Looks amazing! Good luck with the place.

Looks awesome! Will definitely have to check it out— good luck!

Good Luck!

We opened our place in May and have had a great year so far.

Place looks great. Make sure you get some older games if your customers are more casual. New sterns are intimidating to non pinheads and they give up quick. My EMs and SSs get as much if not more play than modern machines.

Wow! Looks amazing.

Looks like a cool venue.

Good luck, hope it goes well.

Well, he's been trying to convince me to bring up my Indiana Jones, Twilight Zone, Elvira and the Party Monsters and Doctor Who to add to the overall lineup.

He hasn't succeeded yet...

You learn your customer demos pretty quick. If it's pinheads then those machines and Sterns will do great.

I am in a tourist town and get mostly casuals, so <$2K machines keep people as busy as $7K Sterns or a $10K IJ. Good pinhead machines don't always make for good machines in my place. Iron Maiden is a bust JP OK, I sold my DP and Avengers because they got low marks. I have a few rando EMs that are getting worn out cause kids love bells.

Must have a TAF, as everyone that comes in played one in College, so they are willing to reminisce.

I've got about 30 machines and my target is 1/3 modern 1/3 Classics and 1/3 cheapos. But I could probably do 50% cheapos and no one would notice.

Mix them up physically and they will all get played. As long as they play 100% and are clean, everyone has a good time.

You guys selling beer or food?

We are exploring some options there.

Yep! A huge thing with pinball is nostalgia. What people played when they were at the arcade/college/dating/bowling etc etc.

Addams is always my number one “do you have for sale” request.

Weirdly - very weirdly - another huge request is Gilligans Island. Because there used to be one on location in a very popular bar/pub in Auckland central, and heaps of people played it. So they remember it and want one.

A line up of all new pins would be scary to a lot of old timers I reckon.

rd

An TAF has always been a grail pin for me...but shesh, finding one that doesn't cost both arms and both legs and also a kidney is pretty much impossible these days.

I remember seeing a HEAVILY routed TAF at a coinop auction in Indianapolis 15+ years ago. Dirty, rubbers either dry rotted or just completely missing, half the lights out...but it did still play...I walked away as it was going past 6k...

Should have been your first option. You won’t make rent on machines only.

Old timers and kids. EMs and SSs are way more approachable.

You guys doing coin drop or hourly?

The ones I have had out are coin drop.

Working my way towards a 100+ pin facility.

One day ….

rd

I've never heard anyone say that kids like older games more. I'm a little skeptical, but I could believe that.

I come to Terre Haute once a year or so on business so this makes me very happy!

Well they will start any game, but I watch what they finish or go back to. Avengers and Turtles just have too many things going on, they are attracted by the theme but get lost quickly. They can keep up with my wedgeheads and keep going back.

I charge $15 for the day, so they will wander around and start a lot of games, so maybe coin drop would create different behavior.

Is there a reason that your bar is not listed as a location on the Pinmap? I just found you there as a Pinsider. I was in ATL for training for two months, I hit a few locations. I would have gladly driven up to your place, had I known it was there!

As a Bloomfield boy that's moved to Bloomington I'd love to get to know you lol.

Just got concrete down in my game room yesterday. Hope to have ot carpeted by may then ill have Stargate (way to much money invested in this one) Playboy stern, X-men LE, DP premium and by feb a TBL.

If we wanted to open just another bar...but Terre Haute already has quite a few of those. We are actually a little bit farther along than just exploring options. But for now, we decided to go ahead and open with the machines initially and add the rest after the holidays. (Although now that I think about it, a New Years Eve party there would be kinda fun...)

I believe for the initial opening we are going to just keep it a simple coin drop.

Also...a couple more machines moved in.

BoP (resized).jpg

We are - https://pinside.com/pinball/map/where-to-play/15032-vertigo-pinball-blue-ridge-ga

We are about 90 miles north of ATL, so you need to expand the map a bit

Its a tourist location so would have been great for a weekend that you didn't go home.

Pinball and beer isn't just another bar in most places.

PM me for my contact info, happy to share my learnings over the last year.

I'm a pinhead, tournament player, long time collector, and pretty stubborn, but there are a few things you need to get right in order to make enough money to stay open and be happy doing it.

Sorry, the way you worded it, I interpreted it as you were saying that we should have opened with drinks first instead of the machines.

There is actually a "Barcade" in Terre Haute, but it is mostly arcade machines. I think they have one pinball machine (a SEGA Independence Day) but I'm not aware of it's condition. My understanding there is the machines are set on free play, but you have to pay a cover to get in.

Ah. I was looking at the Sandy Springs info. I pass your location weekly, but from the air. But next time I'm in town for an extended period, maybe I'll combine a trip to visit friends in Chattanooga with a stop at your bar.

That place is kinda lame. I can't imagine making enough money without beer. I'll be there either way but without beer I know ill be spending way less money lol

I was trying to stay neutral on that place.

Lol yeah gotta stay friendly. My friends said it was cool and brought me. I was like "uhhh have you ever been to ANY other arcade bar?" And no they hadn't...

We opened the doors on Thursday and so far...not too bad. They aren't flooding in, but there have been a few times where multiple machines were getting a workout.

And just added two more to Insider, and I have two more kits to install...

The next two (resized).jpg

Went to Bank of Pinball today in Terre Haute, IN. I was excited to see a new push for pinball in the community however the entire experience was underwhelming. There was no effort in building a fun environment for customers to be in. Zero decor on the walls, exposed old bank wires behind the counter, the floors looked like they didn't even vacuum after the previous tenants. Guardians of the Galaxy was out of order and the guy behind the counter was very disengaged and spent most of his time outside of the entire mall.

Pinball is always going to be fun to play but would like to see an effort made to create an atmosphere of an arcade.

I think the owners are still finding their footing with the place, based on their posts here so far… I’d give them a little time to get the essentials lined out so they can focus on the rest of the experience. Definitely feels like the announcement here was more of a “Work in Progress” than a “Grand Opening,” so gotta keep that in mind when setting expectations.

Thanks for the honest review. Our grand opening isn’t until January 6th, but we opened for now with just being able to play the machines. As for everything else...

The mall actually doesn't want us changing much in that space for now. One thing they literally told us not to change was the wall paper. We have signs and other decor ordered, but again...it just hasn't arrived yet. Heck, I think we are just now getting the paperwork sorted to get us drink coolers from Pepsi.

As for the carpet, I personally scrubbed the hell out of it for over a day. You should have seen it before I went after it with a carpet cleaner. We even have a local carpet place coming in to see what they can do to tighten the carpet up in places to smooth it out...but you know...holidays. And again, the mall wouldn't let us just change the carpet....for now.

I haven't been made aware that GotG was even out of service. The last report of any issues was from the previous evening and that was that the Iron Maiden's left coin mech has a couple of coins jammed in it. I had them just cover that coin slot until I can get up there Sunday and get it sorted out. I'll find out why GotG was off and why I wasn't notified about it from that employee that now has some questions to answer....

Road trip.lol

Interesting...the employee that worked today has already responded to my question and he is puzzled about GotG being out of service because it was on all day today and he says that he never stepped outside of the mall.

GotG was off earlier this week for a couple of hours when one of the employee's noticed a screw on the play field. I just had her turn off the machine until I stopped in after work and I found where it had came from. I had GotG back up and running shortly after. And I know that employee that was working that day is engaging with just about everyone that walks in there.

And I just noticed...that account is brand new and that is their first and only post so far.

Smelling fishy…..

I guess I can also say that we now have 16 machines running.

Aerosmith Pro, with Insider installed.
Avengers: Infinity Quest Premium, with Insider installed.
Batman 66 Premium
Beatles Gold
Black Knight: Sword of Rage Pro
Elvira's House of Horros Premium, with Insider installed.
Godzilla Premium, obviously with Insider.
GotG Pro
Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast Premium
Jurassic Park Premium, with Insider installed.
TMNT Premium, with Insider installed.
Led Zeppelin Premium
The Munsters Premium
The Mandalorian Premium
Star Wars Premium
Stranger Things Pro

Insider kits have been ordered for all remaining machines. And hopefully our signage will be installed next week.

And then there is this: https://bankofpinball.square.site/product/pin-the-beginning-package/233?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false&fbclid=IwAR1wxP7qRsacHGZFa6NKqBr_EuLFVXMXE5BfKBZXH0PiPs13fVi0vG8W9tk

Sorry, the shirts are currently only available for pickup at the store.

I've been playing on location for about 50 years now and interior decor means nothing to me. You don't serve food or drinks, so it's all about the games. Casual players however might not like exposed wires. If you want to give it an old school vibe, put a 4' black light on one wall.

Interesting that you're going with an all IC lineup. Googled for a website and couldn't find one. You guys should get at least a website or FB page. If you have tournaments there, you'll need a place to advertise and give event details. Wish I was closer. Best of luck.

https://www.bankofpinball.com/ https://www.facebook.com/bankofpinball

The exposed wires in question are just some old network and CCTV wires. I'll get them all cleaned up soon enough, but for now they aren't any type of hazard at all.

And drinks and snacks are coming...

Yeah and the username is “Arcade Review” with no location and decided to visit your place that’s doing a soft opening for its first review? Bullshit. I would hope there’s no correlation with the other place in town, but who knows? I just hate that people can just anonymously create new accounts and leave reviews on social media. Good luck with your place guys, if I’m ever down there I’ll definitely stop by.

I'm unsure why you are so seemingly "obsessed" with the insider trading thing?

There are many many players that just are not the slightest bit interested in it....each to their own I guess???

For sure, the casual 'off the street' customer is not going to care one iota about insider trading so I wouldn't be too hell bent on promoting that as your best feature for the place.

Probably because BoZack was one of the beta testers for Xbox Live and is completely obsessed with achievements. We have talked off and on the past couple of years about how to create a system that could do something similar for arcade machines. When Stern announced Insider…it checked off the basics we were looking for.

Some of the future features look promising as well.

Looks awesome! Great potential…

Dunno….do you think people will be able to find the place?

7037B9F6-3F9B-4D81-8992-63C0C1610208 (resized).jpeg

Funny why anyone would complain about the decore etc? That is what is drawing me to drive 2 hours and check it out. Don't change a thing! This is classic! A place with a theme! Finally, its been years, so tired of the boring strip malls and loud concrete tombs that are all the same.
May I suggest a few older games as well eventually to fit the theme and mix it up?
Champion Pub
Fire!
Cactus Canyon
Great work,best of luck

This is a good poster to hang, maybe.

Pinball Tips Poster (resized).png

You need to get a Safecracker pin in there.

Nah - they only want pinball machines with Insider Trading - I feel that idea is limiting the appeal to a wider audience BUT it's their playground/their rules!