Is Wagner Gameworks Closing?

Posted March 15, 2008

Wagner Gameworks Logo

Wagner Gameworks (Doc Pinball) is one of two or three local arcade shops that I know of that build and service coin operated machines. But if you were to believe his Craigslist posting this week, it would seem as though he is going out of business. But we all know that this is probably a sales ploy, so read on to see what inside information I know about whether his arcade shop is actually closing up shop or not.

The focus of Wagner Gameworks

I think pinball is Mark’s focus because the pinball collecting crowd is bigger. He has about 10-12 pinballs in his shop at any given time, and he builds from scratch many different configurations of multi arcade game (multi-cade) machines applying vinyl Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac-man, Pac-man or other artwork of choice to the cabinets.

When I first made the decision that I was going to collect dedicated original arcade games instead of having one big ugly black Mame machine in March of 2006, the first call I made was to Wagner Gameworks in Greenfield IN. Ms. Pac-man was really the machine I was after but Mark Wagner let me know that he just sold the last of his Ms. Pac-man(s), but he had an old beat up regular Pac-man that he would be willing to sell to me for “a couple hundred”.

I waited. I wasn’t as interested in a Pac-man as a Ms. Pac and I wasn’t ready to pay a couple hundred for my second pick. But eventually I paid his shop in Greenfield, IN a visit out of sheer curiosity and I was glad I did. I had no idea about any of the electronics of games in general, and Mark was nice enough to explain a little bit about vertical vs. horizontal orientation, what a Jamma harnesses is, Simple Green for cleaning and a brief mention of cap kits. It was the first real arcade experience I had by that point, and because he made it such a positive experience he made a sale out of it. In May I took some freelance money and bought the Pac-man machine for $122, complete minus the PCB. He told me I was lucky to come get it when I did, he was about ready to take it out into the forest and use it for target practice.

I was shocked to see this ad pop up on Craigslist last week that made it appear as if he was closing up his arcade shop.

docpinball.com is going out of business all stock to be sold cash and carry over 15 pinballs in stock and numerous video games, jukeboxes, darts, and misc stock. 1 317 498 5323. over 25 years of sales and service coming to an end.

Since that first visit I have been out there a number of times, and we have started to build a little bit of a friendship. I also know that 25 years is probably a conservative estimate, that may be how many years his barn has been open, but Mark has been servicing games for quite some time.

When I called Mark to get the scoop, this is what he told me;

“We got hit kind of hard over Christmas and didn’t sell out of our inventory. We are re-grouping right now, but for all intensive purposes we are going out of business. The main line is shut off and we won’t be pre-building any new machines. I kind of thought the new website would drive in some new traffic, but it hasn’t.”

When I asked him if he still had the two Asteroids machines kicking out back from this summer, he said no. All he had out back was an Area 51 for sale. But he still has a number of pinballs to sell, which you can see at his website docpinball.com. Here’s the list as of March ‘08;

Double Diamond CT
The Who’s Tommy
Starship Troopers
Royal Rumble
Road Show
No Fear
Johnny Mnemonic
Terminator 2
RevolutionX

When I visited this summer, I had been talking to him about doing his website in exchange for some repair training, but I could never seem to reconcile with my schedule. Doesn’t matter, he ended up with a really nice site that should have brought him some more traffic if he invested in some SEO.

We all know that making money in the arcade business today is a tough proposition. But Mark is an awesome guy, friendly, and really holds true to his promise of explaining arcade related questions as simple as possible so you can be an “informed” customer. Hopefully this is just an attempt to sell out his remaining stock and get some cash back. My guess is that the pinballs would only be slightly discounted. But for a hardcore pinball collector in Indianapolis, this might be a great deal. So give Mark a call (317.498.5323) and see if there is something you might be interested in.

~Update 03.19.08 Whether Doc Pinball actually closes down or not remains to be seen, but here is a new craigslist posting out of Greenfield, IN. In this ad, Mark lists a number of other pinballs that aren’t on his Wagner Gameworks website and mentions that you will get some sort of a discount. He mentions he isn’t giving any pinballs or arcades away for dirt prices, but depending on what you buy, you can get a discount anywhere between 10-30%. The Ms. Pac-man multicade is the best deal in comparison, so jump on them now, the machines might not last.

discounts Pinball store closeing Pins arcades jukeboxes cash and carry only docpinball.com 1 317 498 5323 home service available. 14 pins in stock Family guy new instock reg 4200.00 sale 3850.00 revenge from mars pinball was 3600 now 3000.00 star wars episode 1 pinball was 3600 now 3000.00 all pins serviced and rate 8 to 9 on 10 scale. all games priced to sale but not give away good deals for all. Ms. pacman multicade used was 1700 now 1200.oo docpinball.com 1 317 498 5323

~Update 06.26.08 Had a really nice conversation with Mark today on the phone about this post. Wagner Gameworks is definitely not closing, but will be scaling back their operations for sure to match demand in the industry. Wagner will probably focus more now on Pinballs, which we kind of saw from the past Craigslist postings for a number of pinball game sales.

It’s too bad to hear that less focus will be on arcade games, but I am not surprised. Pinball values continue to climb, while the value, especially of arcade games in Indianapolis continues to drop. Hopefully Wagner Gameworks will still continue to do repair though on the old classics at the very least. I would hate to think that there would be no local alternative to sending off our PCB’s to El Dorado for a questionable PCB exchange…oop, I mean ‘repair’.