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» Hello! Bank of Pinball opening in Terre Haute, Indiana

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Hello! Bank of Pinball opening in Terre Haute, Indiana

By BoZack

2 years ago

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73 posts
27 Pinsiders participating
Latest reply 1 year ago by stewdogg
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#8 2 years ago

SAW

Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from Black_Knight:
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.

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...

#10 2 years ago

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Niterider

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Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from Black_Knight:
You guys selling beer or food?

We are exploring some options there.

#12 2 years ago

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Niterider

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Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

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...

#20 2 years ago

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Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

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

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...)

Quoted from Black_Knight:
You guys doing coin drop or hourly?

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

#21 2 years ago

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Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Also...a couple more machines moved in.

BoP (resized).jpg

#24 2 years ago

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Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from Black_Knight:
Pinball and beer isn't just another bar in most places.

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.

#27 2 years ago

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Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from greenhoody:
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.

2 weeks later

#30 2 years ago

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Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

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

#33 2 years ago

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Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from ArcadeReview:
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.

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....

#35 2 years ago

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Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

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.

#37 2 years ago

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Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

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.

#39 2 years ago

SAW

Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from phishrace:
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...

#42 2 years ago

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Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from pins4u:
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.

1 week later

#45 2 years ago

SAW

Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

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

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#52 2 years ago

SAW

Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from pins4u:
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!

Those are just the ones we started with. The overall plan was to mix things up with other machines as well. Possibly with Scorbit installed on some of them?

The main idea was not just to be another pinball place.

These three will be joining the lineup by the end of the month…

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2 weeks later

#58 2 years ago

SAW

Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Hey, wait...those aren't Stern machines....

CGC Monster Bash is also in the lineup, but it's upstairs and we aren't ready to open that area up just yet.

I think a couple more Jersey Jack's may appear this coming week? Stay tuned.

Photo Jan 22, 6 36 14 PM (resized).jpg

2 months later

#64 2 years ago

SAW

Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from JStoltz:
Was able to make this part of my work trip this weekend (drove Evansville to Terre Haute “on my way” to Effingham), and got to play for about two hours.
Great space! I made the mistake of parking on the opposite side of the mall and walking through the whole thing to get there (which was kind of a depressing walk if I’m being honest about the mall). The bank itself is really cool, and it seems like you guys are doing the best you could do with the layout of the machines. Shame that the main counter is mostly hidden behind a bank of machines, but having 6 more crammed in there is probably worth the trade-off.
There were probably 7 or 8 other folks there the whole time I was there, but plenty of space to get around and never had to wait on a machine for long if I wanted to play it. Everyone there seemed to be having a really good time. All ages.
Was great to play a handful of titles I hadn’t had a chance to play yet (GNR, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Godzilla Premium). Machines all looked and played nice and clean. Rubbers on the GNR flippers were looking pretty rough, but that’s the only thing I think I noticed that might have needed attention from a parts/functionality perspective. Also appreciated that the volume on everything was high enough to hear as the player! Love that. Makes a huge difference.
Both LZ and Rush were leaning really hard to the right, Rush especially so. I ended up leaving a couple credits on Rush because it was impacting the play so much. Also noticed the Insider Connected wasn’t enabled on that machine, even though it was enabled on a few others (EHOH, Godzilla). Thought that was odd.
All that said, had a good time! Everything (even the Jersey Jack games) being 3 for $2 is great! I go to Effingham for work somewhat regularly, and definitely think it’s worth the hour drive there and back. Will probably try to head back at least one more time this weekend to play some more.

Rush was…setup in a rush. It literally was unboxed the evening before and the employees that legged it up ran out of time setting it up. It wasn’t supposed to be turned on until I looked at it today as the box was roughed up during shipping and there is some cosmetic damage to the machine that we could see while it was still in the box.
I wasn’t able to be there when they unboxed it and I haven’t had time to get to it until later this morning. It’ll be right later today.

I’ll also check LZ while I’m there. It was level when I set it up so I’m not sure what happened if it’s leaning now.

We are going to be moving those machines by the counter into a space around the corner soon so the bank will be expanding its footprint a bit. More on that later.

#66 2 years ago

SAW

Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from JStoltz:
No worries! I had a great time there, looking forward to going back. Just figured I’d provide what little feedback I had here, since I didn’t see anyone around other than the younger guy working the counter.
One other thought; I got there and had forgotten my debit card at home (2 hours away) and asked if it was possible to charge $20 or so to my credit card at the counter in exchange for $20 cash to stuff in the ATM (I’ve done this at other arcades before). The guy working said you guys couldn’t/don’t do that— might be something to consider offering if the fees don’t make it cost prohibitive.
I got lucky and found out I could run my credit card through the ATM in the food court for like a $7 ATM fee (worth it since it would have been a bust of a trip for me otherwise), but would have been nice to be able to do that type of transaction at the counter.
I’m no business owner though so that may not be viable, just a thought.

And thank you for letting us know what issues you found. I've already leveled Rush (it actually was leaning to the right a little) and I have it connected to Insider now. I gave it a few plays, backed the flipper power down as, damm, it was SLINGING those balls! Default flipper power was set to "Hard"? Yikes. I can see why that slot scoop is getting wrecked on other machines. (I can kinda see a little bit on ours already) Hopefully, backing down the flipper power helps that. It actually seems to play a bit better with the flippers dialed down to "Soft" now. The flippers still had enough juice to send the ball up the side rail of the time machine ramp and launch the ball OVER the time machine. Oof.

Now to get Rush updated....ugh, a 10 GB update??

As for getting cash from the counter, did our ATM not work with your credit card? We have an ATM in the vault next to the change machine, and we have the fee set to $2.

#68 2 years ago

SAW

Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from JStoltz:
Yeah, flippers and slings were CRANKING on Rush; that was wild.
I actually didn't have the thought to try an ATM with the credit card until I was across the mall (having never done that before). It was kind of a last ditch attempt to get some cash from somewhere before I admitted defeat and left. If your ATM has the same features and only a $2 fee, that's great. You might just want to let your employees know to suggest that (if anybody asks to use a credit card at the counter in exchange for cash/quarters). When I asked the guy working about the credit card thing he kind of looked at me like I had a hole in my head, haha.

Honestly, it was probably the first time someone has asked to get cash at the counter with a credit card. Usually, when someone asks for cash, they just point them towards the ATM in the vault. He probably didn't make the connection when you asked to do it with a credit card.

1 month later

#70 1 year ago

SAW

Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

So instead of just placing some machines upstairs, we decided to just take over another space just around the corner from the Bank. We call it the South Branch.
South Branch (resized).jpg

And...we finally added a couple of things to the main bank. (they will light up as soon as we finish the wiring)
Photo May 06, 4 28 12 PM (resized).jpg

3 months later

#72 1 year ago

SAW

Niterider

Pinside member

Shelburn, IN

7y 43,800 340 6

Quoted from Gotfrogs:
My only complaint is that they were not open when we first came by so you may want to call first if you are driving a long distance (we checked the hours on their webpage).

Was this a couple of Saturday’s ago? We had a couple of employees switch shifts and, well, one forgot that they were supposed to open.

I was actually on the other end of the mall when I found out and I immediately drove over to open things up.

Sorry about that.

On the bright side, we have extended our hours now on Friday’s and Saturday’s. The mall may close at 8pm, but we don’t! Now you can have unlimited play on those nights from 8pm until 11pm for $10!
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