Well, this week The Arcade put a whole bunch of new pictures up on their Facebook page, and it doesn't look good for pinheads. The entire right-hand side of the lower level, which used to house five full rows of pins with more on the side, is now completely video games. From what I can see in the picture, what's left is:

Pin-Bot
Space Jam
Super Mario Brothers
Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Flintstones
KISS
Metallica
Iron Man
Spider-Man Black Suit
Lord of the Rings
Ripley's Believe It or Not
Junk Yard
Another Pin-Bot
Red and Ted's Roadshow
Meteor
Pinball Champ
Big Guns

I don't mean to be melodramatic, but it's hard for me to be completely sold on pinball's comeback when something like this happens. Over a couple year period, The Arcade went from well over 50 games to under 20. I imagine something similar must have happened in the early 80s and late 90s on a larger scale. I can't tell if it was the location being kind of remote, or the owner changing priorities or the older games not being enough of a draw, but it has been a long slog. Watching the vids take over bit by bit has been disheartening. I've been trying to convince myself to go, because with over a dozen machines and some A-list titles, it is still one of the better locations near me. It's just that I have no interest in video games, so it's hard to justify the hour drive, though the $15 entry fee isn't too bad.

I guess that's because the only time it would be busy was during the $20 free play days. I've been there when it wasn't one, and basically it was a ghost town. I'm guessing that being open on weekdays for a dollar a play wasn't attractive enough. Shame. It always seemed worth it to keep such a big collection in good shape, as it was when it first opened.

Just went back for the first time in months this Thanksgiving weekend, and I have to say that I was sorely disappointed. Red and Ted, Meteor and Big Guns were gone, as Solach mentioned. Of the 12 games left, 6 were turned off and another (RBION) had a serious fault with the scoop that led to balls stacking up. I at least got a chance to play KISS some more, so it wasn't a total loss.