Is Wagner Gameworks Closing?

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 read his Craigslist posting this week, it seems as though he is going out of business. But Wagner is still doing business. Read on to see what inside information I know about whether his arcade shop is actually closing up shop or if his choice of wording was just exceptionally poor.

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.

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.

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.”

Is Wagner Gameworks closing or not?

Confusing, isn’t it? Wagner is still in business. Since this posting I’ve received a number of emails from Mark or his son over the past year and a half (usually asking me to change information without a good explanation). So why does it seem like his Craigslist posting was a sales ploy?

Well, it turns out that Wagner Gamerworks is truly no longer in business as that name. The entity that was Wagner liquidated its assets and reformed as Doc Pinball. So, while the posting was conveniently worded, there was some truth to selling off their pinballs in Greenfield, Indiana.

We had a number of explanations for the Craigslist ad, which you can read in the updates below, but this one is finally a definite explanation that would explain the wording. The statements below skirting around ‘sales boost’ wording that was in the original ad.

Pinball machines for sale still in Greenfield

As of March 2008 he still had a number of pinballs to sell, which you can see at his website docpinball.com. Here’s the list;

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

If you want one of these pinballs for your collection here in the greater Indianapolis area, now might be the time to save a little money.

Updates to this story

In the year plus after this posting I got a number of ‘updates’ on the posted Craigslist information from Wagner Gameworks. Here are some of the statements that never really cleared things up.

~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’.

Here are some similar arcade posts

• My arcade experiences with Wagner Gameworks in Greenfield, Indiana
• Greenfield Indiana – Buy / Sell Pinball and Arcade Games
• Service / Repair your pinball machine in Indianapolis
• Bought First Pac-man in Indianapolis, IN
• Chicago Pinball Expo Convention 2008

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