NORTH HILLS- Stephen Scohy's North Hills basement is a step back in time.
The walls are adorned with late 1970s, early 1980s memorabilia including glass placards advertising arcade games, candy and gum machines.
There's also a soundtrack. Scohy bought recordings of the 1980s American Top 40, complete with advertisements.
The walls are adorned with late 1970s, early 1980s memorabilia including glass placards advertising arcade games, candy and gum machines.
There's also a soundtrack. Scohy bought recordings of the 1980s American Top 40, complete with advertisements.
And then there's the games, more than two dozen vintage pinball and arcade machines. The machines in the basement are only part of Scohy's collection, most of which date between 1976 and 1984.
"It's a crazy hobby that keeps me sane," he said.
Scohy has acquired and repaired about 60 pinball machines and close to 25 video arcade games; most were games he played as a kid at the Escape Hatch, the Corner Pocket and FunLand. His Dig Dug machine used to sit at Skate County in south Parkersburg.
He started collecting pinball machines in 1999 when he rediscovered his love for the games.
He bought his first pinball machine, Rock.
"Growing up in Vienna there wasn't much to do," he said.
As a kid, Scohy would mow lawns and shovel snow to earn money to go to the arcade.
"Pinball was the first game I was good at," he said. "I had a crowd that would watch me play."
It wasn't long after he started purchasing the machines that Scohy got into repairing them.
"The second game I got broke," he said.
Scohy learned how to fix it from the Internet and from a friend in Boaz, William McCormick. He has learned to repair the machines and now prefers to purchase ones that no longer work.
"It's more fun to play detective and fix them," he said.
In the 14 years he's been collecting, Scohy also has amassed a collection of parts and play fields. Scohy will scout the Internet and want ads for machines he can repair.
His favorites are people who call him offering to sell machines that used to work.
Read more via newsandsentinel.com
"It's a crazy hobby that keeps me sane," he said.
Scohy has acquired and repaired about 60 pinball machines and close to 25 video arcade games; most were games he played as a kid at the Escape Hatch, the Corner Pocket and FunLand. His Dig Dug machine used to sit at Skate County in south Parkersburg.
He started collecting pinball machines in 1999 when he rediscovered his love for the games.
He bought his first pinball machine, Rock.
"Growing up in Vienna there wasn't much to do," he said.
As a kid, Scohy would mow lawns and shovel snow to earn money to go to the arcade.
"Pinball was the first game I was good at," he said. "I had a crowd that would watch me play."
It wasn't long after he started purchasing the machines that Scohy got into repairing them.
"The second game I got broke," he said.
Scohy learned how to fix it from the Internet and from a friend in Boaz, William McCormick. He has learned to repair the machines and now prefers to purchase ones that no longer work.
"It's more fun to play detective and fix them," he said.
In the 14 years he's been collecting, Scohy also has amassed a collection of parts and play fields. Scohy will scout the Internet and want ads for machines he can repair.
His favorites are people who call him offering to sell machines that used to work.
Read more via newsandsentinel.com
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