Big Bang Bar

[robertwinter]

I'm sure this is the biggest question on mosts people's minds now. With Steve and Bob seemingly out of the picture (no pun intended), it looks like any future pictures of progress may be out of the question.

Does anyone live in the area of PMI? Maybe Gene would let a designated person stop by once a week to take pictures or accompany him to vendors if available?

I'm just throwing ideas out there. Feel free to chime in with ideas, concerns, etc.
_________________
Robert
-----
http://www.robertwinter.com
BBB #74

[zaphod]

Maybe whoever talks to Gene and gets any updates will post them here.
_________________
Former BBB #115 owner.

[blubboman]

Somebody help us! Someone closed my cave door and it's dark.

Seriously, even a fairly regularly scheduled call to Gene from one of us would be good.

Does anyone think that the BC crew may come back together with Gene to finish this? They are BBB owners too once these are finished. Maybe after a suitable cooling off period?

[pbgarage]

I believe if we get a few more folks here that
are geographically closer, we could see some
action.

Metallik?
_________________
Fred
TX
CARGPB#8
+++++++++++

[CraigC]

well i'm in chicago. So about 3 hours away.

this really sucks.

by the way, anyone see the fancy flash animation on the IPB site? Kinda amusing that they have that set up but still dont accept emails or have anything of use on their website.

-c

[Swann]

Wow, not bad (the flash anim that is), sad though that it directs you to the bad designed info-page. Let's hope that they are on track to something really good here!

An off topic side question to this; why do so many of the pinball places have so bad webpages ?? (apperently they don't get that it's a vital part of successful business today, which in turn will give them much better income...)

And yes, the best I think would be if someone nearby IPB would go there once each week or so to make a report...would be really great, if this someone thinks it does cost a bit in fuel, I could help by sending some money through paypal. In regards to calling to get some info about status, it's not really the same thing, no pictures and so...
_________________
BBB #79 has arrived here in Stockholm, Sweden!

[metallik]

Mapquest puts Bloomington about 4.5 hrs from Cincy.. not too bad, if there's something worth checking out down there :) I'll see about stopping by some weekend to see whats up...

[metallik]

um, what flash animation? don't see any on www.illinoispinball.com, unless my flashblock is busted or something. They oughta remove Bearcave from the list of distributors though :)

[Kronis]

Are you thinking that we pretty much can't count on talking to Gene for our updates ? If someone who talks to Gene semi-regularly were to mention our concern at the death of the Beacave message boards, I'm sure he'd agree to talk about it to that person for 10 minutes every 1-2 weeks...

Of course, pictures would be limited both by whomever was visiting PMI + what pictures were legal to distribute...
_________________




BBB #21

[atlfun]

We were so lucky with the other forum. I doubt we will be allowed such open access to the project as we once had.

I spoke with Bob and Steve yesterday for about a half-hour. They are taking the high road on this. I told them that it reminded of a funeral. My emotions kind of ran the gambit. I am upset over the loss of the BC guys and appreciative of all the effort they put into the project. They were doing a really great job keeping the project on a high quality track.

At the same time, just like a funeral, life goes on and so does this project. My understanding is that 99.5% of all parts are in. Not sure who will take over assembly duties, but it safe to say that there will be a further delay beyond just waiting on the cabinets.

Anyway, I wish Bob and Steve the very best. They have been a tremendous help to me in finding parts and helping make my BBB ownership a possibility.

Brian
atlfun

[CraigC]

[CraigC]

So no news about what happened?

not that i'm prying but hell, i'd like to know.

[zobber]

I'm in Plainfield Illinois,...., about 2 hrs away from Bloomington. I've been thinking about a road trip for the last two months. I know of one other BBB owner in my region who also wants to go. How about the Chicago owners-to-be band together for a road trip with cameras, notepads, camcorders etc. This should not pose any particular problem with IPB right?

Road trip anyone?

[briguy]

Rob,

I live only a few miles from you. I would love to do a road trip with you down to Bloomington. I do not have any time this week (since I'm restoring a trashed IJ for a local pin head) but maybe in 2-weeks.

-Brian-

[jadziedzic]

I spent quite a bit of time on the 'phone with Kim today. She was quite happy to discuss the impact of the Bearcave Twins leaving, and did take the high road with respect to their departure; she was quite open in her praise for the work they did in nailing down so many loose ends and ensuring the quality of the playfields, decals, etc., was spot-on.

Quick summary: Kim felt the biggest loss would be in the area of getting decals applied to cabinets - when the cabinets actually get made, that is. She was very impressed with the work she had seen B&S do in that area. That said, she indicated they had already lined up someone else to do the job.

Cabinets are still an issue; being the "small guy" behind the "big guy" isn't helping. Kim did say that they were managing to pry stuff out of the cabinet company piecemeal, and that Gene was there weekly to check on status. I think that's a polite way of saying "nag them until they finish the #&$%* order".

Kim also mentioned they were going to try to work out a way to supply status updates to the BBB purchasers. Whether that takes the form of postings to a forum (Robert - hint - call Kim and offer to post them here) or what she didn't elaborate. She did ask if I had visited Wayne's forum and wondered what the rumors were ...

Kim and Georgianna are going to be doing an inventory of parts on hand so they know what loose ends need to be tied off, and B&S have agreed to share any data they had (spread sheets, etc.) with them. It sounds like everyone is trying to be mature in how they handle this event. I would think that if some of the local folks called and asked if they could schedule a visit that the folks at PMI would try to accomodate that.

So, my overall feeling after speaking with Kim is that the loss of B&S will have some impact, but since they've already done SO MUCH work in getting the component pieces in shape (artwork quality, etc.) the impact is less now than it would have been a few months back.

Tony