Sean Casey may be a magician when it comes to his skill at repairing and refurbishing pinball machines, but he cringes at the term pinball wizard.
"Nooo, don't do that to me," says the Willow Glen resident.
If you need a title, Casey prefers Amused the Easiest at Easily Amused Pinball LLC.
"I'm the CEO and all of it, and I do the bathrooms," he says with a laugh.
Like any good devotee, Casey remembers when he first discovered the lure of the silver ball around age 11 or 12 at a local billiard arcade in the Monta Vista area of Cupertino.
Casey found pinball preferable to video games because, he says, "with a pinball machine it's a bit more unpredictable and random."
Pinball remained a pastime for Casey until around the age of 16, when his interests went in different directions.
"I picked it back up when I went to college," he says of his stint at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
"You study all day and you need some relief, so we went to an arcade to play. I would take breaks with my girlfriend--she's now my wife--and we'd go play for a couple of hours and get back to studying."
After graduation in 1987, pinball again took a back seat, this time to Casey's career as an organizational development consultant in finance and operations, his family and settling in Willow Glen.
A decade later, in 1998, Casey bought a Dodge Viper and with it his first pinball machine: Viper--Night Drivin'.
"I had the Viper on order, and Dodge had a marketing agreement with Sega, and they sent an advertisement," Casey recalls.
"The pinball machine showed up 30 days before I took delivery on the car."
Casey still has both the car and the pinball machine.
"I was hooked," he recalls.
"I got one machine and then I wanted another one, and I got two and I wanted another one."
Theresa Casey understands her husband's passion, he says, as do their children, Stephania, 20, and Ryan 16.
All three play, but Casey says they don't necessarily enjoy playing with him.
That's because when he's playing, his "ball times" can get extensive and it's boring waiting for a turn.
Casey has 10 pinball machines in his personal collection and more he's restoring or customizing for customers. Currently his favorite is AC/DC Back in Black "because it's the newest in my collection."
He estimates he spends about 20 hours a week on his hobby.
"It's rewarding to get something that needs work," he says of the pinball machines he restores.
"You're bringing it back to life. A lot of time a pinball machine is worth more as parts only. There are only a couple of pinball supply manufacturers, so it's pretty fixed. Every machine you take apart and sell as parts is one less machine to play in the future."
He adds, "I got into this to save pinball machines, not destroy them."
To that end, Casey is a big supporter of the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda.
"If somebody has an older machine they want to get out of their garage, I'll pick it up and take it to the museum and get that donation certificate back to them," he says.
"It gets rid of the machine, gives the museum a machine or parts and gets the individual a tax write-off."
Casey prefers working on pinball machines manufactured after 1977.
"The machines went from an electro-mechanical device to a solid state device with a computer, printed circuit boards and transistors controlling lights and sounds," he explains.
"I prefer working on solid state machines. With electro-mechanical, unless it's played frequently, the dirt and dust can gum up the inner workings and it takes a long time to clean up."
Casey's customers include people looking for machines to operate commercially in a bar, restaurant or other facility; collectors adding to their cache; and companies, usually in high tech, looking for machines to put in their break rooms.
"The biggest segment is families--moms and dads who want to make their house a destination for their kids and their kids' friends. They're trying to get them off television and video games," he says.
For information on Sean Casey's Easily Amused Pinball company, visit eapinball.com or call 408.888.0805. For information on the Pacific Pinball Museum, visit pacificpinball.org.
http://www.mercurynews.com/san-jose-neighborhoods/ci_23312633/san-jose-resident-sean-casey-rescues-collects-and
"Nooo, don't do that to me," says the Willow Glen resident.
If you need a title, Casey prefers Amused the Easiest at Easily Amused Pinball LLC.
"I'm the CEO and all of it, and I do the bathrooms," he says with a laugh.
Like any good devotee, Casey remembers when he first discovered the lure of the silver ball around age 11 or 12 at a local billiard arcade in the Monta Vista area of Cupertino.
Casey found pinball preferable to video games because, he says, "with a pinball machine it's a bit more unpredictable and random."
Pinball remained a pastime for Casey until around the age of 16, when his interests went in different directions.
"I picked it back up when I went to college," he says of his stint at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
"You study all day and you need some relief, so we went to an arcade to play. I would take breaks with my girlfriend--she's now my wife--and we'd go play for a couple of hours and get back to studying."
After graduation in 1987, pinball again took a back seat, this time to Casey's career as an organizational development consultant in finance and operations, his family and settling in Willow Glen.
A decade later, in 1998, Casey bought a Dodge Viper and with it his first pinball machine: Viper--Night Drivin'.
"I had the Viper on order, and Dodge had a marketing agreement with Sega, and they sent an advertisement," Casey recalls.
"The pinball machine showed up 30 days before I took delivery on the car."
Casey still has both the car and the pinball machine.
"I was hooked," he recalls.
"I got one machine and then I wanted another one, and I got two and I wanted another one."
Theresa Casey understands her husband's passion, he says, as do their children, Stephania, 20, and Ryan 16.
All three play, but Casey says they don't necessarily enjoy playing with him.
That's because when he's playing, his "ball times" can get extensive and it's boring waiting for a turn.
Casey has 10 pinball machines in his personal collection and more he's restoring or customizing for customers. Currently his favorite is AC/DC Back in Black "because it's the newest in my collection."
He estimates he spends about 20 hours a week on his hobby.
"It's rewarding to get something that needs work," he says of the pinball machines he restores.
"You're bringing it back to life. A lot of time a pinball machine is worth more as parts only. There are only a couple of pinball supply manufacturers, so it's pretty fixed. Every machine you take apart and sell as parts is one less machine to play in the future."
He adds, "I got into this to save pinball machines, not destroy them."
To that end, Casey is a big supporter of the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda.
"If somebody has an older machine they want to get out of their garage, I'll pick it up and take it to the museum and get that donation certificate back to them," he says.
"It gets rid of the machine, gives the museum a machine or parts and gets the individual a tax write-off."
Casey prefers working on pinball machines manufactured after 1977.
"The machines went from an electro-mechanical device to a solid state device with a computer, printed circuit boards and transistors controlling lights and sounds," he explains.
"I prefer working on solid state machines. With electro-mechanical, unless it's played frequently, the dirt and dust can gum up the inner workings and it takes a long time to clean up."
Casey's customers include people looking for machines to operate commercially in a bar, restaurant or other facility; collectors adding to their cache; and companies, usually in high tech, looking for machines to put in their break rooms.
"The biggest segment is families--moms and dads who want to make their house a destination for their kids and their kids' friends. They're trying to get them off television and video games," he says.
For information on Sean Casey's Easily Amused Pinball company, visit eapinball.com or call 408.888.0805. For information on the Pacific Pinball Museum, visit pacificpinball.org.
http://www.mercurynews.com/san-jose-neighborhoods/ci_23312633/san-jose-resident-sean-casey-rescues-collects-and
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