best luck in these hard times

Probably the coolest arcade that I have ever been to. Man, if you can help these guys out please do.

Spent a _lot_ of time there. $$$ sent.

They seem to be doing fine with all those new LE pinball machines, Wow.

Assuming Pinball Map info close, 20 LEs between both locations. Sell them and get pros later would net $50K in savings maybe? Who knows, hard to know the details of how they operate so trying not to assume too much. Hopefully they figure it out somehow.

How else do you entice people to come out and play? This is like saying "How could that pizza shop be going out of business, I see tons of cheese and pepperoni everywhere"

I do not think that is a good analogy. I am donating because I patronize small business whenever possible, but I disagree that LE models are prudent for most any commercial locations. The pinball connoisseur(the folks preferring Premium or LE), are not going to keep them in business in the best of times, and most Pro models are more than good enough to meet the needs of casual players.

I think they get some sort of deal on LE's... they are a "Stern Ambasador" ... whatever that means. They may not even own them. Whatever. It is an absolutely awesome place where you can go to play a huge variety of games - not just pros - and the workers are awesome. If you have an issue with them owning LE's you don't have to donate... but this place is epic I would hate to see them start to get picked apart.

I was there on the day that they opened. I think that the year was about 1975.

yes I spent many a days at Pinball Petes in EL. Hot Tamales and 25cent cokes all day long.

So here is a bit of a run down of the place. I am in Ann Arbor a few times a year, so we get to Pinball Pete's when we can....

The main reason that we go is that my daughter and my nephews love the place. They would rather go there than play laser tag or go to any of the other places in the A^2 area. They are all under 12... and Pinball Pete's does all of the things to make it fun for kids. They hand out free candy, they round their tickets up for redemption games (and/or just gives them a bunch of free tickets).

The place is absolutely packed with games from every decade from the 70's and up. It is the type of place that most of us would love to own.... it is what many of us try to emulate in our own collections. It is a true arcade... they aren't selling beer and pizza... it is just a traditional arcade a' la what you would have seen in the early 80's.

Never been there but it sounds very cool like an Aladdin's Castle on steroids which is where I started playing in the late 70's

I wonder if he's talking Ann Arbor or East Lansing, as I always assumed EL was first.

Anyway, I always assumed South U was first in A2...little more info

"upstairs" is now a weed shop which is fitting

Please consider donating to this. I grew up in the area and it's a very special place.

My memory of those times is a little foggy, so I’m not sure if I remember everything correctly. The first Pinball Petes was on S. University directly across the street from where it is now. It was in an old, white storefront building that I think burned down about 10 years ago. It was told that the one in Lansing was already open. Later, they opened a second location on the west side of town, possibly on Church St. or Maynard St. The location across the street opened a couple of years later, but I don’t remember if it was downstairs or on the main level. The two locations on S. University were open at the same time.

Sad that only big corps are getting the handouts.