\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i42.tinypic.com\/2ef0siv.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\tFrom Las Vegas Sun<\/p>\n
\tCraig Snelling learned how to repair arcade games out of necessity.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt was the summer of 1984 and he was 14 years old, living with his parents in Glendale, Calif., when his favorite game, Mario Bros., broke.<\/p>\n
\tThe video game scene already had exploded with the introduction of the Commodore 64 home computer and Atari console, but the science behind the games was a mystery to most. Repair manuals were rare. Google didn’t exist.<\/p>\n
\tThat didn’t matter to Snelling. He wanted to play.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSo I locked myself in the garage and figured it out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tSoon, Snelling had accumulated a couple machines in his garage. A friend suggested he sell them. He did and has been ever since.<\/p>\n
\tToday, the 42-year-old lifelong gamer owns Billiards ‘N More, an arcade repair shop, game room and store with two locations in Las Vegas and plenty of business.<\/p>\n
\t"The hobby is huge," Snelling said the day before heading to Hawaii for a weeklong vacation, his first in more than 20 years. He always feared going crazy being away from the office too long.<\/p>\n
\tSnelling likes his job. He makes good money, too.<\/p>\n
\tHe earns enough repairing and selling arcade games to employ 14 workers and pay $3,000 a month for commercials on the CW network. He stars in one, sinking an eight ball in the corner pocket of a pool table.<\/p>\n
\tDespite the prevalence of console and smartphone gaming, there’s still strong local demand for retro pinball machines and arcade games.<\/p>\n
\tThere’s the Pinball Hall of Fame on East Tropicana Avenue and a small arcade at the Riviera, where the Pinball Hall of Fame once stood. The Cosmopolitan\u2019s Secret Pizza houses two pinball machines and an arcade game, which Snelling supplied.<\/p>\n
\tSun archives<\/p>\n
\tInsert Coins becomes latest Las Vegas business export
\n\tThen there’s Insert Coin(s), the "barcade" on East Fremont Street. Snelling sold the bar’s owner, Chris LaPorte, more than 40 machines from his personal collection for more than $30,000.<\/p>\n
\tSnelling still has plenty of machines left over. He keeps them in storage units around the valley but a small collection fills an 800-square-foot game room in his 1,600-square-foot Henderson home. The room is outfitted with pinball machines, arcade cabinets, big-screen TVs and beanbag chairs. It is a favorite spot for Snelling’s 16-year-old son, a Call of Duty enthusiast.<\/p>\n
\tSnelling’s customers are mostly collectors who know what they’re looking for before they call. Sometimes, however, a customer comes in looking for a billiards table and ends up taking home a pinball machine.<\/p>\n
\tThe shop’s titles include Rocky and Bullwinkle, the Addams Family, the Sopranos, Star Wars, Attack from Mars and Jurassic Park. Prices range from $1,600 to $13,000.<\/p>\n
\tSnelling recently sold a Monster Bash pinball machine populated by the Wolfman, Frankenstein and Dracula for $12,900. His Attack From Mars game, which pits players against aliens trying to take over the world, goes for $12,000. A Twilight Zone machine, one of the most popular in the pinball community, runs $8,000.<\/p>\n
\t"It’s a roller coaster," Snelling said of the arcade business. "There will be three days when you don’t sell anything, and then you have a $40,000 week."<\/p>\n
\tSnelling makes a good portion of his profits doing repairs and modifications.<\/p>\n
\tMost of his machines have been updated with new graphics and LED bulbs. Original pinball machines used yellow incandescent bulbs under their boards, leaving their features flat.<\/p>\n
\tFor $500 in parts and labor, Snelling cracks open the machines and installs colored LEDs. If there are water graphics in the game, Snelling installs blue lights to make the features pop. Green lights go under trees and grass, red under red images.<\/p>\n
\tThe Attack from Mars machine, one of Snelling’s favorites, originally had gray spaceships. Snelling made them pink and added blinking red eyes to the game’s four-armed aliens.<\/p>\n
\t"Modding is huge," Snelling said. "Why would you want to keep it original? I don’t know. It looks 10 times better."<\/p>\n
\tInstalling LEDs takes about five hours. Because the machines are so heavy and difficult to move, Snelling often goes to clients\u2019 homes and works there. Other common repairs include replacing burned connecters and changing out flippers.<\/p>\n
\tSnelling’s toolbox isn’t very big. He relies primarily on two pieces of equipment: a multimeter that checks voltage and a circuit scope that monitors computer chips.<\/p>\n
\tAnd while Snelling admits he\u2019ll always be a gamer, he said his favorite part of the job is the reaction he gets to a job well done.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSome people almost get teary-eyed: \u2018Oh my God, I never thought it would work again,\u2019" he said. "It\u2019s a feel-good moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tSnelling can relate. It\u2019s the same feeling he got in 1984, when he finally heard again the music from his Mario Bros. game.<\/p>\n