Modern pinball wizard brings older games back to life
NEVADAN AT WORK
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Craig Snelling is a different kind of pinball wizard.
A fan of the blinking, clinking machines from the heyday of coin arcades? No doubt. Just study the schematics of his new 3,000-square-foot Henderson home for proof: 1,000 square feet reserved for a giant game room to house dozens of his favorite arcade games. It’s there where he bonds with his son over Xbox and soda pop — or just blows off steam alone.
But as owner of local hobby shop Billiards ‘N More, the 42-year-old has dedicated the past two decades of his life to delivering that dream to droves of video game enthusiasts across the Las Vegas Valley. With two locations in Las Vegas, Snelling spends most of his time repairing, restoring or hunting down relics to either stick in his collection or line along the walls of his store.
His journey to his throne as the go-to guy in the pinball community budded from an early love of video games. Snelling made a name for himself in his native Glendale, Calif., as one of the only guys in the neighborhood who could fix your broken machine, using what he learned in a high school electronics class to iron out glitches and bring new life to burnt out connections.
Today, he has enough business to employ 12 people, bringing in enough cash to pay for television commercials.
Restoring childhood memories rewarding to Snelling Name: Craig Snelling Age: 42 Occupation: Owner of Billiards ’N More, a pinball and arcade game repair shop Quotable: “I’m a gamer, and I like professional wrestling … Maybe that’s embarrassing to admit.”
Most of Snelling’s work involves sprucing up old machines with new wiring, LED bulbs and graphics. The job is no small task: Original machines include up to 300 incandescent bulbs, which burn out quicker than LED bulbs. It takes a repairman like Snelling about 90 hours to replace every bulb in a pinball machine.
Remembering where every little screw goes to reassemble a machines is like building a puzzle. But to Snelling? That’s just another game to crack.
Question: How did you get your start in pinball machines and video game?
Answer: I grew up playing a lot of video games. It was always my passion. I learned how to fix the computers, then I got into electronics, then I bought a couple arcade games that had problems and fixed them myself. There weren’t many repairmen back then. This is going back to “Super Mario,” “Donkey Kong,” “Galaga, stuff like that. From there it spilled into pinball. Pinball’s always been just awesome.
Question: How’s the pinball business these days?
Answer: They’re looking to buy. They’re looking to have machines restored. It’s one of the most popular collectibles there is. It’s really a part of American pop culture. Since 1990, the business has been going up ever since. Australia has been buying a lot of our stuff. … There’s no way to catch up. My repair log is four weeks booked. There’s way too much work for one person to handle.
Question: What’s the price range at your shop?
Answer: Starts at $2,000 and goes up to $14,000.
Question: What’s your favorite arcade game?
Answer: Probably “Mario Brothers” and “Qbert.” Probably two of my favorites. Pinball? It’d probably be “The Getaway.” It’s a car racing, car robbery game, cop-and-robber themed. “Attack From Mars” is always up there for me. “Guns N Roses.”
Question: Do you have a private collection of games at home? If so, how big?
Answer: Oh, yeah … It started as one room in my house. Then it went to three. Then I converted my three-car garage into a game room. And then from there we knocked out a wall and took a bedroom. That added 600 square feet. And the main purpose of my buying the new house was it’s on a half-acre. Now we have 1,000 square feet. The plan is to get it up to 1,500 square feet.
Question: Is your son excited about the new room?
Answer: He wasn’t in the beginning. He is now that it’s close.
Question: Did you ever think you’d end up selling, repairing and hunting down arcade games for a living?
Answer: I don’t remember how I pulled it off, but when I was 17, I got my first arcade game into a bar that was 21 and older. I went in there, talked to the bartender and got a hold of the owner and talked him into putting in a game called “Mat Mania” — it was a wrestling game, and my favorite game at the time. I was a big wrestling fan. I got it into the bar, and we used to go there Friday nights — me and my friends — and we’d get the money out of it: 30 or 40 bucks, and we’d go have fun with that money on a Friday night. I bought it for myself to keep it, but then I wanted to make some money off it. That’s how the addiction started.
Question: Did you put more games in more bars?
Answer: No, I stuck with that one. As I bought more games, I started fixing them, and people wanted to buy them.
Question: What kinds of projects are you working on now?
Answer: We’re rebuilding the monitor of a “Donkey Kong” game. We’re going to rebuild the power supply, basically make it like new. Make it like new or better than new. I saw that because they didn’t make very reliable parts in the 80s. Question: Is there any competition? Answer: On the video-pinball side? No. A guy here, guy there. But they’re out of their garages.
Question: Is it easy to train someone how to repair old arcade games?
Answer: I’ve tried to teach people, but I always compare it to trying to teach people how to be a good poker player: You either have it, or you don’t. You just can’t teach somebody. You have to be able to think a certain way, and you can show someone that, ‘Oh, the problem is probably this,’ but when it comes to reading the schematic and thinking analytically, you can’t teach that. So, I’ve tried and failed to teach people many times. They have to be dedicated and want to learn and have a good attitude. My attitude has always been: I won’t take no for an answer. I will stay on it until I figure it out. There have been many times when I wanted to walk away. That’s where all these gray hairs came from.
Question: What kind of customers do you serve?
Answer: Homeowners. They come in and say, “I remember playing this in college” or “I remember playing this as a kid.” … I’ve had people come in with a budget to buy a pool table and end up walking out with an arcade game.
Question: Where can we find your machines around town?
Answer: We have some in the Monte Carlo at the Pub. We have some at the Double Barrel on the Strip. We did Insert Coins: All of their games came from my private collection. There’s about 40.
Question: What’s your favorite part about the job?
Answer: I do like the collecting and hunting a lot. But I’d say, honestly, I’ve had people come in here and literally just break down in tears. I’ve seen some people seriously cry. They’ll come in and go: “Oh my, I haven’t seen this since I was 18 years old.” That’s the kind of stuff that makes me feel good when they never thought they would see this game again. Or “I wouldn’t have made it through college if not for this pinball machine that I played every night to de-stress…” That’s rewarding when I can get it to a working condition, and they just appreciate it that much. They tell me “thanks so much for repairing this.” That’s pretty rewarding … It’s pretty rewarding when they pay me, too. Contact reporter Ed Komenda at 702-383-0270 or ekomenda@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ejkomenda.