With Crazy Levi

Flyer for Crazy Levi Interview

Crazy Levi is an active member of the Pinside forums. He also runs Crazy Levi’s Pinball, which specializes in selling and renting pinball machines, along with repairing machines in New York City and the surrounding areas. Finally, he co-founded and co-directed the New York City Pinball Championships, which took place May 18th-20th in New York City.

Around the Playfield with CrazyLevi

The Start Button: How did you first get into pinball?

When I was a kid I was into arcade video games, pinball always seemed unspeakably lame and when I did try it, a ball would get stuck or something was broken. Later on as a teenager I’d find games like High Speed and Cyclone in hotel arcades on vacation and started to really get into them, and a little later, a friend got a High Speed in his home and we really played the crap out of it. It was amazing to have access to this thing just a short bike ride from my house. Later on in college the student union game room got in classics like Theater, Addams Family, and Creature, and I was hooked.

The Plunge: What was the first pinball machine you bought?

Argosy, a great Williams EM. It was in my budget and chose from about half dozen games of similar vintage and value I was looking at – made the right choice and still have it.

The Skill Shot: What is your best pinball achievement or favorite pinball moment?

Winning PAPA C a few years ago was a total blast since it was my first real pinball tournament, and I have some other great memories of doing well and having fun at tournaments.

Good Shots, Bad Bounces: What is your favorite and least favorite pinball machine?

Favorite is tough but I’d probably go with Attack From Mars. I’m not a fan of most 90s Gottlieb games, as they are just terrible, but probably lately my least favorite is probably AC/DC as I always beef out in tournaments on it.

The Wizard Mode: What is your dream theme you’d like to see made into a pinball machine?

I’m not really a “dream theme” guy, I leave that up to greater minds than I. But how about The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly? Some of my favorite games were the original themed games in the 80s and 90s and I’d love to see more attempts at that kind of creativity.

The Tilt: What is the dumbest mistake you’ve made in pinball (mishap moving a machine, messing up trying to fix a machine, etc.)?

Fortunately it’s a pretty short list in 16 years but have twice accidentally dumped games out of the back of truck – the were a little worse for the wear but not too bad. I’ve made too many stupid small mistakes that have resulted in cooked components or something broken to really mention, cost of doing business.

The High Score: Describe the pinball hobby in one word.

Crazy

Match – Next Game: Where do you see the pinball hobby in 5-10 years?

More people, more popular, more bitching, fewer manufacturers, higher prices