A rumor making the rounds in Southern California has it that the region’s ace mechanic Robbie Robbins passed away during a trip to Mexico. Robbie, known to fellow operators in the San Diego area as a mechanical whiz who could repair any game – from the old electro-mechanical to the modern electronic units – was a partner with Dave Stroud in the old Progressive Games Distributing headquartered in El Cajon, Calif. (which sold to Betson in 1995).
Stroud told RePlay that Robbie had been ill for years, undergoing perhaps as many as a dozen operations. “He came into the business working for my dad’s old FEC on the go-karts and graduated into fixing up the coin machines. He was a real tinkerer, taking things apart, putting them back together, that sort of guy. I’d put his age in the early 70s,” Dave advised.
May he rest in peace.