Just a brief look at my pinball pilgrimage to The Pinball Wizard Arcade in Pelham, New Hampshire, October 11.
Opting to stay in nearby Nashua due to the greater options in accommodations, traveling to Pelham involves 20 minutes with many twists and turns down sleepy, country roads, finally seeing the sign, “Pinball Wizard Arcade 200 Feet Ahead.” I drove by it once before seeing the sign behind me, wheeled around and pulled into the parking lot, my flipper fingers already tingling.
As soon as I opened the door, I heard the familiar cacophony of sound effects getting louder and louder as the light from the front door grew dimmer and dimmer.
The interior is kept dark so as to amplify the lighting effects of all of the games. On first survey, the panorama is truly spectacular. Pins, classic video games from Space Invaders on up, Skee-ball, coin-op basketballs are all brightly lit and throwing off a glow reflected in the smiles of eager gamers.
My first stop was shaking hands with the person largely responsible for the venture, Sarah St. John. I introduced myself, congratulating her on the venture, shaking hands and spending some minutes discussing pinball esoterica.
Play on all machines is via house tokens. There are several options, but trust me, get the 100 tokens for $20.00. You will use them up and very likely go back for seconds. A paper Dixie cup with my tokens was handed over as I first did a reconnaissance of the rows and rows of games old and new, making a mental note of where I would start and the must-play games du jour.
I was a little disappointed that there were no EM games on the floor on the day of my visit. Sarah explained that tables are in constant rotation and the website list may not always be up to date. Understandable with the mammoth task of keeping a place of such magnitude up and running. But there were plenty of SS and DMD tables to dig into from about 1980 to present. Pricing varies from two tokens per play for the earliest games on the floor to four per play for the newest.
My first stop was Wizard of Oz (four tokens per game). It was great to get to finally get to play this one after having seen it on so many Youtubes. The full-screen video for the backglass is awesome and needless to say, all was working perfectly. The toys, from the spinning house to the witches crystal ball left a smile on my face time and time again.
My next mission was The Black Knight, a table I put whole paychecks into in the 1980s. Here, I was a little disappointed that the downstairs flippers were definitely in need of some work. The low voltage coils were pretty weak and the linkages were a bit sloppy. Fortunately, there was enough oomph in them to get the ball back upstairs, so I was able to manage quite a few multi-balls regardless. The Magna-Save coils were nice and strong so it was cool to see the ball wobble back and forth as it was captured (sorry TPA, but your emulation of that could have been better).
Another game I played a lot when new was the Data East Simpsons table. Pinball Wizard’s example was perfectly tuned, so I relived my glory days on this one for about a half hour, managing many multi-balls and a respectable high score.
Right next door was South Park, a game I had never played IRL. Fortunately, Sarah and the gang must have realized what a draw this one is and have the volume cranked and while not going for the full R-rated option, did have the PG-rated option selected. There are only two words bleeped in PG play. You won’t have a hard time guessing what those are. Even with the PG-rated option, I was giggling away for another half an hour, slapping away at Mr. Hankey, Chef, Cartman and the gang. I went back to this table twice during the day.
From there I went to tables I’ve played many times on TPA, but never in real life: Circus Voltaire, High Speed, Diner, Black Knight 2000, Star Trek TNG (Gorgar was unfortunately down for repair) and a dozen or more others (I honestly lost count).
And just for giggles, before I left for the day, I plugged a few tokens into some of the classic videos on hand, including Defender, Ms. Pacman and Donkey Kong.
After four hours, my old-man legs were a little stiff from a locked-knee stance and my wrists ached a little from them being bent for hours in “flipper position.”
So, I bid Sarah and the gang farewell, congratulating them on a job well done and with a promise to return soon.
Opting to stay in nearby Nashua due to the greater options in accommodations, traveling to Pelham involves 20 minutes with many twists and turns down sleepy, country roads, finally seeing the sign, “Pinball Wizard Arcade 200 Feet Ahead.” I drove by it once before seeing the sign behind me, wheeled around and pulled into the parking lot, my flipper fingers already tingling.
As soon as I opened the door, I heard the familiar cacophony of sound effects getting louder and louder as the light from the front door grew dimmer and dimmer.
The interior is kept dark so as to amplify the lighting effects of all of the games. On first survey, the panorama is truly spectacular. Pins, classic video games from Space Invaders on up, Skee-ball, coin-op basketballs are all brightly lit and throwing off a glow reflected in the smiles of eager gamers.
My first stop was shaking hands with the person largely responsible for the venture, Sarah St. John. I introduced myself, congratulating her on the venture, shaking hands and spending some minutes discussing pinball esoterica.
Play on all machines is via house tokens. There are several options, but trust me, get the 100 tokens for $20.00. You will use them up and very likely go back for seconds. A paper Dixie cup with my tokens was handed over as I first did a reconnaissance of the rows and rows of games old and new, making a mental note of where I would start and the must-play games du jour.
I was a little disappointed that there were no EM games on the floor on the day of my visit. Sarah explained that tables are in constant rotation and the website list may not always be up to date. Understandable with the mammoth task of keeping a place of such magnitude up and running. But there were plenty of SS and DMD tables to dig into from about 1980 to present. Pricing varies from two tokens per play for the earliest games on the floor to four per play for the newest.
My first stop was Wizard of Oz (four tokens per game). It was great to get to finally get to play this one after having seen it on so many Youtubes. The full-screen video for the backglass is awesome and needless to say, all was working perfectly. The toys, from the spinning house to the witches crystal ball left a smile on my face time and time again.
My next mission was The Black Knight, a table I put whole paychecks into in the 1980s. Here, I was a little disappointed that the downstairs flippers were definitely in need of some work. The low voltage coils were pretty weak and the linkages were a bit sloppy. Fortunately, there was enough oomph in them to get the ball back upstairs, so I was able to manage quite a few multi-balls regardless. The Magna-Save coils were nice and strong so it was cool to see the ball wobble back and forth as it was captured (sorry TPA, but your emulation of that could have been better).
Another game I played a lot when new was the Data East Simpsons table. Pinball Wizard’s example was perfectly tuned, so I relived my glory days on this one for about a half hour, managing many multi-balls and a respectable high score.
Right next door was South Park, a game I had never played IRL. Fortunately, Sarah and the gang must have realized what a draw this one is and have the volume cranked and while not going for the full R-rated option, did have the PG-rated option selected. There are only two words bleeped in PG play. You won’t have a hard time guessing what those are. Even with the PG-rated option, I was giggling away for another half an hour, slapping away at Mr. Hankey, Chef, Cartman and the gang. I went back to this table twice during the day.
From there I went to tables I’ve played many times on TPA, but never in real life: Circus Voltaire, High Speed, Diner, Black Knight 2000, Star Trek TNG (Gorgar was unfortunately down for repair) and a dozen or more others (I honestly lost count).
And just for giggles, before I left for the day, I plugged a few tokens into some of the classic videos on hand, including Defender, Ms. Pacman and Donkey Kong.
After four hours, my old-man legs were a little stiff from a locked-knee stance and my wrists ached a little from them being bent for hours in “flipper position.”
So, I bid Sarah and the gang farewell, congratulating them on a job well done and with a promise to return soon.
