Who was the first person you met who owned a real pinball machine?

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Who was the first person you meet who owned a real pinball machine?

For me (back when I was a teenager), it was the cool kid on the block. A few years older than the rest of us, lived in a shack in the back yard of his parents place, knew of all the cool bands.
And in his shack he had a Gottlieb Pro-football

 

[kev a]

I guess.... Me!

Until seeing other peoples collections online, I had never really considered owning ex commercial gaming equipment was a thing.

 

[Andydn]

Mine was Tobin, 2019, bought my first pin (The Shadow) from him. Had about 20 different ones since then. Discovered this forum at the same time and visited flip out where I met Matt Vince & plenty of other wonderful people.

 

[Fubar]

Guy at work had 2 games at home. When moving house he donated them to the company and they've been in the office since. Playing them during my coffee breaks is what got me into pinball!

 

[carl lawrence]

For me it was @mufcmufc when I bought a pinball seat of eBay for my SF2 and when Iwent to collect it I had a shock of my life on how many machines he had !!

 

[AlanJ]

We had two in the 6th form centre at school 1978. One of the teachers owned them and charged us 5p a game. No idea what they were, pretty sure they were both EM's

 

[zxspectrum16k]

It was @AlanJ , and his collection blew me away.
Last year, I visited Replay Blackpool and spent the entire day playing pinball instead of arcade games. My son and I decided that we had to have one, a few weeks later Martin delivered one and directed me to this forum. When I introduced myself in a post, I mentioned my interest in some machines. @AlanJ responded that he had a few of them and generously invited me to his place to try them out since he lived nearby.

It is a great, supportive community!

 

[cooldan]

for me it was Stan Simpson @bartron in 2010 i think. i'd recently just bought my first machine, STTNG, and massively overpaid for it. not sure how, but i came across Stan somehow and he took me under his wing and invited me to come to a league meet at Dawn Raison's place where I also met @johnwhitfield , @Matt Vince and Martin Ayub @PinballNews for the first time. From that day i was hooked, and jumped in with both feet.

 

[Kenny Taylor]

What got me into pinball was Pinball Arcade then from this forum I was introduced to someone fairly local called Banzaipinabll. Who still to this day has one of the best collections of retro pinball machines in the uk.

 

[Judderman]

Guy called Paul Spann - was IT manager where I worked once. Think my interest in arcade games was instrumental in me getting the job. Vaguely remember he sold them all to fund building a replica of a Comet cockpit - been on local news a couple of time for his Hallowe'en & Christmas light displays.

 

[Calimori]

I was the first person I knew who had one at home, people I knew thought I was mad to get one for home.
By the time it had arrived I had found this site and as @cooldan was local, I invited myself to his Tiki Hut.
Followed him to a few league meets and met the same people he referenced above and the rest became history.

 

[windoesnot]

Steve Brum and @mark9 at a retro show in Wolverhampton in 2014, after that several of the NLP lot

 

[Pooman2084]

I had no idea that anyone else would have one when I first got my first, a STTNG off eBay. I’d never seen one in anyone’s home before.

 

[M4carp]

At high school in the 80’s I knew operators through a mate who was an electronics genius so was repairing boards, was in London then.
So there was a few people with pins and video games at home and work, one that stands out the most was a garage/mechanic who had a few pins at work. Thought that was very cool. Even cooler for me at the time was Wembley Loudspeakers around the corner from the garage, I bought a few 18” scoop bins

 

[mark9]

Steve Brum and @mark9 at a retro show in Wolverhampton in 2014, after that several of the NLP lot

Are you sure? I don’t think i’ve ever been to Wolverhampton….
I think first time I met you was when you helped me set up my pins at NLP.

 

[mark9]

My Dad bought a Bally Harley Davidson new to operate, got to test it at home first.

 

[kevlar]

Me after buying a getaway off eBay in 2012. Actual answer is Dave Willcox aka @PinballDaze. I needed a few bits for my Getaway and Google lead me to Dave who only lives about 9 miles away. I went to his house to collect spares and was shocked to see a living room full of pins .

 

[Taxiturn]

My dad, he started repairing and selling EMs and other vintage arcade machines (all wins etc.) in 2020. Would have a little go on whatever he had at the time whenever I’d visit, a couple of times a year. I then bought my first EM from him last summer and that’s when I got the bug and started playing on location

 

[Alan Syson]

Me. Mid 80s I knew this dodgy fella, had a second hand shop in South Shields and used to get sent down periodically for fencing iffy gear. I’d sort him out with cheap spex, he was always breaking them in Durham nick, and he’d reciprocate with free EMs, Mibs, Aquarius and one I’ve forgotten.
Few years later I bought EB Deluxe and Barracora from operators.

 

[steve brum]

Not counting operators like Costantos the chip shop guy in Dale End Birmingham who owned a Mrs and Mrs Pacman throughout my school years "upgrading" to a Millionaire in 1987, the first private pinball owners were those I met at the POA show in Birmingham in 1986 . The first owner I was brave enough to talk to was Phil Crow in an admiration of his Centaur. I know pinball giants Gary Flower and Bob Thomson were there but I didn't talk to them!

 

[Andy.S]

My friend @Happypin invited me over to his after work to show me his TZ he’d just brought over from cypress. Don’t think I’d even knowing seen a pinball machine before but I knew what they were. I watched him play and thought how boring it was, then I was my turn and I was trying desperately not to lose the ball then after the first go I wanted another go and so on.
Over the next couple of years Alan started buying more pins and I was over regularly to play them. Now a few years later I’ve owned 10 and have 6 at home.
Funny what can happen over a hand full of years

 

[jonathan]

Me! But randomly bought a Shadow off eBay from a bloke 1mile from my house which was canny!

 

[Epotech]

Guy I bought my first machine off in 1986. Saw it in a local paper, was selling as he'd bought a firepower. Showed me the pinball owners association newsletter. Later I sold that Fathom as a Px for BK2000 off some dodgy bloke called @steve brum he had a lot even then!

 

[Pick Holder]

Was a guy called Dave Walker - he was an electronics engineer who worked at Stansted airport. He had been into pins since the early 80s. I would guess this was 1997/8 ish.

He came to brum and bought a vinyl juke off me.

Then he called me and said if I could get him a CD jukebox he would swap it for one of his pins - a Dr Who pinball.

I found a CD juke and went to his house with it in East Grinstead and I stayed over night as he gave me a quick lesson on repairing wpc games. Something I owe him big time for.

Also he had a BK2000 and a ToM. He let me play the BK2000 no hassle but did not want me to play ToM as he said 'if you play it - you will want it....'

Before leaving his house with my newly aquired Dr Who he let me have a game on ToM. He was right. I did want it. I spent months nagging him to sell it me.

I eventually did a trade with my 3rd pinball Flintstones (Judge Dread was the 2nd) along with cash for his ToM.

Still dearly love Flintstones but back then it was a £300 machine. Nobody liked it. Like No Fear.

Over the next few years I met Aid Cooper, Mark Squires, Phil Dixon, Telboy, Nick Bennet (pins anon), Nick Marshall, Steve Pagget and of course Mr Palmer who on and off I have done work for him over the last 25 years.

 

[Asiapinball]

Me. 2001. When the Mrs was pregnant with our eldest she said to me that as we wouldn't be going out so much why don't I get myself a pinbal machine for the house. A minty refurbished TOTAN was air freighted from Netherlands to Hong Kong soon after. She's a keeper as is the wife. Still have both.

A few months later I met a Danish guy in Hong Kong who had a LW3 in his tiny flat in WanChai. It took up half his living room. I helped him out by fixing a few things on it.

 

[Spandangler]

Me!! 2009. Stumbled upon them whilst generically searching retro stuff on eBay. Promptly went out and bought Williams pinball classics for the PS3 then bought a BOP off eBay for £450. It was a wreck in hindsight but I loved it. Joined the yahoo group and met the south coast crew at the Slam.
Lived in an apparent pinball vacuum in East Anglia for over a decade until @David_Vi and @Lecari uncovered a sleeping giant which is now affectionately known as EAPA. A wonderful group of people whom I very much enjoy the company of once in a while

 

[Happypin]

Me, searched the internet in 2005. Good items to put in a games room, PINBALL!!!! came up with darts, pool table, table football, slot machine. So I got one of each for the holiday home in Cyprus. A divorce forced me to clear my belongings out of Cyprus. The T.Z came to the U.K the other silly games I left behind, and that’s when the problem started.
Sorry @Andy.S for inviting you over. You have only 6, I’m sitting on 10.
The friends I’ve made because of this hobby has been wonderful. T.Z is still with me, Long live the T.Z.

 

[Jay Walker]

Not counting operators like Costantos the chip shop guy in Dale End Birmingham who owned a Mrs and Mrs Pacman throughout my school years "upgrading" to a Millionaire in 1987, the first private pinball owners were those I met at the POA show in Birmingham in 1986 . The first owner I was brave enough to talk to was Phil Crow in an admiration of his Centaur. I know pinball giants Gary Flower and Bob Thomson were there but I didn't talk to them!

I'm not sure if Bob was already prominent then. As I understood it that was his first tournament win, on the machine loaned by Deith Leisure, a Road Kings. This may have been the reason he later had one at home long-term, while others came and went.

At that show I asked Jerry Sidman about his own design/build (The) Omen. And was politely warned off a Gottlieb e/m game in use for qualifying, by the marshal Marie Dutton.

 

[Paul]

Nobody liked it. Like No Fear.

You take that back... No Fear is great!!!!...........