Hey there, just saw this thread and thought I'd say hello. I have been addicted to playing pinball lately and since I am a photographer by trade, I also take a lot of pix when I can to document the scene wherever I go. There's a running gallery I am posting to here:
http://store.orangephotography.com/sfpins

Also I do a little audio for the Pinball Soul podcast from time to time - current episode has some audio from the Fall Season launch of the SFPD too: http://pinballsoul.com/pinball-soul-podcast-11/

Thanks - I haven't been able to put up a 100M+ score on MET yet See you around? Are you in the SFPD league?

Oh yeah, and you NorCal folks may notice that's Challisa working on her board with Tim.

Oh hey Mike - yeah good times that night (and since)! See you around soon I'm sure! I'll have to trek up to Rohnert some time when I hit up Russian River!

@MOF nice meeting you last night at league! I just posted those shots (not too many, since i was playing well http://store.orangephotography.com/sfpins

Played tonight with a bunch of great folks at Pacific Pinball Museum. Afterwards we hit up Disco Volante in Oakland - this is what happened:

6363_SFPins_0496f.gif

Yes but always call first on weekends, sometimes they open a little later on weekends than what's posted.
-mof

Yep - last night we were there until like 7-something and 'officially' it closes at 6 on Sundays, but Matt is a real pinball guy so if folks are there, he's cool with staying open a little if he doesn't have to close shop. Again hours for those of you all who are too lazy to click the link I posted above (i'm one of those lazy people):

6363_SFPins_0757f.jpg

Will do! I wanna play on your Shadow some time too - don't know that machine but it seems fun!

They have a change machine that is usually working fine

Definitely! You should drop in on league night next Wednesday if you can make it - not sure how far you are but it's a great group of people.

I see Devon has got the high score on that Metallica - damn 333M+!

Anyone going to Pinball Expo in Chicago from here? Wanna play in that ExpoBrawl as a team?

I'm up for it any day since I live in SF. Would be fun! If they can stay open later that's cool too but not too big a deal since I probably will take BART/bike...

Any other pinsiders in league at Free Gold Watch? I know mof, haugstrup, jonnyo, Spybryon, Pinballrus, phishrace

Were you there last night d0? Just uploaded pix!

I played it in league last night - tough game! Don't really know how to play it but I liked it so far!

Yeah only EKA, me and GOD played. EKA got her name up on the high scores after I left, but I had fun playing. Tilt is not too tight although I suspect that'll be fixed soon

9th looks good to me so far - I can take the group pic if I make it

I'm outta town for a shoot so can't make it unfortunately!

Man, Ralph Macchio better make an appearance!

Can you catch Fattrain and I in the Stern Star Trek launch video?

Sweet - wish I could make it! I want one of those badges

You are a lucky man!

Jonny O just posted the $7 PPM groupon in case you guys didn't already see it on his awesome site. Direct link:
http://www.groupon.com/deals/pacific-pinball-museum-2?utm_campaign=UserReferral&utm_medium=email&utm_source=uu

There's one on location and two that I know of in people's homes. The one on location is at Phoenix Games in Concord.

you're a good man! We gotta do a NorCal vs SoCal pinball thing - or even a West Coast thing would be fun vs Portland and Seattle. I know at INDISC it'll be a bit of NorCal vs SoCal since we're bringing a lotta folks

Love Taxi! That would be a fun one to have a sequel to (or if you could do like Bride of Pinbot 2.0 and have two different versions to run). I think if you replaced the passengers it'd be neat to kinda replace them per category.

For example:
Gorbie = prominent world leader at the time of former enemy country of USA
2014 version = Xi Jinping would make sense but maybe no one knows him well enough so maybe Angela Merkel of Germany?

Marilyn = pop culture icon
2014 version = Lady Gaga

PinBot = pinball robot/legend
2014 version = PinBot or Bride of Pinbot or even JackBot?

Santa Claus = santa claus
2014 version = Hannukah Harry?

Drac = bloodsucker
2014 version = pinside trolls

Glad you made it by! Was the AC/DC there yet? I can't wait to play more of that

I'm not sure - couldn't tell from the pic I saw but I was hoping it'd be a Luci

NES is not afraid - only played with him once but had fun. Learned a lot!

Actually JonnyO is hosting an international pinball tourney on Jan 11th at PPM. I'll be there as well as some Danish pinballers and a lot of us other pin folk. Stop by. Tourney entry is free w/museum entry and should be fun!

Details here https://m.facebook.com/events/174114612785404?view=permalink&id=188697811327084&src=email_notif#~!/events/174114612785404?__user=721400651

Can you actually buy anything for less than that? I thought my place was about as small as place as you can reasonably live in and it was over that. I guess SF is a bit more skewed... But I do have room for a pin in my third-floor walkup - doh!

I dream of the day! I don't cook anyhow

I saw a girl from SFPD league got that Radical too.

Welcome! Lots of good pinball here in NorCal! If you get down to SF there are tons of places to play and if you don't know about pinball map it's got good current listings:
http://pinballmap.com/bayarea#

Just want to say that NorCal represented well at INDISC! So much fun this past weekend and I'll be uploading photos soon. Met Nate from Coast 2 Coast and a bunch of new friends. Looking forward to getting back home and hey whomever has a Shadow in NorCal, man that is my new favorite game

Results from the Pacific Pinball Open are up - Jonny needs help with the names of a few folks so if you know them put a note in the comments: http://pinballbayarea.com/2014/02/01/pacific-pinball-open-results/

A couple things:

1) Pin-a Go Go 2013 just got written up in Pinballnews.com: http://www.pinballnews.com/shows/pagg2013/index.html

2) To bridge this battle of the sexes, I propose a tournament that I will put on (my first!) if folks are interested. I will have to check with IFPA on legalities to have it count with WPPRs.

Let's call it: Split-Flipper Mixed-Gender Team Tommy Dollars*?

* Rules:
- each team is one male and one female
- teams can choose which flipper is which person, but they have to switch every ball
- extra balls can be played but would incur a switch on flippers
- knockout format (double elim maybe?)
- donation of a portion of proceeds would go to First Exposures (a mentoring program I am a part of that works with youth and mentors through photography) http://firstexposures.org/
- we can pair you up if you don't have a team (if there's enough balance in genders)

Thoughts?

You are correct! Just got word from IFPA on that and I think I'll do a main "open" tournament for WPPRs and then this as the side tourney since I know people love them some WPPRs.

Just a heads up that one of the two Barry Oursler benefit tournaments in the Bay Area is this weekend on Sat at Pizza Depot in Sunnyvale. I went there for the first time after a photoshoot last weekend and it's got a lot of nice pins! Details for the event are posted here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/220594144799596/

I'll be there and would love to meet some other pinsiders as well as play some pinball for a great cause.

Anyone going to drive from San Francisco to the Oursler tourney at Pizza Depot on Saturday and got room for someone else?

Definitely support FGW at City Hall tomorrow if you can go - plus City Hall is really nice!

Also, on Fri the 21st in SF and 22nd in Oakland, the co-creator or Drop Target Zine (Alec Longstreth) will be doing a signing and selling his new book Basewood at Mission Comics in SF and Dr. Comics Mr. Games in Oakland. Some location pinball close(ish) to both! http://www.alec-longstreth.com/blog/717/

It should go smoothly, but it's a hearing to approve their application for having pins (there's some sorta old school laws around still for permits I think). It should be fine, as the boss of the commission who is approving it happened to come in and have a blast and didn't even realize it was 'that' place until she was already there is the word on the street. If people can come support in person it would be great though!

Also, if anyone is a Lebowski fan, it's showing for FREE on Sat night at the awesomely restored Nourse Theater:
http://sf.funcheap.com/event-series/philip-seymour-hoffman-movie-marathon-city-arts-lectures/

One super cool moment was when Andrei Massenkoff got up to speak and mentioned he was the 2010 PAPA World Champion and one of the commissioners did the 'we're not worthy' move

Two tourneys coming up in SF to support Barry Oursler and Python Anghelo - both at Free Gold Watch on Wed (tomorrow) and Sunday at 6pm (not 2pm as listed here): Pinball benefit week.jpg

Awesome, loving the new code so far (although I have only played two games on it). We updated the code to 1.5 at the Pacific Pinball Museum last night as well.

Had a blast today at the Pinbattle Royale that Sosage put on! Great to meet him and other pinsiders like Norcalrealtor today. Tourney format was so fun and we were psyched to take 2nd. A few pix are posted here: http://store.orangephotography.com/p328863282

I'll be there - there's a huge NorCal contingent too including some bad ass women who represented us well here in Vegas.

Oh and thanks to Matt Sarnoff (2nd in the tourney!) FGW and SFPD are both represented at the PHOF:
pinball2014_0576f.jpgpinball2014_0571f.jpg

I heard that since no one in NorCal bought one there isn't going to be a launch party up here

Hey all, I just ran a tournament for the first time and am considering doing another one in the near-ish future. Are there any pinsiders who'd be open to hosting it? Timing is all up in the air etc, but would love it if it could be with a collection of 10+ games or so. Feel free to PM me here if you are interested!

Hey all, so I will be putting on my first tournament on June 22nd and I'm looking for a good venue for this. I don't really know too much about it although it'll be part fundraiser and due to the popularity of the SFPD league pinball trading cards, I think I'll give out a personalized trading card to everyone who enters. It will benefit a non-profit I volunteer with, First Exposures, and will be a WPPR tourney too.

If anyone would be open to hosting if you have a decent sized collection let me know. I am based in SF but am open to things around the Bay Area.

Thanks!pinball2014_0940f.jpg

Not that I know of and didn't see it on pinballmap.com either. It's actually pretty fun so I'd like to play it more too - let us know if you find it!

If you wanna hit up Free Gold Watch and drink fancy cocktails tonight is a free play night (with cover): http://flavorpill.com/events/eat-your-drink-pinball-pop-up?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2EDITORIAL%20-%20FLAVORPILL%20LEGACY%20SUBSCRIBERS%20-%20SAN%20FRANCISCO&utm_campaign=%5BNEW%20DESIGN%5D%20Events%20Digest&email=orangenex%40gmail.com&utm_param_city=SF

Joey Springer too!

Ooh can you all add them to the Pinballmap.com site too? http://pinballmap.com/bayarea#

NES told me about it being there so I suspect he may already be GC I wanna go play it while it's fresh and not all beat up since the OP there doesn't maintain them well. Hopefully it's the latest code since it's much more fun

So much great pinball out here! If you wanna look up locations make sure to check the pinball map app too (or website).

http://pinballmap.com/bayarea#

Oh yeah we just updated the code on Metallica at Gestalt to 1.51 - so fun!

Hey all so I am running my first WPPR tourney on June 22nd (Sunday): http://pinside.com/pinball/events/fx-benefit-pinball-tournament-2014

I am in talks with Playland Not at the Beach but haven't finalized things so don't have a location locked down right now.

Do you all know anyone who might be open to hosting it? It's probably gonna have around 25-30 people or so max and I'd like to have it reasonably close to SF/OAK/Berkeley (close to BART/CalTrain is great). I've already talked to a few league players etc and don't want to steal points from locations that have already hosted tourneys so any input would be appreciated. If you have 6+ machines it'd probably work but 8+ is ideal I'd say.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks to all the folks that participated in my benefit tournament this past weekend - I just posted a blog entry about the results etc. The craziest thing was Jake Bondar scoring over 94M points in 3 minutes on the side tourney on LOTR!
http://pulp.orangephotography.com/blog/?p=10641

SFPD has a waiting list but you can get in touch - season starts July 30th I think: http://www.sfpins.org

Anyone gonna host a BBQ/Pinball and beer Fourth party? (or in general this weekend?) Be happy to run a fun tournament or something!

I know CAX is this weekend but if you don't get enough pinball there, come out to support a great pinballer's first tourney on Tuesday in SF. Eric W who is the administrator for the pinballmap.com and also helps with the locator here on pinside will be hosting his first tournament at Gestalt Haus. Here's a FB event page with more details as well:
https://www.facebook.com/events/310164685817111/

That AC/DC is now at Elbo Room

and when can we come play your sweet collection?

what Andreas said!

I did go to EBPL league night before and met a guy who is considering setting up another league in SF. He works in the Mission near where I live and play a lot and since I think there were over 40 people on the wait list for SFPD another SF league could work.

I know in NYC they have one league that is team-based and I like that idea. Not sure what he's going to do but that could be another option. Def lots of great pinball here in NorCal! welcome!

sweet, any tourneys? or can we run one for fun if people are up for it? I'll just be getting back from Expo the night before!

Just to promote the Walking Dead launch party that Eric W. will be running (since I'll be at Expo)
TWD_Launch_Gestalt_WEB.jpg

Anyone in NorCal getting America's Most Haunted? Really love that game after playing it bunch today. Would love to pump quarters on location (or play at someone's house!

That was from when we were playing it and broke it. NES called the op so not sure if it's fixed now.

It was NES! It was his ball, I was player two or three (& about to make a huge comeback since he was at like 350M+

those of us on original preorder will ship in 2Q and people getting in now would ship around 3Q is what they said. I'm happy to bring mine out. I think we're trying to see how many we can get at PAGG if the timing works (like the 7 Spirits!)

You should def come out to tourneys. My first was a PAPA Circuit event (which I didn't know at the time) and I had a blast even though I placed super poorly. Jump in and have fun!

Anyone ordered AMH in the Bay Area? And will it be on location anywhere? Love that game!

free?! I'm in if ZRW doesn't take it

Hey all PPM just posted a cool video about their potential move into the Carnegie Library:
http://vimeo.com/97979735

If you'd like to donate you can do so here: http://pacificpinball.org/donations

Also I'll be running a New Years Eve tourney there and proceeds from tickets to that will also help them out so come on out, earn some WPPRs and ring in the New Year playing pinball!

https://www.facebook.com/events/946156925412418/

I think X-men is a fun game, but I wouldn't necessarily own it (unless I was rich). Lots of neat shots on it and somehow I'm decent at it

Just a quick reminder. Gestalt Haus in SF will be closed for a month and tonight is the last full evening they are open. They will be getting rid of all the alcohol so super sweet deals on stuff all night. Close at 2am so a few of us will be up late tonight trying to put up some new GCs before the super secret tournament there on Jan 31st! Come on by and I'll buy you a drink or a few!

See you at Arcade Expo Steve! I'll have my badge from last time

I know an operator that has two on order that will be put on location. Not sure who else is getting one but several NorCal folks for sure!

I got my bike powder coated at West Coast Powdercoating who was highly recommended by the guy who built my first bike and they did nice work. Not sure how it applies for pinball stuff vs a bicycle, but they had all sorts of stuff laying around they had done and I am very happy with my bike.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/west-coast-powder-coating-south-san-francisco

Yes TJ is the best OP and takes great care of his machines. It's still cheap to play pinball on location and compared the the LED'd out machines that Rainbow now prices at $1/play in SF it's a good deal. Support location pinball

Berkeley Macs! And yeah you gotta find out from someone directly. We can't be posting that stuff publicly or...

Will you do TOPS tourneys at any future locations you might operate at?

Oh and on a separate note - see how many NorCal folks you can identify in this documentary: https://vimeo.com/125855036

For those of you into tournaments (or just wanting to hang out with some other pinball folks), I am hosting a tournament on Sunday at 2pm at Gestalt. The machines are operated by Rainbow but this may be your last chance to play on them there as there's likely a new awesome OP coming. Death saves are allowed! The Warriors game will be on too if you are a sports person.

Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1579854782271783/

Oh and the winners of "B" and Overall win a pinball trading card (LE!)

get off my lawn!

If you are coming closer to the OAK/SF side, check out http://www.hellaheartpinball.com for tourney info etc!

Randomly found this old video I shot when I was googling my pinball initials - some pinsiders and locals are interviewed (from 2013):
https://vimeo.com/72465357

Yeah was just playing it a bunch the last few hours. Pretty damn fun I have to say - only got initials up once although EJW got to the mini-wizard mode. Lots of folks came from all over to check it out (as well as the packed house watching the basketball game)

TJ's will be at Hi-Life tomorrow he said so two on location out here

check http://www.hellaheartpinball.com - tomorrow and Wed both have tourneys in Oak and SF respectively

It's been there. Dropped in on my way back from the airport. Someone may have just de-listed it but it's still there.

It's just a venue - all ages - so all welcome!

Yeah the code update fixed the resets. Still some random bugs but it does play fun. Glad to hear you made it out for some location play mof! I'm prob gonna hit up Gestalt to be patriotic and play some Americana before the parties

I have played this and it's definitely the nicest BSD I've seen!

Played both new codes today in SF & like the updates - gotta get Rainbow to up the ball save timer on the Gene mouth kickout since it's a bit short by default (but better than no ball save

TWD has a lot of neat stuff although I was playing solo so had no idea what was going on aside from different sounds and animations I caught from time to time...

Any NorCal folks open to host a tournament at your place? I always love playing at people's places to see what they've got etc. I know it's a lot to ask to open your home up to folks but let me know if any folks are open to it!

Just a reminder that the POP (Pinball Outreach Project) charity tournament is at Gestalt Haus on Wednesday in SF.

Support a great cause and you can start as early as 3pm. Details here: http://www.ifpapinball.com/calendar/view.php?id=10952 - if you need tips on Gestalt machines check out Pintips.net or ask me, LAW or EJW

Yes GoT launch party is at Noon on Sunday Nov 8th at Gestalt. TJ should have his on location by Thurs/Fri I would guess as well since both Rainbow (who operates at Gestalt) and TJ are getting theirs from Betson. Pinballmap.com will def update with the machines once they are on location 1.15 code will be on the launch party machine.

More details on launch and the tourney series is here: https://orangenex.wordpress.com/battle-for-the-iron-throne-pinball-series-2015/

I'm bummed how that place seems to not be run that well. They have been improving though I hear as I hadn't been in a while but for a long stretch it seemed like it was getting worse and worse. I know the folks who operate and throw tourneys there are trying to get the actual business to step things up but sorry that happened. You can come play my AMH and Iron Man at my photography studio in SF if you like

NorCal represent! I'm in - gonna be super fun!

Barron you have six pins and live in the city? when is the party?!

Just a reminder about a few tournies I am running if anyone is up to play on location in the next 8-days! Tonight at Gestalt at 7pm and Sunday at 2 and then next Wed at 7pm again. Full details here:
https://orangenex.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/winter-has-come/

And as always check out http://hellaheartpinball.com/ for all the latest on tournaments in the Bay Area!

Shoot the Pyramid!

Anyone who is up to play today the last tournament of 2015 is tonight at Gestalt - am trying to see if we can get 1.18 up on the GoT. Beginner and kid friendly venue with food and drink https://orangenex.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/winter-has-come/

If anyone wants to play the latest GoT code - go to HiLife and check it out. last night we got midnight madness (so if you want that you know when to go). Let me know if you see anything weird via PM. Of course that means high scores are reset too so go get your initials up!

GotMM_(resized).jpg

@mrgone - i wanted to ask you in person how many days it was til PAGG but didn't get to say hey