In all, Luckett filed a total of 11 complaints, ranging from assault to breech of contract (for turning off the machine) to discrimination, the latter containing a claim that volunteers at the Pinball Hall of Fame are “prejudice” against him because of his pinball wizardry and ability to play for hours on 50 cents. Arnold says the litigation has already cost the nonprofit charitable organization that operates the Hall of Fame $13,000 in legal fees.

Arnold never saw any of this coming. On the day of the incident, February 15, 2010, Arnold, who owns the machines at the arcade run by the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club, says he didn’t know Luckett was listed by California courts as a “vexatious litigant,” prohibited from filing suits there without court permission. He also didn’t know that Luckett, who is currently living in Anaheim, California, has filed more than 40 lawsuits in several states since his teen years. Arnold says he knew him only as the guy causing problems one February day at the Pinball Hall of Fame. And that Luckett refused to leave the premises when ordered to do so.

For his part, Luckett says he hadn’t caused any problems and that he merely presented justifiable complaints to another volunteer in charge of the machines at the arcade.

“I asked him to fix several machines that day,” Luckett said. “I got angry at him because I wanted him to fix Xenon within a relatively short period of time and he didn’t. The voice box was shot. It wouldn’t talk. The bumpers weren’t working at all.”

In a recent phone interview, Luckett said that he wouldn’t leave the establishment because Arnold owed him several dollars for credits won on the machine. (In court documents Luckett refers to pinball games as gambling devices). But since the Pinball Hall of Fame is not a casino, it’s prohibited from awarding monetary prizes for game wins. Arnold says he offered to add credits to another machine and return Luckett his initial 50 cents, but that Luckett refused and became angry.

Then things apparently escalated. Verbal push came to physical shove. A friend of Luckett’s called Metro.