(Topic ID: 47379)

Soviet Era Arcade Museum

By MrWizzo

10 years ago


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  • 45 posts
  • 24 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 10 years ago by corvair61
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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    #1 10 years ago

    Got to Moscow on Saturday April 6 and immediately started looking for pins. Alas, have yet to find any, but I did find the Museum of Arcade Games from the Soviet Era.

    They owners are several younger guys who mention nostaglia as the main driver for establishing the museum.

    There is a variety of games: mini-bowler, Russian PONG, foosball, table hockey, Submarine, air and naval battle themes, tank-o-drom, winter hunter, rifle games.

    They were a lot of people there enjoying themselves, many of whom yet to be born when these games were produced.

    Here is a link to their journal online that has better overall pics of the place and also some interesting points. If you fish around there is an interview with one of the owners talking about nostalgia:

    http://15kop.livejournal.com/

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    "Sport" Pinball
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    "Circus" Pinball
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    Tank Battle
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    #2 10 years ago

    http://www.15kop.ru/en/

    I would love to see that place someday.

    You didn't hear much about any kind of games in the Eastern block countries.

    Fascinating to find so many and that some still exist.

    LTG : )

    #4 10 years ago

    all widebodies?

    #5 10 years ago

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    Torpedo Attack
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    The blast from the past for me in walking in there was the row of these "soda" machines. They would be out of all the metro stops. This is going back to 1982. Two places for a glass to be put. The right side rinsed the glass with cold water, and the left side filled it with the flavored carbonated water of your choice. So, rinse, dispense, drink, replace cup for the next person to use.

    Dan

    #6 10 years ago

    Wow! How cool is that? They probably have a few undocumented and one off games there. Thanks for sharing Wiz.

    #7 10 years ago

    Man that place is rad. I have always had an affinity for that eastern bloc soviet art style and it is really cool to see these machines. One thing that comes to mind though is how much more drab the art style is, I guess the Soviet versions of Roy Parker & Gordon Morrison got assigned to a factory or some other job, and not coin op.

    #8 10 years ago

    Pretty cool. Thanks for sharing this.

    #9 10 years ago
    Quoted from LTG:

    http://www.15kop.ru/en/
    I would love to see that place someday.
    You didn't hear much about any kind of games in the Eastern block countries.
    Fascinating to find so many and that some still exist.
    LTG : )

    Thanks for the link. Edited the post and put one in for their live journal. They were really great guys. Kept giving me magnets for free.

    Dan

    #10 10 years ago

    Man that place is rad. I have always had an affinity for that eastern bloc soviet art style and it is really cool to see these machines. One thing that comes to mind though is how much more drab the art style is, I guess the Soviet versions of Roy Parker & Gordon Morrison got assigned to a factory or some other job, and not coin op.

    Here is a couple pics of posters they have for sale there.

    Dan

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    #11 10 years ago

    Very cool... thank you for sharing...

    #12 10 years ago

    Dan...that's fantastic!

    #13 10 years ago

    This was the biggest surprise for me here in Moscow:

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    I had no idea Joe Cocker was still doing his thing!

    Dan

    #14 10 years ago
    Quoted from maldoror:

    I have always had an affinity for that eastern bloc soviet art style

    TETЯIS

    LTG : )

    #15 10 years ago

    Too cool. Thanks for sharing comrade Wizzo. You really get around.

    #16 10 years ago
    Quoted from MrWizzo:

    I had no idea Joe Cocker was still doing his thing!

    Maybe it's a counterfeit?

    #17 10 years ago

    Here are close ups of the playfields from the two pins. You can see an upper flipper on the right of the circus theme

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    #18 10 years ago

    not that he sells as pinball

    #19 10 years ago
    Quoted from MrWizzo:

    Here are close ups of the playfields from the two pins. You can see an upper flipper on the right of the circus theme

    Love the pinball machines. Especially the bear riding the motorcycle.

    You can't see any circus over there without seeing a bear ride a bicycle or something.

    LTG : )

    #20 10 years ago
    Quoted from Silverballer:

    Too cool. Thanks for sharing comrade Wizzo. You really get around.

    Don't think there will be anything at my next stop, Lithuania, but I know there are a couple pinsiders in Warsaw where I will be middle of next week. I may try to contact them and finally play some pin!

    Quoted from vid1900:

    Maybe it's a counterfeit?

    We will know only if he pukes on stage. I hope he has stopped drinking. Man the second time I saw him was harse.

    Or if you prefer to be the one puking, Justin Beiber is here at the end of the month.

    Dan

    3 weeks later
    #21 10 years ago

    I learned from Sasha, one of the owners of the museum, that only four pinballs were made in the late eighties. These were produced at factories previously producing arms.

    Two are listed above, Circus and Sport. The third was based on a children's cartoon, "Nu, Pogodi!"
    which means basically, "Oh just you wait." I have not been able to find what the fourth one was.
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    I found some interesting design features on the games. I liked that the glass need not be removed to raise the playfield. My understanding from Sasha was that there was little in the head. You can see the mounting of components under the playfield.
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    The flipper button design left something to be desired as they are fully inset into the side rail exposing one's finger to the sharp edge of the button cutout. Not sharp enough to cut, but just be very uncomfortable. Right side of playfield has two flippers with two buttons.
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    The plate on the back lists the weight as 150 KG or a little over 330 lbs. "You do not nudge in Mother Russia" as the legs and supports are very substantial.
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    #22 10 years ago

    Pictures of the platform and legs.

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    #23 10 years ago

    Hooooo boy, this is incredible! I leave for Moscow in a couple days, what an amazing tip! Thanks!

    #24 10 years ago

    That is cool - thanks for posting!

    #25 10 years ago

    Thanks for sharing - interesting design !

    #26 10 years ago

    Awesome Dan !

    Thank you for sharing your adventure !
    LTG : )

    #27 10 years ago

    cool
    did you get to play 'tank battle' or 'torpedo attack ' ?

    #28 10 years ago
    Quoted from MrWizzo:

    The flipper button design left something to be desired as they are fully inset into the side rail exposing one's finger to the sharp edge of the button cutout.

    That's horrible! Communist torture! They should have something in the Geneva Convention about that sorta thing.

    Quoted from MrWizzo:

    The plate on the back lists the weight as 150 KG or a little over 330 lbs...
    Pictures of the platform and legs.

    On a smooth floor, I could work with that. d Thanks for sharing. Good stuff. On one hand, I feel bad for the comrades. That's all they had? That upper flipper looks useless. On the other hand, I'm glad they had some coin op stuff. Didn't other formerly communist countries have more pins?

    #29 10 years ago

    I've got one of those totally bad assed "Year of the White Rabbit" arcade posters in the mail the other day!

    Although all the fine print is very Russian alphabet looking, I wonder why the main type is in English?

    #30 10 years ago

    Hooooo boy, this is incredible! I leave for Moscow in a couple days, what an amazing tip! Thanks!

    Molly:

    What are you doing there? I have been there in each of the past four decades, so if I can help you with anything, PM me.

    The museum is about a ten minute walk from the baumansky metro stop on the green line. Exit the metro toward Baumanskaya street. You will exit onto it. Turn right and it will be about ten minutes up on your right hand side.

    cool
    did you get to play 'tank battle' or 'torpedo attack ' ?

    Yes to tank battle but not torpedo attack. A game I liked was "IceBreaker." Simple but never saw the theme in a game before. A stationary boat sat above an illiminated rolling drum with seascapes of ice and water. You had to move the boat to the right and left to stay in the water and downshift to low for greater torque when you had to break through the ice.
    2013-04-18_16-58-40_444.jpg2013-04-18_16-58-40_444.jpg

    That's horrible! Communist torture! They should have something in the Geneva Convention about that sorta thing.

    On a smooth floor, I could work with that. d Thanks for sharing. Good stuff. On one hand, I feel bad for the comrades. That's all they had? That upper flipper looks useless. On the other hand, I'm glad they had some coin op stuff. Didn't other formerly communist countries have more pins?

    there was a different feel to the games since they sat very stable and heavy on the underside. It made me realize how the legs our games have always sat own are a superior design. I wouldn't think pins were produced anywhere else behind the iron curtain. People in Moscow were more worried about where food was available in the 80's especially ealier in the decade when there was nothing in the stores.

    I've got one of those totally bad assed "Year of the White Rabbit" arcade posters in the mail the other day!
    Although all the fine print is very Russian alphabet looking, I wonder why the main type is in English?

    Cool. Glad it came intact.

    English is quite prevalent in Moscow in restaurants, businesses, museums. Anything with English on it has always been widely sought after there by the everyday Russian. I think western things have always been sought in more closed societies.

    Everything in English is also in Russian on the poster: address, hours, invitation to play the autorally game.

    Russians have tended to be interested in literature and music. The White Rabbit reference could come from either. I will write Sasha and ask him why the white rabbit reference. That will interesting to find out.

    There is a white rabbit restaurant in moscow http://www.whiterabbitmoscow.com/ and 2011 was the year of the white rebbit in chinese astrology, but I would think it would have more to do with Lewis Carroll or Jefferson Airplane.

    Dan

    #31 10 years ago

    I got a reply from Sasha at the museum about the "year of the white rabbit" reference on the poster.

    I suggested several explanations when I wrote him and omitted the one possibility I considered untenable, which, of course, turns out to be the correct one.

    It refers to the Chinese New Year 2011.

    Dan

    #32 10 years ago

    Hi Dan! Just saw your other post, there, sorry about the crickets. I'm just going over for a couple days for work doing costuming stuff, for my non-pinball life that I rarely discuss, haha. Looks like I'll have a chance to drop by the museum, and boy oh boy am I pumped up about it. If I have additional spare time I might bug ya about other cool goings-on there, but for the most part it's a job trip, not a fun trip.

    #33 10 years ago
    Quoted from MrWizzo:

    Cool. Glad it came intact.

    My GF loves it and is getting an actual frame for it.

    Strangely, it's not going in the basement arcade, but in the great room next to the Dali exposition poster....

    Thanks again!

    #34 10 years ago

    Yahoo, pinball is making a comeback!

    #35 10 years ago

    I want to see a vid on those if anyone finds a video on any of those kinds throw the link in for me.

    #36 10 years ago
    Quoted from vid1900:

    My GF loves it and is getting an actual frame for it.
    Strangely, it's not going in the basement arcade, but in the great room next to the Dali exposition poster....
    Thanks again!

    Cool, glad to hear that she likes it. Well, how much more surreal can you get than a poster of a contemporary Russian museum of soviet arcade games recognizing the current year from Chinese astrology? Seems like she has made quite the juxtaposition. (How's that for a ten-cent word from a "The Arts" class!)

    We saw the Dali exihibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art a couple years ago. Learned a bit more than I cared to know about him for sure. Like every doper, thought he was the epitome of imagination back then.

    Quoted from PinballMolly:

    Hi Dan! Just saw your other post, there, sorry about the crickets. I'm just going over for a couple days for work doing costuming stuff, for my non-pinball life that I rarely discuss, haha. Looks like I'll have a chance to drop by the museum, and boy oh boy am I pumped up about it. If I have additional spare time I might bug ya about other cool goings-on there, but for the most part it's a job trip, not a fun trip.

    Boy, that's a long way to go for a few days. Anyway, if it is theater related, try to get to the "Teatralnyj" Metro stop. The famed Bolshoi as well as the Maly theaters and a few others are right there. You have to go to Red Square and at least see St. Basil's in person. Lenin's masoleum (under reconstrution) and the Kremlin are right there as well as Lobnoje Mesto, the chopping block, where public executions were held under the tsars.

    If you give somebody something, say "Pa-zhal'-stuh" (please). Thank you is "Spa-ci'-buh" which essentially mean "God save us." "Pri-vjet' " means hello or greetings. "Au'-chin pri-jat'-nuh" means "I am pleased to meet you."

    Looking forward to hearing all about your trip. Be prepared for depending on where you are located there is a tremendous amount of affluence and superficiality. Don't let it bring you down. Worst traffic in the world. Amazing and efficient metro. It is like an expansive subterranean art museum. Every station is a work of art in its own right keeping in mind its goal to extol soviet principles and history.

    If you can, find a Taras Bulba restaurant. Kind of like a Ukrainian Craker Barrel. Get one of the black T-shirts with Taras Bulba's face on it. On the back in Russian is the most famous line from Gogol's novel with the same title, it says, literally "I gave you live and I will kill you," figuratively "It is I who sired you, and it is I who will take your life away." The latter is my translation. Taras says this to one of his sons just before he shoots him for treason on behalf of the Poles.
    I think that war started over an agrument about pierogi vs vareniki/pelmeni.

    Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:

    Yahoo, pinball is making a comeback!

    Only problem is the Soviet games will cost you several of your fingertips!

    Quoted from dementedwarlok:

    I want to see a vid on those if anyone finds a video on any of those kinds throw the link in for me.

    I am heading back in June. I'll talk to Sasha. Maybe I can shot a video with my phone and post it.

    Dan

    #37 10 years ago

    Dan- thanks for sharing, very cool stuff. good seeing you at Atown.

    #38 10 years ago
    Quoted from mojozone:

    All widebodies?

    Most of the Russian women are, but not all. There are a few slimmer ones.

    PS - You don't want to know the penalty for losing a game of Tank Battle in Russia.

    #39 10 years ago
    Quoted from TaylorVA:

    Dan- thanks for sharing, very cool stuff. good seeing you at Atown.

    Yeah, same here for sure.

    Quoted from littlecammi:

    Most of the Russian women are, but not all. There are a few slimmer ones.
    PS - You don't want to know the penalty for losing a game of Tank Battle in Russia.

    Trust me, like pins widebodies in Russia are from an older generation. Russian women like Czechs and Ukrainians are as beautiful as anywhere else. I was thinking how thin most are there.

    Dan

    #40 10 years ago
    Quoted from MrWizzo:

    We saw the Dali exihibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art a couple years ago. Learned a bit more than I cared to know about him for sure. Like every doper, thought he was the epitome of imagination back then.

    I've gone to the Dali museum in Florida and the one in London England right on the Thames river - great stuff.

    #41 10 years ago

    All too cool Dan, thanks for posting the pics.

    1 week later
    #42 10 years ago

    This is, without a doubt, one of the neatest places I've ever been, what a treat! Thanks Wizzo, your directions were spot on enough that I could navigate by train with zero language comprehension and a cruddy hand-drawn map. Couldn't believe my eyes, what a cool spot, so many rad rifle games and shooters, and I enjoyed their pinball too of course. My favorite hookup from Pinside ever! Thanks again!

    #43 10 years ago

    I'd like to try CNOPT.....even though its not super deep looking, would be fun to try an old USSR pinball

    Thanks for sharing the pics with us

    #44 10 years ago
    Quoted from PinballMolly:

    This is, without a doubt, one of the neatest places I've ever been, what a treat! Thanks Wizzo, your directions were spot on enough that I could navigate by train with zero language comprehension and a cruddy hand-drawn map. Couldn't believe my eyes, what a cool spot, so many rad rifle games and shooters, and I enjoyed their pinball too of course. My favorite hookup from Pinside ever! Thanks again!

    Good to hear Molly. Glad you found it okay and enjoyed it.

    Dan

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