Pinball machines turn on Argentinian in Valley | News, Sports, Jobs - The Vindicator

Oct 25, 2024

Oct 25, 2024

Correspondent photo / Maurita HoffmanMarcelo Blanco flanked by pinball machines from the 1970s, available to be played at Past Times arcade in Girard. Blanco was born in Argentina and is world renowned for his knowledge of fixing arcade games and pinball machines.

GIRARD — Marcelo Blanco is enthusiastic about his work. He has a lifelong passion and love of pinball machines and arcade games, how they work and how to fix them.

Blanco was born in 1971 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father was an antique dealer, specializing in mechanical antiques, toys, movie projectors and phonographs. Roberto Blanco was “a self-made man. He started his own shop and was quite well known for his work. I wanted to work with him,” Blanco said.

The elder Blanco was not in favor of his son working there, especially on arcade games or pinball machines. The Blanco shop was at the front of their house in Buenos Aires.

“So I would sneak out to play with some of the machines, jukeboxes, etc.,” Blanco said.

He was 10 years old when he first began playing pinball and back then he could only play at beach arcades because pinball was illegal in Argentina, except at the beaches. In fact, Blanco said it was “basically illegal worldwide. It was considered a form of gambling.”

His father was against him joining the restoration business, but did allow him to work on wind-up toys.

“I am a very stubborn person and wanted to work on the pinball machines that were brought into the shop,” he said.

When he was 14, Blanco bought a Bally Blue Kings machine for $300 from his father and his love affair with pinball machines took hold. While he worked on the machines, he also received an education on how things worked.

In Argentina, after primary school, there is a six-year term of school that Blanco said was a combination of high school and college.

“In six years, I earned a degree in electronics, which has helped me to understand the workings and how to fix the old machines,” Blanco said.

To maintain the collectability of an arcade game, “like cars, as much original equipment as possible needs to be used.”

Blanco is known worldwide for his meticulous restoration of old machines. That fame led him to meet Rob Berk, owner of Past Times arcade in Girard, about five years ago.

Berk has been a collector for years of pinball machines and arcade games. This year was the 40th anniversary of the Pinball Expo in Illinois that Berk founded. According to Blanco, a client met Berk at an Expo and told him “you gotta meet this guy (Blanco).” Berk called “very late, Argentinian time and I hung up on him,” Blanco said.

Then the client contacted Blanco and told him to talk to Berk, who asked Blanco to come to the Expo to present seminars there.

“The seminars are not for drumming up business,” Blanco said. “I work over full time with the clients I have.”

He said he has presented about five seminars, and they are, for him, a way to help other aficionados with their machines. In addition to the seminars, he hosts a YouTube program and is on Facebook.

“I am motivated to help people — fixing big toys for big kids,” Blanco said.

His topic for this year’s Expo, which was Oct. 15 to 19, was “Plan for Restoration-Keeping Historical and Economic Value of the Game.”

Blanco, at Berk’s request, came to Girard to work with the Past Times staff in the restoration of the machines before the machines were shipped to Illinois.

“The staff is great, they know a lot and they are great to work with,” Blanco said, noting the machines from Past Times filled two semi-trucks and four 24-foot trucks.

Blanco said he likes the Expo as he sees it as an “opportunity to bring people from different countries together. We all speak the same language there; we have a common ground.”

Although Blanco has visited his sister in Florida many times, Berk told him he should come to Ohio. While here, he stays in Girard as a guest of Berk and his wife, Brigitt.

“Ohio is wonderful. Brigitt and Rob have taken me many places and the food around here is also wonderful,” Blanco said.

He said he considers the Berks “my family away from home. I’ve been to Olgun’s (restaurant in downtown Girard) for breakfast. I go to the gym. The people are down to earth and friendly. I feel like part of the neighborhood.”

To suggest a Friday profile, contact Metro Editor Marly Reichert at [email protected] or Features Editor Ashley Fox at [email protected].

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