How I got into pinball: I started playing in March of 2012 at MGC. I went to MGC because I was a video gamer and spent a lot of my teenage years pouring over electronics schematics and scheming to build my own arcade game cabinet, but had no money to do so. MGC is awesome for video gamers - I got to see an Apple 1, play a Vectrex, lots of video game systems that I had only read about or seen in pictures. On my way out of MGC, I stopped at the PinGame journal booth, manned by a big dude in suspenders. Wanted to buy a copy of Tilt, but only had a copy of a Pinball 101 DVD. "You *will* play better after watching this," he said, and I had never heard something so absurd in my life. There's skill in playing pinball? His comment felt like a challenge, so I bought it, and watched it. After playing PC pinball, trying pinball in public, going to a Gameworks PAPA circuit tournament, and then getting 2nd at the Blackbird tournament in Milwaukee, I got hooked. The fact that these are games of skill and you can get better at them still amaze me, even though I'm going on two years of being a player.

Right now, I just want to share the insight I learned from Pinball 101 with others around me, and continue to get better at my own game. Not many people do tournaments, so I offered my help to another pinball person in Milwaukee and now we have IFPA monthly tournaments. Each month we've had new people come, and its great! Just fun pinball nights at the bar. And much more fun than driving three hours through Chicago rush-hour traffic on a work night for a similar tournament.

I'm a software consultant by trade, so I write code and help people through custom computer software projects. I've built PCs and have some training in electronics. Built some kits when I was younger, including a pong game that hooked to my TV.

I tried my hand at owning machines during parts of 2012 and 2013, and realized the process was a lot more expensive and took more time than I thought. I still own one machine right now, but playing it tends to bother my apartment neighbors. I wouldn't mind owning now or in the future, but my environment and finances have to be right for it. Priorities.

[u2sean]

Hi, I'm Sean.

I've lived in the Madison and surrounding area all my life, and am currently out on the west side. During my youth I spent more time and $$ than I care to admit on mostly video games. Dragon's Lair and Space Ace took most of my money. I used to frequent many of the local establishments like Tilt, Alladin's Castle, Space Port, Bally's Tom Foolery and of course...Showbiz Pizza. The only pins that were on location when played in the early to mid 80's were Black Hole, High Speed, Haunted House, Space Shuttle and Hercules (that one was at Tilt). I somehow managed to make it to at least one of these locations on a weekly basis. Plus, I bowled over at Schwoegler's in a kids league on Saturday morning and they always had a few great games there at that time. Sadly, no more.

My uncle worked for an amusement vendor up in northern WI so we ended up getting a Gottlieb Pro Pool in our basement! We'd have kids over all the time playing that , pool and ping pong. In the 20 years we had that game, it never skipped a beat. Never. Always enjoyed playing it and decided that once I had my own place that I'd like to have a gameroom. First house brought a MAME machine. After moving I wanted to add a few pins into the mix. My first game was a Game Plan Foxy Lady. Totally not working and paid big $ on MPU repairs. Ended up trading it about a year later (it was having more issues) for an broken EM. I had also acquired a few B/C titles in the meantime and started my hand at shopping and light electrical work. Fast forward 10 years, and pins have pretty much taken over the basement (much to my wife's disagreeing at times). I'm still not the best player but continue to get better by hanging around some of the locals and picking up play tips when I can.

I live with my wife and daughter, who has become a really good player over the years! Also have 2 Jack Russel Terriers that keep me on my toes. In my freetime I enjoy bowling, running, skiing (water and snow), following U2 around when they go on tour, watching movies and of course playing and fixing pinballs! I work as a database analyst for a local independent consulting company. I've met some great people in the past couple of years attending local events, and am looking forward to getting to know more of you in the coming years.

[lg40]

Hi, my name is Donovan. I've played pinball for many years. Not hardcore in the beginning, because at that time, I played more video games. I never actually thought about owning my own machine until my friend, Vince, bought himself a Batman Forever pinball machine in 2006. I played that machine countless times; I remember playing it for eight hours straight one specific time. Not kidding!
After my divorce in 2012, I needed a change in my life. So, finally I pulled the trigger and I bought one. My first machine was the Star Wars episode 1 that I bought from Randy, who is a member of this group. I remember being so scared and thinking I had lost my mind spending so much money on a pinball machine. I was worried about it breaking down, not knowing anything about the electronics in it. But as I began to read more and study up on the electronics, I wanted to buy another one, but one that was abused. That was when the obsession started.
I am not the best pinball player; my passion is fixing and restoring beaten down machines. Since then, I have owned six different machines. I have four in my possession right now. The one thing I have noticed about being involved with pinball is the people I meet. They are by far the friendliest and welcoming people I've met. For instance, being invited by a stranger to come into his home, play pinball, and have a great time. It's something I have never experienced.
I could go on forever, but to wrap things up, I want to say thanks for everything. This has been a great experience, and I know it will continue to be.

[Hilton]

yup, all you crazy fackers are the best thing about this hobby!

Looking forward to seeing many of you this Sat at WaunaLeage and the following Sat at Waunabowl and the following Sat at $20 and a 6er!
Picking up a new game this saturday and with any luck it will be playable by the March 8th event at my pad.

[MikeS]

Hi, My name is Mike. I've lived in the Madison area since 1999 after graduating from College but have only been in the pinball hobby since 2005. I grew up in village called Roberts in western Wisconsin with a sub 1000 population. We had a general store, a couple bars and an arcade/video rental center. Needless to say I spent a ton of time in the arcade growing up. I was way more into vids/home console gaming and rarely played pinball though.-mostly because i wasn't very good at it and my quarters would last a lot longer on video games.

I actually got into pinball thanks to Tim E and my other friend Mark who isn't very active in the hobby anymore. Before that I knew of people that might have one old pinball machine in a gameroom but I didn't know that people actually collected pinball machines. After playing pinball at Tim's place (GNR in particular) I decided that I wanted to search for a game of my own. Well, one game turned into 2 and then 2 in to 3 and I slowly got hooked into this great hobby. After that I got to know Tim's brother Todd and Tim N. and started going to pinball shows like Expo and MGC.

It wasn't really until a couple years ago that I really started meeting other collectors' in the area and started playing in tournaments and becoming more active in the community. I'm excited that Madison now has a league as well as several great tournaments throughout the year. I'm also excited for the new Madison pinball location and look forward to the monthly tournaments as well!

[ChrisS]

I'm Eric. The creepy six-foot ginger.

Embrace your gingerness.




I'm ChrisS here and on Pinside. I suck at pinball and like giving my dollars to Tim N. I keep a pretty low profile so don't be offended if it takes me time to warm up to you at parties and such. Its nothing personal.

Like I said I suck at pinball but I love tinkering with them and working on them. I find them to be works of art.

Got my first machine in 96' Riverboat Gambler. Still have it in the collection. Slowly built my collection over time and things exploded about 3 years ago when I finished my basement. Now I'm trying to figure out how to re-arrange furniture to make room for more machines because I'm in deep.

Love talking shop with all you dudes and dudettes here and at people's houses.

I have a pretty open policy at my house. If I'm home your welcome to come over and play. I might not play with you because I'm working on something but the basement is always open. Just hit me up.

chris