Hey yo, welcome everyone to Today in the Scene by Indie Arcade Wave. I'm Joe, your host. And here on In the Scene, we talk about what's happening in the arcade space from new arcade developers, arcade owners and operators, pinball, and just news in the space in general. Now, I'm excited for this week's episode. Uh Mike and I have been going back and forth for a while. Uh Mike runs Sparks Pinball Museum. They've got multiple locations, pinballs in different places. Uh, but I'm really excited to dive into kind of where his passion began, why he loves pinball so much, because they have a lot of pins, as well as what it's like running a location that's a standalone, uh, operating inside of a bar, as well as inside of a bowling alley in a mall. There's there's a whole bunch of different situations here. So, let's bring Mike in and kind of chat with him. How you doing, Mike?
I'm doing great. How are you doing, Joe?
I'm great. I'm great. I'm super excited to to hear what you have to say about this and kind of learn about where the passion started, right? because this is definitely an industry where it's it's heavy heavy passion, right?
You don't start an arcade to get super rich. Sometimes it happens for some people, but you do it because you love it. So, go ahead and just tell us a little bit about who you are. Like, who's Mike and and how did it all start?
Anyways, my name is Mike Bradley. I'm from Mount Clemens, Michigan, which is just outside of Detroit. Um, I kind of started collecting, well, my dad actually started it, uh, when I was probably around eight or so. He was starting to get into, well, I was getting into it, but he actually bought our first pinball machine. It was Space Shuttle. We bought it out of a back of a bar in the late 80s, maybe early 90s. Um, it was uh called Tiptop Tavern, and we bought it actually out of the bar, the back of the bar, and we had that in our front room. Um what really got me started though loving pinball was uh funhouse. I played it in a um bowling alley called uh Pampa Lanes. Fortunately they just demolished this uh bowling alley where my passion started. And uh when I was a kid that was like my I was so fascinated with Rudy and um I even had like turtles growing up like actual like you know pets and actually named them Rudy. So and I wasn't very inventive. So, I had a couple turtles and one was Rudy one and Rudy 2. Um, but that's where it kind of started and um I remember me and my dad actually went to an auction at one point and uh it was it was in probably about uh half an hour from our house. I grew up in Warren and uh uh we went there and uh they were so cheap at the time. Um my dad they were we were buying some games. We actually bought a demolition derby. I don't know if it was a four player um kind of cocktail game. We had a basketball game. It was a It was kind of a fun time having we all had them all in my garage. And uh me and my friend Mike Bondra at the time we pretend like we were arcade owners. So um those went on for a couple years and then my dad got into a different hobby which was Corvettes. He had uh two of them and so we eventually sold all the pinball machines and all the arcade games. Um, but we kept Space Shuttle and we kept uh Flight 2000 that we had. So, that's the only two games I have from that part of my life. Um, because we had to put the cars in the garage. So, that's where that started. And then, um, I got kind of got out of pinball for a while. And, um, then I decided to, you know, then around 2010, uh, me and my buddy wanted to, uh, get a slot machine. So, we found a slot machine. Thought it always be kind of cool to have one in the house. And then I thought that I always wanted that uh funhouse pinball machine. So I found somewhere in uh Toledo, which is just about hour from us in Ohio. And um we purchased it and uh guy was kind of drunk, but and we didn't know how to move them at the time and didn't know how to take the legs off and wrap them. So we were carrying it up the stairs and I'll never forget we were holding it and then he's like, "I can help." and he almost flipped the game off the truck. Um, but that's where it started again. Um, it kind of got out of control. Uh, but it's been fun and um, they started having them in my garage and there's nowhere to go. You know, they started to fill up. So, um, I had the opportunity to put them in a place called One I Betty's in Ferndale. Um, it's a bar. It was just opening up. in 2012 and that's where I first started operating. Didn't know what I was doing complete um uh you know not understanding how you know flippers need to be strong if you know games reset you know those B Williams games if you don't have them bulletproof they'll reset if their five volts go you know to a certain point. Um so yeah it was a rocky road starting but um kind of learned it you know befriended some people that were you know repairs good into the repairs and uh kind of went from there. Um then uh I just um did some stuff with a place called uh um Rosio Grady's and then I eventually went to Premier Lanes and that's where I kind of had the idea to call it uh Sparks. Uh it was actually it was supposed to be called um pinball at Premier Lanes and um decided to try to make it more like a kind of roadside attraction where it you know has the word museum in it. So, we were trying to think of what to call it. And inside the room, they bought a at this bowling alley, they bought a they bought out a entertainment center, and uh they um one of the things they bought was a gigantic sign that said Sparks. So, it was it's probably around 20 feet long, the sign. So, I figured, you know, might as well just use that name, Sparks. So, that's why we're called Sparks Pinball Mall Museum. just wanted to utilize that sign and it's still there. Um but uh after about 11 years, we eventually got the opportunity to move to um Oakland Mall. The owner of the mall is awesome here. He's young. He's about like 34 years old and he's trying to make this mall kind of like the an indie kind of fun place. So he um gave us the opportunity to open uh technically it's a third location but this is kind of our main location now. Um and we operated this one differently. Premier Lanes was always done by um coin operation and this location is all by wristband. So you buy a wristband for you can either buy it for an hour or you can buy it for um a day pass and you can play all the pinball you want. So, we have 80 pinballs here and we have a bunch of vintage video arcade games like Tron, Pac-Man, Frogger. Um, we even have a time traveler. If you ever seen one of those, it's a my mom calls it the iron longest. It's gigantic fica um game that was really big in the um uh kind of like 91 it came out. It was always really expensive to play. I never played it as a kid because it was like a dollar to play. and we have the sequel to it which is Coliseum which was the conversion factor of the game when they were trying to get into the um fighting game. So um Time Traveler is more like a Dragons Layer type game and then Coliseum is actually more of a um fighting game kind of like uh Mortal Kombat or Terminator um Terminator 2 um yeah Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter 2. Um but anyways, yeah, we have a wide diversity of games here. Um mostly all retro. We do have new sterns here. Um we have one newer um Jersey Jack. We have uh dialed in. I can actually hear it from right behind me. It keeps playing. Um but we've done some great teamworks as well. We have um Dave from um that you've actually interviewed um from uh gosh, Psychic Drive. Uh we actually did a team up with him just recently and we're reopening a Japanese um Japanese uh type games like rhythm games like you know Dance Dance Revolution and ones that you're you know tapping on stuff. So we actually just opened that right across the hall. Um yesterday was actually our soft opening and we're still trying to figure out how we're doing this but it's actually called Sparks Passport. Um, so that's where Dave's got a lot of his games and so we're kind of working together and with actually two other guys as well. So it's kind of neat. It's everybody that's really, you know, into it. It seems like, you know, we're not 100% for the money. Um, money's great, yes, but um, you know, we have a lot of passion. We love our collections. Um, and just, you know, sharing them with people. That's the key. And like any kind of hoarding, I guess, you you got to find places to put your things. So, that's kind of how how it kind of started and where we're at right now.
Yeah, I love that. I mean, you guys have come a really long way. You're in multiple locations. You're opening up more and you're collaborating with other people in the space that are local to you. And yeah, I love what Dave does. Dave and I, we talk regularly. I just ran into him at uh oh, what was it? Pinball Expo. We were hanging out for a little while.
Oh, great.
Um and that's that's really cool. I'm going to see him at Magfest, I'm sure. Um it's it's really cool to see all the stuff that he does and all the games that he has. Um, that's that's kind of one area that I wanted to to talk to you a little bit about was like the pinball and everything. Um, I'm I'm super happy to have partnered up with Compulsive Pinball. Um, actually, a quick word from them here. Hey guys, quick break. If you want to support the channel, one of the best ways to do that is purchasing your next pinball through Compulsive Pinball. They're helping bring some amazing Stern pinballs to players everywhere. And the next game that they're releasing, you're not going to want to miss. Whether you're looking to add a machine to your home collection, or you're an arcade owner or operator, Compulsive Pinball has you covered. They offer special pricing for operators and can handle routing operations for businesses all over the East Coast as well as down in Orlando, Florida. Check out compulsive ppinball.com for your next Stern and let them know that you heard about them from Indie Arcade Wave. The thing that I love about the pinball space and and just all this stuff is all the games, all the diversity, all the different things you can have. So, what I'm wondering for you, and you know, this is kind of for people that are interested in getting into the hobby and or opening their arcade, how do you source all these games? Like, h how do you find all these classics? Where are you looking and where are you picking up games from?
Um, I'm lucky because I I started recollecting around 2010 or so, and they were kind of, you know, the the spare parts weren't as available as then, so the games weren't as expense, you know, expensive as then. You could get um you could get an Adams family. I mean, it was still pretty lucky, but you could get them for around 2500 bucks. It was pretty crazy. Today, you can't find them for that. Um, uh, you could get a Cyclone for a,000 bucks. You could get, uh, Terminator 2 for about 1,200 bucks. It was a weird time, and that's where I got a lot of my collection. Um, I mean, I don't really have, uh, you know, I don't have a massive house that I live in or anything. I just live a little, you know, little house. So, um, you know, I couldn't really, you know, put them all in everywhere, but, uh, it was it was fun collecting them at the time. And if you want to get into it, I mean, Facebook Marketplace is a great place. Um, you can also look on, you know, Pinside, there's a for sale area there. Um, when I was originally starting, I was getting them on Craigslist, so it was always those Craigslist runs and running to the bank, you know, and, you know, when you find something that's a good deal, you have to go. Like, you can't, you know, wait, you know, an hour or two. you have to just run to that ATM and go. But um recently I haven't really been buying a ton. I really kind of um kind of, you know, ran out of room actually and I kind of almost feel like I've got almost the games that I've really originally wanted. Um we have some duplicates um that we have at both locations. Like uh we have we actually have four fun houses now. So, we have one at each location and at the pre Premier Lanes, we actually have one of the originals and one of the uh the the 2.0, which is the conversion of it. So, I finally got my fun houses. Um but, uh if you want to get into it, um just try to like meet with people and uh you know that are really good at repairs. Um we use Jerry Claws. Uh he is very lucky. He lives right behind Premier Lanes. He's a great board guy. He actually um does repairs for everybody, you know, even people ship him boards from, you know, all over, even from Puerto Rico, and that's all he does in his garage. And he um you know, uh you know, just does it right out there. So, he's really lucky to have him. And sometimes I can, you know, pull in with a board or a game, and sometimes he can actually fix it on the spot. So, it's great. Um, also too, like you know, this community is so small that it's great to, you know, befriend other arcade operators. You know, there's so much, you know, overlap and, you know, like repairs and it's always great to learn from other people. Um, one of them I always work well with is Derek Nth. He runs uh DK Arcade. um he runs more he was into the arcade and the um pinball stuff, but he's recently gotten more into the claw machines, which heck, if you want to get into that, that's where the money's at. Unfortunately, pinball is you're not going to become rich on pinball, but um if you have a passion for it and you want to share it with people, there's always, you know, it's a great thing to do. Um, but yeah, it's it's try to make these relationships with people that can help you do repairs, you know, or, you know, have experiences, you know, like I always call Derek, you know, when I'm fixing something and I realize, you know, hey, you know, if this game's resetting, you know, check this, this, this, and I'm just, we just kind of bounce stuff off each other and try to um, you know, teach each other cuz there's, you know, there's no book, there's no classes in this, you know, it's just kind of learning on yourself and learning from other people. Um, but we also work with um Klay Herrell. Um, Klay Herold runs the uh Ann Arbor Pinball Museum or the BFW. It's got different names. I've been trying to get him to pick one name, but he's over in Ann Arbor. He has about 530 pinball machines and he bought an old VFW hall and um it's an insane collection. and it's probably one of the biggest, you know, in the world. Um, and they're all unique games he has there. Um, so we work with him a lot and, you know, he comes and, uh, fixes our electromechanical games. That's one thing that we did different with this spot. And the reason we do the rest bands is because all the games we have here are some of them you can't really coin up like we have some electromechanicals, some wood rails here, you know, that make take dimes or something. So, you know, the time it would take to like convert that to quarters and it just we wanted just to have somebody have the experience. You just hit the start button and you can start playing. Um, but we have uh we celebrate the history of pinball too. We have a wall that kind of explains about how pinball was once illegal with uh and LaGuardia. Um, the mayor of New York thought it was a racket and uh thought they were gambling devices and actually had them all smashed, you know, into the I can't think of the river there in New York. Never been. But um they made and he actually made the um the police bats out of the legs because there used to be wooden legs on the pinball machines. And we have actually have a ballet bumper on display and actually have a mockup of uh Roger Sharp because we tell the story about how um you know he saved the game in 1976. So um but yeah, it's been a lot of fun and um you know just having that um interaction with people is it's really what makes a successful arcade I feel. And when you build your arcade, it's so important to actually have the um the atmosphere really important. It's, you know, like a fun or like a like a haunted house. You have lightning, sound, and you know, it's full of smoke. We don't hopefully don't have smoke here, but um you always want to like, you know, you don't want your arcade to look like a um a dental office. You know, you want it to be dark. you want to have, you know, you want the the the light of the games to actually be the, you know, the light of your place. So, our place, we were very lucky. This used to be an arcade called the American Fun Center. We kind of took it over. Um, and so we actually had the carpeting still here. We had the lights. So, we changed a lot of the lighting from uh, you know, we put a lot of, uh, color changing lights, so now they're all kind of like a blue, which acts like a black light on the carpeting. And sound is really important. We, you know, we're constantly adding music to our playlist and we have speakers all around here and I I think that's such an important thing and you don't want to walk into an arcade and it's quiet. Um, you want to have music that makes people happy and, you know, kind of have an upbeat um feel to it. And also, you want to be welcoming to people. You don't you don't want to discriminate people. You don't want to, you know, make people uncomfortable. We are very welcoming in our arcade here. Um, we always talk to people if they need to. you know, we're we're almost like uh um Amy's our one that she's at her front desk right now and uh it's almost like she's a psychiatrist sometimes just talking to people and people just come in just you know talk to her. So that's so important when you have a business like that to have somebody as your front counter you know that's easy to talk to and you know friendly but also you know doesn't get taken advantage of. That's one great thing about Amy is she doesn't allow anybody to take advantage of us. So she's very kind but also um can get the things done. So that's one thing you got you have to do. You can't be you can't also you got to remember that you know these you know they're part of your collection. Yes. But um they somebody always taught me when you start calling your your games equipment you become an operator. That's what I call my stuff now. It's not a pinball machine. It's not a video arcade game. It's equipment. So, you have to remember that, you know, this equipment is commercialade and, you know, people are going to, you know, bump the game like I just did. You know, that's part of the game. They're made to be commercially, you know, bumped and that's why there's a tilt. Um, yeah, if somebody gets a little out of control and, you know, or bangs a little too hard or creates a scene or fights, you know, yes, you have to address that, but you can't be that arcade where, you know, you people don't feel comfortable. You need to, you know, create an atmosphere where, you know, you you have to tolerate a little bit. And as much as it might be out of your, you know, comfort zone to be that way, but you kind of you don't want to be known as that arcade where like, oh, that guy is such a a-hole, you know, or, you know, so they just, you want to be welcoming. You got to be stern. Yes. You don't want to be taken advantage of, but you also want to um, you know, not to be get get to that. You also have to diversify, too. It's really hard. You cannot, you know, just operate a pinball arcade. You have to, if you want to have parties and stuff like I mean, that's what's going to keep your arcade going is you have to have, you know, video arcade games. You got to have stuff for kids. You got to have rides. You I mean, a lot of times people, you know, we first opened, we have mostly just pinball here at the well, we've been open about a year now, and uh we were still trying to get a lot of the video arcade games going. And we noticed that like a lot of people, you know, we just said we just had pinball that people just kind of, you know, they said, "Oh, okay." And then they walked away. But now that we kind of diversified and, you know, have, you know, done some team works with some awesome collectors, you know, bringing their stuff in that, you know, we do host more parties. We actually had a um high school reunion that was awesome for the class of 2000. Um we've had so many birthday parties. We've had um graduation parties at our other location. Um just a wide variety. We've been trying to do like team building events. We haven't had a ton of those, you know, for like an office. Um but it's just trying to get the word out, I guess, and advertise and um that's another thing too is advertising is kind of difficult. Uh I try to do some stuff on Facebook. We haven't been the most successful on that. You know, it seems like it just goes to the wrong people. And I know you can gauge how you're going to, you know, advertise, but it seems like it just always goes to the wrong people anyways. But, um, just getting your word out, I guess. You know, a lot of the times people come in and, you know, they say, you know, they, you know, they say, they talk to us. We always let them walk through our arcade. That's one thing that you need to do as well is let them see the arcade, see if it's something they want to play. you know, just we always say, you know, you're more than welcome to, you know, check it out, you know, and you know, if you want to play, let us know. But, you know, we always are watching them too on the cameras to make sure they're not they're playing. So, um, but, you know, sometimes people forget, you know, they they might just play. So, we never we never like yell at them or anything. We just said, "Hey, you know, what do you think?" You know, that's part of it, too. Like, you don't want to be, you know, confrontational at being an operator or an owner. You know, you just you kind of have to spin it in a positive way. Like if you see them playing, you know, and you're saying, "So Amy, I always devise this." You always ask them like, "Hey, how what do you think? You know, do you want to get a pass?" You know, you know, so it's not like that negative thing. Or sometimes people walk in, you know, we miss them. And again, we just realize even though there's signage that kind of explains how it is, they might miss it because, you know, there's all these lights and, you know, thing going on, they might just walk right past our sign. So we always are, you know, always factor on the the way that they actually are. they might be um you know they just miss that information. So we always are kind to them to because they might just think we're a normal arcade where you walk in and put quarters in um because that's it's kind of confusing too because we have two different arcades. One's a coin operated arcade and one's a wristband arcade. So it's somebody that might come to our one location might think it's the same way. So um the reason we do it coin operated the other place too because we don't have staff there. I mean there there is staff at the bowling alley and they're great. Um, but uh for them to like sell wristbands and stuff, it's the way the room is. There's a there's a concert venue also entrance into in the middle of our arcade. So, there's just too many entrances and exits where I think it'd be too hard to manage. So, but this arcade that we're in here in the mall, it's, you know, there are two entrances. We're kind of like in a corner. We are, this actually was built as an Arby's and then it was Burger King. very big Burger King and Arby's, but uh so we're like on a second floor of a mall. We're next to the J C Penney. So, um yeah, thing too is make your arcade um fun and crazy. Put some stuff on the walls that you know, don't just buy, you know, like the things on Amazon that say, you know, Pac-Man or something, you know, find, you know, an actual Pac-Man artifact. We actually, you know, we have a lot of weird artifacts from arcades. We have an old Aladdin's castle sign that I purchased uh a couple years ago from an old operator from the early 80s and um and I have a little escape and I had that thing sticking out of my car and it was hanging way too far out to be safe, but it's it's here now hanging on the wall or hanging off the ceiling, but it's a big huge I would say probably 20 foot wooden sign that was uh in an in a mall arcade. So, we have a lot of like, you know, Chuck-E-Cheese stuff, you know, we we've had on the wall. We have stuff from the early, you know, the Chuck-E-Cheese era. We have stuff from Major Magic, which is a local um animatronics, kind of like Chuck-e-Cheese, but it was a local thing for Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Um, we actually did, we actually teamed up with them when they actually reopened. They opened up around 2020 and they brought the whole animatronic band. It was so cool. And um it just didn't work. You know, the building wasn't right. We brought the pinballs in there, but it you know, it was open in 2020, so obviously CO had happened and just there was a couple other operational issues, you know, with the location. So, but uh that was one thing we tried and just didn't work. But we wanted to be part of it because I loved um Major Magics as a kid. It was just like Chuck-E-Cheese's, but band was like bigger. It had like four stages and stuff. So, it was fun to actually be part of it for a little while while it lasted. And uh we got some cool memorabilia from that. And we actually have a walkaround character. He's actually right behind me in this door, the costume. So, um we bring that out sometimes for fun events. So,
yeah. I mean, and that's that's a lot like I think I think that's cool that you you touched on so many good points there. I mean, just the matter of of pay model and understanding that the you know, it's equipment, right? I've talked to so many people who they want to open an arcade. they've got this cool collection and they're like, "Oh man, like but it's my stuff and I care about it and I don't want to be like I don't want it damaged." And I was like, "Okay, two options here. You keep what you don't want damaged at home and you put what you're okay with people beating up in the arcade because it's going to get beat up. No matter what you do, no matter where you put it,
it's going to get beat up, especially if there's alcohol in there or anything like that.
And I love the the the decoration point you made. Like it's so cool to see all that nostalgic stuff on the walls, right? Like nostalgia is a hell of a drug. So, if you have like cool stuff that that piques different age groups memories from different arcades that were local, that's that's a great way to bring the history back into into what you guys are doing. Um, and you got a ton of ton of pinballs at multiple locations. You run tournaments and stuff and you've got one later today. Tell me kind of what that was like starting
starting the the pinball tournaments and um what advice would you give to someone that wants to start their own pinball tournaments?
So, I originally started doing pinball tournaments when they were at Rosio. We were at Rosio Grady's which is another bar um they actually went under but uh we were doing it more as a fun thing you know like we were doing like the whole um IFBA stuff and it was kind of still new then um but we actually teamed up with a place called or Mike Mike Stewart he is um a pinball advocate and he's such a great thing in the um Detroit area and he runs a thing called the speak easy specials and so He goes traveling around to different arcades and he hosts tournaments. Um he was doing all the arcades in the area, but he's kind of just somehow, you know, recently more just focused on ours. So we do it like uh twice a month. Um so he shows up and he kind of puts it all together. Um we order pizza. Um that was one thing. I wasn't here last uh when the there was a little miscommunication. We didn't have pizza. So um I always buy pizza for everybody and you know just have a good time. We don't make a ton of money on it because you know pizza costs like 100 bucks and you know every if everybody's getting kind of a discount on coming in and stuff we you know give them a little bit cheaper so but it's goodwill and it's a lot of fun you know we meet you know great people that's you know get it's good it's goodwill to be you know doing these tournaments and uh I rarely play in them because I you know I'm always fixing the stuff or um I'm actually not a good tournament player terrible u But I always like playing them. But uh there's um some people that are really good at, you know, playing and it's amazing to watch them play and especially younger ones. It's, you know, really cool to see, you know, younger, you know, girls and boys that are, you know, young that are playing this stuff and it's insane how well they can do it. Um but yeah, we I don't do it anymore thankfully because Mike is Mike helps me out. So, um, but he loves doing it and, uh, he's he's a great advocate for the, you know, the Metro Detroit area for pinball and, uh, he's he's very good at himself actually at playing. So, but it's it's, that's another thing, too, like we're always, you know, we always, you know, we open up early, too, so people can play and practice. So, you know, we we offer that that discounted price for the full day so they can play and practice or um Yeah. Sorry, I can hear the the game's like right next to me blasting. Uh we have one of those ones like you have to jump, you know, like a jump rope game. I It's like right against that wall right there. Um but yeah, there's you just again, you know, when you run the tournaments or you're hosting one, you have to be friendly to people. You got to be courteous. You got to you got to be the face of of your business and you have to, you know, listen to people when they talk. And you know, you're going to get running a tournament's stressful because, you know, the people are going to say, "This is broken. this ball's stuck or you know it's just constantly running around. So it's if you're hosting an event it's really hard to you know especially you're doing the maintenance it's almost impossible to al actually also be in the tournament because things break and you know when you got 80 pinballs on the floor it's when there's only one person that's really working on the games. It's not the best idea for you to actually be working on the um uh you know playing in the tournament. So just because you're going to be working running around, you know, with your head cut off because, you know, things break, rubbers break on the, you know, the slingshots or, you know, or they have to get a call. So Mike is really good, too. He does the calls, you know, if like, you know, he knows all the IFPA rules and everything. So you know, he knows if you know, there's a disagreement or something or they want to just know how to actually do it. Um, you know, that's how we do it. But, you know, we've also done, you know, fun tournaments as well where I've, you know, like covered the glass. I think they call those pinball Olympics, you know. So, there's different like tasks on each games like you, one of them you'll cover the glass or you you know, you close your eyes and play and then people got to tell you what flippers to hit or there's ones where you, you know, you cover certain parts of the game or um just a lot of different little fun things we've done before. Um we haven't done anything recently like that but um for team B league events that's a great thing you could do to you know for an office that comes in you because people come in they'll start playing for a while then they kind of get bored you know because some people the pinballs all look the same to them so you they play a couple then they feel like they played them all. So, but if you put different tasks on them, like, you know, like, like I said, cover the flippers or cover certain parts of the game or, you know, um gosh, I'm trying to think of what other stuff we've done. Um, but like simple little things you could do, you know, to or where one person plays the left flipper, one plays the right flipper, or just, you know, different things like that if you're doing if you're working with people that aren't usually um, you know, pinball people. It's makes it fun, makes it challenging, gets people talking. you know, that's what you want to do for team building events. Um, what else? Uh, and it's diversify your collection, too. I mean, if you're if you're buying for your business, you know, um, we kind of, you know, we were buying all the new sterns and everything. And we still we still are going to, you know, but we kind of slowed down a little bit um because we're we realizing what we are is a museum and um we're not a nonprofit or anything, but um we know we don't uh so we we're realizing that, you know, in order to, you know, show this whole history of pinball, we need to, you know, show the beginning and all the areas in between. So, um, there's a lot of air there's a lot of, you know, arcades in the Metro Detroit area that, you know, have all the new games. So, we decided to make ourselves a little different and have all the B Williams that were, you know, the 80s and 90s games. So, you know, we are that place where you can play all those um instead of, you know, we're not the place that you can play all the new Sterns, you know, because we do have a couple of the new ones, but um, be frank with you, I just I'm I'm more interested in the Valley Williams. That's what I grew up with, you know. I'm 43 years old. So, um that was when I was in the arcade. Those were the ones that were out there and I remember playing. So, that's where my heart is and that's where my interest is. But, you know, nothing wrong with the new games. They're great to play. You know, one of my favorite ones is the new Alvra game and I like like the Dungeons and Dragons as well. But, um do what your you know, you obviously buy what you want to buy and everything, but also, you know, see what your customer actually wants. So,
yeah, that that makes a lot of sense. I mean, obviously, you're right. You're you guys are a museum. Um, you want to have the old stuff that's nostalgic to you, and you know, some people that may be brand new to pinball like the newer stuff over the old stuff. Sometimes it's the other way around. You never really know. But, um, you guys have such a wide selection. You wouldn't want to just have 80 brand new sterns or, you know, and and the spookies and all that stuff. You'd want to have stuff that that stretches back. the solid states, the DMDs, the the electromechanicals, the the stuff from the 60s and 70s. And I think that's always really cool when you have a nice mixture of all of that. Um, so that people really can see the history, right? I mean, it it's come a long way. I mean, there were pinballs that were made that didn't have flippers, you know, like a lot of people don't know that. They think like, oh, it just came out with flippers. It's all it ever was. So,
it's it's cool to to give that to somebody and and show them how it goes. And the the tournaments seem great. Sounds like you guys know what you're doing. I've I've heard this from a lot of arcades. Just hope and pray that you get a local guy that loves running tournaments because it makes it so much easier as a dealer.
That's the key. I'm terrible at running them. So, because I can't you can't do both. You can't run the tournament and also be doing repairs because it's just too much. You know,
be so much. It'd be so much. I I don't I don't know how you could do both. You'd be in the middle of a ball and they're like, "Oh, this flipper's broken over here." You're like, you just dist just distract me from the game.
I've done it a couple times where I'm like, "Okay, maybe I'll try it this time." come in. I'm like, "Oh gosh, it was a bad idea." So,
you don't even make it through the first round, you're like, "I got to go fix stuff."
Exactly. Y
that's that's great.
Um, let's talk a little bit more about the new location, like all the the Japanese stuff. I think that's that's so cool that you have uh you said it was it was called Sparks Passport.
Yeah. So, we were trying to think of a name for it. Um there was actually a place across the hall um with with Dave, you know, it was run um by somebody else and it didn't work out. So they pulled all their games out. So we worked with them all about reopening it and just making it um just Japanese games. So you know we worked with um Dave and a guy named Cal and also Vix. Vix actually used to run an arcade in Flint which is you know just north of us. It was called Playland and that was his um you know where he worked and you know he was very all three of these guys are extremely smart um not smart like way smarter than me I not that you know they're just really you know intelligent and you know computer people that can figure out this stuff and uh it's awesome. So we've teamed up with all three of them you know and they've brought all their games. Actually none of our equipment is actually in this place but we kind of you know sell the wristbands and uh I kind of manage it. We're actually going to move our desk so we're facing that location because right now we're facing the opposite way. Um, and we can't see it because we got to make, you know, kind of watch to see if anybody's in there. So, we'll see if this works out. You know, we we worked with them all and it's like a trial run to see if it works. But, I think so far it's seems to be pretty good and um it's only been going for a day. So, I guess I have don't have much data or anything. you know, we haven't actually announced it yet um because we just wanted to kind of, you know, figure out some of the kinks on like, you know, operations and pricing to see if we're on par, if we're too high or too low. Um but yeah, it's a lot of like rhythm games. Um I'm not too familiar with those type of um games, but there's one we have like u Vix has brought in some really cool games. He brought the um a game called um it's actually in Spark Pinball Museum, but it's called Golly Ghost. It's really cool game. So, it's a shooting game, but it's actually you're looking at it kind of like a dollhouse like and the doors open and stuff and it's, you know, there it's operated like a pinball machine, you know, where they are actually, you know, physically moving and it's got like a pepper ghost effect on it. So, like they will, you know, show like, you know, ghost flying to the house and the door opens and they'll go in it. Really cool game. by, you know, these two little shooters. And I don't know if they were ever actually made in, you know, actually made it to America or if they were only, you know, ma, you know, put into Japan, but um uh that's like one of some of the games, you know, we've teamed up with um there's uh Crazy Taxi that they've brought there. Gosh, I wish I could know some of more familiar with those games. But there's just a lot of different varies and they brought, you know, all three of those guys have some really cool collections of, you know, rare stuff, you know, in the Japanese uh um realm of gaming. And uh we're hoping, you know, to expand, you know, what we're doing there and, you know, kind of um seeing what works and what doesn't, you know. But, you know, again, we're only one day in, so kind of uh kind of early to talk about any kind of results on it if it's working or not, but uh we're getting there, it seems like. So, we'll see how it works. Yeah, that's cool. I love I love that you guys are all collaborating together and expanding kind of expanding out from what you have in in a similar location. You guys can kind of have the employees that are already at Sparks looking out for that and they can bring their games. And I know Dave, you know, running Psychic Drive, he's moving games constantly. He's getting new games. Um he's got a pretty solid selection of indie games too now. So um having that flexibility of having a place to leave them when he's not going to shows and then grab them from to take to shows and he's got lots of stuff in the warehouse. So I'm sure the turnover there is going to be pretty cool and and all those and everything that are going to be in there.
That's great to hear.
That's one thing about those three guys is they're well I'm only 5'6. I'm a short guy so
but u those guys have don't matter about you know moving stuff. They don't it doesn't bother them at all. I literally have exciting tax thinking about moving the stuff sometimes because it's so much because they actually, you know, things that they buy are huge, you know, like absolutely insane.
Yeah, some of those rhythms are massive.
Oh my gosh. I, you know, I only buy like, you know, retro arcade games, you know, video arcade games or pinballs and that can all be folded down to a certain point, but I'll have to give them credit. You know, they when it comes to moving them, they have no fear. you know, I, you know, driving those box trucks, you know, I have nightmares just thinking about driving those things. So, um, but that they're they're great to team up with because they have no fear with that. And, you know, they you ask them to move, you know, they want they want to move something and they're like, "Okay, do it tomorrow." You know, it's not a big deal to them or but, you know, that's
just put it on the schedule. It's just another thing they got to move.
Gosh, I know. I know how Dave does it. He's
I was literally just talking to him right before I got on, you know, I met with you because he's he's in the arcade right now and uh
I'm like, man, I don't know how you do it. Like, how do how do you go across the United States moving all this stuff and, you know, fixing problems, you know, on the you know, on the fly and uh you know, it just it's it's amazing what he does. And I know it it does a lot of things, you know, it helps a lot of, you know, different organizations and u you know, events, people actually see these games actually being brought to them. But I did that one time. I did it for when I Betty's when it first opened and me and my buddy um this was around 2013 and I brought my whole collection. We had took all the furniture out and um it was pretty crazy. Um you know, we took all the furniture out of the bar and we put 30 pinball machines in and
Oh, that's that's a big Yeah, that's a big loadup. Well, what happened was it was they had an outdoor concert venue and it was great, you know, and they had, you know, because there was a parking lot in the side of the bar and they had like this big tent that was built and a stage. They had all these vendors outside. It was so cool, but they didn't um uh I guess account for like freezing really cold Carl Weathers. It was called festive ale. um you know for festive and aliololis and beer and uh um so the whole bar was supposed to be a pinball bar, no furniture, but um what happened was is the they didn't take account for how cold it was going to get that day and the heaters that they had weren't strong enough or they were failing or something and everybody was trying to get in the bar and I was I'll just never forget people were just banging on the glass, let us in. It was just like a It was a scary day, you know, and and actually uh yeah, it was just absolutely wild. We had two huge box trucks. So, seeing what Dave does and having experienced, I don't know how he does it, so I give him credit.
It's definitely definitely a different different way of life. I mean, I I'm used to pulling a, you know, a camper, a 32 foot camper. So, I'm driving a box truck from uh Pennsylvania uh for Compulsive Pinball down to Magfest and I'm I'm not even kind of sweating it. I'm I'm ready. I I' I've taken this camper from Minnesota to Florida and Florida to Minnesota and Minnesota to Florida.
Not a big deal anymore, but I'm I'm excited for that drive. I'm excited to unload those pins and I'm excited for Magfest. It's it's gonna be cool with Dave.
Um that's that's really all I had for you, Mike. So, I mean, I just I appreciate your time. Go ahead and shout out social medias and stuff. Where can people follow along with the journey and where can people play your games?
Well, sorry. Oh, yeah. So, anyways, we're on our web address is sparkspinball.com. It's kind of like our Tik Tok is that. Our um Instagram, Facebook, and gosh, what's the one? That's there's another one. I can't remember. It's kind of like a Twitter, but another version of it. We're on there as well.
Blue Sky, that's us. Yep. Um but anyways, yeah, that's that's where we're at and um best way to like kind of see what we're doing is on our Facebook page, but we try to post in all four of those and our, you know, our website, you know, we try to keep it pretty up to date of what games we have at what location as well and um kind of events we have going on. So yeah, but if you everyone if you're in the Metro Detroit area, you know, coming off I75, we're right off 75 um freeway. So, it's a great little um stop on your way if you're going up to the Meno Bridge, you know, up north. That's what we call the upper peninsula in Michigan. Um but if you if you're here, check us out and um let us know and if you see me, say, "Hey."
Awesome. Thanks again, Mike. I appreciate it. I'll throw all those links down in the description so you guys can check out Sparks Pinball Museum and the other locations. Um I'm sure there's going to be a lot more that you guys are doing with Dave and everything in the future. So, I'm really excited to see a little bit more about this uh Sparks Passport cuz you said it's only day one. We're kind of breaking the news here. It's it's going to be it's going to be cool to see how this goes and I'm going to be excited to check in with you guys and see see how that all goes. But if you're still watching, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. It helps us a ton. The wave will continue to grow. We can all ride it together. If you need a new Stern or Ice Cold Beer or anything like that, go ahead and email me at indiearchcadewavegmail.com and we'll get that hooked up. It can go in your basement. It can go in your arcade. whatever you're looking for. But until next time, peace.