If people are buying slot machines to satisfy
an addiction, they are often buying pinball machines
and old video games for a sentimental link to their youths.
While some people buy enough games to fill
an entire game room, others buy just one that
has special meaning to them, Kline said.
Bucs lineman
Paul Gruber
says games
entertain his
kids and guests.
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Some of the first video
games, like Pac-Man, Asteroid
and Centipede, are good examples
of games that have become recently
popular for homeowners be-
cause they bring back good
memories of the '70s to ba-
by boomers who were playing
them in college and high school.
"People in their 40s are
the ones who buy the old
classic video games," Kline
said. "Now that they have
the money, they want to remember that" time in their lives.
Other customers tend to be younger men in
search of pinball machines to help beat stress.
"You spend eight hours at the office getting beat
up on the phone, and you go home and you start
beating up on the pinball machine," Gorsky said.
About 80 percent of Kline's pinball and
arcade game customers are men. But most slot
machine buyers are women.
Off the streets, in the rec room
Many game buyers are also parents.
In addition to getting to wallow in a little
nostalgia of their own, many think of the machines as a good way to keep their teenagers off
the streets and out of expensive arcades.
"The baby boomers' kids are teenagers
now," said Kay Green, owner of Kay Green
Design in Winter Park. Green has a set of
15-year-old twins. "And I don't want them down
the street."
Green installs the machines in model homes
she decorates across the South. She thinks it
helps boost sales because it taps into the desire
of Americans to cocoon.
"People are spending more time at home,"
said Green. "They are trying to bring into their
home all the functions of the outside world."
Longtime Tampa Bay Buccaneer Paul Gruber doesn't get out as much anymore. For starters, it's tough to find a good babysitter.
So Gruber finds having a home game room is
a good alternative. It entertains him, his two
small children and guests.
Gruber had seen pinball machines and other
arcade games in the homes of friends and decided he wanted some, too.
It took him some telephone calls, but he
eventually found Kline's business. He bought a
hard-to-get Corvette pinball machine, a video
poker machine and a golf game.
Entertainment wasn't the only thing on his
mind. "When I did it I wanted stuff that would
hold its value." Gruber said. "Most of that stuff
depreciates."
The games can be good investments, if you
buy the right ones. Slot machines from the '30s
are hot items now, said Gorsky of Games International. So are the first video games from the '70s.
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Times Photo - Jim Stem
Andy Kline at Game Gallery Amusements and Rentals in Tampa finds baby boomers to be enthusiastic customers.
"People in their 40s are the ones who buy the old classic video games," Kline said.
Pinball machines that feature movie and
television themes, such as Star Trek and the
Addams Family, are popular. Kline has a hard
time finding enough Corvette and Harley-Davidson pinball machines to meet demand among those who favor those cars and motorcycles.
Investing in collectibles can be risky business. What collectors want today might not be
appealing in a few years. For instance, the old
video games that were as passe as polyester a
few years ago have nearly doubled in value,
thanks to a wave of '70s nostalgia.
Some popular games
and their prices
- Corvette pinball machines - $3,600
- Harley-Davidson - $5,000
- Addams Family - $2,500
- Pac-Man - $600
- Asteroid - $600
- Air hockey - $$995
- Reproduction Bubbler Rockola jukebox - $6,000
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No Cheap Hobby
While people decide to buy arcade-style
games for a multitude of reasons, they all have
one thing in common - disposable income.
Gorsky sells slot machines from $500 for a
plain, newer model to $2,000 for some of the
fancy and rarer antiques.
The average pinball machine goes for about
$1,200, Kline said. And some of the most desi-
rable machines, such as the Corvette or Harley-
Davidson pinball machines, can fetch prices as
high as $5,000, if he can find one.
"But I can find just about anything,"he said.
"It might take a week, but I will get it."
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Demand for slot machines has created
some shortages. Gorsky gets his used slot machines
from Nevada casinos. He only shops there,
rather than Atlantic City, because the low desert
humidity is less likely to have gummed up the
guts of a machine.
Because of the boom in home sales, he's
having trouble finding older slot machines. In-
stead of buying them right off casino floors, now
he has to go to casino warehouses to find them.
Demand among some customers grows as
they seek new toys to complete home arcades.
Larry Santangelo of New Port Richey goes
straight to Kline when he craves a new game for
the '50s-style diner he and his wife have built on
the lower floor of their stilt home.
The owner of several landscaping businesses
has two large video games, a pinball machine and
a variety of other games in his home.
Santangelo is expanding his space and has a
few more items in mind, including a video game
the 35-year-old played in junior high. "It's an
airplane that flies through all these mazes and
shoots at military stations. At the end you shoot
a monster," he said.
Diane Vaughn figures she and her husband,
Larry, will add more games in their three-story
home in Tarpon Springs. They already have two
slot machines and a poker table on their third
floor. Down by the pool table, dart
machine and a pinball machine. "We are pretty
game-intense," she said. We are not through collecting, by no means."
Whatever they get next will have to be small
"because we are running out of room," she said.
The couple is a bit competitive with each
other. Pinball is Diane's game. "I was really
good at pinball when I was in college...And I
still beat my husband more than he beats me."
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