What seemed like a normal day in Scott Bright’s childhood ended up paving the direction of his life forever.
“It started at a bowling alley. My parents were in bowling leagues and one day for a lack of babysitter, I went with them and discovered the pinball machines and electromechanical arcade games, and that was it. And from five years old, man, that was it. I would do anything to get a ride to the bowling alley. I lived in kind of a rural area, but there was a small airport, and they had a couple of pinball machines. And as soon as I was old enough, eight years old, to ride my bike there for a 45-minute drive, I would take my bicycle there to play pinball and just anywhere and everywhere I could find it,” said Scott Bright.
Many people find a hobby they love, but only on rare occasions can you turn your hobby into your career. But at a young age, Scott knew exactly what he wanted to do.
“I was fortunate. I got my high school credits and early and was working three different jobs. I was fixing high end stereos as a teenager, working at a restaurant, had another job, and I was between jobs playing pinball at a bowling alley and saw a guy working on a machine. And it hadn’t really occurred to me that at 14 years old, hadn’t really occurred to me yet that as much as I loved it, that, that could be a career. And I saw him struggling to repair it. And finally, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer and said, Dude, you know, look over here, because I think you’re looking in the wrong spot. And I helped him fix it. And he said, hey, kid, my boss is going to want to talk to you. And I went there the next day. They hired me immediately and gave me a ring of keys and a 67 Chevy pickup truck with a 3-On-The-Tree and said, here, kid, go fix jukeboxes and pinball machines,” said Bright.
He became so good at playing pinball that he decided to take it to another level.
“Playing competitively, I was ranked, I think, around 11 or 12 in the world. But as you know, arthritis and age and family and things crept up. I was not traveling around the country going to tournaments anymore, but my kids grew up playing competitively, too, traveling with me,” he said.
All of Scott’s endeavors led him to where he is today, owner of Grand Traverse Vending, where amongst many other duties, he also gets to work on pinball machines.
“It’s like not having a job. It’s like, get up, be happy, get to do what you want to do, which very often most people don’t get to do that,” Bright said.
To add on to his impressive resume of pinball, Scott is also a founding member of the International Flipper Pinball Association and started the pinball club right here in Traverse City for all skill levels to come and enjoy.
“There’s no dues, no application form. We meet every Thursday night at Right Brain. We have a tournament with no entry fee, and it’s really about the camaraderie and teaching each other how to become better players. And your ultimate goal is always to beat the game,” said Bright
And the burning question that I had for Scott is how many pinball machines does he actually own?
“I truly don’t know. One of the old guys that I knew years ago told me it was bad luck to ever know exactly how many machines you have. And my family already believes I have a sickness. And I don’t want to say I hide it from them, but I’m not sure any of them know exactly, because I’ve got them stashed everywhere in warehouses I have around the state at family house, friend’s house. Out in locations everywhere. So, it’s in the hundreds,” Bright said.
