Alright so just to give an update, I visited a bunch of places in the Detroit area. I'll give a rundown of my experiences.
Crazy Quarters - Bay City, MI. They have roughly 40 games, in pretty good shape. Maybe 2 or 3 were out of service. I arrived at around 9pm on a Friday night. There were very few few other patrons in the bar which meant we had it (mostly to ourselves). Yet they felt the need to absolutely CRANK the house music so could barely hear the games at all. That kind of ruined an otherwise decent experience.
Marvin’s Marvolus Mechanical Museum - Farmington Hills, MI. I think they had maybe 15 games, all relatively new (LCD era). Stern, JJP, CGC and AP machines. Most of the Stern's were LE's. They had the volume on the games nice and loud so you could hear the game volume and callouts perfectly. Games kind of played weird, like the balls seemed very 'slow/floaty' on the playfield, not sure if the games were in need of wax, or a leveling issue. All in all it's a fun place.
Pete's Pinball - Ann Arbor, MI - Roughly 40 games. All of which are in perfect condition. This is a large arcade with lots of redemption games, etc. Very well designed place because while all the games were turned up nice and loud, you could still hear everything perfectly without the place feeling noisy. They must have some really good acoustics technicians on site to make the sound flow right, but I can't say enough good things about Pinball Pete's. Games all set up perfectly, tables were nice and fast, in immaculate condition. A nice mix of DMD and LCD games. Most Stern games were LE's. They had a JJP Wizard Of Oz which played amazingly as well. This place is amazing and will probably be my main destination next time I'm in Michigan.
ULEK's Arcade - Monroe, MI - Roughly 15 games. Located in the middle of a dead mall (seriously like 95% of the mall is closed, this arcade is about the only thing open). Mostly all Stern Pro titles, with a few 90s era games mixed in. All in perfect condition. Games are turned up nice and loud. When I was there, the owner was the only other person in there. He takes amazing care of the machines, was constantly going around cleaning, maintaining, etc. You can tell they are his pride and joy. Super nice guy. Great place, strange location, but I highly recommend it. This would be my second favorite (just behind Pinball Pete's).
Free Play Arcade - Fraser, MI - Probably 40-50 machines. Very large, dimly lit arcade bar. Machines are decently maintained and turned up nice and loud. It was super busy when I went (there were a couple kids birthday parties and things going on). The acoustics of this place aren't great. The ceiling tiles are all removed exposing the steel roof above and the sound just echos around like crazy. When the place was busy, it was just a complete wall of noise in there with all the machines going, etc and I wished I had earplugs. Once all the kids left and the place emptied out, it was much more bearable. This place has a lot of potential, just needs some sound dampening materials installed or something for the busy days. All in all, not a bad place.
With all that said, ULEK's and Pinball Pete's are the places to go to!
There are a few more places I'd like to try though. Does anybody have any experience with Spark's Pinball Museum at Premiere Lanes in Chesterfield, MI? Seems like it could be interesting. Also, "The Arcade" in Brighton is another place i'd like to try out. Would you guys recommend it?
And of course there's a few places around the downtown area too.
Bloomfield, MI
