“Dr. Scott” Sheridan talks about 25 years in the game
Dr. Scott’s Pinball, on Conant St. in Maumee, is a dream come true for an arcade enthusiast. Only problem is, it’s not an arcade.
Dr. Scott’s store specializes in selling classic pinball machines and arcade games. The beautifully maintained titles that line the expansive main floor all come with a price sticker, ranging from $895 (for a vintage “Super Star” pinball machine from 1972) to nearly $10,000 (for a beautifully restored 1979 KISS table).
For over 25 years, Scott Sheridan — “Dr. Scott” himself — has sold and serviced games for customers throughout the area, working to turn his lifelong passion for pinball games (which he refers to in shortened form as “PinGames”) into a business.
“Combining PinGames and arcades together, most of the year it’s a game or two a week,” Sheridan said when asked about how many tables he sells at the store. “During the holidays, it’s a game or two a day.”
Tommy
Sheridan first fell in love with pinball while involved with a production of The Who’s “Tommy” at the University of Toledo, where he attended college before transferring to Kent State. (The first licensed pinball table, 1976’s Wizard!, was inspired by “Tommy.” A Wizard! table is available for sale at Dr. Scott’s for $2,495.)
“My senior year I was taking a filmmaking class. We had to come up with a storyline and shots,” Sheridan said. “Fascinated by the spark by the flipper button, I had the idea for my movie: What would it be like to be a spark flying around the inside of a pinball machine? “I contacted a local operator who sold me 2 1/2 junkers (Pin Games) for $230. Basically I paid him to clean out his basement.”
Though he never did make the movie, that early investment proved the seed that would grow into Sheridan’s personal collection, and then his business. After graduating with a degree in business, he took a trip to Boston and learned of an area store that sold pinball tables. “I went there and was mesmerized that such a place existed. I told them my hobby was repairing and flipping pinball games. They took me to a room, stacked floor to ceiling and wall to wall with old woodrail pinball games. Most dating back to the ’40s, a few from the ’50s. Forty games in all, for sale, $5000. ‘Oh, man!’ I thought. ‘What if…’”
Rocky Horror inspired
Financed by a loan from his father, he rented a truck and took the stash of games back from Boston to his apartment at the corner of Collingwood and Delaware. Renting out some warehouse space, Sheridan spent many hours essentially teaching himself how to repair games — a skill he parlayed into a vocation after returning to school in the 90s and earning a degree in electronics, opening the original store in 1993.
The “Dr. Scott” nickname, naturally, was inspired by “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” “I opened my storefront in uptown Maumee in 1995. I had seen ‘Rocky Horror’ maybe a dozen times in the previous 10 years. About the same time, the Maumee Indoor Theater started midnight showings of that movie. One evening I decided to go dressed up in costume, complete with wheelchair and fishnet stockings. I didn’t know that there was a ‘Shadow Cast’ performing in front of the screen. I got Shanghaied to the call, ‘… there’s our Dr. Scott!’”
Sheridan would perform as the good Doctor for the next ten years, at showings of “Rocky” in both Maumee and Bowling Green (at the Clazel Theater), until the latter stopped showing movies in 2005. The same year, Dr. Scott’s Pinball moved into its current location, a former Lighthouse Pools store on Conant St.
“I have no plans to retire,” Sheridan said. “I get the most satisfaction from bringing a game back to life. Whether it’s as simple as changing a blown fuse or a total restoration of a family heirloom that’s been neglected for years, it brings me joy. As they say, if you enjoy what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. I am blessed.”
