Playing with the masters

Michael Maisler grew up in Southern California and came to Chico for school in the early-'70s on the G.I. Bill. After finishing the teaching credential program in 1976, Maisler went to work “just temporarily” at a local pinball and game room product store. Maisler now co-owns (with business partner Lani Grieco) the 68-year-old Masters Music and Vending Company, which is located at 269 Humboldt Ave. The scene behind the storefront’s big glass windows is pure fun: dartboards, pool tables, a pair of old-fashioned jukeboxes and walls full of darts, pool cues, chalk and triangles.

What do you do here?

The vast majority of the business is operating coin-operated games and jukeboxes in [various] locations—for instance, Cal Skate, Madison Bear Garden, The University Bar, and other places within about a 50-mile radius of Chico. We take the machines in and we share the revenue with them. We do all the maintenance on them. When people get tired of playing one particular game, we rotate it out and put another one in there.

Why have a storefront?

This retail facility is here to take care of the home market. We have these beautiful Olhausen furniture-quality pool tables. They may have a pinball, a jukebox, a dart board, card tables, all kinds of things. Keep the kids at home.

How did you get into this line of work?

I’d fixed pinballs in the area for the Short Stop Market chain for a little extra money while I was going to school. I got into electronics in the army repairing medical equipment in a hospital. So I took that basic electronics and fixed pinballs for a while. In 1980 the guy who owned this business offered me and another person who worked here an opportunity to buy into the business, so we gradually took it over.

So, you rent out one of those old jukeboxes?

That one is a 45-RPM model and it’s for party rentals. You want to have a high school reunion, 1966? We got the music. There are many different record collection packages all set up for ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s. They got the big bands. They got ‘60s girl groups.

What’s your favorite game?

My favorite games are pinballs. I just like pinball machines. I’ve watched them change from a very simple electro-mechanical device to one of the latest versions, [which] has a video monitor that you don’t look directly at but it shines down onto a special reflective glass over the play field and the ball interacts with that video in an incredible fashion. We have one of those at the University Bar. It’s called “Star Wars.” You actually watch clips from the movie on that screen.