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Arcades Across America Part 7 - Episode 62

JBS Show·podcast_episode·44m 38s·analyzed·May 9, 2025
Buzzsprout-17127467
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.038

TL;DR

Game Preserve operators discuss Houston arcade growth, business model, technician training, and community impact.

Summary

The JBS Show interviews Rusty Key and Eric Sensen of Game Preserve, a Houston-based arcade operator with two locations (Woodlands and NASA/South Side). They discuss the evolution of Houston's pinball scene from 2010 to present, their business model (daily/monthly pay vs. coin drop), venue design, technician challenges, and their role in supporting Space City Pinball League and the Houston Arcade Expo.

Key Claims

  • Game Preserve Woodlands opened in January 2013 and moved locations before settling at current Woodlands site in 2015; NASA location opened summer 2019

    high confidence · Eric: 'we opened this one in the summer...we opened this one in the summer. I'm sorry, when I say this one, what I mean is the NASA location, the South Side of Houston location in 2019'; Rusty discusses 2013 and 2015 timeline for earlier locations

  • Game Preserve employs daily/monthly pay model instead of coin drop to avoid tax stamp requirements and licensing complexity

    high confidence · Rusty: 'we would never do the coin drop, simply because it's so much maintenance...the tax revenue, the tax stamps and things like that, that probably drove us the biggest because whenever you have to do the stamps, you have to have the operator's license and everything else'

  • Rusty started in arcade/pinball business around 2010 with first machine being a Spectra 4

    high confidence · Rusty: 'I started messing around with pinball machines in 2010...my first pinball machine, which was a Spectra 4'

  • Eric bought his first pinball machine (Black Hole) in 1988 at age 18

    high confidence · Eric: 'I think I was 18 or so, I bought my first pinball machine...I think, 1988, I bought my first pinball machine. You know when it was? It was black hole'

  • Game Preserve Woodlands has ~125 arcade games and 30-32 pinball machines; NASA location has ~100 arcade games and ~25 pinball machines

    high confidence · Rusty: 'we have about 125 to 100, maybe a little more than 125, but about 125. And we have 30, 32 pinball machines'; Eric: 'We're a little bit less, probably around 100 and maybe 25 pinball'

  • Game Preserve maintains a warehouse with over 200 games in storage awaiting technician repair

    high confidence · Rusty: 'up here in the woodlands, right across the freeway from us, We have a square foot warehouse where we have over 200 games stored in that warehouse waiting for technicians'

  • Phil Grimaldi founded Space City Pinball League after interacting with Game Preserve tournaments

    high confidence · Rusty: 'Phil Grimaldi started that years ago, and he came into the Preserve here...Phil asked about...setting up a league and have tournaments up here'

Notable Quotes

  • “It's accepting. It is, come on in. Let's teach you how to play pinball. Let's teach you how to repair pinball machines...You look at all the huge areas that pinball has grown across the United States, and it's accepting.”

    Jamie (JBS host) @ ~15:00 — Core philosophy on how successful pinball communities grow through inclusivity and education

  • “Anybody that can work on their car can work on a pinball machine...you have three subsystems on a play field. You have lights, switches, and solenoids, and just a lot of them.”

    Rusty @ ~35:00 — Demystifies pinball repair accessibility and explains technician training approach

  • “Full-time jobs and families are the bane of the existence for people that want to repair pinball machines.”

    Eric @ ~40:00 — Identifies persistent staffing challenge in arcade industry

  • “We're a nostalgia business right? we're a nostalgia business so we have to have the games that everybody plays...when you go into the arcade you want to play that game you played back in the day”

    Rusty @ ~50:00 — Articulates core business model philosophy for arcade venues

  • “It really does transport you back...Walking that hallway at NASA, opening the door at Game Preserve North, really it just transports you back into a time that was great in my life.”

    Jamie @ ~55:00 — Describes the experiential value proposition that Game Preserve successfully delivers

  • “I get more enjoyment from working on the pinball machines than I do playing it.”

    Rusty @ ~33:00 — Reveals passion-driven business motivation beyond pure profit incentive

  • “I don't let anybody win. No...I don't let my grandchild win in tiddlywinks, guys.”

    Eric @ ~60:00 — Humorous exchange showing competitive personality while maintaining community goodwill

  • “If you really look at who's coming in here, it's a tiny percentage that's, I mean, yeah, everybody on your podcast knows about Kong or whatever the next JJP game is or whatever, but not our typical patron.”

Entities

Game PreservecompanyRusty KeypersonEric SensenpersonSpace City Pinball LeagueorganizationPhil GrimaldipersonKen GrahampersonJoe RainapersonBlakepersonBrian Feutick

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Game Preserve operates hybrid revenue model combining tournament league play (sanctioned IFPA events), casual pay-per-play, and venue rental (birthday parties); successfully attracts casual families alongside competitive players

    high · Rusty: 'Space City just took off from there and really encouraged the participation'; Eric: 'bringing their families...They're like, oh, I didn't know there was a Star Wars pinball machine'; Jamie: 'birthday parties, whatever you're doing'

  • ?

    business_signal: Game Preserve operates successful dual-location arcade model with differentiated venues (Woodlands clubhouse-style vs. NASA commercial location); demonstrates scalability of membership + tournament + casual play hybrid model

    high · Rusty: 'we opened the one here in the woodlands in 2015'; Eric: 'we opened this one in the summer...the NASA location, the South Side of Houston location in 2019'; both locations actively hosting tournaments and casual play

  • ?

    community_signal: Game Preserve actively mentors and educates next generation of arcade operators and technicians through formal training classes (electromechanical and solid-state courses)

    high · Eric: 'Rusty did an electromechanical class up north, and then I did a solid state. And I've done that a few times at the Arcade Expo'; Rusty: 'when I did the course, it was my intent, hopefully, was that we would teach somebody that would want to step up and help repair the EMs'

  • ?

    event_signal: Houston Arcade Expo organically evolved from birthday party to major regional convention (20+ year history, ~300 games); demonstrates sustained community appetite for arcade culture and social gathering

    high · Eric: 'Keith Christensen, who has started the Houston Arcade Expo...this was all about his birthday. This was his birthday party back in the day. And it just organically grew to where it is today'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.134

0:00
🎵 Hello and welcome to the JBS show and an other edition of Arcades Across America. First of all, my friend Coe is not here today. He had a doctor appointment and I hope all is well. Coe, we miss you and we'll see you next month when we interview Logan's Arcade will be next up. So that'll be a lot of fun. But today, more importantly, Arcades Across America is joined by the gentlemen of the Game Preserve. Rusty Key and Eric Sensen, thank you guys for joining Arcades Across America. Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it so much. No, thank you for having us. Oh, my gosh. I think we have to start with, you know, when I first got introduced to you both, we'll start with a quick little story. I started at 19, like January of 2019, in the pinball community, if you will. And the only things going on in the city of Houston was maybe a league once in a while at 1820, right? And game preserve on, what was it, Saturdays or Sundays? Yeah, one Saturday a month, from what I remember. one Saturday, and then Einstein's, and that was it, right? Yeah. Yeah, I believe so. I mean, look at what we've grown. I mean, you've got a tournament today down in NASA. You've got a tournament today, Rusty, up in the Game Preserve North, and it's just been incredible, the growth of Houston pinball, and a lot of that has to do with both of you. Well, I appreciate it. You know, the Space City Pinball League, Phil Grimaldi started that years ago, and he came into the Preserve here. We only had one location up in the woodlands. And he asked about, you know, we just had some dollar tournaments, you know, everybody throwing a dollar and play, and that was always kind of fun on a Saturday night. And then eventually he got to the point, he goes, you know, I'd like to maybe set up a league and have tournaments up here. And I said, you know, the game preserve is best in our best interest that we just host, and somebody else runs all the leagues. So I really was, what's it trying to do? Hang on.
2:31
I'm so sorry. I was doing so well. You're coming through fine, Rusty. There it went. You're doing good. It's just going. Don't worry about that. El Pasanada. But you're right. You know, Phil Grimaldi came, and he's the founder of Space City Pinball, and he was playing in tournaments. He told me a very funny story, Rusty. He was playing in your tournaments, but some of the tournaments that you guys were organizing at the time had arcade and pinball, and he would get his rear end kicked on all the arcade games. And I think that's the genesis of him coming to you and going, hey, I want to start a league because I'm tired of getting my butt kicked on the arcade side.

  • NASA location features murals painted by local artist and Blake (NASA employee/graphic artist) did 240-foot interior mural

    high confidence · Eric: 'we hired a local artist to paint all these murals down the hallway...Blake, did a lot of the artwork on the inside. Like we have a long 240-foot mural that he did...he's a graphic artist for NASA'

  • Game Preserve NASA typically hosts 14-20 pinball tournament players on Tuesday nights, with monthly tournaments drawing 30-50 people

    high confidence · Eric: 'It varies from, it's usually somewhere around 16 or so'; Rusty: 'we usually have about 20. And then we put on the monthly tournament up here. It can be anywhere from 30 to 40 people. We've had it as high as 50 before'

  • Game Preserve intentionally stock only Pro model Stern machines, not LE or Premium versions

    high confidence · Rusty: 'we do have the newer Sterns, and we do stick to the pros. We don't get the LEs or premiums'

    • Rusty @ ~48:00 — Highlights disconnect between hardcore pinball enthusiast expectations and casual operator customer base

    person
    Spenceperson
    Aaron Winnick-Anthonyperson
    Alexperson
    Keith Christensenperson
    Mike Flanaganperson
    Barrels of Funcompany
    Houston Arcade Expoevent
    JBS Showorganization
    Jamie Burchillperson
    1820company
    Joystickscompany
  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Strong positive sentiment about Game Preserve's role in Houston pinball renaissance; community credits operators with being foundational to league growth and inclusive culture

    high · Jamie: 'without your involvement, it wouldn't have grown to what it is today...you guys have replicated so well...I think what you guys have done in Houston has just been amazing'

  • $

    market_signal: Arcade operators explicitly avoid high-cost premium tier pinball machines; Game Preserve deliberately stocks only Pro models, not LE/Premium variants, citing ROI concerns and customer indifference

    high · Rusty: 'we do have the newer Sterns, and we do stick to the pros. We don't get the LEs or premiums'; Jamie: 'the cost and rotating some of those new ones in...It's all of the above?'; Rusty: 'the new stuff, we all know how much a new pinball machine is...how much is an Addams Family now or an Indy'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Acute technician staffing challenge: Game Preserve struggles with retention despite training efforts; mentions failed hire, reliance on full-time employees accepting additional roles, and dependence on specialists (Spence with EM expertise) who work elsewhere

    high · Eric: 'full-time jobs and families are the bane of the existence for people that want to repair pinball machines'; Rusty: 'I end up doing down here...the real problem, teaching someone and hoping they stay'

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Tax stamp requirements and licensing complexity for coin-operated machines create significant operational barriers; Rusty negotiated directly with state comptroller to justify entrance fee model as economically superior for state revenue

    high · Rusty: 'I actually talked with the state comptroller and had some very long discussions with them...you're going to make more money if we do the entrance fee based...you make more money on the entrance fee than you will...when you talk about all the hassle and the effort and the showing stamps'

  • ?

    supply_chain_signal: Game Preserve maintains large inventory buffer (200+ machines in warehouse) to manage repair cycle and game rotation; indicates investment in capital equipment and sophisticated logistics

    high · Rusty: 'up here in the woodlands, right across the freeway from us, We have a square foot warehouse where we have over 200 games stored in that warehouse waiting for technicians'

  • ?

    venue_signal: NASA location intentional 80s/nostalgic theming with black lights, disco ball, MTV videos, murals; designed to create immersive retro experience that differentiates from modern venues

    high · Rusty: 'we say, hey, we're going to put you back to the 80s just like that, right? So we have the black lights, we have the disco ball, we have the MTV videos'; Eric: 'we hired a local artist to paint all these murals'

    • 3:10
    Yeah, and so I told him, I said, you know, hey, Phil, we just want to host it. And then Space City just took off from there and really encouraged the participation here. And we're always very big about trying to get new people into not only the pinball world, but also into Space City Pinball League, letting them know, hey, these are fully sanctioned issues and tournaments, and you guys should really – people have a lot of fun. And they've really, I've been in other cities with other tournaments, and the people there aren't nearly as acceptive or willing to bring in new players and teach them and show them how to do better in the tournaments as what the people in our tournaments do. Well, that's the key. That's helped our growth. You look at all the huge areas that pinball has grown across the United States, and it's accepting. It is, come on in. Let's teach you how to play pinball. Let's teach you how to repair pinball machines that you guys have both done as well. So we'll get into all that. But, Rusty, take me through very quickly, if you can, how long you've been in the arcade business. It's been a long time, hasn't it? I started messing around with pinball machines in 2010, I know. Yeah, about 2010. I started messing around with pinballs and things, and through my first pinball machine, which was a Spectra 4, very rare, unique game, I got to meet Ken Graham. And Ken was a great friend and showed me around and introduced me to other people, and he became a great help with me on learning how to fix machines and realize my mistakes that when you go to buy a pinball machine, just cause the light's on doesn't mean it just needs a fuse. So we all get to learn that lesson early on. Right. But, yeah, I started messing with pinballs and video games and things, and it went from there. It's been a lot of fun. I enjoy working on it.
    5:16
    When did you start Game Preserve North, we call it now, but it was just 2012 2012 i uh posted out there on the klov site that a lot of people are familiar with that i was wanting to put together some sort we wanted to be a co-op where everybody just bring their machines in everybody shares the space everybody shares the expenses so no one wanted to do that everybody was like and they say no we don't do that no it's never worked everybody's tried that before ken was the only one that stepped up and said yeah i think we can do this And so we started talking more and more and then got to the point to where we like, all right, well, we can do this. We just need more machines with what he and I had. And he says, well, I know a guy and his name is Joe Raina. And, oh, God, Joe had 200 plus games at that point, mostly video games. And I had met Joe one time at the arcade expo here in Houston. And then, you know, he became a friend as well. And then 2013, we opened in January. The first location was over on the other side of Houston in January 2013.
    6:24
    And we were there for a year. We moved to a different spot for a year. We were there for a year. And then we opened the one here in the woodlands in 2015. Fantastic. And then you expanded, if you will, with Eric. You know, when did you start Game Preserve NASA, Eric? 2019. We came in at just the right time, you know, just before the pandemic. So we spent all this time setting up. Now, I knew all the guys. I was around for the first preserve, but there was a geographical issue. I was about an hour away. So I was there for the beginning, but I was not a partner at that time.
    7:10
    And, you know, Rusty didn't really touch on it. But the first location really had more of a clubhouse feel to it. You had to have a membership, and when you got your membership, you got a gate code. And that was the only way to get in. And the hours were, you know, weekend, evening, somebody will be there. If you want to just swing by and play, you know, it was hit and miss. call Rusty up and see if anybody was going to be there. But it really had a different vibe to it. It was a smaller venue, but it was there for just hanging out with like-minded people, playing pinball, playing video games. But to your question, we opened this one in the summer. I'm sorry, when I say this one, what I mean is the NASA location, the South Side of Houston location in 2019. And we started off very strong. and had a good end of summer. Everything was going well, and we all know what happened in 2020, which, you know, we were lucky to survive, but we're through that, and things are – Great. How many pins and machines do you have in both locations? We'll start with Rusty. How many arcade games and pinball machines? We have, right now, I want to say we have about 125 to 100, maybe a little more than 125, but about 125. And we have 30, 32 pinball machines spread throughout the building here. And Eric, same question? We're a little bit less, probably around 100 and maybe 25 pinball. Now, what's interesting is we have a larger venue, a larger location down. It's about 11,000 square feet, so we have room for expansion. It's just a matter of getting the games, and for anybody that's worked on pinball and video games, it's constant upkeep of everything. So we have a lot of machines that will eventually make it out onto the floor. So, Rusty and Eric, why did you guys choose the daily pay or the monthly pay model over coin drop? Well, that was a decision made early on. We always decided at the very beginning that we would never do the coin drop, simply because it's so much maintenance. I mean, it's bad enough to try to keep things running, much less coin mechanisms and stuff. And then also the tax revenue, the tax stamps and things like that, that probably drove us the biggest because the was the biggest driving factor, because whenever you have to do the stamps, you have to have the operator's license and everything else. But then you have to have a separate stamp on every machine. City, county, city, county. And then if that machine goes down and you want to replace it with another one, then it's another set of three stamps because you can't transfer one to the other. Matter of fact, they got pretty aggravated years ago when people were putting Velcro on the back of them so they could move it from machine to machine, you know, so they kind of looked like they were. Yeah, yeah. But they actually, yeah. That's a good move. So I actually talked with the state comptroller and had some very long discussions with them. And, you know, because they wanted us to do coin drop. And I was like, you don't understand. You're going to make more money if we do the entrance fee based. And also, anyway, so when I talked to the state, we were like, look, we got to – this would be better for you because you make more money on the entrance fee than you will. And we do. We actually pay more entrance fee. but when you talk about all the hassle and the effort and the showing stamps and all of that, it just works out better for us in the long run. Eric NASA has you know ladies and gentlemen we call it NASA Game Preserve NASA Game Preserve North That not the proper names okay so just bear with me That what we call it It is It is absolutely what we call it I do want to talk about NASA for a second. Let's discuss the location, how you got it, and then how the art of this beautiful location came to be. Please. Well, you know, I said we opened in the summer of 2019. Rusty and I were scouting locations, you know, I don't know, maybe a good year before that. We looked all over the place, and we had, you know, different criteria, such as proximity to the interstate. You know, we wanted to meet all these goals, and it was tough. I mean, we looked at so many places. Honestly, the real estate people just did not seem to want to work with us, and we happened upon we were checking out a little strip center, and the landlord was there and we ended up talking to him and his son and they discussed things they said we may have something for you now i'm not going to get into exact money but as you can imagine having a spot in a along the interstate where you know everything there's a mall close by there's it's expensive you know dollar per square foot that's really you know we were looking at that we knew how we had to have a minimum of 5 000 square feet and it was going to be incredibly expensive. And he says, okay, I think we have a deal for you. Okay, this is an old Walmart building, and it's been subdivided in the front to these deep, narrow locations. And he said, we've got a spot in the back that used to be like an indoor skate park. Since it's in the back, we're going to have to build a hallway for you to go down to this large area, but the price is very attractive. It's this. And that number was the best we found. So we were like, you know, we had to think about that for a long time. Is that going to work? Are people going to be so annoyed with going down this hallway to get to our place that it's going to drive people away? I don't know that we know the answer to that, but what we did to combat that was hire a local artist to paint all these murals down the hallway related to, you know, video games and such. And people really like that. That same artist did a lot of work inside.
    13:26
    Another one of our friends, Blake, did a lot of the artwork on the inside. Like we have a long 240-foot mural that he did on his computer.
    13:37
    And he's a graphic artist for NASA. He does a lot of the mission patches. He does the artwork for the expos. And he worked for Barrels of Fun. The man's extremely talented. He is really talented. I cannot say enough about Blake. He is unbelievably talented. So we like to think that we have a good ambiance in here. We have the NASA theme, so it's dark. We have all the black lights up in the ceiling. Actually, both locations do. But we have a space theme here. We have an astronaut hanging from the ceiling and a lot of decoration here. Flying saucer on the middle of the floor? Yeah, the DJ booth is a big flying saucer.
    14:17
    It is a really great place. I started coming for tournaments when you first started doing tournaments on Tuesdays when I lived in Pearland and just fell in love with the joint. And then, of course, I moved to the Heights. You know, but it is fantastic. I think what you guys have done in Houston has just been amazing. And thank you so much for that. The first time I met Eric, I'm going to tell you a little story. I doubt you remember this. We're at League at 1820, and it's 2019, and I'm brand new. I suck at pinball. I still suck at pinball, but that's okay. Oh, come on. And I'm playing with you in a group, and me and you got into a discussion on Dragon's Lair.
    15:02
    Don Bluth. Okay? That it's no longer LaserDisc, and all the issues of having an original Dragon's Lair. And I went down a wormhole with you, man, that I still remember because I put a lot of quarters in the Dragon's Lair. We have one here. I know you do. We have one at the Southside location. Yeah, I don't remember the conversation, but what you said is correct. They use the large laser disc players that really, I mean, it's not so much the player as it is the disc gets what they call disc rot on it. So they have these, it's a combination of Dexter and Daphne are the two board, the two systems in it that lets you run it, which is what we have here at the Game Preserve NASA on our Dragon's Lair. At least I think it's still here. Rusty, you haven't taken it from me, have you? No, I have not taken it from you. I can't take that one. That's got the big mural painted on the hallway of Dragon's Lair, so I can't take that one from you. Don't take that one. So, Jamie, you're hearing a little bit of chide back and forth. It's just because we want to keep games fresh at both locations, and the easiest way to do that without going out and buying all new games is to swap them out. And every time you swap out a game, you make somebody mad, you make somebody happy at both places. So it's like, and then inevitably we'll move a game. We get it to the other end, and then that game breaks. It's playing fine. We go to move it. It breaks. You don't ever move games. You just don't move games. Yeah. You just don't. Right, right, right. I'm very familiar with this. Yeah, and what we really haven't touched on, too, is up here in the woodlands, right across the freeway from us, We have a square foot warehouse where we have over 200 games stored in that warehouse waiting for technicians.
    16:50
    Yeah. Let's talk about technicians. It's hard. It is. Anyone that's listening that owns or operates an arcade, and we get a lot of them, they tell me all the time. It's tough. It's tough, right? How do you maintain them as well as you do? How do you have all these great techs? It's always, okay, for the technician, I mean, how do you find the technician that knows what they're doing and that we can afford? So what ends up, you know, I will, I can fix anything. I can fix a video game. I can fix a pinball. So a lot of it I end up doing down here, and I was a little bit late to our podcast because I was doing a flipper rebuild kit on a space shuttle pinball that ran a little bit long. But, you know, you bring somebody in that's mechanically inclined. They don't necessarily, for pinball, you don't necessarily have to know that much about electronics theory. You really just have to know how to replace parts that wear on a pinball machine. So anybody that can work on their car can work on a pinball machine. It looks complex when you pop open the hood. But, you know, of course, it's not really when you break it down to just, you know, you have three subsystems on a play field. You have lights, switches, and solenoids, and just a lot of them. So, you know, I can teach someone. When I do that, I just hope they stick around for a little while. That's the real problem, teaching someone and hoping they stay. And you started putting on those tech classes in NASA first, or did you do them in the – No, Rusty did an electromechanical class up north, and then I did a solid state. And I've done that a few times at the Arcade Expo. I've done that. We did one at the Drone's house a couple of years ago. But, yeah, I mean, I love showing people how to work on their game. You know, it doesn't matter if you have an old pinball machine or a brand-new stern. You're going to have to work on it almost immediately. Yeah. It is what it is. It's just the nature of the beast. You know, and our biggest challenge that I have found, And the reason that I did the class up here and started it was for the electromechanicals because you can't find anybody that works on electromechanical machines. You know, it's a different animal. You have to understand the logic of the machine and how the logic of the game plays in order to figure out, you know, where to go look and how to fix. And so when I did the course, it was my intent, hopefully, was that we would teach somebody that would want to step up and help repair the EMs. The EMs are the hardest ones to keep going. And down at NASA, we have a gentleman named Spence, and he is really good with the EMs. But Spence got a full-time job and a family. Yeah. You know, it seems full-time jobs and families are the bane of the existence for people that want to repair pinball machines. It is. Yeah. When I retire. Yeah. When I retire, I'll be here working on this stuff all the time. But until then. Yeah. We had a guy, we actually had just hired a young man to come in and be a tech here, and he was going to learn how to do the games. He signed up for the class, made the first class, and after that he had some personal issues that took him away from this environment. But now we have two guys that we have. Both of them had electronics. One of them was a Xerox repairman. The other one was a network facility electronics guy with Air Force background and stuff that came in, and they've both been with us for probably seven years now. Good. Well, you know, it's interesting. I talked to one of our lead techs, Brian Feutick, in Houston. I talked to him multiple times. Yeah, Brian's a great guy. I said it before on the podcast. Brian's GC is fixing a machine that's broken and identifying the problem. He lives for it. That's his GC. Yeah, it is. It really is. It really, really is. And those people are hard to find, guys. So keep doing what you're doing on that and keep those machines running great and people will keep flocking to you. So congrats on that. Oh, yeah. Honestly, I think I get more enjoyment from working on the pinball machines than I do playing it. I do like to play. You're a good player. Jamie, earlier you asked Rusty about his background. Yeah, I was going to get to it. Please. Well, I probably have most people beat in the sense of how long I've been doing it. I share the same story as most people in this, in that when you're young, you play a pinball machine, and, oh, this is a lot of fun. Well, I had that same experience, probably magnified a little bit when I was young. So at an early age, I think I was 18 or so, I bought my first pinball machine. And as you can tell by my gray hair, I've advanced a few years. So that was some, that was, I think, 1988, I bought my first pinball machine. You know when it was? It was black hole, yeah. I know, yeah, I remember how much I paid for it, where I got it from, and what was wrong with it, what I had to do to figure, oh, yeah, yeah. And it just, you know, it grew from there. But I was really into pinball from a very young age. And you know the story. Pinball all but disappeared. So you go through the 90s some great games in the 90s all the WPC games some of the best games were produced then Pinball 2000 comes along Whatever your opinion is of Pinball 2000 Okay And then it just all but gone Stern was making some good titles, some decent titles, some not very decent titles in the 2000s. And it really looked like pinball was going to disappear. And I moved to Houston in 2010, and there was really nothing. And we have our place in Houston called Joysticks that would be open a couple of times a month. And it was a showroom where he sells games. But you come in there and play. And then, as Rusty mentioned earlier, Phil took over and started the league. And, man, the pinball industry has boomed. The league play has boomed. We started it.
    23:02
    It's all you guys. We have probably had the longest running tournament in Houston. There's no question that you guys are some of the founders of Space City Pinball. And without that, without your involvement, it wouldn't have grown to what it is today. Speaking of, I think we have a tournament tonight. I think I hear it, the guys. I'm in the office of the Game Preserve down at NASA, and I think they've started in there. So they're going to have a good time. We have a pretty regular crowd. We see people come in from other areas. They'll say, oh, I'm here for work, and I saw that you're having... So we get a good bit of that. Always excited to see new people. And we really have a great bunch of people that play down in our tournament at NASA. Well, you do. I'm very close with Aaron Winnick-Anthony and very close with her husband Alex, and they are regulars over there. They are. I just saw them last night, and they're bugging me to come down there. So I got to make a trip next week, I think. Yeah, and Erin and her husband actually took the e-course. Yeah, they did. You know, those are the two you should work on. Although she's a little busy. Alex was in it for the state tournament. Yeah. Eric, how many people you normally have? Because I'm just curious now. How many people you got down there? It varies from, it's usually somewhere around 16 or so. I would like the numbers to be higher. We have more than that as far as regulars, but, you know, you just get, you know, some people will be here one week and not the next. We've had as high as about, I know when we had the week of Whoppers back during the Expo, we had, I think, over 40 on that day. It was, you know, a large group. Mike Flanagan even brought in some extra machines for us to play just to try to lure people in. We can accommodate more, but most of the pinball players in Houston seem to be downtown or on the north side of town. And we have, on the same Tuesday night, and we both do it Tuesday night, we have 14 to 20 up here. 14 is generally the low number. We usually have about 20. And then we put on the monthly tournament up here. It can be anywhere from 30 to 40 people. We've had it as high as 50 before. What I love real quick about playing in those tournaments at both locations is in between rounds, I run and go play some arcade games.
    25:38
    Jamie, what is your favorite arcade game? Up in north, it's Popeye. Oh. And then I'll play Dragon's Lair and Mellipede and Centipede. Yeah. Can you make it to the pirate ship on Popeye? Yeah. Okay, good. Yeah. Popeye's one of my absolute favorite games. I've said this before. It is the dumbest game. I don't understand why I put it. I do understand. Catching hearts? It was in my local pizzeria, and I caught a ton of hearts. Yeah. And the musical notes and all that crap. I just got addicted to it, boys, and I don't know why. I just like Popeye. No, it's a great game. It was one I played a lot when I was. Yeah.
    26:21
    You know, it really is, too, for us and any of the other arcades, we're a nostalgia business right? we're a nostalgia business so we have to have the games that everybody plays that's why both locations we have two, three Ms. Pac-Mans we have Galaga we have all those Centipede, the Tempest Asteroid we have to have those games that everybody played because when you go into the arcade you want to play that game you played back in the day and you want to play it. So that's got to be a requirement. What's your stance, gents, on newer pinball machines, the cost and rotating some of those new ones in? Is it title-specific to bring one into the game preserves? Is it all of the above? Honestly, I really like, and I think the patrons like, that we have such a variety of games. We do have the newer Sterns, and we do stick to the pros. We don't get the LEs or premiums. So it's a good mix. I mean, and it goes way back to the, you know, we have games here from the 50s. Yeah. But as far as, you know, okay, if you look at it from what do the people like, they don't really draw towards one. You know, they're playing everything equally. As far as, you know, of course the new stuff, we all know how much a new pinball machine is. It sure is. And now the older ones, the popular ones are, I mean, as we were talking about earlier, the 90s WPC games. Well, I mean, you know, that's $5,000, you know, for a good one or more. I mean, how much is an Addams Family now or an Indy or, you know, whatever? So, you know, luckily we have enough machines in stock. You know, we have some in the back that we can bring out. So we have enough where we can not spend as much money, not spend the cost of a new one, and get it out on the floor and have some changes. But to your point, Jamie, when people come to our arcades, you know, we say, hey, we're going to put you back to the 80s just like that, right? So we have the black lights, we have the disco ball, we have the MTV videos, you know. So we're very much 80s oriented. And the video games are very much in maybe some 90s, a few earlier ones. And that really sets the ambiance. But pinball, pinballs aren't dated as much, really, for those who don't know as to whether or not they're 80s machines or newer or whatever. So, yeah, it doesn't really hurt the ambiance of having an 80s arcade or classic arcade to have new pinball machines. And trust me, brother, if I could afford it, we would have both the barrels of fun games at each location if I could afford it. Yeah. I mean, pinball is expensive, right? It's expensive. And the return on investment sometimes is just not there. And so, you know, you have to look at what your patrons want and what your patrons expect. But you also have to look at the bottom line. So it's a tough gig for both of you. And, you know, I'm sure you get in the ear, hey, you guys getting Kong? Are you guys getting, you know, every machine that comes out? I'm sure you field those questions every single time. Not really. Really? No, because it's, I mean, if you slice up, if you really look at who's coming in here, it's a tiny percentage that's, I mean, yeah, everybody on your podcast knows about Kong or whatever the next JJP game is or whatever, but not our typical patron. They're here to play games. They're bringing their families.
    30:03
    They're like, oh, I didn't know there was a Star Wars pinball machine. They're just happy to play. That's why I love the Game Preserve because I think really birthday parties, whatever you're doing, it really does transport you back. Walking that hallway at NASA, opening the door at Game Preserve North, really it just transports you back into a time that was great in my life. Yes. And that's what I think you guys have replicated so well. That's the intent. Well, congrats on it, you know. Well, thank you. Thank you. Talk to me real quick because, Eric, you're not going to get this tournament. No, no, don't worry about me. I'm good. I can miss tonight. We're 30 minutes in. I'm sorry. No, no, no. You're a W. You win all the time. I don't like Eric playing anyway. He always takes first place and doesn't let my patrons win. I see the pictures. I don't let anybody win. No. You're all right. I don't let my grandchild win in tiddlywinks, guys. We all have fun here. Look, I don't even want to know how many games of pinball I've played in my life. I don't know, you know, tens of thousands. I'm up on everybody as far as experience of how many games I've played. So it's just, you know, we all have fun here. It doesn't matter who wins. We're just here to socialize, enjoy pinball. And sorry, Jamie, you were coming to a point or to a question. Oh, no, no worries, Eric. My question to you both to end the podcast in a minute is you guys are very highly affiliated with the Houston Arcade Expo. All right. In fact, Eric tells you when you walk in, if you're a vendor, he tells you where to put your machine. So you do a hell of a lot more than that. And you have a huge you guys have a huge booth there at the Houston Arcade Expo. Tell me, tell our viewers why they should be coming to the Houston Arcade Expo. Well, do you like that? That's where we met. Yeah, exactly, right? No, it's great. As I said earlier, I moved here in 2010, and the Expo is in year 20-something. So it's been going for a long, long before I moved here.
    32:08
    Before the Game Preserve. Before the Game Preserve, right. And you still have that coming in, seeing all the games that you remember, because it's the Game Preserve but more. In other words, there are probably 300 games at the Arcade Expo, you know, half pen, half video. But Keith, Keith Christensen, who has started the Houston Arcade Expo and the primary organizer of it, this started, this was all about his birthday. This was his birthday party back in the day. And it just organically grew to where it is today. But Keith really has one motto for the Arcade Expo. what can we do this year to make it more fun that's all he cares about what bands can we bring in how late can we stay up uh okay hey i think i'll order a thousand dollars worth of denny's for everybody that's still up at midnight out here playing games these are true stories ladies and gentlemen this isn't uh he's not joking yeah they're hey let's give everybody light up lightsabers and captain's hats and you know whatever whatever whatever we can do to make it fun that that all that the expo is about and it really has I mean I watched it grow so much of them became affiliated with it with it you know a while back And you know we see the numbers And it just every year it going up You know, now we have the issue that TPF has where the hotel sells out. So if you're coming, book now. Yeah. And it just, in my opinion, it just gets better every year. You know, I'd like to throw in here, we've gone through a lot of different conventions around, and the expo is whatever you want to call them, all around the country, Dallas every year, the expo.
    33:58
    We all went to Southern Fried Gaming one time. That was a lot of fun. A couple years ago, we went up to Chicago's Pinball Expo up there, whatever they call it. I don't remember now. But all those shows, they all have their niche. They all have their little unique thing, right? And every time we talk to somebody, we tell them the Houston show is the fun show. It's the show. You know, you have the pinball TPF Chicago show. That's the industry show. You know, you've got a lot of people there looking at new machines, introducing new machines and all that. But the expo, we still hope to get those kind of things down here, but it's important for just to know it's just a fun show. You're going to have good music. You're going to have fun people. Everybody's going to have a good time. The Game Preserve, we got involved in it back in 2012, 2013. It wasn't long after we opened because we could see a good benefit to it. The first two or three years, we got into it. We thought, hey, we'd do that. That way people would see it and come see us and maybe, you know, advertising. No, no, not really. And now we go because we want people to know that there is an arcade and a pinball experience in Houston to be had, Not just us, but Einsteins, Joysticks, Poison Girl. I mean, there's a whole slew of people now. Yeah, Eureka Heights is a little dipper. We can just keep going. And it's really just amazing what pinball has grown. You know, just the love of arcades has grown. You've done a great job. And thank you for your affiliation, both of you, with the Eastern Arcade Expo. It's one of my favorite shows every single year. Eric, real quick, are you going to get a DeLorean? Because it seems to me... Blake has one, Rusty has one. In order to be affiliated or work or own the game preserve, you have to own a DeLorean. You know, I was, so my friend Blake, who helps us out a lot down here, has one, and he had to take it up to the DeLorean, what's the official name of it, Rusty? DeLorean Motor Company. Is in Houston. In other words, if you need the parts, you know, they have, and I went up there with them, and we, you know, I talked to those guys for probably an hour. They took a tour of the place, and we talked about how much a DeLorean is now, and they have skyrocketed.
    36:20
    Rusty Wool, I don't want him to tell you how much he paid for his, but it was a very good deal. Those deals are gone. You know, they're at least $50,000 to get into a bad one these days. So, no, I don't think I want to have a DeLorean. I'll have a matchbox one, I guess. Well, it's only two seats and it's tough for the kiddo, but I was just curious. Gentlemen, thank you so much for today. I've wanted to have you on for a long time. I apologize for canceling a few weeks ago. My wife was sick and I apologize for not having you on right away. I wanted to really build this channel before I went and highlighted some local people and you were the first I really wanted to highlight. So congratulations on your continued success. Thank you so much. where can people find out information about the Game Preserve? So the Game Preserve, our biggest space where we post things is on Facebook. Right now, that may change. We're finding that the Facebook population has gone down, and we're not getting the advertising that we need out of it. But we do have a website, GamePreserveHouston.com, and Instagram every now and then. But GamePreserveHouston.com is probably the best one. You know, Jamie, one of these times we probably ought to get in and talk about the adaptive game products, the adaptive flipper controls that we have that allow disabled people to play pinball. Let's end it on this because I know this is a passion project of yours, just as pinball podcasting is a passion project of mine. So can we talk about how you became affiliated with that and go from there? Because that's a great point, Rusty.
    37:57
    Yeah, and I appreciate you giving us the time to talk about this. Up here we had, I said earlier, we had two gentlemen. and one of them was a former Air Force. As a matter of fact, we've got a certificate from him hanging in here that has a flag that was flown on a space shuttle mission because he did a project for the Department of Defense, and he has a flag that was flown and a certificate and all that. And his name is Jim Austin. And Jim was working here two and a half, three years ago, and he was up here one night, and he had a stroke. and he came to the front desk and my son was working here and he looked at Micah and Micah looked at him and Micah knew the signs of a stroke and he called me he said I think he's not doing well and so anyway long story short he ended up in the hospital for he was on a vent for a week it almost killed him I mean he wasn't breathing on his own or anything it almost killed him and it took him about a year to rehab to get back because he lost one half control of his body He had to learn how to re-talk. He had to learn how to eat. He had to learn how to do all these things again. I have a lot of admiration for the man.
    39:05
    And anyway, after about a year, his wife called me up and said, Rusty, you've got to get Jim out of the house. You're driving me crazy, man. He's got to do something. So I invited him. I said, Jim. So I talked to Jim. I said, look, why don't you come back up here? You can be the eyes and the brains, and we'll have a junior text, and they'll be the hands, and they'll learn as they go along. So Jim decided that's what he was going to do, And he came back to work for us. And after about a month and a half, I was at the warehouse one day and he called me. He says, come down here. I want to show you something. I walked in and there's Jim sitting in a chair playing pinball with one hand. He had this little box in his hand with buttons. And he's like, look at this. And he's playing pinball. And it's like, wow, that's amazing. And he had used alligator clips and things to put it all inside the machine and got it working to where a single hand could play. Well, between him and I, we took that and kind of went to the next level with it. And what we now have is a provisional patent on the actual device that you put into pinball machines that will convert any pinball machine from, we have it in some, they're 1959 is our oldest one, and the latest, newest ones, it even works in the Barrels of Fun games. See how I keep throwing that name out there? But all the new games we have, absolutely, they work on all ages of games, whether it's got two flippers, three flippers, whatever. And it actually plugs into the bottom of the machine with a little jack, and it can be a handheld, a small one for kids. It can be a large one for adult hands. We have some that some of the people in the pinball community, they have trouble with. And we have a gentleman up here as well that has MS. Over the years, he's lost grip strength, so it's really hard for him to use his fingers. So we made these big square boxes with big, round, soft-touch buttons so he can just set his hand on it and just do this, and now he can play pinball machine. And Project Pinball, I know you've heard of them, where they donate pinball machines to Children's Museum. We put two pinball machines here in Houston, one up in the woodlands at the Children's Memorial in the woodlands and also one downtown. And most recently we installed the adapter flipper controls on those two machines for those young kids that come in there with broken arms or whatever. What a better place to have it than in those. And Project Pinball actually has a link where they can order it, and we will send it to them. Wow, thank you for your involvement in that. It's a great product. It's a fantastic product, and we really love for people to pick it up and put it in their machines. Where can they find that information?
    41:43
    Again, the gamepreservehouston.com or if you – we also on the website – sure, make me think about it. Adaptive Game Products.
    41:54
    Adaptivegameproducts.com also can go there. But we have the – but, yeah, it's – and it's inexpensive. The only reason we patent it, not because we put any money on it and we put the provisional patent on it. Actually, it was to lock it down so nobody could patent it. Because the cost of the kits to put in the machines, 15 bucks. The cost of the controllers, 25 to 40 bucks. And that's it. They're affordable. There's other devices out there that allow for this as well. We're not the only ones. But they're anywhere from $200 to $300 a machine. And for us, we want to help everybody. We want to help more. And please look at that website. Check it out. And if you have someone that could use this, help them out. That would be fantastic. Thank you guys so, so much. I really appreciate you all. Thank you, Eric. Thank you, Rusty. Game Preserve North, Game Preserve NASA, and continued success. Thank you.
    42:55
    Thank you. Appreciate it. That was fun. I've known them for a long time, and I've wanted to have them on. And I'm really happy that they were able to join. Thank you so much. And thank you so much for the constant support that I've given. The emails have been flowing in, virtual at Mac, and just been really great. Do me a favor, will you? Hit subscribe, especially on YouTube, because I had to switch channels. You know what happened. And, you know, growing from 4,000 back down to 400 has been a pain in my ass, and I would really appreciate it if you just went to the JBS show and clicked subscribe and all that good stuff. Leave us a review. Do whatever you want. I'd appreciate it. And, again, thank you to my official sponsor of the JBS show, Lip Balm. I don't have it with me because I'm not in the desert anymore. I'm in Houston, and it's pretty humid, and I already used it today. So Lip Balm is the official lip. Pin Balm is the official lip balm of pinball players everywhere. Thank you so much, Brooke. And thank you all, again, for continued support. next podcast will be another AAA Arcade Scratch America where I'll be joined by my co-host Co and Zespi from Logan's Arcade so I'm pretty excited about that talk to you all soon