Nightwing
Active member
- Aug 1, 2012
- 1,139
- 1
As some of you who have been reading my posts know,I got the chance to visit for the first time The Pinball Wizard Arcade over in Pelham,NH. The good reputation that it has as an excellent place to play pinball is well deserved. I went that day on the chance that my scheduled trip up there the following weekend to shoot a segment for my cable access show. (Sci-Fi Journal,if you'd like to know more...)
Well,not only was I able to do that,but my wife and I spent the weekend in the lovely Lakes Region of New Hampshire - which also happens to have one of the biggest arcades on the planet - the legendary Funspot.
While my wife & I had a great time during our mini vacation,the gaming & pinball portion of it was somewhat of an eye opener to me. The following is my story of how events unfolded...
I can't say enough good things about The Pinball Wizard Arcade. To have a place like PWA within two hours driving distance of home is just incredible. Anyways, my crew & I arrived there Saturday morning and we got some playtime in before we started filming my segment.
Sarah St. John is a "pinball wizard" - and the owner of the PWA. The tables there are from her personal collection,which is incredible in and of itself. She is very passionate about pinball,and also her arcade - I could tell how proud she was of TPWA during her interview. I pointed out that - to me,anyways...while I love the quantity of the selection of games there - that it is really the quality condition of TPWA that really stands out. (This became more appreant to me over the course of the weekend,but more on that later)
I can't begin to tell you how long it's been since I've seen so many machines in good working order. Over a decade for me. Now,most of these machines are well over 15 years old-so there were a few not working.(TPWA has a proto WOZ that isn't working properly - that was my biggest disappointment)But overall,still an A+ in my book. I'm making it a point to try pins that I haven't played before - and my goal is eventually to play every table at TPWA. These tables are very well maintained. As an example,my first trip there,the Indy WMS table malfunctioned while I was playing it. I got my tokens back,and Sarah had it fixed and running again within ten minutes. That is most impressive!
If you get the chance to see it in person,you'll see what I mean. You can easily tell the difference between the flippers from a Bally/WMS table vs. a Data East/Sega table. Things like that.
Here are some links to pics of tables I got to play:
Note: I tried posting them all here - I didn't know I could only post 4 images...
Black Rose
Terminator 2:Judgement Day
Banzai Run
The Shadow
Red & Ted's Road Show
On a personal note - the fact that TPWA has my three favorite tables that aren't yet (hint,hint) in TPA really puts them over the top,IMO. (And yes,they are in the pics above)
Sarah and her staff really helped our cast out for our video shoot - turning on some overhead lights,getting on top of the air hockey table for a better shot of the overall arcade,and her interview with me was great!
In fact,one of the things that I discovered during the course of the interview is that she holds the world's record on Cirqus Voltaire! That is a very difficult pinball table (for me,at least) - and getting the opportunity to watch her play a game was awesome! It really is a beautiful table.
TPWA also has a huge back room with more tables set up -some working,some not - but she has a lot of games back there.The goal is to eventually open it up for more games to be played. Hopefully that will get to do so.
So my friends aka crew & I had an awesome time,and some of them want to go back up. So I'm hoping to get back there by the end of October,and get to play a few of the pins that weren't running (Granny and the Gators,No Good Gofers,Haunted House,Baby Pac-Man,WOZ). If you ever get into the New England region,you MUST go and check it out. You'll be happy you did!
Well,after my time at TPWA,my wife Leslie (who I love dearly,she helps feed my gaming addiction) and I parted ways with our friends and we continued up into the Lakes Region of NH,where we were going to spend the rest of our weekend. It really is a beautiful area,with many things to do,and I highly recommend it - as long as you don't go there for one particular place - which I'll get to shortly.Anyways...
We checked in to our resort,and as it was getting late,decided to get a bite to eat.So we headed out to Weirs Beach,which is on beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee. Among other things,it has a boardwalk there,with some shops,souvenirs and the like. Oh yeah - there are also three arcades there also!
The Half-Moon arcade actually has two places - a family fun center,and a penny arcade. I don't know if they also run the arcade on the pier,which is the third one...anyways,I got to check out the two main ones while the wife went shopping.
The arcades you see nowadays are mostly filled with redemption games for the kids,and these were no exception. But they did have some pinball tables,(I was especially happy that they has an AFM in playing shape)while some of them had some issues (magic trunk on TOM wasn't working) overall they weren't bad.
Here's some links to pics from there:
El Dorado
Attack From Mars
The Getaway:High Speed II
You really can't beat the nostalgia that a boardwalk arcade has - especially the ones with the older EM machines,before there were such things as video games. So if you are in the area,check out the boardwalk - and the arcades. Get some cotton candy and go back in time,if only for a little while...
After a wonderful dinner,we went back to our resort for the night. Sunday arrives,and we make plans to check out the "Biggest Arcade in the World" - the legendary Funspot. (At this point,they are second to the Galloping Ghost Arcade in IL,with overall games - it just hasn't been yet recognized by Guinness as such.BTW,TPWA is third if you were wondering)
They have been around for over 60 years,and do have something for everyone - arcade games of all types,skee-ball,redemption games,a bowling alley with candlepin & tenpins,even a bingo hall in a seperate building! I remember my first time there back as a child in the 70's and early to mid 80's - and I had an absolute blast each time I went.
Gaming at its finest,it was...
My last trip there,before now - was back around 1995. I remember getting $20 worth of tokens,and while I still had a lot of fun - some of the games weren't working,and eventually I stopped playing and gave what few tokens I had remaining to a young child who was walking by with his parents.
So,even though my wife was encouraging me to use the coupon special (some convenience stores have a spend $20 on tokens get $5 free) - I thought about what I did know about Funspot - my last experience there,the people who have posted online & in the BPA as to the poor condition of their pinball tables - those are the negatives.On the positive side,there is the ACAM,or American Classic Arcade Museum. They have had a presence at all of the PAX East cons,and their free arcade set up is always a highlight of my time there. In the end,I knew we didn't have a lot of time to spend there,so knowing that,I decided to just get $10 worth of tokens. I'm sorry to say that I'm glad I did...
I walked in to the top floor,where the ACAM is. One of the coolest gaming machines that I've ever seen was right in front of me - the legandary Computer Space,the first arcade videogame:
Isn't that a nice picture? A up and running piece of history...but hold on a second...what is that little yellow sticker on the right??? Oh,it says Out Of Order...
Keep that in mind.Because it seemed like about half of the games up there ended having that sticker on them,or were just unplugged,sitting there in silence...
Now,I understand that these games especially,are old - some as much as thirty years. But half the floor? Really? I'm sorry - that shouldn't be the case. Time and again,I'd find a game that I wanted to play - and it was not working,or worse - was working,but not properly (sticking buttons,non-working joysticks) etc.
To be honest,some of the games were working fine. My highlights were playing Xevious,Popeye,Space Invaders,Galaga,Tron,Discs of Tron, and Tapper (not Root Beer Tapper,the real thing with the Budweiser logo). But,needless to say - I was pretty disappointed up to that point.
So I decided to check on the pinballs. Well,everything that I've heard about the deplorable condition of the pins there is spot on. Most of the tables had weak flippers,plungers,bumpers - you name it. I tried playing a Williams Flash,and on my first ball played,with a completely pulled back plunger - did a perfect semi circle - right into the left outline. I kid you not.
The following pictures highlight the differences between TPWA & Funspot. Granted,this is just one example - but I think you'll agree which one is better. The game is Black Knight. (Both tables did play properly)
This is a playfield pic from TPWA:
And the same playfield over on the Funspot table:
The disgust settled in quickly. Granted,they did have a few tables working decently,and looking nice:
(Again,links to my pics)
A nice Close Encounters of the Third Kind
A not too bad Paragon
And my pinball highlight at Funspot - a beautiful Grand Lizard
But most of the tables either weren't working properly,were shut down completely,or worse,were plugged in but had that @$!&&?! "Out Of Order" sticker on them...
Some more links to pics for you:
Unplugged Xenon & Playboy
A Harlem Globetrotters pin,lit up but non-functional
Funhouse,with a broken Rudy head,which makes the table unplayable:
They had an awesome looking Devil's Dare,with LED lighting! - "Out Of Order"
Also had unplugged: F-14 Tomcat,Mata Hari,Monopoly,among others - "Out Of Order"
Powered on and seemingly running: The Addams Family and a Jokerz!,among others - "Out Of Order"
After losing some tokens into The Addams Family, I had just about had it with Funspot. I couldn't believe just how disappointed I was. I will say this - they do have a lot of the 90's heyday fighting,driving,and shooting games - and a fair amount of those "seemed" to be working. But most of the action was down on the ground floor - where the majority of redemption games were,as well as the skee-ball machines & the prize counter. I ended up playing skee-ball for a bit & gave my tickets that I won to a parent with a small child that she was teaching how to play. After playing one more arcade game,I gave the rest of my tokens to a family that was walking by. Found my wife outside reading a book & told her what happened... (She tells me she would have loved playing some skee-ball,and she never knew I liked it. You know...I've only mentioned it every time we've gone into an arcade of some sort - not to mention playing the hack out of the "official app" for iOS...but I digress)
Since I knew that I was dropping her off at work the next morning - I had a choice:
I could either drive home in 50 minutes,or go spend the leftover tokens from TPWA by driving 50 minutes the other way. Any guesses as to what I chose???
Some final links to pics from my quiet Monday at TPWA:
A properly working Funhouse
An awesome looking Devil's Dare that works
A sweet looking & playing Black Knight 2000
Bad Cats "meow,meow,meow"
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Finally,Guns N' Roses: (I still don't like this table,but I know lots of you do...)
So....
That is my story of the past weekend. Some awesome highs,and some big time disappointments as well. I don't know why this is bothering me so much - I was supposed to post this three days ago,and I've been working on it here and there since. My last trip to TPWA,though - brought some of it into focus.
I spent a couple of minutes talking with a staff member at TPWA,who remembered me from the other day.I told him of my experiences at Funspot,which made me appreciate TPWA all the more. Sarah St.John loves her arcade,and it shows in her games. I cannot recommend them enough.
I also met a fellow pinball fan who had brought his family to TPWA for a couple of hours of fun. Jeff and I got to talking,and he told me about his and his wife's love of pinball,among other things. (He told me an awesome story involving his other half & Theatre of Magic,but if he joins here,he can post about it if he wishes) He has TPA on the 360 and is bummed about the situation,as are many others. So of course I told him about our forum here,and befriended him on XBL.
But - he gets it.As will most of you who will read this. It's our passion for the game,and this particular game,that unites us,regardless of whatever differences that we may have. It's being able to bring a hobby that was on the verge of extinction just a few years back to a whole new generation of fans.
It's all that - and more.
So that is why,even though I mostly had an awful time at Funspot - I hope that they can work on what is wrong there and take steps to rectify it. Get some volunteers to help fix up the machines,or hire some people,maybe even outsource some repair work. I'd love to see Funspot back at least partially to the way I remembered it back when I was younger - Fun!
But until when/if that happens - I at least know that there are other places working to keep the gaming dream - and the pinball dream...alive and kicking.
Thanks for reading.
Well,not only was I able to do that,but my wife and I spent the weekend in the lovely Lakes Region of New Hampshire - which also happens to have one of the biggest arcades on the planet - the legendary Funspot.
While my wife & I had a great time during our mini vacation,the gaming & pinball portion of it was somewhat of an eye opener to me. The following is my story of how events unfolded...
I can't say enough good things about The Pinball Wizard Arcade. To have a place like PWA within two hours driving distance of home is just incredible. Anyways, my crew & I arrived there Saturday morning and we got some playtime in before we started filming my segment.
Sarah St. John is a "pinball wizard" - and the owner of the PWA. The tables there are from her personal collection,which is incredible in and of itself. She is very passionate about pinball,and also her arcade - I could tell how proud she was of TPWA during her interview. I pointed out that - to me,anyways...while I love the quantity of the selection of games there - that it is really the quality condition of TPWA that really stands out. (This became more appreant to me over the course of the weekend,but more on that later)
I can't begin to tell you how long it's been since I've seen so many machines in good working order. Over a decade for me. Now,most of these machines are well over 15 years old-so there were a few not working.(TPWA has a proto WOZ that isn't working properly - that was my biggest disappointment)But overall,still an A+ in my book. I'm making it a point to try pins that I haven't played before - and my goal is eventually to play every table at TPWA. These tables are very well maintained. As an example,my first trip there,the Indy WMS table malfunctioned while I was playing it. I got my tokens back,and Sarah had it fixed and running again within ten minutes. That is most impressive!
If you get the chance to see it in person,you'll see what I mean. You can easily tell the difference between the flippers from a Bally/WMS table vs. a Data East/Sega table. Things like that.
Here are some links to pics of tables I got to play:
Note: I tried posting them all here - I didn't know I could only post 4 images...
Black Rose
Terminator 2:Judgement Day
Banzai Run
The Shadow
Red & Ted's Road Show
On a personal note - the fact that TPWA has my three favorite tables that aren't yet (hint,hint) in TPA really puts them over the top,IMO. (And yes,they are in the pics above)
Sarah and her staff really helped our cast out for our video shoot - turning on some overhead lights,getting on top of the air hockey table for a better shot of the overall arcade,and her interview with me was great!
In fact,one of the things that I discovered during the course of the interview is that she holds the world's record on Cirqus Voltaire! That is a very difficult pinball table (for me,at least) - and getting the opportunity to watch her play a game was awesome! It really is a beautiful table.
TPWA also has a huge back room with more tables set up -some working,some not - but she has a lot of games back there.The goal is to eventually open it up for more games to be played. Hopefully that will get to do so.
So my friends aka crew & I had an awesome time,and some of them want to go back up. So I'm hoping to get back there by the end of October,and get to play a few of the pins that weren't running (Granny and the Gators,No Good Gofers,Haunted House,Baby Pac-Man,WOZ). If you ever get into the New England region,you MUST go and check it out. You'll be happy you did!
Well,after my time at TPWA,my wife Leslie (who I love dearly,she helps feed my gaming addiction) and I parted ways with our friends and we continued up into the Lakes Region of NH,where we were going to spend the rest of our weekend. It really is a beautiful area,with many things to do,and I highly recommend it - as long as you don't go there for one particular place - which I'll get to shortly.Anyways...
We checked in to our resort,and as it was getting late,decided to get a bite to eat.So we headed out to Weirs Beach,which is on beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee. Among other things,it has a boardwalk there,with some shops,souvenirs and the like. Oh yeah - there are also three arcades there also!
The Half-Moon arcade actually has two places - a family fun center,and a penny arcade. I don't know if they also run the arcade on the pier,which is the third one...anyways,I got to check out the two main ones while the wife went shopping.
The arcades you see nowadays are mostly filled with redemption games for the kids,and these were no exception. But they did have some pinball tables,(I was especially happy that they has an AFM in playing shape)while some of them had some issues (magic trunk on TOM wasn't working) overall they weren't bad.
Here's some links to pics from there:
El Dorado
Attack From Mars
The Getaway:High Speed II
You really can't beat the nostalgia that a boardwalk arcade has - especially the ones with the older EM machines,before there were such things as video games. So if you are in the area,check out the boardwalk - and the arcades. Get some cotton candy and go back in time,if only for a little while...
After a wonderful dinner,we went back to our resort for the night. Sunday arrives,and we make plans to check out the "Biggest Arcade in the World" - the legendary Funspot. (At this point,they are second to the Galloping Ghost Arcade in IL,with overall games - it just hasn't been yet recognized by Guinness as such.BTW,TPWA is third if you were wondering)
They have been around for over 60 years,and do have something for everyone - arcade games of all types,skee-ball,redemption games,a bowling alley with candlepin & tenpins,even a bingo hall in a seperate building! I remember my first time there back as a child in the 70's and early to mid 80's - and I had an absolute blast each time I went.
Gaming at its finest,it was...
My last trip there,before now - was back around 1995. I remember getting $20 worth of tokens,and while I still had a lot of fun - some of the games weren't working,and eventually I stopped playing and gave what few tokens I had remaining to a young child who was walking by with his parents.
So,even though my wife was encouraging me to use the coupon special (some convenience stores have a spend $20 on tokens get $5 free) - I thought about what I did know about Funspot - my last experience there,the people who have posted online & in the BPA as to the poor condition of their pinball tables - those are the negatives.On the positive side,there is the ACAM,or American Classic Arcade Museum. They have had a presence at all of the PAX East cons,and their free arcade set up is always a highlight of my time there. In the end,I knew we didn't have a lot of time to spend there,so knowing that,I decided to just get $10 worth of tokens. I'm sorry to say that I'm glad I did...
I walked in to the top floor,where the ACAM is. One of the coolest gaming machines that I've ever seen was right in front of me - the legandary Computer Space,the first arcade videogame:
Isn't that a nice picture? A up and running piece of history...but hold on a second...what is that little yellow sticker on the right??? Oh,it says Out Of Order...
Keep that in mind.Because it seemed like about half of the games up there ended having that sticker on them,or were just unplugged,sitting there in silence...
Now,I understand that these games especially,are old - some as much as thirty years. But half the floor? Really? I'm sorry - that shouldn't be the case. Time and again,I'd find a game that I wanted to play - and it was not working,or worse - was working,but not properly (sticking buttons,non-working joysticks) etc.
To be honest,some of the games were working fine. My highlights were playing Xevious,Popeye,Space Invaders,Galaga,Tron,Discs of Tron, and Tapper (not Root Beer Tapper,the real thing with the Budweiser logo). But,needless to say - I was pretty disappointed up to that point.
So I decided to check on the pinballs. Well,everything that I've heard about the deplorable condition of the pins there is spot on. Most of the tables had weak flippers,plungers,bumpers - you name it. I tried playing a Williams Flash,and on my first ball played,with a completely pulled back plunger - did a perfect semi circle - right into the left outline. I kid you not.
The following pictures highlight the differences between TPWA & Funspot. Granted,this is just one example - but I think you'll agree which one is better. The game is Black Knight. (Both tables did play properly)
This is a playfield pic from TPWA:
And the same playfield over on the Funspot table:
The disgust settled in quickly. Granted,they did have a few tables working decently,and looking nice:
(Again,links to my pics)
A nice Close Encounters of the Third Kind
A not too bad Paragon
And my pinball highlight at Funspot - a beautiful Grand Lizard
But most of the tables either weren't working properly,were shut down completely,or worse,were plugged in but had that @$!&&?! "Out Of Order" sticker on them...
Some more links to pics for you:
Unplugged Xenon & Playboy
A Harlem Globetrotters pin,lit up but non-functional
Funhouse,with a broken Rudy head,which makes the table unplayable:
They had an awesome looking Devil's Dare,with LED lighting! - "Out Of Order"
Also had unplugged: F-14 Tomcat,Mata Hari,Monopoly,among others - "Out Of Order"
Powered on and seemingly running: The Addams Family and a Jokerz!,among others - "Out Of Order"
After losing some tokens into The Addams Family, I had just about had it with Funspot. I couldn't believe just how disappointed I was. I will say this - they do have a lot of the 90's heyday fighting,driving,and shooting games - and a fair amount of those "seemed" to be working. But most of the action was down on the ground floor - where the majority of redemption games were,as well as the skee-ball machines & the prize counter. I ended up playing skee-ball for a bit & gave my tickets that I won to a parent with a small child that she was teaching how to play. After playing one more arcade game,I gave the rest of my tokens to a family that was walking by. Found my wife outside reading a book & told her what happened... (She tells me she would have loved playing some skee-ball,and she never knew I liked it. You know...I've only mentioned it every time we've gone into an arcade of some sort - not to mention playing the hack out of the "official app" for iOS...but I digress)
Since I knew that I was dropping her off at work the next morning - I had a choice:
I could either drive home in 50 minutes,or go spend the leftover tokens from TPWA by driving 50 minutes the other way. Any guesses as to what I chose???
Some final links to pics from my quiet Monday at TPWA:
A properly working Funhouse
An awesome looking Devil's Dare that works
A sweet looking & playing Black Knight 2000
Bad Cats "meow,meow,meow"
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Finally,Guns N' Roses: (I still don't like this table,but I know lots of you do...)
So....
That is my story of the past weekend. Some awesome highs,and some big time disappointments as well. I don't know why this is bothering me so much - I was supposed to post this three days ago,and I've been working on it here and there since. My last trip to TPWA,though - brought some of it into focus.
I spent a couple of minutes talking with a staff member at TPWA,who remembered me from the other day.I told him of my experiences at Funspot,which made me appreciate TPWA all the more. Sarah St.John loves her arcade,and it shows in her games. I cannot recommend them enough.
I also met a fellow pinball fan who had brought his family to TPWA for a couple of hours of fun. Jeff and I got to talking,and he told me about his and his wife's love of pinball,among other things. (He told me an awesome story involving his other half & Theatre of Magic,but if he joins here,he can post about it if he wishes) He has TPA on the 360 and is bummed about the situation,as are many others. So of course I told him about our forum here,and befriended him on XBL.
But - he gets it.As will most of you who will read this. It's our passion for the game,and this particular game,that unites us,regardless of whatever differences that we may have. It's being able to bring a hobby that was on the verge of extinction just a few years back to a whole new generation of fans.
It's all that - and more.
So that is why,even though I mostly had an awful time at Funspot - I hope that they can work on what is wrong there and take steps to rectify it. Get some volunteers to help fix up the machines,or hire some people,maybe even outsource some repair work. I'd love to see Funspot back at least partially to the way I remembered it back when I was younger - Fun!
But until when/if that happens - I at least know that there are other places working to keep the gaming dream - and the pinball dream...alive and kicking.
Thanks for reading.
Last edited:
Hope you had fun!
