How it all began…
It all began in the 80’s when I went to the Roadrunner Burger bar in Colombo St and was introduced to the lineup of video games. Gyruss was the one for me, loved it, would have quite happily played it all night, but Dad was waiting as our order was ready, so it was time to leave. At home there was the Atari 2600, which was way cool, but nothing compared to the Arcade machines at the burger bar!
Then one day Dad took me to his work where they had an Electromechanical Pinball machine. Don’t know what machine it was, but that was my first time playing one. I must have been about 8 years old. That was the beginning of my addiction to the lure of the silver ball. My first real impression was Gottliebs Black Hole, now that was a Pinball Machine! It was located in the burger bar by the corner of Huxley & Colombo Streets. I decided that I had to own a Pinball machine.
That 1st machine was a Stern Cosmic Princess. Managed to convince the flat members to have it in the lounge. It was a hit at the parties and I was grinning ear to ear. But all good things come to an end, and one day, it broke. Found out that there were not many people repairing them, So I became self taught.
That was back in 1993, things have moved on from there, unfortunately, so has Cosmic Princess, but at least I know who the current owner is. Many more machines have joined the collection, including my favorite from the 80’s – Black Hole. Took years to find it and about a year to learn how to fix it! – She’s a keeper.
As word got around that I could fix Pinball Machines, questions came about if I could take a look at other Arcade Stuff. So the list of equipment that I am prepared to look at has grown to include Jukeboxes, Old Electromechanical amusement Machines, some Poker Machines and Video Games.
I decided to take this part time repair hobby one step further. Pintech, was formed in September of 2007 and launched into a full time business in April 2008.
Nothing is more rewarding than taking an old broken down, and sometimes poorly engineered piece of equipment, and knowing that when it goes out the door that it has a new lease of life. Once again providing hours of entertainment for someone.
As well as repairs, I also do Machine Sales, Corporate Hire, Party Hire and sell Spare Parts.
Hi! Interesting… I think I have your old Cosmic Princess machine. There can’t be too many of these in NZ. Just stumbled across your site looking for pinball repairers in the South Island for a friend of a friend.
jyg