Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:Was at Sunshine Laundromat a month ago and had a great time except for two things - SC Token Issue and Dirty Adaams. ok, now I will explain.
First, there was a token issue on SC. Why is this a big deal you might ask? Maybe because I owned SC for ten years and recycled forty tokens into assaulting the vault, during that time. All tokens were won during the first five years of ownership. That translates into no tokens the last five. So having only won forty tokens over ten years means I am due to win some more. I played SC at Sunshine for an hour and won FIVE tokens !!! That's right folks - five tokens in a very short amount of time. You might say I was on fire. Well I said won five tokens, but in reality the game had no tokens to give. Instead I won five big fat nothings. Really pissed me off and I felt like asking for 5 game credits, but I didn't raise an issue because I didn't expect Safe Cracker in the wild to have them, although it would have been sweet.
Then TAF was as filthy a pin as the dirtiest pin you've ever seen, and then make it much worse. It may never have been cleaned it's entire life, for all I know. Many lights were low and some were burnt so suffice it to say TAF needed a full shop job - STAT. The issues for that TAFwere so egregious, I felt that it probably had been reported a few times by now.
All that said, it was a fabulous three-hour excursion into pinball nirvana.
Sunshine Laundromat has the cleanest pins in town
I played the Addams at Sunshine last month and it was buggy. The guy 'working' there (playing with his cell phone) said they recently removed the old Addams Family because it was sold and they put a different one into service which was in the process of shopped. He gave me a refund and made a note of the problem. Fast forward to my next visit a week later and there's a fully functional very nice condition Addams Family on the floor with bright LED's and there isn't a speck of mansion wear, flippers are strong, plays fine. Apparently the employee was actually paying attention.
Safecracker didn't give me any tokens either but when you win them the game still gives you a magic credit - just press the flashing start button and it plays the special animation and goes right into the special multi-ball game, no token required. You still need to earn the magic credit but when you do you receive the special game. This is with every Safecracker, not just the one at Sunshine, as the game knows it is not dispensing tokens and it compensates accordingly.
The overall cleanest and consistently best playing games in New York City are absolutely at Sunshine Laundry and also some nice ones just down the road at Creek and Cave. I try to visit these locations a few times a month and both prove pins can play with reliability and proper function on location.
Creek has a good lineup of Stern games and there's always an LE or two in the group. Al is good about keeping the games serviced plus he changes them out frequently so there's often something new.
Quoted from Eddie:By your post I can see that you haven't been to Modern Pinball NYC
I've been to Modern four or five times in the almost year and it's fun but inconsistent. Modern does keep the games physically clean and they win in the quantity of machines category but the games at Creek and Cave, Sunshine Laundromat and the strip of bars on the South Slope (Brooklyn) consistently play better and without all the credit dots. Creek, Sunshine and the Brooklyn bar scene also offer every top title one could desire--Stern, Bally and Williams are all best represented on the East side of the river.
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:I'll admit Modern Pinball keeps all their games in tip-top shape (yeah Eddie!) and that most are modded out in ways that many collectors prefer. A stop there is more akin to visiting a high-end collectors house.
A stop at Modern is more akin to visiting a collector's house. Several important top titles that would be part of a high end collector's house require visits to Bar Great Harry, Owl Farm, Midway, Sunshine Laundry and Creek and Cave. We are spoiled to have such great games on location in NYC.
Quoted from funtimewithdave:Yes true, thanks Mike! Im making my first trip down to Middletown NY (not NYC i know) for Rock Fantasy next Thursday. Great lineup there too, and only an hour north of NYC I believe?
Rock Fantasy +1 Great owner and you can actually hear the games. Only Rock Fantasy and Sunshine Laundromat have the volume set at levels where you truly experience the game. Last visit I was the only person there and the owner turned volumes way up and set the game to free play! PINBALL HEAVEN!!!!!
-EP
