About Us: How it all started
An old (and blurry) picture of me playing pinball when I was younger.
I didn't have the opportunity to grow up around classic arcades like Pac-Man, Galaga or Tron. So when I had the chance to play one of those games, I would cherish the opportunity. However, the chance to play any of those games, including pinball were few and far between as almost no place offered games like those. About ten years ago, a place opened up nearby that had many wonderful pinball machines. I had a ton of fun getting to try them all, but the one I was instantly hooked on was Bally's Doctor Who. I would try to play a variety every time I had the chance to stop in, but I always had to play Doctor Who. Sadly, they removed all their pinballs after a few years and I was left with no where else to play.
I figured if I can't find anywhere to play these machines, I would just try to simply find them myself. Fast forward eight years later and I saved up enough to buy a project Nintendo Playchoice 10 for a decent price. I have been a huge fan of the Nintendo Entertainment System and I couldn't be more excited to have a Playchoice as my first machine. Prior to this, I had tinkered with electronics and consoles but as far as repairing an entire machine was concerned I was clueless. I took a lot of time to read about everything that goes into these machines and how everything works. I started to realize that keeping up with these machines was a commitment, as the minute I got something working, something would go wrong right afterwards. For some reason this didn't bother me, and I was having fun working on my machine from time to time. I even went above and beyond to make the machine look super nice, and remove some hack jobs for future reliability. Before I knew it, I had a beautiful machine that made a great addition to my game room
After having a lot of fun with my last machine, I decided to seek more machines out solely to work on. I would intentionally chose machines that looked like they needed a bit of work, as I was interested in learning more about repairing different kinds of machines. After working on a few arcades, I felt ready to take on a pinball machine. I managed to get a good deal on a Doctor Who, the machine I loved playing when I was younger. It was in very rough shape, and learning a pinball was a whole different world from fixing an arcade machine. It took about 2 years, but I finally finished overhauling the Doctor Who into a showpiece. That machine was invaluable, as I really got to learn the in's an out's of a pinball machine.
The Doctor Who Pinball I restored. A great game by Barry Oulser!
From that point, I was now taking on both kinds of projects. I would continue to find beat-up arcades and pinballs, so I could gain experience and make them play like new for me and my family/friends to enjoy. I kept expanding and learning new skills such soldering, troubleshooting and woodworking. I would really take the time to learn everything there was to know about the machine I worked on. I had fun playing them, but I ended having a better time working on them more than anything. There was no project too big for me to take on, as I wanted to save the machines others would simply throw away or dismantle for parts.
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I soon realized I couldn't keep every machine I worked on, and had to start selling machines to make more room for new projects. Every person I have sold a machine to has been very impressed with the work that have been done to them. I realized all the extra steps I took while repairing these machines were worth it, and would last a very long time in their new homes. It was at this point, I wanted to expand my operations to a business level, and try to help people who might have broken down machines sitting in homes or storage.
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For a few years, I did house calls, helping people with their machines on location and taking some small projects in to work on at the shop. It was a blast and I enjoyed helping lots of people in my area get their beloved machines up and running. Unfortunately, work life started clashing with my side hobby and it was getting difficult to plan visits and schedule long repair jobs. I've had to unfortunately stop doing repair jobs in order to keep a balanced schedule. Instead of abandoning Chrome Knight Coin-Op, I wanted to explore a new side of the hobby that has always intrigued me, and that is manufacturing parts.
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And that brings me to where I am today. Machines are getting older and parts are starting break or old stock is starting to dry up. it's impossible to fix a game correctly if there isn't parts to replace what's broken or missing. I have begun designing and manufacturing parts in order to help people around the world get their machines up and running again.