Bowflex
New member
- Feb 21, 2012
- 2,287
- 1
Pinball Pete's, Ann Arbor, MI
Date: January 1st, 2014
Tables present: AFM, RFM, MM, MB, Spider-Man, Tron, Avatar, Transformers, X-Men, GNR, Elvis, Funhouse, Addams, ST:TNG, POTC, LOTR, Simpson's PP, South Park, Nascar, TOM
Drove in for the winter classic and since I was on my old campus, being a Michigan alum, I wanted to take my girlfriend to some of my old haunts so she could see some of what I did back in my college days. This was tough given the awful weather and all. Snow past our ankles and lots of slush. On the bad side, several once-great locations are no more or not the same. Red Hot Lovers was a fantastic chicago style eatery and it is now under new ownership with inferior products. The Underworld (which was a passable comic shop after Dave's Comics closed) is now a tatoo joint. Lots of places are just closed and even though it served a purpose, I can't say I miss the Burger King or several other places.
On the plus side, Panchero's (great mexican place) is cleaner and nicer than ever. Pizza House and the original Cottage Inn are still as great as ever, Rick's is still as crappy (in a good way) as ever and the Backroom is still only a dollar/slice. Good Time Charley's was packed.
I told her how much time and money I spent in the arcade. Still in the same place but a lot has changed. They still dispense quarters (great for laundry money when you are in college!) and there is still a great array of games and novelties. They did remove one section of games and transformed it into a party area with picnic tables. They also seem to rent out their games for parties so not everything is on site and the condition is really bad. Lots of arcade games and pinball tables turned off or clearly broken. Still a lot of racing and virtua big-games but many have been replaced with redemption machines and skee ball. Pool tables were in good condition and the air hockey, foosball and hockey games still worked well (missing was the great air hockey rock music that used to blast!)
The Stern tables were generally in really good condtion and kept up well. Transformers was a lot of fun (my first time playing) and I skipped on most of them but they were clearly well maintained. Elvis was quite good as well. Older tables from WMS and Sega/DE were another story. Most were turned off or non-operational. Medieval Madness touted new flippers. I gotta say they worked fantastic. However half the lights were burned out, multiball doo was missing, castle did not explode and the drawbridge stayed down, gate stayed closed except one time (some fluke allowed me to destroy a second castle, which of course did not register on the table since the light was burned out. Voice and sounds did not trigger. I was blasting the castle about 20 shots in a row. Something on this table was set up way too easy but overall it was more painful to play due to the condition. AFM was similar, with burned out lights and a missing shaker. ToM looked great but played really odd. Did not feel right at all.
I cut my time short with mostly feelings of disappointment, since this was a place that always got the newest machines and kept them in pristine condition. Hopefully the sign advertising the flipper upgrade is a wave of the future. I will go back next time but I'd rather take a trip to the newly opened "Arcade" in Brighton, MI and Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Wonders, which I've been to before and has plenty of unique novelties.
Here are my ratings:
Selections/Variety: 4 Stars Great variety of pinball, pool, foosball, air hockey, racing, redemption
Pricing: 4 Stars most games are 25-50 cents, newer games are as much as a dollar. Priced in line with everything else
Maintenance/Upkeep: 1 Star - pathetic
Cleanliness: 2 Stars - decently clean overall
Layout: 3 Stars, nice and spacious but you could miss some things if you don't check every corner.
Intangibles - 2 Stars - dark and dreary location, they seem to have a pinball league but its based out of East Lansing, too much advertising for parties and machine rentals, great nostalgia but sad for new visitors and repeat customer after being away for years.
Overall - 2 Stars, but this would not take much effort to fix lots of the problems here.
Date: January 1st, 2014
Tables present: AFM, RFM, MM, MB, Spider-Man, Tron, Avatar, Transformers, X-Men, GNR, Elvis, Funhouse, Addams, ST:TNG, POTC, LOTR, Simpson's PP, South Park, Nascar, TOM
Drove in for the winter classic and since I was on my old campus, being a Michigan alum, I wanted to take my girlfriend to some of my old haunts so she could see some of what I did back in my college days. This was tough given the awful weather and all. Snow past our ankles and lots of slush. On the bad side, several once-great locations are no more or not the same. Red Hot Lovers was a fantastic chicago style eatery and it is now under new ownership with inferior products. The Underworld (which was a passable comic shop after Dave's Comics closed) is now a tatoo joint. Lots of places are just closed and even though it served a purpose, I can't say I miss the Burger King or several other places.
On the plus side, Panchero's (great mexican place) is cleaner and nicer than ever. Pizza House and the original Cottage Inn are still as great as ever, Rick's is still as crappy (in a good way) as ever and the Backroom is still only a dollar/slice. Good Time Charley's was packed.
I told her how much time and money I spent in the arcade. Still in the same place but a lot has changed. They still dispense quarters (great for laundry money when you are in college!) and there is still a great array of games and novelties. They did remove one section of games and transformed it into a party area with picnic tables. They also seem to rent out their games for parties so not everything is on site and the condition is really bad. Lots of arcade games and pinball tables turned off or clearly broken. Still a lot of racing and virtua big-games but many have been replaced with redemption machines and skee ball. Pool tables were in good condition and the air hockey, foosball and hockey games still worked well (missing was the great air hockey rock music that used to blast!)
The Stern tables were generally in really good condtion and kept up well. Transformers was a lot of fun (my first time playing) and I skipped on most of them but they were clearly well maintained. Elvis was quite good as well. Older tables from WMS and Sega/DE were another story. Most were turned off or non-operational. Medieval Madness touted new flippers. I gotta say they worked fantastic. However half the lights were burned out, multiball doo was missing, castle did not explode and the drawbridge stayed down, gate stayed closed except one time (some fluke allowed me to destroy a second castle, which of course did not register on the table since the light was burned out. Voice and sounds did not trigger. I was blasting the castle about 20 shots in a row. Something on this table was set up way too easy but overall it was more painful to play due to the condition. AFM was similar, with burned out lights and a missing shaker. ToM looked great but played really odd. Did not feel right at all.
I cut my time short with mostly feelings of disappointment, since this was a place that always got the newest machines and kept them in pristine condition. Hopefully the sign advertising the flipper upgrade is a wave of the future. I will go back next time but I'd rather take a trip to the newly opened "Arcade" in Brighton, MI and Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Wonders, which I've been to before and has plenty of unique novelties.
Here are my ratings:
Selections/Variety: 4 Stars Great variety of pinball, pool, foosball, air hockey, racing, redemption
Pricing: 4 Stars most games are 25-50 cents, newer games are as much as a dollar. Priced in line with everything else
Maintenance/Upkeep: 1 Star - pathetic
Cleanliness: 2 Stars - decently clean overall
Layout: 3 Stars, nice and spacious but you could miss some things if you don't check every corner.
Intangibles - 2 Stars - dark and dreary location, they seem to have a pinball league but its based out of East Lansing, too much advertising for parties and machine rentals, great nostalgia but sad for new visitors and repeat customer after being away for years.
Overall - 2 Stars, but this would not take much effort to fix lots of the problems here.
