August 1st is the birthday of the pinball industry legend, Roger Sharpe. In honor of “the man who saved pinball”, it has been declared “National Pinball Day.” What better way to celebrate than to watch an awesome interview with the man himself, courtesy of the awesome seminar series from the fine folks at the annual Pintastic New England show? This morning they released Roger’s recent seminar titled “What if Williams Pinball Stayed Intact” on YouTube.The show’s Derek Karamanian spent a bet 10 hours putting the great video together from the event.
The seminar is contains fascinating information like:
Roger Sharpe worked with financial advisors to put together offers to buy both Gottlieb Premier and Bally / Williams at points in history.
Roger bid $7.5 Million to buy the company.
He was told that Bally decided that it could do better financially with the tax benefits from declaring bankruptcy and shutting down its pinball division than by selling it off.
