This is a great thread and a reminder that I really should plan something for my trip next week.

My usual go-to places are SPM, Add-A-Ball, Full Tilt Ballard, Shorty's and then wing it until the NW Pinball & Arcade show starts. I know the issues with Dorky's but any place with great pinball deserves supporting.

Other than those, hit the craft beer sites.

Well you do have 'OLD' in your name so we assumed

I was just in Seattle this weekend, and visited Shorty's (OF COURSE), Narwhal at the Unicorn (too loud and meatmarkety on a Saturday night for playing pinball, should have guessed...) in Capitol Hill, and the Seattle Pinball Museum. The latter was entirely as a proxy for the Amtrak waiting room, from which i was departing later on.
The Seattle Pinball Museum charges $15/adult for a single-entry and $20/adult multi-entry (the extra $5 gets you a wristband to re-enter as often as you please for the whole day). The prices for kids are lower, but i think still over $10 each. They have an ok selection of games, including a few interestingly rare/old ones. They had a Houdini included in the freeplay games available, so i spent long enough on that to get hs#1 on my last game of the day. The two games closest to the door are not included in the deal, and they were Batman66 and a color DMD Attack from Mars (presumably the remake?), but i didn't pay attention to how much they were charging for them.
They had a tech there on Memorial day, so things were getting cleaned and fixed, and he was very helpful and understanding when i twice got the ball caught on Houdini under the ouija board thingie on the right by the shooter lane (which is apparently very common).
I was pleased to see another kid-friendly place to play, even though i have no requirements for such myself, and it was clean and well-run, but not huge and so probably not worth the $$ for a well traveled player, unless you are gonna make a whole day of it and go and come back a few times. Could be fun for a family thing though. They sell some bottled drinks, including beers, but nothing i wanted - all the games have cupholders so you do at least have somewhere to put the purchased beverages. No outside drinks allowed, but i did not get scolded for my water bottle.

A quick PSA to any overseas visitors who may want to go to Shorty's or other bars with pinball in the US: Don't forget your ID! On a previous brief visit to Shorty's (during my decade of living in Japan, which is why i had no US drivers lic. in my wallet at the time) i was refused entry for lack of an ID and had to take an expensive taxi ride to fetch my passport from my luggage so i could enter to play pinball. They wouldn't even accept my offer to sharpie big Xes over my face and hands to prevent accidental alcohol being served to me! I clearly still have a chip on my shoulder about this, several years later, but it has not stopped me from visiting every time i am in Seattle. :p

Both Batman 66' and AFMr are available at Add A Ball for 50 cents a play. You'd have to take a trip outside the city limits to 8-Bit in Renton or Another Castle in Marysville for Houdini.

Honest.
The guy at the desk told me that everything is on free play except "the two closest to the door" when i was deciding whether to spend the money or not. I probably would not have, but I had literally nothing else to do for the afternoon while waiting for my train, and figured i could play at least 15 games of Houdini before my departure.

This is great thread. I'm going to Northwest show. first timer to the Seattle area. I start driving next wedesday night. I will have my own vehical. So I will be looking for somewhere to go in the meantime when the show isn't happening. downtime. no plans just kinda bum around since I'm going by myself and don't know anyone out there. lol

a couple questions? tell me more about shorty's is it a barcade to just go and play? or charge a fee?
about how far of a drive is it from the Northwest show convention center to the pinball museum?
what are the hours of the museum?
How is the traffic? driving on Friday and sat?
thinking about the museum on Saturday because of traffic? thank you for your input

It is a bar with games in it. Coin drop.

Is it super huge?. the website looks like it has booths to sit in?

I lived most of my life north of Seattle. Lots of cool places to play, but since your in town when the show is going on I’d suggest going there. Pay one price, tons of games to play and more importantly the majority of the NW pinball and arcade community will be there. Lots of great people that run the show and it’s all volunteer. I try to go back every other year to see friends. Have fun whatever you decide!

Shorty's has a back section that they open up Friday and Saturday nights, but it isn't a huge bar even with that part open. The pins are available to play any night you go.

Seattle Pinball Museum is about 45 minutes from the Tacoma Convention Center where NWPAS is held if there was no traffic. Realistically, it's about an hour and fifteen minutes or so with traffic. It wouldn't make sense to go to the museum while NWPAS is running. The best maintained pins in Tacoma are at the Triple Knock. Same guys own that place as 8-Bit in Renton.

The only place in Seattle that charges an entrance fee is SPM. Everywhere else is coin drop and bar tab. It's not unusual for people to play without drinking at any establishment in Seattle if you're on the wagon. We have a few non-drinkers around and I've never heard of anyone giving them trouble for just heading straight to the pins. You might still get carded though.

Assume 40min to drive from Tacoma to Seattle. Hours of the museum is on their website along with the current game list. Traffic range from tolerable to awful. It's going to be a roll of the dice.

No. Shorties is a small dark and dank (in a good way) bar with a game room in the back. It has a cool theme, but I wouldn't drive to Seattle just for a visit. I'll say again, explore Tacoma. Plenty of good eats and drinks without the Seattle headaches. Look up the Tripple Knock (5-minutes from NWPAS) and 8-bit in Renton (25-min from NWPAS). Explore the food options around those places and you should be set.

Not huge. Shorty's is a hipster dive bar with a backroom containing 16 games from EM's to the latest Sterns and DI. Here's a partial shot of the backroom looking toward the front on a recent visit.

20180323_162745 (resized).jpg

Shortys is great — if your in the area and you hit it between 3 and 6 or so..especially on a weekday. Pins are pretty open and you can hear them. I’ve done Jupiter around 6 or later and it’s so aweful with the metal music blaring- not fun to play like that at all...however the sandwiches ARE excellent as previously noted.

I don’t know that anything is worth traveling to from Tacoma though, at least during the show. If your in the area or after the show each neighborhood has a couple great spots (IMO). I think these were all listed previously but here’s by neighborhood:

Georgetown: flip flip ding dong
Fremont: addaball (another one best hit earlier)
Ballard: full tilt & oloffs (spelling?)
Cap hill: narwhal/unicorn (hit it on weekday when it opens..5 I think?)
International dist: the museum, but as mentioned they do charge for a couple premium games per play. That seems to annoy some.
Belltown: still think Shortys is the best - we’ll maintaibed usually, can hear them all and good variety.

8bit in Renton is great as well, generally any time..lots of games that you can hear.

Just got back from a business trip to Seattle... holy crap, so much pinball! In the downtown area, Shorty’s and Jupiter are both great. I agree with what some people said about Jupiter being loud, but don’t skip it- lots more pins than Shorty’s, including a whole row of 80s widebodies! Raygun Lounge is also a nice place to play near downtown.

For people who are serious, I would recommend spending an evening in the Fremont neighborhood. Add-A-Ball and Ice Box are both fantastic, Ice Box even has a Big Lebowski! And there are several other places to play in Fremont that I didn’t make it to. Skip 4Bs, they have some interesting games but they’re very poorly maintained.

Bah. Minor player.
Hit Portland next time