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The Death of Tubby
The universe is cyclical. Fail, win, fail, win. Fail fail, win win. There are patterns. The Buddha put forth that we find meaning in life through struggle. I found a little meaning this week.
The last minute, packing for Southern Fried Gameroom Expo, I decided to remove some key tools from my usual toolbag and carry a tote with some essential pinball-arcade repair tools to the show. Stuff like:
A Hakko Soldering Tool
A Hakko Desoldering Tool
A Fluke 7x Series Auto-sensing DMM
Glass Puller
Deoxit
Cleaner, a Solder Sucker
A Wreck-it-Ralph Nesquick containter with hot glue implements
Nut Drivers
Various and Sundry other hand tools
Somewhere in the madness of packing up - the tub evidently was left behind at the hotel near the loading dock. This is my fault.
When I finished rounds of unloading back at home and sat down to set up my pin in it's home, I realized the tub of tools was missing. I put up a few feelers with the hotel lost and found and after getting hung up on a couple times and getting barely comprehendible responses other times it was clear to me that hotel was not going to be my best bet. (Although I did send a small gift basket to the hotel Loss Team manager to try to encourage better service. Looking back and with full-knowledge of events, that turns out to have been ineffective)
Tubby, Rescued
The show organizers and volunteers of SFGE on the other hand are superheroes. They work their butts off at this show and every year it's bigger, better and still feels like a big family. I really.. really didn't want to impose on them with my careless tubby-handling..
But, alas I swallowed my pride and engaged the game bringer and facebook groups to sleuth out what happened.
Between facebook groups, facebook messenger and GAPAS email list, the fate of the tub was quickly brought to light.
A well-meaning game bringer saw it as he left and placed it on the inside stairwell near the freight elevator. Even though the hotel claimed they looked, they really didn't. One of the event volunteers went back days later and found Tubby, all alone at the bottom of the stairwell.
I was already feeling shitty about having imposed on the group and beyond appreciative that Joe took time out of his day to go fetch Tubby. When he asked about my shipping preference, honestly I was more worried about not inconveniencing him with finding a box that it would fit in. "Whatever's easiest!"
As the week passes, we have these running conversations about "Where's Tubby?" and "How's Tubby?" and I try to find some small way to show my appreciation for his efforts in getting the tub shipped back. The tracking info starts showing some sketchy entries but I chalk it up to our local Mayberry-like split-postal arrangement between two post offices.
Eventually, though - a box arrives.. and tubby's corpse is inside it.
The contents of the tub were mostly gone. Both Hakko's, the DMM, all tools but one screwdriver and a glass puller. Really, the loss feels quite surgical. Anything of a certain dollar amount - gone. I'm not implying that there's a postal worker, soldering enthusiast running amok with my tools, though. I can smell bureaucratic bullshit 300 miles away and this case reeks of risk mitigation by part of the post office.
I've spent hours traversing the postal service phone tree trying to follow these directions. Sadly, the phone tree literally had no series of options that would allow me to speak with the Mail Recovery Center or to initiate a search. Lots and lots of frustrating dead-ends and no humans.
I've since filled out all of the relevant stacks of forms and have set my expectations appropriately low for what comes next. I've started shopping for tools to replace the missing ones... cha-ching, stimulatin' some economics.
Take-Aways:
- Atlanta Renaissance Waverly Lost & Found - They don't find lost things.
- SFGE Organizers, Volunteers, Fellow Game bringers - Are awesome examples of humanity
- US Postal Service Phone System - Makes me want to break things.
- US Postal Service Web Portal - 6/13/2018 isn't a valid date? Dead Links. Horrible.
Finally.. hold on to your Tubby's and tell your Hakko's you love them. You never know, one day they m they may not be there.
RIP Tubby
2015-2018
Moving On in Memory of Tubby
Slowly, I'll start replacing the lost tools. To replace the Fluke Multimeter, I upgraded slightly from the 73 series Fluke to the Brymen BM235. For the soldering iron, I'm sticking with the Hakko 888D.
The hakko desoldering gun is the most bitter financial pill to swallow. I'm going to wait until I have an impending need or the off-chance USPS actually finds the other one before I commit to that $325 Amazon Cart. I see cheaper options that are compelling but I loved the other tool, probably best the save up and buy the one I know I'll like versus buying something that might be a let-down.
Update 2 Weeks Later
After painstakingly recounting the contents of tubby in both the "search for lost mail" and "file a claim" areas of the USPS website, this arrived in the mail a couple of days later..
No, "My bad." or "Sorry for your loss." Just the cold, calculated efficiency of a government bureaucracy accounting and indemnification department. :)
As I look to add on the missing de-soldering pump to the toolbag, it looks like at the time of this writing, https://www.tequipment.net/hakko/ is the place to get it.
Ordered the Soldiering station and the FR-30x from Tequipment. Happy with the price point and fast shipping.
SFGE 2018
The Calm before the Fun-Storm.
Southern Fried Game Room Expo continues to be my favorite show each year. It just feels like family :)
If.. my family was way more awesome and there are 300 games, an indie movie festival, music, wrestling all sorts of awesomeness..
If.. my family was way more awesome and there are 300 games, an indie movie festival, music, wrestling all sorts of awesomeness..
The Load Up
The thing about our local arcade community is: we have super-solid people. There aren’t a lot of us but we help each other out!
Charlie pulled the trailer and handed the rental and brought up Monopoly, Genesis, Lord of the Rings just to name a few. :) Cody brought Creech (and a super cool special presentation) and I took my Data East Star Wars this time and it got 682 plays over the weekend - and was rock solid :)
Gaming Floor Walk-Through
Family Fun
Cody’s Creech!
You ever seen an environmental Creech? If you were at SFGE 2018, you did. Cody’s CFTBL is gorgeous and mean to play, which makes me love it even more for some reason.
ohm-matched surround sound. yeah!
Vendors!
SFGE always has a good Vendor game and this year was no exception. Plenty of space and plenty of cool offerings from really friendly and enthusiastic vendors.
As always, Marco Specialties brought their A-Game with this epic pyramid of new Pinball. Show specials, parts, shirts & Swag - a little bit of everything and a whole lot of NIB Pinball to flip.
Flip N Out Pinball has been a solid supporter of SFGE every year that I’ve attended. They bring some of the harder to find Premium titles and sometimes you’ll find industry-folks in their show space. They brought the latest from Jersey Jack Pinball, Chicago Gaming / Planetary Pinball & American Pinball. Also, Escalera’s are awesome.
Hard to Find Titles
I was able to get 2 balls in on JJP POTC but unfortunately the game kept breaking down every time I tried to play it. I took it as a personal rejection, not a quality issue w/ the pin. Maybe it just didn’t like me - seems like others really enjoyed it!
Speaking of Rum…
Seeing my old POTC on the show floor was a little bit like seeing an ex-girlfriend happy with her new beau. Probably shouldn’t have sold this game but at least it went to a solid dude who appreciates it!
KingPin
Mark Ritchie’s KingPin was provided on the floor by Circus Maximus for us to flip. They were selling art, toppers & Swag to help fund the project. I’m a huge fan of MR games, this one shot great!
Star Wars LE
Finally got a chance to play Star Wars LE and they had the sound cranked all of the way up, which was nice. :) I liked it.
Games!
Did I mention there are alot of games? Like.. over 300 or so… this becomes the largest Arcade in Georgia and probably the largest functional arcade in the Southeast for the weekend.
Charity!
Project Pinball is an excellent charity, run by an awesome group of people.
Pinvasion!
Pinvasion V really stands out as a next-level pinball tournament. This year it was moved off into a different portion of the hotel, which seemed to work really well. This is always a super-well-organized and highly attended tournament.
This year, my daughter really wanted to try her hand at some competitive pinball. She was already IFPA listed from a previous tournament and was feeling the competitive itch.
Ultimately, in order to (really) compete in the tournament takes a level of dedication and focus that we lacked this year but she still had a great time.
Shenanigans!
We were… on the other hand, dedicated and focused in taking part in some Shenanigans. Jena’s inflatable T-Rex is always a hit. :)
BRRAAAAIIIINNNNSS! (No, really - brains!) Cody is an incredible player and wealth of pinball and arcade knowledge from rules and play to anything repair related.
If you stand still long enough, Billy might sign you.
Personalities & Industry Celebs
This was the year I developed a crush on Cabarets. Tried to buy this one, actually but it was some sort of relay-phone dead-drop communication scenario where you left a message under a park bench with your offer and someone randomly scribbled on a piece of toilet paper in the center bathroom stall if your offer was excepted. Err.. something like that. :) Ah, well - sweet game - look forward to finding one!
That’s a Wrap
It is funny how the truck always ends up coming home a little more full than when we arrived. :) Keep an eye on your games, they will multiply before you know it!
After an awesome weekend we were loaded up and headed back to the Gulf Coast with only one casualty. RIP Tubby.
My Full Photo Gallery from 2018 SFGE is here: https://images.eyedyllic.com/Hobbies/SFGE-2018/n-LxrDNw/
Data East Star Wars at SFGE 2018
This year, I took my Data East Star Wars to SFGE.
Star Wars in it's cubby hole in the game room. Thankfully Kylo had a good game, so he didn't go wacky with that saber.. :)
The pinsound + flipper fidelity is capable of drowning out the surrounding pins in John Williams awesome-ness. Hopefully you'll be able to hear it but I want to be a good pin-neighbor on the show floor.
Download link for this Pinsound Orchestration:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0rejma4nsqspz7m/Star_Wars_OST_By_BD2a.zip?dl=0
Playfield Photos
The illuminated flipper bat kit is RGB and can be pretty much any color. I liked the stark white to play off the Storm Trooper art. Though, Red, Green, Blue gives you the lightsaber feel. You can get this kit here:
http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-FLIPLIGHTUP-KIT
I've tried many different types of lit flipper buttons. The ones I like the most are from Pinball Life. I feel like they hold up better than the L-Board alternatives.
Get them here: https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=catalog&mode=search&search_in=all&search_str=brite+buttons
Power Stuff
Auxillary switching power supply to aide mods and reduce power load from Power Driver board.
Custom built molex connectors and a breakout board, DKTap power out
Power Breakout Board:
https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=4234
DKTap:
http://www.kimballspinballs.com/dk-pinball/
Original DE MPU - batteries replaced in January 2018, no damage here. Rottendog Playfield Power Board and Power Supply, though I have working originals. The RD power boards seem to provide cleaner power than the original boards.
Flipper Fidelity for Pinsound: https://flipperfidelity.com/pinsound.html
Original Playfield Power board. Works.
Original Power Supply. Works but the board has some heat cracking on the back. The RD board seems to provide cleaner power anyway.
Sound Board - Parts Side
Sound Board - Solder Side
Sound board is replaced by Pinsound.
Original Speakers
Original Cabinet Speaker / Sub
Game Audits from the Show
I freed one stuck ball all weekend. The pin help up great all weekend and had a steady line of people on it, which I really liked to see!
