Quoted from Steph

I've been married 7 years (...to the same woman !)

Therein lies the secret to being able to afford a pinball collection.

I know guys that collect ex wives..... no pinballs though.

Model railroading but now no place for a layout ..pinball take all my basement  

Jacques

I do Metal working ( at least starting ) in my small machine shop , i do mig welding too . Wood working  is another hooby too , when i have time, so i have a small wood shop too !!! , and of course even if elctronic and programming is my full day jod , it is still a big hobby for me , i do design stuff for my tools , DRO, Tach etc!!!

Yes 24 hr a day is pretty short  , but , no wife at home and younger kid is 16 , so i have some time to be in the shops !!!!!

Vengeance..those snakes pics are very cool

Before pinball I used to run a car at the local track.I used to run low 10s with it at around 130 mph



While the car is now gone,I still have a few here to keep me busy:

1965 Pontiac Custom Sport


1966 Chevelle


1966 El Camino



I used to have a few more,but I have been slowly selling them off.
As I find myself spending less time with my cars......and more time with my pinballs

Building and customizing RC cars and trucks. I used to race Sedan class on the south shore few years ago as well. Got out when the  chassis's  radically changed. Gets too expensive to change all the time.

Wow, multiple talents and interests here !

For me, I also love collecting, fixing and listening to antique radios from the 1930s,
when the little time permits (outside family, work, and of course, pinball repairs).

Nothing like listening to oldies on an old tube radio


Cheers,
- Sylvain.

Hmmm... lots of car enthusiats. I used to be one... got too expensive for my taste. I used to rally race in the 90s, and I worked at a garage that had a contract with a guy who rented cars for movie shoots. He owned in excess of 400 cars at one time. So we used to rebuild them for him, and we bought a few from him as well.

I liked Europeans at some time. I owned 4 Innocenti Turbos, one of which I heavily modified for racing. The 992cc 3-banger spat out 185HP when I was done with it, compared to it's original 72HP. I used to kick the mess out of 5.0L 'Stangs on an 1/8 mile. I hit 220km/h top speed with it, with the engine getting close to 9500rpms with a modified ignition system.

But my pride and joy was a car I owned for 2 months... a friend of mine knew I was into European cars and he said that a buddy of his dad had one for sale. It was the guy's son and he had just died of an illness, and wanted the car gone. He said it was a Renault 5, and it was sitting in a barn for 2 years.

...Oh, it was a Renault 5 alright... a Turbo 2!!!! I got it for 2000$, and it just needed some maintenance to get running. One month later, I had it on the road. While my Inno was faster, this thing was gorgeous. The black was scratched a lot, but it still looked badass. A month after getting it back on the road, I brought it to a local car expo on the North Shore near my place. An old guy came up to me and said ''how much?''.

A week later, I had 20000$ in my bank account! ... which I spent on a single rally racing season.  

Maybe after doing that, all my long-time buddies are still amazed that I drive a plain-a** minivan today. when I bought it, they saw that as an end of an era...

Maybe not... who knows.

I have  had a couple of hobbies prior to pinball and having a son.

Restoring antique furniture and hitting antique auctions in the country was a passion for many years. Seb, my son, bought his first item at an auction at 2 1/2 years old. My only problem is I prefer furniture over small antiques so I have many desks, bookcases, chairs and victrolas. I love playing 78's and have an antique RCA Victrola set up in my house with many big band records ( my favourite eras were the 40's-60's). Restoring antiques unfortunately got put to the side when my son arrived due to the chemicals and fumes but I have quite a stack of furniture just waiting for me to start again  

I also collect/collected original VW Bugs. At one point I had 4 but have only 2 left, a fully restored 1978 Convertible and a 63 Sedan that is either going to become a custom designed paint job or Herbie (leaning towards Herbie   ). It has already been converted over to 12 volt and a newer (1973) engine so it works great as a daily driver in the summer. Unfortunately the gorgeous 78 is less reliable so it's been delegated to being up on blocks for the last couple of years. I keep talking about selling it but it was my dream car growing up and I drove it all over North America on road trips when I was younger. Lots of fun memories! Now if only I could get as interested in working on engines as I am about working on my pinball electronics ..... the VW convertible may actually get back on the road   

ME

Right now I'm trying my hand at beer making...wine making to follow shortly.
before this:
-Hockey Jerseys
-Doc Martens
-Mopeds
-Classic VW's
-Vintage LP's

My wife just got into weaving with a loom.
before that:
-Knitting
-Smurfs
-Painting

I'm into pseudoscience. I'm the latest founder of a local 'Skeptics' group, called Ottawa Skeptics, where we investigate weird stuff (like a local perpetual motion machine) and promote science/critical thinking. As part of these efforts, I also host a weekly podcast on these topics. It's really challenging, but a lot of fun.

The latest article that we produced is about the famous Canadian cold remedy Cold-FX. Spoiler alert: It's pretty much BS.

Edit: I also do Jiu-jitsu

motorcycle...

Bought a new V_star 1100 5 years ago and start to make little modification every year since today.

Many things have come and gone over the years. The ones that have remained constant or are making comebacks.
- Tennis: I've started to play again now that my shoulder injury has healed.
- Moutainbiking: I sort of quit after I fractured my wrist but I'm thinking of getting back into it this summer. I found a good deal on a used bike. Lots of fun when you get a bunch of friends together to ride.
- Windsurfing: On the water since 1998 and I still suck. I even upgraded my gear last year... Funny, but it hasn't seemed to make me any better. Was hoping to get some winter gear this year but those plans have been put on hold. At this rate I'll never make it to the Olympics.
- Motorcycles: My first vehicle was a 81' Yamaha Seca 550. Not the smartest thing when you have winter 6 months of the year I know but it was a good deal and all of my friends were getting bikes too so I took the plunge. Wasn't I surprised when none of my so called 'friends' actually bought bikes. 'My Mom said no'... Still, I had fun and it attracted girls way better than my parents pontiac phoenix . I'm still riding now but it's mostly just as a cheaper means of transportation.

Something new this year.
A friend gave me a guitar last year and I've kind of gotten hooked on it. Been trying to practise an hour each night. Who knows, I'm not that old, maybe there's still time to retire early and take it on the road.