IPB April 3rd 2009

Warning ---- Some NSFW images of the "Big D**K" machine.

Gene was a pleasure to meet and was a great host. Gene spent
a lot of time showing us everything of interest in his collection as
well as his very unusual house. He really wanted to make sure everyone
was being taken care of.

My friend and I befriended Gene's son-in-law, Kim's husband, who by the way seemed to be a super cool and funny guy. He really made the day with his stories. All three of us could hardly stop laughing the entire time. "Just remember guys, no oh and aweing, it's just shit".

Probably the best moments of the tour....Gene telling everyone not to touch the guns that were laying all over the house as they were loaded, and letting someone hold a fully automatic "street sweeper" machine gun, and then mentioning not to pull the trigger as it was loaded. (The irony was that it shoots i think 30 rounds in 6 seconds, by the time Gene could have gotten out "Don't pull the trigger it's loaded" we would have all been dead).

The parts prices were not "sale", but I went with a pretty hefty parts list
of items that quite simply are not available anywhere else for any
price. I left with *everything* I had on my list. I was amazed and
delighted and poorer :). Lots of side art, backglass and translites that I didn't know had been remade. They have stock that is not listed on the website. My guess would be less than 10% of what they have is listed.

Gene threw out $20k for the Wizard Blocks playfields and software.
But then again, everything was $20k :)

In fact Gene suggested that everything was for sale as he wished to move to a smaller house. How that's going to happen is anyone's guess. If you've never been there, the house is 13,0000 random square feet. It is hard to articulate the sheer amount of stuff...pinball, weights, guns, furs, art, hubbles, neon, arcade games, and god knows what else.

We received a tour of the entire house, not just stuff pin related. Including, yes, Gene's bedroom. It was great, a deep look into a very eccentric but successful man's life. The fur closet, the shoe closet, the armory, the indoor pool room (probably 1500 square feet itself.).

The tour consisted of about an hour walk through of Gene's buildings with commentary from Gene. Wizard Blocks was available for play, and I left the tour at one point to be able to get a game in.