AtariJim.. rest in peace

[Pindaddy]

Atari Jim was a legend! The guy was a whiz and very fun to be around while he was telling me all about my machines and the repairs he made. I will miss him. Jim, I'm drinking a bud tall boy missing you right now. RIP

[Richie107]

Never met the man or know anything about him but as long as he was a fan of pinballs he's good in my book. God Bless.. He will join my 87yo mother who passed away last Thursday on the 2nd..

[Marshall]

Jim,


May you rest on the eternal cruise, in that cabin you love, at the back of the ship, where you can watch the wake off your balcony, forever.


We lost a friend, a teacher, actually a self taught Color Vector monitor technician and arcade repair wizard.


Jim’s garage was the crossroads of our community, a hub where you could meet fellow hobbyists picking up their Spy Hunter while you were waiting for Jim to replace a component on your Omega Race board. He took pleasure in showing you what he did to your game, and if you showed interest, teaching you how to fix your game without bringing it back to him in the future.


I’ve enjoyed many avocados from Jim’s trees and his tales of homemade fireworks shows using EM pinball motors as timers were priceless.


Thank you Jim for sharing your time and talents with us.


Love you Jim,


Marshall

[FUNWIZ]

Dammit, he was a great tech, good friend, he will be missed by all… I’m sorry I haven’t been over there lately, I’ve been out of town working, and just got back in tonight, and read this posting. Still shocked, can’t believe it.  That sucks. From now on anytime I see fireworks, I’ll be thinking of him looking down at the displays. RIP Jim

[deadlander]

Jim was the best solid state tech I have ever met. He was amazing and had fixed almost everything at least once. Many times I would bring a game describe the problem he would pull out the board replace several known problematic component and pop it back it and it would work. He was a wizard at all things electronic. He was brilliant in many things and we have many discussions in his garage about many topics while I waited and watched his magic as he fixed my basket case games. I never left without learning something new from him. Once he knew you were good people he was selfless with his knowledge and enjoyed teaching us pinball neophytes.
I will say Jim lived life to the fullest loved to cruise fish, drink beer, and putter and fix games in his garage. He definitely sucked the marrow out of life. I have been extremely down since hearing the news as I was planning on visiting him in the near future not because I had something that I couldn’t fix just missed chatting with him. Jim was an asset to our community and will be sorely missed. I wish him peace and rest I know he battled with the cancer for some time. Shame all around…every time I pass McIntosh road on I4 I will remember him fondly. Bon voyage Jim! 

[turtleboy]

RIP Jim. I dropped off every game imaginable and he fixed them all. I always like his expressions when I asked him a technical question. He really was a great guy and will be missed. 

[RussG]

Reading all these honest, heartfelt tributes to this amazing wizard of a man makes me tear up. He was such a great person and really could fix about anything.
He fixed an Asteroids high voltage issue for me no one else could figure out and also a number of monitors including G07's that were basket cases. A wizard.
He'll be so missed by so many. 

[VictorC]

Sorry to hear that Jim passed away.  God's peace be with his family.

[Steelcurtainlou]

Never met Atari Jim, but always heard great things about him. He gave me technical advice on a few occasions with problems I had on pinball machines. We have definitely lost a great asset in this community. Prayers to him and his family.🙏🙏

[CUJO]

RIP AJ...

1st game I brought to him was Pharaoh. He worked on my Stingray and Meteor as well.

Was amazed how he clipped out an IC on the board, desoldered, then soldered in a socket, put in new IC while I was there and tested it in the game. I was amazed at how fast and confident he was at knowing/fixing the issue in what was less than 45 minutes while I waited.

[GreenMarine]

Rest Easy Jim… I did not know him but I can tell that many will miss him. Prayers to his family and friends.

[WannaTheater]

Very sad.  RIP.

[Phatchit]

Wow ! what a loss to the community . Atari jim was a great tech and guy >He helped me figure out some weird stuff whenever i would get stuck. What a loss to the hobby . He will be missed.