NJ Mike Introduction
Hello All,
I've been meaning to get to this introductory post for a while now. I have been around and soft of half participating since Sept, I thought I couldn't officially call myself a member unless I contributed to the mix here. Since I pulled a lot of insight from others posts, I feel like I should chip in. This post is how I got started and the machines I've bought (so far). I'll try to contribute regularly as I go through my restorations.
I'm an electrical engineer, specializing in manufacturing control systems, I spent about 5 years as an engineer using CAD, wiring, building control panels, programming and then starting up and troubleshooting systems for utilities, food manufacturers, chemicals and pharmaceutical companies (big industry in NJ). For the past 15 years or so I've been selling those systems while working for corporations like Honeywell and letting other people do the engineering.
My Pachinko story:
When I was a kid, I had a neighbor who had a Pachinko machine in his basement. At the time, we didn't call it a "vintage" but it turns out that is what it is today. His dad traveled back and forth to Japan quite a bit, I remember thinking that he brought it back with him, but also to my recollection, the machine had a Pachinko Palace (which I see on one of the machines I bought was in Paramus NJ) sticker on it, so chances are he saw them in Japan and bought one in NJ.
At any rate, about 5 years ago I finished my basement and was looking for simple arcade machines and I remembered the Pachinko machine. However, when I googled Pachinko, only (what I now know are) moderns came up in the results and I looked at them and thought, "That's not the pachinko I remember" so I didn't buy one.
Earlier this year I was looking to start a refurb project and was thinking pinball, however after a looking around a bit, I realized that a.) my tastes were too narrow, I like the "Williams High Speed" style of pinball and they were expensive and I didn't find any decent refurb projects and b.) they were going to take up a lot of room and if I decided to take a break from the project (I sometimes get distracted) it would be an issue with the "boss". Early on in my marriage I "fixed" a car (Honda civic, timing belt went, bent valves) in our garage...for two years...but it gone done eventually. Now with three kids, space is at a premium, too much stuff...
While searching on CL, I saw an ad for "Japanese Pinball" and looked at it and thought "That's the pachinko I remember", so I bought it. Then I started looking at PachiTalk and discovered what water stains were...bummer. That was a Nishijin B "Frog" (first two attachments)
During the time it took to order some pachinko balls, I found another Nishijin B on eBay, this one is called "Angel" for obvious reasons (second two attachments).
By that time I was reading PachiTalk quite often and I came across an eBay listing for another vintage and even though I didn't need one, it was listed for $75 with a best offer and the night the bidding ended, no one had bid so I threw in a bid of $15 and the seller ended up taking it, so my third one came home. This one is still in my garage, it looks like it has all its parts, but the cell is not in great shape and everything needs a major cleaning. I don't have pictures of it yet, but it is a Nishijin B Dolphin, there are one or two other members here who have one. It may be a candidate for a Microbus refinish. In fact, I have some other ideas for it that I'll share when I get to work on it, which won't be for several months. I also have some ideas for cabinets / wall hanging, but it will be at least 6 months before I get to that stage.
Of the three, Angel was in the best shape, I just finished a simple refurb on it and I'll do another post tonight or this weekend with before and after pictures. I'll also try to post over the weekend (but it may be next week) on what I learned on my first refurb and some questions I have.
Now that I've been reading PachiTalk for a while, I think I'll start to venture into Moderns after I'm done with my three vintage refurbs, maybe a little at a time. I think I'll have to part with a vintage or two before I do that though.
Whew - I didn't intend to type for this long.
More to come...
Mike
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Welcome Mike!! 
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