Unwrapping Rob Berk's Import Shipment from Italy (Part 2)

Past Times Arcade·video·21m 34s·analyzed·Apr 10, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.021

TL;DR

Rob Berk unwraps Italian pinball import shipment, identifies rare EM/SS machines for Pinball Expo.

Summary

Rob Berk and the Past Times Arcade team unbox and inspect a large shipment of electromechanical and solid-state pinball machines imported from Italy. The video showcases the condition assessment, identification challenges, and logistics of receiving rare and vintage machines, with discussion of parts availability, design features, and preparation for the 40th Pinball Expo (October 15-19).

Key Claims

Only 200 units of one particular game shown were ever produced
high confidence · Rob states directly while examining a specific machine: 'There's 200 produced of this game here... Only 200 of them were made.'
Past Times Arcade has approximately 40 Zacharias solid-state machines on the floor
high confidence · Ron and Rob discussing Zacharias machines: 'We have probably about I don't know, 40 of them or so on the floor, maybe more. Yeah, give or take.'
Past Times Arcade's inventory already includes duplicate titles from this shipment (10 Stars, Lady Luck, Space Race)
high confidence · Multiple instances where Rob or Mike confirm they already have the machine upstairs in inventory when unwrapping duplicates
Edge connectors and pins are the most commonly problematic parts on Zacharias machines
high confidence · Ron discussing Zacharias maintenance challenges: 'Parts are hard to get. Well, Zacharias, they got their common parts and a lot of it's edge connectors, pins, soot.'
Some machines in the shipment arrived with detached playfield heads despite packaging
high confidence · Multiple instances throughout unpacking where heads are found loose or not securely attached despite being wrapped

Notable Quotes

“So for my own future reference, Rob, if you say, 'Do I have this game?' to me and I say no, just expect in a few months I just have to expect that it's going to show up.”
Wayne (crew member) @ ~3:45 — Humorous observation about Rob's tendency to acquire duplicate games despite earlier denials of ownership
“Parts are hard to get. Well, Zacharias, they got their common parts and a lot of it's edge connectors, pins, soot. I've actually recapped everything, put power, you know, everything with the power.”
Ron (technician) @ ~1:20 — Technical insight into Zacharias machine maintenance challenges and repair priorities
“These titles are out of control. The playfields are out of control, but they're really clean games. So it's going to be a treat.”
Rob Berk @ ~48:30 — Summary assessment of shipment quality and significance for upcoming Pinball Expo
“I know this sounds very repetitive, but look at the glass in the playfield. Yes, Gottlieb. I've never heard of this company.”
Rob Berk @ ~28:00 — Rob's unfamiliarity with a Gottlieb machine, suggesting unusual rarity or obscurity
“You know what's funny is that we make fun of like my kids watching people open toys and play with toys, and here's exactly what we're doing as grown adults.”
Rob Berk @ ~37:15 — Meta-commentary on the enthusiasm and unboxing experience of vintage machine acquisition

Entities

Past Times ArcadecompanyRob Berkperson WaynepersonRonpersonJoseperson MikepersonZachariascompanyGottliebcompany

Signals

?
community_signal: Past Times Arcade operates as significant regional pinball hub with ~40+ Zacharias machines in operation, full restoration/maintenance capability, and international acquisition network
high · Ron confirms ~40 Zacharias machines on floor with active maintenance; Rob coordinates Italian imports; team includes specialized technician; exhibiting at Pinball Expo
?
event_signal: 40th Pinball Expo scheduled for October 15-19; Past Times Arcade preparing significant inventory of restored imported machines for exhibition
high · Rob explicitly states: 'So it's something you can look forward to seeing because these titles are out of control... hopefully all, if not some of these games will be an Expo' and Mike provides dates
$
market_signal: Duplicate machine acquisition (10 Stars, Lady Luck, Space Race already in inventory) suggests either market saturation in certain titles or opportunistic bulk purchasing strategy
medium · Multiple instances where Mike confirms duplicates already in upstairs inventory; Wayne humorously notes Rob's pattern of acquiring duplicates despite denying earlier ownership
?
product_concern: Imported machines exhibit excellent playfield and cosmetic condition despite age; packaging effective but not always securing detached components (heads) securely
high · Multiple instances of Rob and team praising cleanliness: 'So nice, so clean, so amazing' and 'Look at that! God, Punchie is going to get jealous.' But several machines had loose heads
?
supply_chain_signal: Large shipment of rare electromechanical and solid-state pinball machines imported from Italy to Past Times Arcade for inspection, restoration, and Pinball Expo exhibition

Topics

Vintage/electromechanical pinball machine restoration and parts sourcingprimaryInternational machine imports and logisticsprimaryCondition assessment and inventory management for rare machinesprimaryPinball Expo preparation and machine curationprimarySolid-state vs. electromechanical machine maintenance challengessecondaryPinball machine design features and manufacturing comparisonssecondaryDuplicate machine acquisition and inventory overlapsecondaryManufacturer identification and machine rarity assessmentsecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Rob and team express enthusiasm about the quality and rarity of machines in shipment. Excitement about upcoming Pinball Expo. Challenges with parts sourcing and assembly acknowledged but treated as expected part of restoration work. Some frustration with unidentified machines and missing components, but overall tone is optimistic and appreciative of the acquisition.

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

[Music] all right let's check out this one over here oh what what Wayne just really pretty h a lot of cool the artwork on some of these is just beautiful Playfield once again good shape I don't understand how I got these games mhm so nice so clean so amazing collect okay you need that black strap got right over there that'll work who made this one Zachary also looks like a gen two I think so Ron Ron works on these four in solid States we have probably about I don't know 40 of them or so on the floor maybe more yeah give or take what's the biggest difficulty with keeping these things going Ron cuz these I know can be tough parts are hard to get well Zacharias they got their their common perks and a lot of it's Edge connectors pins soot I've actually recap everything put Power you know everything with the power one I just can't get over it he that [Music] on top all right who likes [Music] clowns you asked me do you remember what this game's called it's either clown or something like that I think it's called clown you asked me a few months ago if we have this game what' you say I said no and then ladies and gentlemen the thing is now he's telling me today found another one nope I did not this is this is the one that's called clown it has that that goofy clown face is pretty much the whole back glass if this is the game yeah all right this one here 10 Stars 10 stars that sounds familiar it does you have it is this one is so right so is this one hinged yes all right so this one's hinged so what we'll do is we'll we'll fold the body down towards me and we'll stand it back up this one want to see so for my own future reference Rob if you say do I have this game to me and I say no just expect in a few months I just have to expect that it's going to show up huh yep a lot of these look like they came right out of an arcade that was in oper good shape something I don't know all right you got the head there I'm going to pull this towards me yep go goad and just lift it up there so we can see it look at that God punchie is going to get jealous check out on see if you can get in on that back glass this is something that this company also did like the vacuum formed Plastics look like it's got the neon in there too yep and I can't tell from my angle sometimes they would make the vacuum form Plastics on the Playfield too were pretty neat yeah like unobtainable if you break what is this like a moving Target million dollar question oh yeah look how it comes across moving taret you you see in some of the stern games like the Elvis or MC Jagger how they go across on that little half moon this must be their version of it sort of like a Stern made that buck hun Big Buck Hunter game that had a Ming Target across the Playfield interesting how about monster B there's another one of those too all right good deal again still missing two heads okay let's hope there's a pallet down here at the end Rob that's a little bit shorter okay buddy cross your fingers we have at least six more games to out yeah the 10 Stars you have [Music] upstairs all right we got to make two so we know whatever parts are missing thank you reproduce all right thank you Jose let's move along all you got a couple ratchet straps on the back side here I got the yeah see we get that one loose see we get this one [Music] right this one yeah I hold the head on that Rob there's two heads here hold those heads because seems like they're not oh they're not attached other than what we just off good looks like these two heads belong on these games though ready this is a [Music] all right what's the artwork on that look like rob it looks like on this one here sorry the yellow one you here color scheme blowing looks like strikes and Spares kind of it's not but it's not yeah wait there's more oh lift channels or guides or something you to pull that [Music] [Laughter] just look at that epic beard Again Play you on this one I know this sounds very repetitive but look at look at the glass in the place yes gerer I've never heard of this company do you know if they're Italian Spanish no no no Spanish not Spanish probably I would say probably German yeah let me look it up Italian must be Italian no uh well is think is in German yeah it is German German all right we have two more to Rob I'm hoping these are your heads down here okay buddy we got two more though we're running out of room up here on the dog but it's been fun it's been fun all thank you these ones are pretty well wrapped this might take a little bit all right there's 200 produced of this game here you found it only 200 of them were made 200 were made on that game so how many of them still exist is two three a hand a very small right all right these two are pretty well wrapped here too y get yeah let's lock it let's lock it off the floor here set down that right wait while you're tearing that one out I'll get into this one here is that one of those mystery packets mystery packets nomatic electromechanic you get a little bit of a break now Ron got another electromechanical here I know thank God be really careful with this the back glass is lo looks like that back that back door is back the glass looks good it's uh it's wiggling in there cuz I'm guessing that that back panle isn't uh lock in yep go you got it what we down here what do we have here R wow never saw it jeez little bit rougher shape but it looks nice actually you clean that way it'll be like new shiny new first you have another space there oh yeah didn't we just unwrap that over you know what's funny is that we make fun of like my kids watching people open toys and play with toys and here's exactly what we're doing as grown adults all right yeah we have some heads here Rob all right the one from there these [Music] are take this one up Lady Luck Lady Luck you already have one too Lady Luck this is the one that we were looking for over there good you and Wayne want to walk this down there and I'll start unpackaging the other one all right so we at least have one of the r that means they're all [Music] one this a little bit heavier that's a weird looking thing Joker it's like a Sega know very similar head style though Joker never saw my life never no no never in my life yeah wow that was right W that's amazing one more m one more head can you guys grab this one down out of the way and then we'll unwrap these last two mystery [Music] Space Race Space Race never saw H they send it to you before you have two of them now you have already yeah space break all right yeah I'm going to move this pallet out of the way here so we can get these last two Mike if I do have a word this these games do upstairs we have them uh yeah we have them all inventory upstairs minut here go all right grab this out way well this go with this no oh we have a band on this one too I'll cut ta Iber ioma y never heard of that company yeah very last very long all right so the this is the same company here too the leg enough you know Michael the leg keep it together yeah otherwi hard know yeah there we go that's the head look at that crazy play cut mik do you pull out ready where WR yeah we're not attached one time two hey there's the playf for it again guys lucky but they're so clean these are being some great games to bring to Expo for sure that one looks familiar look at the weird so yeah the yep how their time on those protectors cool I'm going to move this actually way Jose you mind grab the keys got it nice beautiful nice I think this artwork looks like a game called Cabaret on the side of this is that em Williams Williams em called Cabaret all okay wanted Grand Domino what I never heard of these games mhm I think someone threw in some bonus game just threw them on the container yeah they got mixed up we have that game upstairs we I don't think we have this one no no never send you this we have so we we have Grand Domino which is a got Bob Libbe Italian expert for okay yeah that's it Rob to sign off for the video what do you have to say let me just say this guys thanks to Mike and the Gang Wayne Uncle Wayne all you guys Ron on the camera Jose for translating I'm so my free translation but anyways um you can see what what's involved with this this is half the battle now if you get them working and that's also another battle but hopefully all if not some of these games will be an expo so it's something you can look look forward to seeing because these titles are out of control the playfields are out of control but they're really clean game so it's going to be a treat we'll see you a timball Expo the 40th show what's the date of that Mike October uhoh I should know that Rob right around second 15 19th 15th to 19th there you go call the babysitter up you'll be gone for a couple days [Music]