A Pensacola treasure.

Bob wrote:Thanks for the kinds words,  Ichi (and Sal and Neko).
Most people have only one thing they really know about and it's usually
whatever they did for a living.  With me that one thing is coin-operated
machines.  With you it's boat building and the commercial fishing business.
I learned as much about that from talking to you yesterday as you learn from me about the coin-op machines.

The only way books have ever gotten published about the history of coin-operated machines is when they're self-published.  That's when the author puts up the money to get the books made because publishing houses don't have much interest in doing it.
One professional writer got the coin-op bug starting in the late 70's and became sort of the official historian for it.  A listing of all his books is at the end of this page...

http://archive.ipdb.org/russjensen/dicktrib.htm

Ghost Rider wrote:
Bob, is the amusement repair place on Pace Blvd still open? I cannot think of the name of it but if you were going south on Pace it would be on the left side somewhere in the area of Jordan.

Bob wrote:

Ghost Rider wrote:
Bob, is the amusement repair place on Pace Blvd still open? I cannot think of the name of it but if you were going south on Pace it would be on the left side somewhere in the area of Jordan.

That's Pensacola Automatic Amusement Co run by John Britt,  ghost.
It's not really a repair place though.  

Here's how the coin-operated amusement machine business works.  The places you see the machines at are referred to in this business as machine "locations" (bars,  laundromats, etc).  The locations hardly ever own the machines themselves.
The machines are owned by what is known in the business as "route operators".  Pensacola Automatic has been the biggest local route operator since the 70's.  Businesses like it purchase the machines and then place them in the locations on a rental basis.  The standard rental arrangement is for the operator to get 50% of the take from the machines and the location gets the other 50%.  And the operator is responsible for all the maintenance (which is considerable with these things).
So the operator (like Pensacola Automatic) primarily only does repairs on his own route machines.
The operators occasionally have a sideline business of doing repairs on machines they don't own.  Pensacola Automatic has always been one of the operators who does this.  
But the whole business has been going through a state of decline for about 20 years.  That happened because the coin-operated amusements started to become less in demand with the advent of consumer purchased video games.  The technology advance gave us all the same video games at home that before this were only available to us as coin-operated games.  
As a result of this,  Pensacola Automatic has been downsizing all it's operations including a big reduction in the number of employees including the techs.  So to answer your question,  I don't know anymore how willing (or able) that business is to to do repairs on equipment they don't own.
About the only way to find out I guess is to call them or stop in there.

Bob wrote:

Ghost Rider wrote:
Bob, is the amusement repair place on Pace Blvd still open? I cannot think of the name of it but if you were going south on Pace it would be on the left side somewhere in the area of Jordan.

That's Pensacola Automatic Amusement Co run by John Britt,  ghost.
It's not really a repair place though.  

Here's how the coin-operated amusement machine business works.  The places you see the machines at are referred to in this business as machine "locations" (bars,  laundromats, etc).  The locations hardly ever own the machines themselves.
The machines are owned by what is known in the business as "route operators".  Pensacola Automatic has been the biggest local route operator since the 70's.  Businesses like it purchase the machines and then place them in the locations on a rental basis.  The standard rental arrangement is for the operator to get 50% of the take from the machines and the location gets the other 50%.  And the operator is responsible for all the maintenance (which is considerable with these things).
So the operator (like Pensacola Automatic) primarily only does repairs on his own route machines.
The operators occasionally have a sideline business of doing repairs on machines they don't own.  Pensacola Automatic has always been one of the operators who does this.  
But the whole business has been going through a state of decline for about 20 years.  That happened because the coin-operated amusements started to become less in demand with the advent of consumer purchased video games.  The technology advance gave us all the same video games at home that before this were only available to us as coin-operated games.  
As a result of this,  Pensacola Automatic has been downsizing all it's operations including a big reduction in the number of employees including the techs.  So to answer your question,  I don't know anymore how willing (or able) that business is to to do repairs on equipment they don't own.
About the only way to find out I guess is to call them or stop in there.

Ghost Rider wrote:
It is not a matter of getting one repaired, I can make the repair myself. I am looking for parts.

Bob wrote:

Ghost Rider wrote:
It is not a matter of getting one repaired, I can make the repair myself. I am looking for parts.

What type of amusement machine do you need parts for?

Ghost Rider wrote:
It is a Williams and I need a flipper coil for it.