I play in the dark only

Full darkness is too much for my eyes. I add a small amount of indirect light for a good balance.

I like dark, but my wife won't play her Addams unless it's at least 50% lighting in our game room. Yes, Addams is my wife's, you have to get at least one pin wifey likes.

I need some ambient lighting. Dim but need some or my eyes get tired

I'm almost always playing on location, so lights are on.

I purposefully have lights on a separate switch above the machines and they are never on when the games are being played. I would call it a low-light environment but not completely dark.

All pins on. All lights off. Pinglow only.

As long as the game is lighted properly, darkness is fun.
Although, the Gameroom isn't very dark when all the games are on.

Yeah generally in the dark.

It's annoying on games like Big Guns and Creature that don't have enough lights down by the flippers. Never understand why they cheap out like that sometimes.

Which locations are you playing at?!

NYC bars are all pretty dark. Everybody looks better that way.

playing in the pinglow

You need a "vote" option for both. If I'm playing by myself...I shut off all the lights in the house except for the machines and I LOVE IT. If my wife and/or friends are over who are definitely more of the casual players, lights on. I think it helps with ball tracking and such, and they don't seem to get as distracted by the flashing lights vs. a completely dark room.

I like to play with the lights down low.

It's normally just me and the husband near my pins. He suffers from severe migraines, so when he occasionally plays the whole room is lit so there's less bright flashing lights. If other people come over, I've got the room lit up so they can see everything and be comfortable. (And then they'll play maybe one game and quit, sigh.) But when it's just me, I've got the room pitch dark and love it. The darker the room and the flashier the pin, the better.

Same here, lights on, but dimmed to 25% or so.

Basically have two rooms down there, one with Pins/arcade, and the other with bar/TV. Bar/TV is where the kids play the Wii and there's also a music-cube thing that projects mirror ball/strobe lighting when on, so the kids like having that room dimmed or dark as well.

Dark but fun!

We have some neons and led strips that provide ambient lighting without making it beight.

I used to have F-14 and could never play it in pure darkness, that game required some form of indirect lighting or you would definitely lose track of the balls when all the flashers, inserts and strobes go off. With most games with spots, and the ambient monitor lighting on RFM it can be played in total darkness. I have my overheads on a dimmer so I just play in dimmed light.

Didn't used to, but AMH is so much awesomeness with the lights off.

That's why I have lots of other stuff that lights up in the room, black light carpet, neons, lit playfields on the walls and ceiling, lit signs and other stuff. So my room really isn't dark so to speak but it sure is colorful. Even the steps are lit with color changing strips from Ikea.

So I have always kept my arcades lights on, and the PA Coin Op Hall of fame is lights off. The game scores are MARKEDLY lower with the lights off. I mean, like it's not even remotely close. Lights off = better visuals, but it's far worse on your eyes trying to track ball movement.

1.) Many games are horribly lit. Spot lighting can help, but only to an extent, as you then have light/shadowing issues. Ambient lighting addresses this.
2.) Games with a lot of flashers and strobe can temporarily burn your retinas, taking at least 10 seconds for your eyes to readjust to the darkness. Ambient lighting offsets this problem almost 100%.
3.) Glare. Backglass/DMD glare onto the playfield is GREATLY magnified and can make it hard if not next-to-impossible to see the rear playfield on some games. I have used bent-plastics to eliminate the display glare, but it does not solve DMD glare. Glare can even occur from adjacent games.

That being said, avoid direct lighting (like cans overhead). Dimmed/diffuse ambient lighting is best.

IMHO the best way to light a playfield is with high quality LED overhead lighting, dimmed to a comfortable level. I use Cree CR4-575L-35K-12-E26 recessed lights, with a CRI (color rendering index) of 90. Most of my pins have PDI glass, so glare isn't a problem.

For me the goal is that the plastics are lit by the game's own bulbs, but the playfield is still easy to see using the overhead light. Brighter GI bulbs just shut down the iris of the eyes, and make it harder to see the playfield - unless they are spotlights aimed down at the playfield.

Depends if I'm playing WOZ or not...

I was a dark only guy....I just got rid of the dinning room and now that the pins are there with a chandelier above them....lights on (coming straight down on them) looks great....it's nice to really see the entire playfield at all times.............Joey

I don't keep my games ultra bright, so i can and will occasionally play in the dark, but i typically prefer a lamp or two on (but no overheads). Otherwise, it will start to bug me much like an undimmed phone in the dark after awhile. That said, i have no idea which option to vote for.

I keep the lights off in the pinball room, but a small light on in the adjoining room. Scores are better with a little light on.

It really depends on the game. With a game like KISS Pro, there is so much light, it's easy to play in a dark room. But my Game Show doesn't have the best playfield lighting, so I have to dim up the lights a bit so it's easier to see everything.

I was at a location once that had those upward-facing lights, but they'd painted the ceiling tiles flat black. Fail.

I should say you have a fantastic overall gameroom lightning. I tend to be hostile to full led pins in the dark, but you found a way to improve GI of all games while keeping a beautiful colorful light show in the room. The black light carpet is very cool. And all pins are 100% playable under these conditions.

Many of the Cleveland area locations are more family type places rather than bars, so they're pretty well lit. The main three being Kidforce Collectibles, Stonehedge (bowling alley), and the Happy Dog (bar/restaurant).

Both. In the dark is good for a change sometimes.

Space Invaders arcade in Cleveland back in the eighties used to be totally dark. At closing they'd turn on all the lights and all you could see was a smoky haze and all the rats scurrying for cover.

Dark.

Both. At night. Low Lighting on, and no lighting. During day light hours there is no practical way to make the room dark.

Dimmed, rarely off.

In the dark and in my underwear

I play in the dark. It's easier to play with the lights on, but I like the look and feel of playing in the dark better. There's nothing quite like Strobe Multiball on AFM in a dark room.

I prefer dimmed, but not fully off.

I was in an arcade once recently that had all the lights fully turned on, and it was awful. The place was completely empty, which was odd, especially since it was during prime weekend hours.

Arcades were never traditionally brightly light nor fully lacked lighting.

Definitely need to add a dimmed/50% option to the poll.

OFF

the only way to play.... in the dark. lights out / glow on

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I play in low/ambient light. My game room is L shaped so in the alcove portion of the room I have ambient lighting provided by a group of 3 lights aimed at the ceiling/walls. In the longer part of the room, I have can lights that are dimmed for play time.

Dave

Full dark, no stars

I normally play my machines with the lights on.

The exception was when I had my Tron LE, that was just magical with the lights off.

Blackout by myself dim with friends.

dark for sure

The comet led in my 4 games makes ample light to play in the dark. Like a giant row of night lights. Fastbreak is now gone but you get the idea

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Like everything in life... "it depends."

IF the machine has good GI and perhaps some extra spots, playing in the dark can reduce reflections etc. And it's awesomely cool.

But some machines, you HAVE to have the lights on to see that ball at all!

Why thank you sir Your just gonna have to stop in again cuz I've add more light up stuff.

A great post. I prefer playing on the dark or with a dim light on. With clothes on most of the time. Lol

I've got a row of dimmable track lights above the machines....about 20% brightness w 40w bulb....the one above TRONLE is out as it looks cool dark....WOZ, TZ, and TAF benefit from a little overhead....

Have to get around to carrying this theme to second row....just lazy lately....

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