Are there any good coffee-tablish books about pinball art?

[HotHamBoy]

I consider pinball tables a kind of pop-art and would love a photo-heavy gallery book on tables and the art that adorns them.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

if you hadn't tried yet, start at your local li-bary! check out their "card catalog" and put any interesting books on hold, if they're already out with a patron, or if they shuffle books around the various branches, you can put in a "hold" request and they'll let you know when a book is ready for you to check out... best free resource around! i've done this with programming books for years... i take 'em home, review 'em, make a note/wishlist of ones i'd like to have at home, then watch amazon's "used" prices a bit. check out book fairs too! (i read you're in my general area; bton food bank has their book fair at the fairgrounds down here going right now! just round the bend from the airport.)

p.s. extra new pb info note; i'd gathered that the 17th street "classic lanes" bowling alley has a new stern kiss! $1 per play... all on hear-say, so i can't confirm that info - thought i might go check myself tomorrow/sat when i make a run through town/to the bookfair myself.

 

[invitro]

There are very very many at amazon if you merely search for "pinball art" .

 

[HotHamBoy]

so any recommended?

Hey, WhiteChocolate! You're in Bloomington? I'm up in Indianapolis. If there's a KISS I might have to hoof it down there and hit up the Union while I'm at it. Lately I've been going to Midwest Sports Complex on 71st. They have a Rollergames, Pinbot and Cleopatra all working well.

Also recommend the Skyline Drive-In in Shelbyville. They have 5 great pins in good condition: White Water (pristine) Star Wars DE, Stargate, Jurassic Park and WWF Royal Rumble.

 

[Kolchak357]

I have The Pinball Compendium books. They have a lot of great photos. But they are more about pinball history than art. There are three of them split up by era. Great books, but maybe not perfect for you if you are only interested in the art aspect.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

so any recommended?

Hey, WhiteChocolate! You're in Bloomington? I'm up in Indianapolis. If there's a KISS I might have to hoof it down there and hit up the Union while I'm at it. Lately I've been going to Midwest Sports Complex on 71st. They have a Rollergames, Pinbot and Cleopatra all working well.

Also recommend the Skyline Drive-In in Shelbyville. They have 5 great pins in good condition: White Water (pristine) Star Wars DE, Stargate, Jurassic Park and WWF Royal Rumble.

that i am! i don't get around much though, thanks to a bum car i don't trust to make long trips, so i haven't been up indy-way in years now... the union here last i personally know (month or two ago) still has the stern star trek, family guy, and nascar. like i said, the "kiss" table at the bowling alley is by word, but i'll check it out tomorrow myself prolly . if you google the bton in area for pb, awhile back there used to be a pb fan in the area that blogged where he found some tables - there might still be one at the "video saloon" near downtown. but (other than a gottleib "gladiator" at the winslow plaza laundrymat), that's about all the real pin i know of going on down this way!

so if you have time and into the trip, jump down this weekend/till monday or so - the fairground bookfairs down here are kick-ass; when i used to bother to try to do a bit of amazon book-selling myself (got into the "first/rare edition" scene a bit around here back once upon a time), it is -kick ass-. if ya ever wanted to be in just one, large open building just -full- of books to look around all day, ya should check it out! and it goes for several days; i think till monday at least (monday should be "freebies" day; take all you can - drop some bills in a "contribution" jar!)

 

[HotHamBoy]

Last I checked The Vid got rid of their Pirates of the Caribbean. Pinballmap.com says the Walmart there has a Wrestlemania and that the Classic Lanes on N. Willis has a Stern Indy Jones... can't confirm those.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

Last I checked The Vid got rid of their Pirates of the Caribbean. Pinballmap.com says the Walmart there has a Wrestlemania and that the Classic Lanes on N. Willis has a Stern Indy Jones... can't confirm those.

:0 i had previously heard before that yeah, classic lanes had indy jones (i never got up there meantime to confirm) - the word about it being replaced by the kiss table is just within the past few days! (but sounds like it is still only one pb there, too bad...) and the union only has three now instead of four... bummer!

p.s. to say, it is a shame that the old arcs/skating rinks growing up didn't stick around... lafayette's "aca-y-alla," "alladin's castle"... "skate-away", lol! ;0 ... think there was an "alladin's castle west" at purdue/west laf, along with the numerous pubs/restaurants/even supermarkets with pbs in the lobby... purdue-country was a real wonderland of videogames and pb growing up!! quite a time, getting to see those growing up! wonder how many are still at the purdue union, or in the bowling alley nearby there? any purdue-area pb geeks?? :0 p.p.s: if you've ever been a "mame" geek, then ya probably know of the nostaligia i speak of

 

[dtown8532]

I have pretty much all the hardback pinball books. The compendiums, Pinball Memories, Pinball Perspectives, Pinball Snapshots. But, if big pictures is what you want than the Pinball book by Santiago Ciuffo is probably the best. Very little writing. Lots of photos.

http://pinball-magazine.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=56

 

[HotHamBoy]

[MENTION=4374]WhiteChocolate[/MENTION] are you saying the IU Union Monopoly is gone? Cripes... The Slippery Noodle Inn has a better one, though...

The Purdue Union has Iron Man and Family Guy. The Arni's in Lafayette has an OK Pirates and a useless Simpsons Pinball Party (right upper flipper has almost zero juice, doesn't flip all the way.)

Lafayette has Main Street Amusements, though, 30+ pins in very good condition, mostly classics, both EM and SS. www.msamuse.com has the game list, awesome place and worth a visit to support the dream. Just be sure to check the weird operating hours first.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Indiana Beach in Monticello still has a few pins if you guys ever get out that way (my old stomping grounds). Last I heard they had Addam’s Family, Simpson’s Pinball Party, South Park, Star Trek TNG, Funhouse, Theater of Magic, Bride of Pinbot, and Twilight Zone.

Do you guys remember the huge arcade that used to be at Union Staion in Indianapolis back in the day? That was one of my other favorite places to go as a kid. They had everything you could dream of playing.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Yeah, there used to be a Jillian's, too. The only arcade in Indy is Tilt @ Circle Centre Mall and it's a complete joke. No pins, obviously, but pretty much nothing worth playing at all. A bunch of dated racing and lightgun games. They do have some solid fighting games but the machines are in poor condition and not really acceptable. They used to have so much more before, when they were GameWorks. A lot more vintage goodness, like Neo Geos and, naturally, pinball. Overtime the've sold everything worth having, including an amazing auto-multi-puck air hockey table

Jeff Strong, I got my first real taste of pinball at Indiana Beach last year! After a trip to Chicago reintroduced me to its glory at Headquarters, I found myself spending all my time at Indiana Beach's arcade while I was there. That park is a total dump, the pinball is the only thing good about it. When I went they had those pins you mentioned. At the top of the hill outside the park is a mini-golf/go kart place that also has a bunch of pins. Addams, TZ, Rollergames, Jokerz, Party Animal and a few others that I can't remember, maybe another Bride or Funhouse.

It's funny you mention it because I had just been thinking about going up there but they are closed for the season.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Sad to hear about the Beach being a dump these days. Back in the 50’s-70’s when my mom was growing up, it was quite an amazing place and everyone from Cream to The Who played there in the ballroom at one point. There's even a legend that it's where the inspiration for Pinball Wizard came from as the huge pinball arcade was located directly underneath the ballroom and The Who were playing there while they were writing that album, so Pete and the boys were down there loading up on pinball between gigs. Back then, they had basically every pinball machine you could name. My mom would be there almost every day in the summer time playing those hundreds of pins.

Even into the 80’s, it was a pretty special place for me as a kid, as the arcade was still the biggest one I'd ever seen, and the park as a whole was always packed and full of hot babes and they would add new rides almost every year, but it's switched owners a few times since then and apparently gone waaaay downhill, sadly. I haven't been there since the early 90’s when it was still at the end of its glory days.

 

[HotHamBoy]

oh, quite sad. The park is in a semi-dilapidated state. A lot of the rides aren't operational and the park is already pretty small. Despite this, they still charge $5 extra just to run through the Spook House. What's truly outrageous is the cost of admission. It costs as much as a park like King's Island but it's maybe a 5th the size and in that sorry state. All the employees look suicidal. I hope the pins last but the two arcades within the park and the one on the hill are dusty, sun-faded relics.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

Sad to hear about the Beach being a dump these days. Back in the 50’s-70’s when my mom was growing up, it was quite an amazing place and everyone from Cream to The Who played there in the ballroom at one point. There's even a legend that it's where the inspiration for Pinball Wizard came from as the huge pinball arcade was located directly underneath the ballroom and The Who were playing there while they were writing that album, so Pete and the boys were down there loading up on pinball between gigs. Back then, they had basically every pinball machine you could name. My mom would be there almost every day in the summer time playing those hundreds of pins.

wow! that's an "i'll be damned" cool bit of trivia, if true... that's awesome! i only ever got to ind.beach once or twice as a kid... never knew they actually had big acts play there, though i suppose not too surprising - way back then, big rock shows just weren't stadium-sized events. even the beatles played fairground stages...

yeah hothamboy; the IMU monopoly was gone, last time i was there maybe a month-and-a-half ago - like i said, down to just three machines there. but maybe they put one back meantime... btw i checked out the 17th classic lanes bowling earlier this afternoon, YES the new stern kiss is there! $1 for one play; an even $2 for 3 though! it is pretty good for a new machine - i'm not a kiss fan at all though, so if i were in your shoes, i wouldn't bother driving for it, but it is there!

i didn't find any pb books at the bookfair, but that seems to be expected - not all that common to find pb books around. oh well!

 

[Jeff Strong]

wow! that's an "i'll be damned" cool bit of trivia, if true... that's awesome! i only ever got to ind.beach once or twice as a kid... never knew they actually had big acts play there, though i suppose not too surprising - way back then, big rock shows just weren't stadium-sized events. even the beatles played fairground stages...

Yeah, there used to be a website that had pics of the Yardbirds, The Who, etc. playing at the ballroom. Can't remember the URL offhand, but it's probably still around somewhere.

 

[HotHamBoy]

[MENTION=4374]WhiteChocolate[/MENTION] I played the KISS one time in Nasville, thought it was cool enough. Certainly better than Wrestlemania. I don't care for the music but I also don't care for AC/DC or Metallica. A good table trumps the theme, though, and all the music by those bands is still fun to play pinball to.

When I lived in Bloomington, like 8 years ago, that whole area next to the bowling at the IU Union was a big arcade. They had two multi-slot Neo Geos, a bunch of fighting games, DDR, pinball, etc. Now it's all gone. The tables they have now weren't there then. At some point I distinctly remember there being an AC/DC. I know there was a CSI, too.

When I asked the counter girl what happened to all the arcade games she told me, I kid you not, that the bowlers complained about the noise so they took them out. I don't know if that's true but I can't understand why everyone hates fun.

 

[WhiteChocolate]

[MENTION=4374]WhiteChocolate[/MENTION] I played the KISS one time in Nasville, thought it was cool enough. Certainly better than Wrestlemania. I don't care for the music but I also don't care for AC/DC or Metallica. A good table trumps the theme, though, and all the music by those bands is still fun to play pinball to.

When I lived in Bloomington, like 8 years ago, that whole area next to the bowling at the IU Union was a big arcade. They had two multi-slot Neo Geos, a bunch of fighting games, DDR, pinball, etc. Now it's all gone. The tables they have now weren't there then. At some point I distinctly remember there being an AC/DC. I know there was a CSI, too.

When I asked the counter girl what happened to all the arcade games she told me, I kid you not, that the bowlers complained about the noise so they took them out. I don't know if that's true but I can't understand why everyone hates fun.

"SPACEPORT", yeah, used to be right there at the corner of kirkwood and indiana! i miss it.

which place did the girl say bowlers complained about the noise? the imu alley or classic lanes? maybe the imu gets that complaint now that right where the pbs are, there's a row of tvs and booths where students who don't have time to hoof it home hang out between classes. but if the pb irritates them, so would the bowling!

if it were 17th st, well i had my own noise complaint - the jukebox was quiet right up until i put in my quarters in kiss to try it out, -then- the alley jukebox started up REALLY loud, thanks to one of the wall-mounts being right near the pb! loud enough i felt, that it threw off my game! (not to mention the songs were all rinky-dink hick ****e!) felt to me like they wanted to discourage any long-hairs from hanging out there!

 

[HotHamBoy]

imu alley, said it was the bowlers...

 

[WhiteChocolate]

well, biiii-zarrre! just don't stack the new bowlers to the left lanes then when they sign in! ;0 last i tried, i bowl pretty-good-to-middling, so i know pb would just add to the ambience! silly kids, tricks are for adults!