Chicago Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Hi All, There is a lot of interesting reading here and plenty of enthusiastic contributors. Great to see so many great home game rooms with so many interesting machines. We (my brother and I) were once operators based here in Melbourne. We operated in pubs, amusement arcades, pool halls, sports clubs, shops, clubs etc. We supplied and operated pinballs, videos, juke boxes and other equipment. As kids in the 70s we figured we may as well own the machines we were putting money into and gradually got larger by finding sites and buying locations from other companies. We sold a lot of pinballs into homes and had a weekly Trading Post ad and were prominent in the Yellow Pages (pre-internet days). Not too many others offered an on-site warranty on used pinballs like us back then; most machines were reliable but we have a few horror stories about a handful of games that cost us more than one return repair. If you have the letters "CA" spray painted under your pinball in blue paint, then the game came through us. We had a few really top sites, many average ones and some dog locations to park and rotate equipment in and out of. There were many highlights during our operating years including going to the Williams Bally pinball factories in Chicago and Waukegan as special guests and being hosted by Joe Dillon (GM) himself. I loved pinballs and old EM arcade pieces, especially gun games. We have kept a few, but sold out of the amusement business over 15 years ago and now have a company in another industry. I'm looking forward to reading a lot more here on AA and am happy to share stories and info. on the business back them and the crazy low prices we sold stuff for. We should have kept at least one of our Adams............ or even a Twilight! David (Formerly Chicago Amusements P/L) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddstoys Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Hi All, There is a lot of interesting reading here and plenty of enthusiastic contributors. Great to see so many great home game rooms with so many interesting machines. We (my brother and I) were once operators based here in Melbourne. We operated in pubs, amusement arcades, pool halls, sports clubs, shops, clubs etc. We supplied and operated pinballs, videos, juke boxes and other equipment. As kids in the 70s we figured we may as well own the machines we were putting money into and gradually got larger by finding sites and buying locations from other companies. We sold a lot of pinballs into homes and had a weekly Trading Post ad and were prominent in the Yellow Pages (pre-internet days). Not too many others offered an on-site warranty on used pinballs like us back then; most machines were reliable but we have a few horror stories about a handful of games that cost us more than one return repair. If you have the letters "CA" spray painted under your pinball in blue paint, then the game came through us. We had a few really top sites, many average ones and some dog locations to park and rotate equipment in and out of. There were many highlights during our operating years including going to the Williams Bally pinball factories in Chicago and Waukegan as special guests and being hosted by Joe Dillon (GM) himself. I loved pinballs and old EM arcade pieces, especially gun games. We have kept a few, but sold out of the amusement business over 15 years ago and now have a company in another industry. I'm looking forward to reading a lot more here on AA and am happy to share stories and info. on the business back them and the crazy low prices we sold stuff for. We should have kept at least one of our Adams............ or even a Twilight! David (Formerly Chicago Amusements P/L) Welcome aboard. Always love hearing the old operator stories Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illawarra_steelers Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Welcome aboard. Always love hearing the old operator stories welcome to aussie arcade..by chance would you have any photos of the old arcades? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefjedi Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Welcome aboard Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingsarcades Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 You have been (sober) for 15 years . It is like falling off the wagon dabbling your feet back around the machines again. I think that is why this place is called AA. You will be tempted to just get one for old times sake, and before you know it you are hooked again, and building a bigger shed. Welcome back. Sent from my SM-G900I using Aussie Arcade mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny65 Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Hi All, There is a lot of interesting reading here and plenty of enthusiastic contributors. Great to see so many great home game rooms with so many interesting machines. We (my brother and I) were once operators based here in Melbourne. We operated in pubs, amusement arcades, pool halls, sports clubs, shops, clubs etc. We supplied and operated pinballs, videos, juke boxes and other equipment. As kids in the 70s we figured we may as well own the machines we were putting money into and gradually got larger by finding sites and buying locations from other companies. We sold a lot of pinballs into homes and had a weekly Trading Post ad and were prominent in the Yellow Pages (pre-internet days). Not too many others offered an on-site warranty on used pinballs like us back then; most machines were reliable but we have a few horror stories about a handful of games that cost us more than one return repair. If you have the letters "CA" spray painted under your pinball in blue paint, then the game came through us. We had a few really top sites, many average ones and some dog locations to park and rotate equipment in and out of. There were many highlights during our operating years including going to the Williams Bally pinball factories in Chicago and Waukegan as special guests and being hosted by Joe Dillon (GM) himself. I loved pinballs and old EM arcade pieces, especially gun games. We have kept a few, but sold out of the amusement business over 15 years ago and now have a company in another industry. I'm looking forward to reading a lot more here on AA and am happy to share stories and info. on the business back them and the crazy low prices we sold stuff for. We should have kept at least one of our Adams............ or even a Twilight! David (Formerly Chicago Amusements P/L) Great intro David - you've got us all hooked straight away Look forward to hearing some more stories from the CA times and it'd be great if you had some pics to share as well Welcome to AA and hope you enjoy Cheers Brett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago Posted November 20, 2016 Author Share Posted November 20, 2016 We've always had some machines so I never really was on the wagon. I do have some pictures of machines we operated back then and a few of them on location; I'll dig them up. Thanks everyone for your welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angs1957 Posted November 25, 2016 Share Posted November 25, 2016 welcome to AA David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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