Keep the Ball Rolling

Kids these days seem to not know what a pinball is. At least according to arcade technician Michael Bells. Bells is one of only a few dozen arcade technicians in the state of Oregon. He got into the profession when he was 18 and arcades were more common. Now, he’s one of the last people fixing and selling arcade machines in a society that has moved on from the bustling arcade culture of the 80’s and 90’s. 

In the 1980s and 1990s, with the accessibility of home computers and game consoles, arcades began to die off and decline in popularity as kids decided to stay home to play their expensive new consoles. 

Today it seems the options outside of mega-corporations like Chuck-E-Cheese and Dave and Busters are dire. Independent arcades hang on for dear life, often converting themselves into “barcades”: arcades geared towards adults doubling as a bar. Combined with widespread access to home consoles and less child-centric spaces, this decline in popularity has resulted in a generation of kids no longer interested in going to the arcade.

Blairally, in Eugene, is one of those aforementioned “barcades.” It’s website reads: “music hall night club vintage arcade,” a strange collection of three descriptors with little relation to each other. Blairally harkens back to the days when arcades were community hangouts — mainly for kids. Now, these children are adults. Maybe they’re looking for a wave of arcade nostalgia, or a retro bar to dance at.

“ I grew up like right in the tail end of the second death of arcades,” Bells said. “There was still a local scene that met at the arcade, when everything was 25 cents and you could hang out legitimately for a couple hours on a couple bucks.”

Bells is the curator, owner and repairman of the pinball and arcade machines run at Blairally. He originally got into arcade machine repair as a teenager. By learning from other professionals, Bells became acquainted with the industry quickly and has stuck with the niche profession ever since. 

“ Back when the phone book was a thing, I was like ‘Hey, I lied to my boss and said I could fix this and I can't, can you help me?’ and most of the time, because I was young enough, they would,” Bells said. “ Now it's been over 10 years of doing this and now I'm the authority on things somehow.”

Bells, now 30, has been working on arcade machines for almost half of his life. Though, his love for the industry has begun to sour. He cites cost of business, personal qualms with what he believes to be the glorification of children gambling for his diminishing passion. (or something like that) 

“In all honesty, I've been kind of trying to leave the industry for a couple years, but it's such a small pool of people,” Bells said. “When somebody will give you $500 to fix something and I show up and turn a screwdriver twice, it's pretty hard to turn that down.”

Bells estimates there are around thirty pinball technicians in Oregon. The state holds more pinball techs than most with only “under a couple hundred” pinball technicians in the United States. 

“ It's not a lot because like Dave and Busters and Round One, they have techs there, but they're minimum wage employees who if the machine breaks they're just gonna buy a new one,” Bells said. “So technically that's a technician if you wanna split hairs, but  notable ones are few and far between and most of them are dead now.” 

There are only a few major manufacturers of arcade machines in the United States, along with a couple of grey label operations, but most of the arcade machines in the U.S. are manufactured in China and imported.

Bells believes a sign of trouble for the arcade repair industry is the new approach to fixing modern machines. Now, instead of having technicians repair the machines on a case-by-case basis, manufacturers have been replacing parts by mail. 

“ The manufacturer will not sell you parts, they will not give you schematics and no diagrams,” Bells said. “If something goes wrong, you take the whole computer out, you mail it to them and they mail you a new computer. I don't know how well that's doing for them, but I have a feeling things will kind of start going that way.”

Despite the niche nature of Bell’s profession, he believes the intimidation factor of learning a new craft or trade is the only thing stopping people from learning. Since only a few arcade techs can cover a whole state, it’s not easy to luck into arcade repair as a profession. 

“ I genuinely think anyone could learn to fix arcade machines.But there's a certain era that's brutally difficult and the tools that existed at the time don't exist anymore,” Bells said. “It's not really worth it to work on that era. Most of the time if somebody says ‘I have this 1981 game,’ I have this new board from China that I will plug in. This one's 50 bucks, it's cheaper for you and it's cheaper for me.”

The arcade fanatic and pinball enthusiasts keep the hobby alive for new generations. The players keep barcades like Blair afloat and people like Bells are able to make it a sustainable business. 

“ It's weird. I don't even really like pinball. The ball comes down, you hit the thing. That's pinball,” Bells said. “Pinball players are fucking nuts. I've cheated in games and gotten lower scores than them.”

Despite his growing disinterest on the industry, Bells still holds a love for the industry and is enthralled with the new faces that are showing interest in the world of arcade machines. 

“It is weird 'cause someone will say ‘I saw a TikTok of this guy playing this thing with a metal ball and I had never seen it before, so I'm looking for it,’ and I’m like ‘you've never seen a pinball game?,’” Bells said. 

While pinball and arcades may never be as popular as they once were, we’ve seen greater comeback stories in the past, like the great vinyl revival. All it takes is a few dedicated players passing on decades old traditions to new generations for a revival. The interest alone in exploring nostalgia lived by others could be promising for future generations.