Planetary Pinball Supply acquires assets of Gene Cunningham

[Bob C]

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted here yet...



Planetary Pinball Supply acquires assets of Gene Cunningham Bankruptcy
Matt Christiano, PPS founder, acquires Illinois Pinball, Inc.

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San Jose, June 4, 2014 - Planetary Pinball Supply (PPS) today acquired the majority of the assets from the bankruptcy estate of Gene Cunningham. Matt Christiano, PPS chairman, also acquired Illinois Pinball, Inc. (IPB).

"We've acquired a large number of pinball machines, parts, and other items which we will be making available to the pinball community, and we hope to see these games and other items put back in service and enjoyed.", said Rick Bartlett, PPS CEO.

"Illinois Pinball has assets which we feel are complementary to what PPS currently has and so this acquisition makes sense as we can provide more new playfields, cabinet art, backglasses, and other parts", said Matt Christiano, PPS Chairman, "The acquisition of IPB will allow PPS to get parts to the community more quickly for game owners to restore and enhance their games".

Rick Bartlett is overseeing the transfer of the assets in Bloomington, IL for the next few weeks and will not be at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show this weekend as originally planned. Matt Christiano will be there representing both PPS and IPB.

PPS is the sole WMS licensee for replacement pinball parts, pinball merchandise, and games utilizing WMS parts. We manufacture, sell/distribute, and otherwise focus on leveraging the WMS licensee rights for the maximum benefit of the pinball owners and fans all over the planet.

###

For more information, contact:

Rick Bartlett - ri...@planetarypinball.com
Matt Christiano - ma...@planetarypinball.com

http://www.pinball.com

[Pins4Fun]

Sounds like they may have acquired the licence(s) too, The possibility of a BBB-r may explain the three BBB's on the market all of a sudden recently.

[G]

On Thursday, June 5, 2014 2:06:48 AM UTC-4, Bob C wrote:

What led to Gene's bankruptcy? I thought he was sitting on mountains of saleable merchandise?

[psk445]

In its non-simplest form - Mainly it was lawsuit after lawsuit that forced into BK. Gene sold most of the valuable assets a long time ago. What he had left was nontangible assets (a fair chunk too) and that's what PP picked up.

[psk445]

Go ahead and keep that silly speculation back on Pinside. There is zero correlation with all this news and that BBB's are popping up for sale. Have you noticed they are all asking extreme premiums and they are not moving? If there was some truth to all this then you'd see them come down a little (to undercut each other) and sales would be happening. Right now it's pure speculation, and speculation at its worst!

[Bob C]

On Thursday, June 5,

>
>
> What led to Gene's bankruptcy? I thought he was sitting on mountains of saleable merchandise?

It's a business bankruptcy not personal I hear

[Bob C]

On Thursday, June 5, 2014 9:35:29 AM UTC-7, psk445 wrote:
> Go ahead and keep that silly speculation back on Pinside. There is zero correlation with all this news and that BBB's are popping up for sale. Have you noticed they are all asking extreme premiums and they are not moving? If there was some truth to all this then you'd see them come down a little (to undercut each other) and sales would be happening. Right now it's pure speculation, and speculation at its worst!
>

A PAGG in May I was informed PPS already had the rights to BBB was Williams had acquired the rights from Capcom....
regardless PPS can make BBB, but Kingpin is a better game...time will tell

[Gott Lieb?]

On Thursday, June 5, 2014 2:06:48 AM UTC-4, Bob C wrote:

Does this mean that PPS acquired the remaining BLY/WMS rights too?

Jim

[G]

Thanks.

Is this a good thing? Gene appeared to be a real pain to deal with from my recollection over the years from info published here and elsewhere. I don't know the man so I don't have an opinion.

[Pins4Fun]

After reading your response, I went to Pinside and found this thread on the subject:

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ann-illinois-pinball-ipb-cunningham-assets-acquired

If it is what your referring to, much of it is sounds like good information and mature discussion to me. Thanks for letting me know about it.

The fact that you don't approve of "silly speculation" don't make no difference at all as financial speculation is a form of high risk investment which the original purchasers of BBB's willingly took part in themselves when they bought their games initially.

When implemented as a contrived effort to artificially increase demand (thus to increase prices), speculation sometimes creates "bubbles" which may eventually burst or not.

I think it's a good thing that we're intelligently discussing this highly relevant topic here on RGP although your highness thinks that rubbish of this nature belongs to Pinside :)

[TheHammer]

Being out of the politics of pinball...

What lawsuits - assuming pinball related?

Who was suing for what?

Lawsuits. Phlatttttt!

[TheHammer]

I admit I am biased against Pinside. I think it is a solution in search
of a problem and just made us look in two places for pinball
discussions. I also prefer reading RGP's format, through a reader like
Thunderbird, that does a better job of organizing discussions.

But I popped over to Pinside to read your 'good information'. While it
was entertaining, it seemed to be a discussion without any facts to back
up statements.

Perhaps 'silly' is a bit too much, but speculation nevertheless.

[cody chunn]

Sorry to hear this about Gene. I hope he does well going forward.

Good luck to PPS in their march forward. Looks like Rick is really putting
things together to continue providing good stuff for us weirdoes.

-cody


"Bob C" wrote in message
news:8d747213-dea0-4c6b...@googlegroups.com...

[Aeneas - www.flippers.be]

Yep, sorry to hear this about Gene, he did some good things for this hobby, wish him all the best.
And also curious about some background information :)

Aeneas.
-- http://www.flippers.be

[Pins4Fun]

Shit, I'm not gonna try to defend Pinside here but RGP needs to be cultivated carefully at this point so it won't become totally irrelevant soon.

[EZ SLEEZE E (MHMIP)]

Gene filed suit against James, but James countered filed a breach of contract. The whole deal between James and Gene was so crazy you'd have to sit down with James to get the complete story. If I told you what I was told you'd think I was full of shit. Getting Gene out of Pinball is the best thing that could happen. Personally I think the hobby bubble has popped and we'er heading back to you buy a game and sell it for less than you paid for it. Like Steve Young once told me, once you make parts people don't buy them because the think they'll always be able to get them. Wonder what business model PPS has for the IPB/PPS future? PPS still has to prove they can build and ship a game.

[E.M.KEN77]

> Hello Rick,
In reference to this quote

"We've acquired a large number of pinball machines, parts, and other items which we will be making available to the pinball community, and we hope to see these games and other items put back in service and enjoyed.", said Rick Bartlett, PPS CEO.

Does this mean there will be an auction or liquidation sale of sorts in Bloomington Illinois or close by where the pinball community from Illinois and the midwest can get some of these games back into service and enjoy them for you? :-) After all they have been tucked away in our backyard and we werent allowed to touch them. Gene always said he was wanting to sell us these games when we saw him at the shows but never came through. I think he enjoyed toying with us or maybe he really couldnt sell anything. I think he just enjoyed being able to say he had them,all the while they sat there melting and rotting down.
Please do.
Thanks, Ken

[Bob C]

On Friday, June 6, 2014 5:26:28 AM UTC-7, EZ SLEEZE E (MHMIP) wrote:
> Gene filed suit against James, but James countered filed a breach of contract. The whole deal between James and Gene was so crazy you'd have to sit down with James to get the complete story. If I told you what I was told you'd think I was full of shit. Getting Gene out of Pinball is the best thing that could happen. Personally I think the hobby bubble has popped and we'er heading back to you buy a game and sell it for less than you paid for it. Like Steve Young once told me, once you make parts people don't buy them because the think they'll always be able to get them. Wonder what business model PPS has for the IPB/PPS future? PPS still has to prove they can build and ship a game.

PPS is having Stern build the games.
I though you'd know that LOL!

[TheHammer]

On 6/6/14 6:14 AM, Pins4Fun wrote:
> Shit, I'm not gonna try to defend Pinside here but RGP needs to be cultivated carefully at this point so it won't become totally irrelevant soon.

I am not trying to put down Pinside. There has been a lot of flaming
here and I am hoping not to start that.

I think what Pinside has going for it is that most people do not know
how newsgroups work and have a good way to access them. Most email
clients have stopped support for news groups. Google Groups access is
not user friendly.

But if more people know how to get a good news group reader and set it
up, the way it formats the discussion strings makes it much easier to
follow.

Websites like Pinside (I also frequent sites devoted to home theater)
seem to work only in a time / linear fashion. So sub-topics within a
topic get lost.

The format in newsgroups is much easier to follow.

I still expect RGP to slowly fade away, if just because access is more
difficult. Plus the occasional troll / flame scares some people off,
especially newbies. That will be a loss.

[Bob C]

Unfortunately both have too much bashing, and too much OT garbage to sort through, but I'm grateful for both

[mckif...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, June 5, 2014 1:06:48 AM UTC-5, Bob C wrote:

Karma is a bitch isn't it Kim?

Steve McClanahan
Formerly Bearcave Games

[cody chunn]

Does this mean the new PP builds will have those delicious Capcom flippers?
:0)

-cody


"Bob C" wrote in message
news:8d747213-dea0-4c6b...@googlegroups.com...