Where Do You Play Real World Pinball Tables?

[RetroBlast]

We should get together Moon Jump! I am in NYC too, played real pinball for the 1st time in 22 years at Enid's at 560 Manhattan Ave in Brooklyn ... I would love to meet up with you in Manhattan ... pm me ... was it you kickin the Bride of Pinbot's butt tonight at Enids - check my post in Real Pinball ... the guy I met mentioned Reciprical Skateboards ...

 

[Moon Jump]

I'm going into see Jon today. (Saturday) If I don't get my monthly pinball fix I go nuts. I have to take the LIRR into the city to find good tables. All of the ones listed on Pinball Finder and Pinball Rebel on Long Island are all in random bars and they all have low ratings. I'd rather spend the money to go into the city, find some GOOD tables and play all day then drive out to a bar for one table in a dive bar with loud music so I can't hear the game. Another good place to go is the Satellite Lounge in Brooklyn. Their also running 9 tables but since it's in a bar the music the bartender has on his iPod blocks out any music from the games.

 

[dtown8532]

Adam
How's the condition of the Pinball Parlour's pins? Its been several years since I was there and he gets a lot of forum compaints about upkeep.

 

[E Laser]

There's a place called Castles & Coasters in Arizona that's supposed to have a good amount of pinball machines. I have not played many since the early 90's. Will have to check out some of more popular ones and play the day one release tables that TBA has if they are there of course.

Anyone that has been to C&C in AZ know if there are a good amount pinball games? I saw a post here that mentioned there are lots of them. Will have to check them out Tuesday when I'm that area.

I'm from Phoenix and Castles and Coasters ROCKS! I think they've got around or over 20 machines. A good chunk of the top 100 on Pinside are there for sure!

Another place is in Mesa called Golfland, it's got Medieval Madness, Theatre of Magic, Monopoly, Roller Coaster Tycoon and Revenge from Mars.

 

[Brian Clark]

Flippers in Grandy, NC, where I went when I visted my dad is a very nice arcade that focues on pinball and even has a convience store. Lots of newer sterns like Tron Legacy LE, Transformers LE, Family Guy, and Batman The Dark Knight and a good variety of other pins like Attack from Mars, Eight Ball Deluxe, Cyclone, Catcus Canyon, Big Bang Bar (one of the original 13!), King of Diamonds (remake), Williams Indiana Jones, High Speed, Medieval Madness, Cirqus Voltaire, Monster Bash, Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Rollergames, and a few others. Games are well maintained and mostly in excellent condition.

Closer to home is the National Pinball Museum in Baltimore, which has a good mix of newer and older stuff, mostly in very good condition. I love how that place as a German Four Million B.C. on free play in the lobby (last I was there anyway).

 

[dtown8532]

Just went to Pinfest 2012 in Allentown, Pa this past weekend. I was able to play AC/DC (pro and premium versions) for the first time and also Tron. I don't get why most places around me (bowling alleys, etc.) don't have any tables. At times there was a line to play Tron and you had to pay as well. I know its a pinball show but, come on, it was a dollar for three balls and there were people waiting to play it!
Oh well. Still got to play a lot of classics in various states of condition. Here's what I remember: MM (with headphones), AFM (at least three were there), WW, RFM (great shape asking price was $2,200 and was sold the first day), SWE1 (weak flippers), CSI (with a sub woofer setup), MB (always a line to play), CV, TFTC, Space Shuttle (beautiful condition), EBD LE (sporatic left flipper), Whirlwind, Earthshaker, BK2K, Diner, Cyclone, Black Hole, TOM, TOTAN, BK (several that were wupped), LOTR, STTNG, ST (Data East) and Taxi. Most I could remember.
AC/DC premium always had a line. Played it once but put about 10 games on the pro model which you had to pay for. Really liked it but the extra features on the premium make it hard to resist. Awesome sound on both though. Guy was selling NIB pro models for $4,300. I was short a couple thousand though.

 

[ND3G]

I went to The Pinball Cafe (Toronto) for the first time this past Sunday. It was great!

They currently have:
Addams Family
Comet
Mata Hari
AC/DC
Iron Man
Transformers LE
NBA
Ripley's
Xenon

It is a little Stern heavy for my taste but beggers can't be choosers.

 

[Rudy Yagov]

I would strongly recommend the pinside map for anyone looking for pins to play. I've played a ton of games lately because of it.

http://pinside.com/pinball/map/where-to-play

 

[Jeff Strong]

Just went to Pinfest 2012 in Allentown, Pa this past weekend. I was able to play AC/DC (pro and premium versions) for the first time and also Tron. I don't get why most places around me (bowling alleys, etc.) don't have any tables. At times there was a line to play Tron and you had to pay as well. I know its a pinball show but, come on, it was a dollar for three balls and there were people waiting to play it!
Oh well. Still got to play a lot of classics in various states of condition. Here's what I remember: MM (with headphones), AFM (at least three were there), WW, RFM (great shape asking price was $2,200 and was sold the first day), SWE1 (weak flippers), CSI (with a sub woofer setup), MB (always a line to play), CV, TFTC, Space Shuttle (beautiful condition), EBD LE (sporatic left flipper), Whirlwind, Earthshaker, BK2K, Diner, Cyclone, Black Hole, TOM, TOTAN, BK (several that were wupped), LOTR, STTNG, ST (Data East) and Taxi. Most I could remember.
AC/DC premium always had a line. Played it once but put about 10 games on the pro model which you had to pay for. Really liked it but the extra features on the premium make it hard to resist. Awesome sound on both though. Guy was selling NIB pro models for $4,300. I was short a couple thousand though.

Did you try the new Predator whitewood machine? I saw on FB that they brought it to Allentown too.

 

[SpiffyRob]

I'd been meaning to check it out for a while, but I finally got to Logan Hardware in Chicago yesterday. It's a record store in the front, and any purchase gives you access to the "museum" in the back, which features ~40 arcade games from the 80s, and 6 pins:

Time Warp
Firepower
Pinbot
Last Action Hero
Dr. Who
Johnny Mnemonic

Pictures of the first five are below. I hadn't played Last Action Hero or Johnny Mnemonic before. LAH is nothing special, but Johnny Mnemonic was surprisingly fun. The rest were well familiar to me. Time Warp was in remarkable shape for its age. The paint on the backglass was a bit iffy, and the left flipper button was a bit loose, but it was otherwise in great condition. Firepower wasn't so hot, unfortunately. The top spot targets only registered hits about 50% of the time, and the flipper buttons, while fine for the flippers themselves, didn't move the lit targets reliably.

All the newer machines were in great shape, though. Best of all, everything's on Free Play! Highly recommended for anyone in the Chicago area.

 

[dtown8532]

Did you try the new Predator whitewood machine? I saw on FB that they brought it to Allentown too.

No. I saw it but there was always people around it. Good for them though. A lot of interest.

 

[Kevlar]

I just returned from my first little trip to play pinball dissapointed. I live in Newport in South Wales, UK and I don't know where the nearest table is. There was supposed to be an Indiana Jones at a blowing alley about 12 miles away in Cwmbran but I just drove there and its gone. Does anyone know of any tables in my area?

 

[bavelb]

There was supposed to be an Indiana Jones at a blowing alley

I don't even wanna know what that means

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

A Freudian catastrophe, that's what that means.

 

[Kevlar]

I don't even wanna know what that means

Lol, I wish I knew where one of those was . Didn't Hugh Grant like to frequent blowing alleys? . On a serious note, my local search for pin tables is going depressingly bad, I hadn't realised it was this bad until I actualy tried to find one. Even a few seaside reside resorts within about 50 miles with lots of arcades only have 2 or 3 tables in a terrible state of repair, not even worth the trip.

 

[dtown8532]

I went to a place in Downingtown, PA (about an hour north west of Philly) called the Pinball Gallery (pinballgallery.net). The owner was really decent guy who is very passionate about pinball. All his machines were in excellent shape which is to be expected since, I believe, they're all for sale. They do parties and tournaments as well. I played Elektra, Shrek, Cyclone, Bonebusters, Wheel of Fortune, and The Getaway: High Speed II. Elektra was only a quarter. Most were fifty cents and a couple Stern's were seventy five cents with 3 for $2.00 play. Check out their website for a complete game list. My only wish was that they had some more of the classics or newer Stern's. But, the more popular or new, the more expensive. And since his tables are for sale I'd imagine the most popular get sold. Nonetheless, The Pinball Gallery's tables are beautifully maintained and well worth a stop if you're in the area.

 

[dtown8532]

Was just at the Pinball Gallery again today. Played some of the above along with Pinbot, Judge Dredd and Stern's Spider-Man. The owner was refurbishing a Pharaoh which, he said, will be in the arcade when he's done. Looking forward to it since I've never played a real one. Not as easy to find as BK.

 

[SpiffyRob]

Another venue... two more games.

Stopped by Ten Cat Tavern. They had Demolition Man and Frank Thomas Big Hurt. Demolition Man is a terrible machine, but I had a blast with Frank Thomas. I was even able to get a goal high score and the #3 overall score (see below.)

 

[dtown8532]

I was in the King of Prussia, PA area today so I stopped at a place nearby called Arnold's Family Fun Center. I heard that they had a fair amount of pins so I decided to take a look. How was it? Ok but mostly bad. First, the games take tokens. How do you get tokens? You got to buy a MINIMUM ten dollar card to swipe. I just wanted to play a couple pins for about a half hour at most. Nope. You gotta play ten dollars worth of games if you don't intend on going back. Well, that took me over an hour.
Now, how are the tables? Every pin there needed a basic shop job. Not to mention some needed flipper and bumper rebuilds. Most were "playable" though. And I got to play Banzai Run and Bad Cats. Two that I haven't seen in years. Other than that I played a game on Frankenstein, Goldeneye, Baywatch, WPT, Stern's HD, Who Dunnit? and Laser Cue. Laser Cue and Who Dunnit's flippers are a joke. Don't even bother. I got the ball stuck in WPT in the upper back right corner. Attendant's around? Nope. I tilted it and left it there. Unfortunately, they did not keep all their pins together and I missed TSPP, Elvis, Flintstones and Sopranos. Fortunately, with the exception of Elvis they looked like they needed a trip to the shop as well so it was less money wasted.
All in all, Arnold's is just another example of why you don't see pins on location much. They NEED constant upkeep or THEY'RE JUST NO FUN!

Oh. One other thing I came home with one token. With all the tables being 50 cents how'd that happen? Anyone who's played a game with a worn coin feeder can tell you.

I want my 10 dollars back.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Found a William's Hurricane tonight at a local movie theater. Pretty fun table, and non-licensed, too.