Stolen Pinball Machines

zenomorp

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Wichita, Kansas
To anyone in the Midwest, please help by keeping an eye out...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stolen-pinball-machines-wichita-ks



~~~ STOLEN PINBALL MACHINES ~~~

Local (Wichita, Ks.) vending company United Distributors reached out the other day and asked for help and to keep an eye out for a lot of 20 pinball machines that were stolen out of one of their properties. The building was full of vending stock including 40 to 50 arcades, a hand full of pool tables and a few Jukeboxes. The thieves targeted just the pins, taking all of the pinball machines & only the pinball machines. United is offering a $500 reward for info that leads to the recovery of their stolen pins. They also said that they would be willing to not press charges if the entire lot of stolen pins were returned uncompromised. They provided a list of the missing pin titles/serial numbers. If the pinball community is able to help out with this it could lead to United opening up and freeing some of the 100's of pins they've had locked away for the last 20 yrs. in many storage properties in and around Wichita. .....

So if you come across any new sale for one of these titles, here is some information that could help you determine if the game is one of the stolen.

NAME SERIAL NUMBER

Addams Family 62969
Batman Forever 123954
Bram Stokers Dracula 49421
Car Hop 76166
Dirty Harry 113544
Frankenstein 118684
Getaway 853484
Hollywood Heat 4019
Maverick 115615
Monte Carlo 19797
Mousin' Around 301160
No Fear 100354
Shadow 100403
Phantom of the Opera 20464
Pinball Magic 1018
Police Force 270876
Pool Sharks 370489
Road Show 100501
South Park 146391
Starship Troopers 142601
 
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i would first check the local emergency room for people being treated for broken backs lol.
holy crap , 20 machines?
 
Thanks for posting the list, along with the serial numbers.

Some good titles in the list.

Scott C.
 
If the pinball community is able to help out with this it could lead to United opening up and freeing some of the 100's of pins they've had locked away for the last 20 yrs. in many storage properties in and around Wichita. .....

Sounds like they've already (unwittingly) opened up and freed some pins...

Just sayin'
 
Are you serious? You're complaining that the reward money for doing a good deed is too small??? Do the right thing because it's what you should do, not because of a cash reward.
 
Are you serious? You're complaining that the reward money for doing a good deed is too small??? Do the right thing because it's what you should do, not because of a cash reward.

I agree with you but I think you miss the point. People need an incentive to get involved. $500 is not an incentive.
If I knew where they were I would speak up for free..I'm just sayin... if you want more people looking, offer more dough. That's the nature of people, unfortunately.
 
That may be true with the general public for a standard crime. But in a small niche hobby like this, made up of people who care about the machines, I don't believe the value of the cash reward will make anyone more responsive.
 
UPDATE: News from the original poster...

"The police are involved, A police report was filed at the time the crime was discovered. As far as being proactive, I think they did pretty good. They contacted me yesterday morning, I went in and talked to them that afternoon and picked up the list of stolen pins when id'ing numbers. I spent 30 mins writing the original post this morning before leaving for work. And, at this point with the help of some of the very "movers & shakers" friends/colleagues here in the in the mid-west region we've already found and confirmed most of the titles by connecting the dots. "

So it looks like they've recovered most of the pins. Don't know if it was all of them yet.
 
UPDATE: News from the original poster...

"The police are involved, A police report was filed at the time the crime was discovered. As far as being proactive, I think they did pretty good. They contacted me yesterday morning, I went in and talked to them that afternoon and picked up the list of stolen pins when id'ing numbers. I spent 30 mins writing the original post this morning before leaving for work. And, at this point with the help of some of the very "movers & shakers" friends/colleagues here in the in the mid-west region we've already found and confirmed most of the titles by connecting the dots. "

So it looks like they've recovered most of the pins. Don't know if it was all of them yet.

I hope they catch the person too!
 
Weird thing to steal and then try to liquidate. The combination of low production runs (compared to something like cars), along with the fairly involved collector community, would make it hard to move 20 machines without being noticed.

If someone stole a few pins, and then put them in the basement for years for personal use, then that would be much harder to ever find out about.

Hope they all get recovered with minimal damage.

I'm curious.... does anyone know the time lapse from when the owner last verified they were there, to the time they were discovered missing? I know a guy who has games in storage he hasn't personally laid eyes on in 30+ years. Of course, the fact that there is a tree with a 8-12" trunk blocking the door is a good indication that it hasn't been opened in a loooooong time. :)
 
Good lord. It took me literally 8 hours of constant loading/unloading to move 25 pinball machines. How the hell did they not get seen?
 
probably had a dock and a box truck just acting like they are supposed to be there. I would also guess former employee or crooked friend of an employee. Glad they found them, now they can put them on route.
 
Glad they're getting to the bottom of it. There are some cool titles on that list. I've only ever seen one Car Hop and that was at Expo in Chicago.
 
Weird thing to steal and then try to liquidate. The combination of low production runs (compared to something like cars), along with the fairly involved collector community, would make it hard to move 20 machines without being noticed.

If someone stole a few pins, and then put them in the basement for years for personal use, then that would be much harder to ever find out about.

You would think so right? But not always the case. Collector cars (another money pit of mine) also have entrenched communities and even state/local govt involvement with purchasing/licensing. But rare and desirable cars get nicked all the time. Sometimes they are chopped/parted out but some get put in a container and shipped to foreign countries.
 
The fact that serial numbers were stored here is the killer detail. There's abolutely zero chance that this many machines could have made it out into the general public without at least ONE of them being spotted as one of the stolen machines.

Whomever took these machines are complete idiots. After working with my machines, I know every inch of them and could identify them in a hot second.

This was not a very smart crime.

I AM glad the machines were found.
 
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