So Long Marc, and Thanks for all the Parts.

Marc Mandeltort, 1954-2021

Our community lost a grand champion on Sunday, December 19, 2021.

Marc Mandeltort, the founder of Marco Pinball (Marco Specialties, Inc.), passed away peacefully in his sleep. Marc’s life work revolved around preserving pinball and making it accessible to everyone. 

For Marc, pinball wasn’t just a game designed to make money.

It is a beautiful miniature world under glass. 

It is a tool that builds communities. 

It is a pastime and a lifestyle.

For Marc, pinball machines were kinetic art that needed to be preserved for future generations to discover and enjoy.  To achieve this mission, Marc dedicated his life to building a sustainable company that ultimately enabled dozens of people to directly build pinball careers, inspired thousands more to fix games, and saved countless games from the landfill.

In the early days of Marco, he would often spend hours swapping pinball stories with customers. Every game was a world of nested stories ranging from the design and gameplay itself to the politics and popular culture of its time. Most of all, Marc loved nothing more than finally locating an obscure part that brought a pinball machine back to life and sharing it with the community at large.  

The Marco Family wishes to honor his legacy by collecting the stories about him and his impacts on the pinball community.

We set up an inbox, [email protected] to collect these stories.

We haven’t figured out how we’ll share them yet, but we can promise they will be seen by the immediate family and we will work to compile and disseminate them when appropriate. 

While his game of life tilted too early, Marc built a solid leadership team that will continue to build and serve our community for decades to come.  Please be patient with us as we work through these difficult times. 

Let’s keep these games working and keep sharing them with the world. Thank you all for helping Marc do what he loved.

We miss you already, Marc.

—Paul, Nancy, Lynn, and the rest of the Marco Pinball Family.

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