Gosh, most of the time sadly.

I think that's why most of us became collectors.

Yes, I suspect there is a lot of truth to that. I find myself making to-do lists of what I would fix first when I find a game in need of some maintenance on location.

yup, almost every time I play in the wild.

Yes, at the local arcade in Nathan's. Growing up I'd visit often and they'd have a ton of video games and a row of pins. Now they have only one pin, RBION, that they've had for years and deteriorates more and more each time I visit. Can't quite explain why but it puts me in a funk.

Because everyone here knows it's a mortal sin to allow a pin to get to that condition.

Yes. I have even repaired Scarred stiff and Congo on certain location so I could enjoy them in their full glory. It was depressing to see Scared Stiff with broken crate and all three jet bumpers (among other things). Congo also had lots of problems and is currently fully playable . I have expanded my collection because of poor condition location games.

Many, many times. Went to play a TSSP in a movie theater last week and the left flipper wouldn't move at all. Told one of the workers and he put an 'Out of Order' sign on the machine. I didn't want someone to play the broken machine and get discouraged from playing pins on location.

Every time I play in Auckland. The guy who owns all the pins is old and doesn't care anymore.

It was a real treat to visit the USA and visit some locations with games that played great!

- Lyons Classic Pinball
- both 1ups in Denver
- Logan Hardware in Chicago
- pinball land in Santa Ana

Good work, those guys!

rd.

We joke around here at a local place that has tons of pins. Many of them are just turned off with the sick video game printed out on them. They have it set up so many different owners can put pins on location. Some play great and others are terrible. On any given day there are around 5 or so turned off.

But its close to my house and well they serve beer so I continue to go there.

After playing on location for more than 40 years now, I kinda know what to expect. At a large amusement park like Canobie Park, I wouldn't expect much. Those games get played to death. Unless you arrive right after they clean and repair them, there's a good chance one or more will be down. This is to be expected at any large amusement park. The games are played by casual players there, not hobbyist. Most can't tell if a game is working properly or not. They earn about the same if they're working 50% or 100%. Spending more on maintenance isn't a good investment.

Canobie Park may indeed be even worse than most at maintaining their pins, but they may all be clean and working today. You take your chances when you go to an amusement park. If you don't expect to play clean and working games when you walk in, you may be pleasantly surprised if you do. Either way, you won't leave depressed. Those games are broken because they've been played a lot. That's a good thing.

Most of the guys making this claim live in pin-starved areas. I see 27 locations with 41 pins listed on the Sac pinball map, including plenty of newer games. Do virtually all of those locations suck, or do you just keep going back to the bad ones?

We have pretty good locations in the NW for the most part. But location play always sucks compared to collector play IMO.

every time i step up to one.

I've never come across one that plays good. Even at Starburst in Toronto, one of the largest (if not the largest) distributor out there, their floor room games about 2 weeks after they come out, are in poor condition, and it's hard to make ramps on many.

At this point in time I feel lucky just seeing pins in the wild to play. Let alone complain about how they are kept.

^^^^^^^

I just went to a bar I frequent recently and they recently got rid of a SP in terrible shape for a NIB POTC. I am basically going to try and go there a lot in the near future to play before it gets destroyed. Haha

Found a AFM, FT, and NBAFB on location, all three were extremely dirty and barely worked. Many lights out, flippers that would stick up, DMDs that were out, had a ball get stuck on FT after about a minute and neither me nor the ball search could get it out, lots of problems.

Worst mess of pins and arcade games I have ever seen was at the Big Cedar Amusement park in Ohio a couple of years ago. There was even a burning electronic's smell in the air from some of the games that were slowing dying.

I just got back from vacation a week ago...found an arcade that had 4 pins less then a mile from where I was staying. I was chomping at the bit for 2 days while there to hit the arcade to get some games in.....then once I had played a handful of games on a few pins, which were dirty and working 80%....I didn't even want to go back the 2 days I had left.

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Happens all the time, wherever you go. It sure is a surprise to actually find some good working pins. A friend of mine actually offered to shop some pinballs at a location near me and believe it or not the owner of the place refused. Puzzling...

There is a place nearby that has 5 newer Sterns of which only Avatar PRO works. Tron PRO has right flipper seriously sticking, Avengers PRO have a ball counting problem - there is either zero or more than one ball in the shooter lane, X-Men PRO with same problem in addition to Wolverine figurine getting balls stuck on every occasion, Transformers LE which is basically playable has balls stuck on both Starscream and Ironhide ramp and you have to wait for ballsearch EVERY TIME to make ball go back through gate switch. Should you get more than one ball on Ironhide ramp, then it is call operator time.

I don't have the link on my phone but a tech who works at Modern Pinball has been posting to a thread with all the repairs he does each day. Scan that thread and you quickly realize it is very labor intensive to keep them running properly. And labor is expensive so that invites skimping. Hats off to any operator making a to at it...

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets

Most of the pins in my area have been routed to oblivion. Either flippers don't work well (or at all), or important targets are busted. Playfield art just tends to be gone.

There is a LOTR that is still in good shape, but the playfield is dirty and hasn't really been taken care of.

Yep, if you want to play a pin in good condition, you either have to know someone nearby who has one, or buy one yourself. I haven't had good luck with on-location pins.

The thing about pins in bad condition is that it actually drives people away and leaves them thinking that that is what all pins are like--broken down machines that just eat your quarters.

I play @ CP

Shit is always legit there

If a game is powered down there you can bet the hood is popped & there's a head in the cabinet.

If it's still off that means parts are needed & you can play the other 80 games meanwhile.

This is one of the main reasons I don't go to anymore shows as well. Even the majority of those don't play well. I keep mine rebuilt and playing fast, and address all issues asap, so I'm likely holding all others to the highest standard, but oh well, I don't like playing machines that are 80-90% of what they should be when I have nearly 30 that are 100% in my basement.

I'm not expecting perfection in wear and tear, just that the flippers are rebuilt, it's clean and fast, and there are no issues. I could care less what the cab looks like on anything out there, just what it plays like.

I'd rather play a well maintained EM working perfectly than a new machine not 100%.

Yes, a Star Trek LE was at a local bowling alley and I went into play it. They replaced it with a Big Buck Hunter and a routed WOF. Now I can't find out where it is.

Yes the condition of pins on location is often depressing, but this is also why I try to support the locations that do maintain their pins as much as I can

OMG! You must have been in Orange Beach. That's the Adventure Island place right? My family stays literally across the street from there a few times a year. It's the only place in town I've found with pins, and they're pretty bad. Even the newest game, Spiderman, had a sticky right flipper and a disgusting playfield. The flippers on that FH are super weak - you can't make all the ramp shots. I'm not sure any of the machines have ever been cleaned. It's a shame really. I go over there when I visit to play and see if they're in better condition, and so far I've been disappointed every time.

Yes, the majority of the time.

Not true in Des Moines. The majority of the locations that have more that one pin keeps them pretty pristine and well maintained. The Up/Down Barcade has about 7 pins and dozens of classic 80's/90's vids. All working. The Jordan Creek Movie theater has 3 newer sterns and all are working and well maintained. Another pinball bar just opened up, not sure what the line up is. I will get more info as I get it. The Up/Down Barcade had adams family, family guy, playboy, TFTC, t-2 and one other one last time I was there and they are rotated quite a bit.

Corn fed pinball.

Get depressed while playing pin? No.
For those looking to play working pin inside the DC beltway, check out Town Hall in College Park, or Lyman's in DC.

I don't know what it's like to be depressed. Isn't that a female ailment?

Disappointment, discouragement, and disgust would probably be better words than depressed in this situation.

Those are the three other words she uses.

lol

No I'm not. At least in my area.

Location doesn't maintain them, make payouts, don't let kids in. Well hello new customers.

LTG : )™

Send them an email and tell them what you told us. Likely won't do any good, but you'll feel better afterward and they might throw you some complimentary tickets. Then if the pins are still crap when you go back, repeat process to get more free tickets. d

20 years ago you might expect nice pins at a big amusement park. Not any more. To me, a sign saying all games only 25 cents would be a warning flag. Those pins may be making some money for them, but not much.

I generally understand dirty playfields and weak flippers, but when I stepped up to a Met pro and noticed the captive ball missing a new low was reached.

Thank goodness there are people like me who actually care about location pinball. The experience I'm getting now will help me tremendously when I start my own collection about 10 years down the road.

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I found a TAF in the wild that had a bad shooter rod. Next time I was in the area, I gave the owner a new shooter rod, bushing, spring, washers, shooter tip rubber, and e-clip. I identified myself as a collector, and said if they ever wanted to sell, to please let me know. Which was fine, they even thanked me for my interest. When I asked if they would want the new parts installed (right now for free), they looked at me as if I was crazy. And, I felt that it would be better if I just left, which is what I did.

In short, I don't think op's want anybody working on there games that they don't know. Really, I don't blame them.

Tom

There are a couple of theaters that have nice games and a bar.
The rest are pizza places that don't even turn the games on unless you ask them to.
And they are beat to hell and not maintained at all. There are several other pinsiders that will confirm my statement.

Have I ever been depressed playing pins in the wild? Oh, hell yes! We all know the litany: failing flippers, lamps out, dust, dirt, and grime, major interactive pieces on the PF not functioning, coin mechs not registering coins dropped, sound levels too low, and then there's the condition of the surroundings. Noise, stinking smells, nasty people, attendants who don't attend and seem to care less that a pin is malfunctioning, sticky shit on the floors, low lighting conditions. That is why I MUCH prefer to play my pins in my own home.

There ARE some good places for public play. We have two here in our region: Game Galaxy with two locations near Nashville, TN. The owner is a young guy (Jason) who has a great assortment of pins, keeps them in working condition, and charges a very modest fee to play them. His Rivergate location is a classy and clean place.

Mike in Kentucky

I also continue to scout out new pins on location when ever possible. last month I added 3 locations to the pinball map.
if the pins work at least a little I will give them a play or 2.

I was at CPs yesterday and maybe 3 out of 60 plus pins had problems. That place is awesome. I felt sorry for my buddy though. The one pin he really wanted to play, which was STTNG was down.

The T3 at Fudruckers was another story. The flippers were so weak you could not get a ball up the ramps. It had other problems as we'll. Too bad.

Yes, There was a stargate at a local laundromat that I would go to play occasionally. After a year or so there was an out of order sign put on it with several things written on it but they would still turn it on for people to play...
I would stop back from time to time and see if something else had replaced it but it was still there with the out of order sign and still turned on so I called the number on the asset tag and they guy that answered seemed to have no idea there was even a stargate at that location. He ended up thanking me for calling and said they hardly ever get a call to tell them that a machine has a problem.

Nice. You need to get some of the big collectors up there to put some games out. Doesn't the Sac area send a truckload of games to PAGG every year? I know you guys got a new league up there not long ago. Now is a good time to solicit business owners for new locations, so work that angle too.

Can't believe you guys got two MET's at the theaters up there. We got zero here in the bay area. The guy who is in charge of the arcades for that chain is a member here. Goes by the handle Gamefixer. Good dude.