This is a book, I apologize.
I try to play on location as much as possible, love getting game time in on machines I wouldn't normally encounter or be able to own. Dial in a strategy, try for a good score or just killing time in between inspections for work. I've been very fortunate to have some location spots close by and within a reasonable drive. Unfortunately my favorite spot, Knoebels in Elysburg PA, is closed for the season and it seems like its absence turns location pinball around here on its head.

If you've ever been to either of the Knoebel's arcades and got to play the pins, you know Jon & Brandon take good care of the machines. If there's an issue, they address it. They care about what titles are there and available for the public. They keep people's favorite titles, ask others their opinions on prospective pins, good stuff! Some might not play exactly how I would set them up, but that's location pinball and part of the fun. To dial in the shots on one machine vs another vs another is fun and challenging. Some of it I love to hate, their TZ kickout tends to hand me my ass, but if it was the normal bounce over it wouldn't be half as fun. I had to laugh when I was at a small tournament and the kickout on the TZ switched over the course of the day from the nice bounce over to the center drain that I'm used to. Suddenly felt like I was on home turf.

Pincrossing in Linfield and the Pinball Gallery in Downingtown are two other places that come to mind for really staying on their A game although they are a 2 hour drive for me. Most everything is as dialed as location games get, and they are a great mix of new and old titles. The pinball gallery monthly tournaments and the periodics at Pincrossing are just fantastic and about my only opportunity within 2 hours of tournament-ish play. My hat goes off to them for putting it all out there for the public, I know I wouldn't have the balls to put an $8k Monster Bash or MET LE out for some bar patrons to smash on. Constantly swapping titles in and out and staying up on everything is i'm sure a formidable task. Who wants to deal with the headaches of running a tournament, but thankfully they do it!

The bummer of things is there are numerous other machines around locally, they look fantastic, bright and shiny but that's about it. I would love to stop and play these games every week, its like I have to beg them to take my money. If I have to politely email/message an operator 4 times over the course of 6 months and the stuff still isn't addressed it gets to the point of insanity if i'm giving them anymore of my money. I always think "Oh I should stop by XYZ, maybe they actually fixed blah blah by now" and I do stop and its just the same. How hard is it to adjust the X-men scoop so it recognizes balls? I about shit myself when the first time playing the X-men at the Pinball Gallery and I started a villain mode so easily. The playfield gets waxed but how much fun is it to play a very fast Metallica with the oldest code and the drops dropping and resetting randomly? Transformers which I love, but no so much when it sends out two balls every time, doesn't recognize Megatron locks just ball searches until the ball just ends. TWD with a wonky prison door and german side of the rule card was a nice touch. So today I gave up and left my credits, whats the point of finishing a game where each lock produces a series of ball searches?

So i'll be saving my money and time. Knoebels opens in April, i'll be there opening weekend, can't wait. Hoping to get to at least one of the Pincrossing events in Feb. Support those who support! Here's me getting murdered at TZ and my wife dominating ST. Nothing beats location play when the effort is put in. Thanks!!

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