Arcade & amusement
Diagnosis and repair of video, redemption and prize games from ICE, Raw Thrills, Coast to Coast, Elaut and Coastal Amusements, plus card-swipe systems.
About
I run technical service at Gattitown, a family entertainment center. If something there is broken, it's my problem. That covers video and redemption games, rides, pizza ovens, ice machines and the computers behind the point-of-sale system.
My day is diagnosis, repair, parts and planning. I check every game's status each morning, work out what failed, source the part, follow up with vendors, and keep preventive maintenance on schedule so the next failure doesn't happen.
Along the way I taught myself to build software. The tools my team uses to track assets, work orders and parts are ones I built myself, and they run on a server I set up and maintain.
- FocusEquipment repair & maintenance leadership
- IndustryFamily entertainment & hospitality
- AlsoSelf-hosted software & automation
- Based inLexington, KY
What I work on
Rides
Service and inspection on rides from Chance and S&S Worldwide, including bumper cars, run from written diagnostic walk-throughs.
Commercial kitchen
Conveyor pizza ovens, ice makers, soda systems, refrigeration and prep equipment, with preventive-maintenance schedules for each.
Parts, vendors & budget
Sourcing parts, managing vendor relationships, tracking purchase history, and ranking repairs by how much revenue each down machine costs.
Electrical & electronics
Meter-driven troubleshooting, wiring, power supplies and boards. I also design small microcontroller devices on the ESP32.
Software & IT
Web apps, Docker, Linux servers, networking and firewalls (OPNsense, Tailscale), and Git, all running on infrastructure I administer.
Things I've built
In daily use at work
Asset Pizza: maintenance management
A mobile app my technicians use to track every game and ride, open and close work orders, order parts and schedule preventive maintenance. It reads the point-of-sale system's daily reports by email and creates work orders on its own. It also ranks open repairs by revenue at risk, so the most expensive outage gets fixed first.
React · Node.js · PostgreSQL · email automation · AI-assisted triage
Running in the kitchen
Pizza oven tracker
A full-screen app for the kitchen PC that follows each pizza from order through the oven to the buffet, with timers and alerts when food has sat too long. It works in English and Spanish for the kitchen staff.
Electron · bilingual UI · built for a real shift
Infrastructure
A self-hosted server for 30+ services
I designed and run a home server that hosts my work tools and family apps. It has HTTPS, private remote access, automated commits and backups to a self-hosted Git server, and health monitoring with push alerts.
Linux · Docker · Caddy · Tailscale · OPNsense · Gitea
Open source hardware
DiceSeed
Firmware for a small offline device that turns physical dice rolls into a Bitcoin wallet backup phrase. It is checked against the official test vectors and tested on real hardware by members of a local Bitcoin group.
C++ · ESP32-S3 · cryptography · GitHub
Experience
-
Dec 2024 – Present
Technical Service Manager
Gattitown · Lexington, KY
- Own repair and maintenance for the arcade games, rides and kitchen equipment across the whole center.
- Built and rolled out the work-order and parts system the technicians use every day.
- Manage parts ordering, vendor follow-up and preventive-maintenance schedules.
-
Apr – Dec 2024
Senior Arcade Technician
Malibu Jack's · Lexington, KY
- Diagnosed and repaired electrical and mechanical faults across the arcade.
- Managed parts inventory and ordering, and worked with vendors to cut downtime.
-
Mar 2022 – Apr 2024
Metal Fabricator
JM Weldco
- Ran a CNC plasma cutter and CNC press brake to cut and form aluminum parts from production files.
- MIG welded and fastened assemblies, deburred to a hand-safe finish, and checked every part against spec before it shipped.
-
Jul 2020 – Mar 2022
Technical Service Manager
Malibu Jack's · Lexington, KY
- Led a team of 10 technicians maintaining every attraction, from go-karts and roller coasters to arcade games and facility equipment.
- Built preventive-maintenance and repair training for the team.
- Ran schedules, time off and parts ordering, worked with manufacturers to reduce downtime, and kept the shop OSHA compliant.
-
Aug 2018 – Mar 2020
Arcade Technician · Bowling Technician
Malibu Jack's · Lexington, KY
- Preventive maintenance and troubleshooting on arcade games, working from manuals and schematics (Jan 2019 – Mar 2020).
- Maintained and repaired GSX pinsetters (Aug 2018 – Jan 2019).
Lafayette High School, class of 2018 · OSHA training, 2022
Let's talk
I'm open to roles in facilities and maintenance management, technical service, and field engineering. That especially includes jobs where hands-on repair meets the software side.