Hey kids. I declare 2013 to be the year I play more pins at peoples' houses.

Going to MGC this year. Want in on the after party. Have an open Honda Fit cargo bay if someone needs a transport. Last year's afterparty was fun as hell.

Also doing Clock Chaos tournament this year(never did any pin tourney last year), so I'm looking forward to it.

Always at the Blainbrook monthly Sunday tournaments with my usual crew.

So now has your gameroom lineup completely changed since last weekend? Heh

Small world. I'm not the only person at my workplace going to MGC in less than 3 months.

I went for a hotel Friday & Saturday. It didn't break the band. You can walk around with a beer in your hand. Haven't seen any overzealous security to say otherwise.

I vote for Grand Lizard, since I've never played it in person.

Weird reading your post and hearing your voice on the Spooky Pinball podcast(bleeps & all).

I do. I'm not bringing along a machine of my own, and no requests from anyone for me to bring anything down.

That 'ol jalopy? heh. I'll upload some photos to it, I promise. I still haven't fixed the situation where the solenoids go out(until I turn it off & on), put in a fake surface to prevent stuck balls, nor several other things. I'm ready to sell it cheap, in fact. Heh

I would be up for that. Lately my weekends have been boring, so time to get out of the house!

Okay people, this thread is getting too Wisconsiny. More Minnesotan represent here.

Yes, I do hit the "activity" link more than anything else, but excuse me, there's one thing lacking in this thread lately: MINNESOTA and stuff. Thank you.

Heh. The one thing with MN and social groups, cliques is that "you have to be in the scene to be in the scene". While there is the myth of "MN nice", we are a cliquey bunch.

I wish I knew. Maybe it has Scandanavian roots? Maybe we just "don't want to make a scene", but moreso just stay in one.

Welcome to the fold. Envious of your Black Knight 2K.
I would be up for Sunday for a bit(if I don't have plans otherwise). My last pinball fix was last week at a private party(which was a blast). Been a while since I hit SS. Used to work near there. What time range?

Cafetto: Last time I was there, they had 4 non-working machines. Sadly, one was BK2K and Stargate. Not sure what it has now.
Mortimers: The latest tables. X-Men, AC/DC, Tron,Avengers(I think), POTC, Sopranos, Rolling Stones. Plenty of fun stuff. I hope they get more tables since it's a fun place.

Funny since I thought it was becoming 99% cheese & Happy Days a few weeks ago.

The last time I went to Blainbrook, the Avengers machine had nobody on it, yet a 3rd ball was ready to play. A walk-off on a dolla game?

The Tron at Mortimer's is great. I got a way higher score on that than the Blainbrook one. I was able to properly nudge & such. The BB Tron tilts if you look at it funny. Still remember the funny bounceback on Mort's AC/DC. The ball did a SDTM drain so fast, it bounced back up, so I did a quick right nudge, hit it with the flipper, and was back in the game.

Just name a specific time at SS since I haven't been there in a while, and kinda filled up from the Blainebrook machines at the moment. Haven't played TZ, etc in a while.

Yeppers to that. Earned a replay on Avatar there, and after I played 2 credits, I left for the bathroom. Heard the 2 knocks giving me 2 credits, and 2 kids quickly swiped it up. It was all good since it was mealtime for me there.

Deleo's has a real great setup there. Very good prices on the entertainment. I hope he gets more pins in.

Still need to try ToM at a place in Highland park in my old neighborhood. Not too far from that is a CFTBL at The Nook.

The more pins he gets in,the more he's just gonna attract those tourney weirdos and stuff.

I'll try to make it to SS at 3:30. Look for a bald guy that looks like an English Bulldog.

Good to meet fellow pinsiders. Shots were made, extra balls were earned, replay credits were shared. Even saw some Blainbrook tournament goers there(not sure if they are on here too). Saw 1 contrasting styles of play. A high-energy movin' & shakin on MM, and a carefully cradled, calculated slow play style in CFTBL. Both scored crazy points.

I'm tempted to hit Mortimer's tomorrow night just for the convenience compared to hitting 1st ave & Hexagon bar. Gotta get out of the house.

I'm planning on leaving at 8am from the twin cities, and hitting up Rossi's arcade/pizza place at around noonish with some other twin cities folks.

This. Wow, MORE snow? Another low of 3? Yeah, we're getting tired of it moreso than WoZ bickering. It was warm out a year ago.

Nice, I have that same arcade control panel as shown in the SMB cab. Joysticks only, so I had to shop for buttons at AxMan. Hopefully to be a future MAME controller.

I'm jinxed.

2 machines at Rossi's arcade/pizza place reset on me when I played them. Fish Tales reset on me during Clock Chaos. But it was a blessing, since my 2nd attempt at scoring that netted me way more points.

Reset.

Compare that to the Fish Tales at MGC last year. I casted straight down the middle numerous times. This one? I, through an amazing stroke of luck, casted, hit & locked 3 balls in succession.

I took 9th place overall in Clock Chaos, upping my score by 3x in the redo of Robocop. I'm happy with how I finished, and that was after 3 cocktails & a beer. I can't seem to get drunk.

It's all good. The last Fish Tales I played at 2012's MGC gave me numerous STDM drains from casting, and no Doc Ock could fix that. This time, it was the opposite(3 ball locks like nuttin').

I REALLY liked that Atlantis pin. I played a botched version of it on Visual Pinball,and loved everything about it. Great artwork, great flow to the game. Everything lines up perfectly with it. Wouldn't mind having one in my house. First time I saw one in person. Got over a million on it.

I could hit that party. I'll be back from my vacation. The URL's giving me a 404.

Good to see some Minnesota events happening here.

Spotted lightning flash in Mendota Heights, 7am. Thankfully my commute is 4.8 miles.

Good guy D&G. Is there a new pin they can't get? Mortimer's is a nice Stern showroom with a bar thrown in it.

The same one at MGC? I really enjoyed that game. Great artwork, great PF, good flow.

So not one but TWO pinball BBQs happened in Minnesota?

Man Wisconsin, you gotta catch up.

There's Mortimer's. Forgot if they served Surly tho. Definitely Blainebrook serves Surly.

I've only seen the $600 CL ad. What's the story here?

Earthshaker you say? I might have to give that a whirl. Never played a real one.

Scored 142 million on ball 1 on Addams Family today. Then 6 mil(heh) on my extra ball after that. When you can do a chain of bear kicks(like 8 or 9 in a row), you're going to have a good time.

That Dr. Dude is priced great. Very tempting.

If someone's going down there today, can someone reply here or PM me the usual going prices he has for the sale on early-mid 80s pins?

I tried to get that Blackout on CL today. Responded within 20 minutes of ad, got nuttin' back.

why.gif

I'm almost tempted to drop $10 so I can get this ad finally off of Craigslist once and for all. I truly have grown tired of seeing it:

minneapolis.craigslist.org link

Plenty of opportunities to put more content on this site, and we should do so.

Lesee, off of my head:
1. links to pin retailers in the area
2. links to pin repair people in the area(if they have a website)
3. Um, I think that's all I can think of for now.

A heads up about an EM for sale. Friend messaged me about it, hoping it won't get sold to a farmer for target practice. That..and Minnesota:

http://www.villiardauction.com/viestenz_photos.html

Look up the Unold Snack Master. A toaster with a fold-out grill for bacon & eggs. That to me is worth more than any pin.

9K and no picture provided? Even the $10 plug & play pinball game has pictures, and that ad will never go away. That would make a great tournament prize. That game + a sledgehammer lending to smash it with.

He still has Firepower II listed there, which I wanted. When I inquired about buying it, I didn't get a clear answer.

Directly in person, during the summer sale.

Three, THREE James Bond machines for sale on CL! Ah ah ah

Hmm, there's rumor of MM being remade, and suddenly MMs start popping up on CL. Heh. Why can't there be rumors of a Barrracora remake?

The next time there is an arcade/pin auction, can we get a heads up here? I'm curious about 'em. That and looking for an arcade cabaret.

1. Don't start a land war with Asia
2. Don't incur the wrath of a bunch of WI Pinsiders. They aren't a club, they are a vicious GANG!

Yeah, I'm all up for a regional talk section. Definitely doesn't fit in any machine club sub-section since it's regional talk.

It's 400 miles to the Westin, the pin is loaded in the car, and I'm not wearing sunglasses.
Hit it.(*)

(*) tomorrow morning

Having a blast at Expo. I'm running on 4 hours of sleep. All I ask is when it's 2am, use your dang inside voice in your hotel room. Heh.

I haven't seen any signs of Zacc games(or any other Euro pins) in the twin cities so far. If one were to pop up, I know several people who would be tippin' me off.

I wouldn't mind a KZ-26(from Playmatic) since it's so bizarre.

What I remember from the Spanish machines:
JP: The "whoooooeeee!!" callout when doing the ramp shot
Verne's world; Just about every word is mispronounced.
Fast track: I lasted about 20 seconds on that game.

But that's what gives these machines their unique beauty.

Good seller alert: lapean111 just sold me a Bally Vector with a smooth as buttah transaction. I forgot to get bolt #8.

Anyone know a good chromer that will do a table's legs + apron for a good price?

Nothing went right with RQ. I wouldn't donate to a for-profit company, and didn't.

I'm looking to get rid of my Atari Middle Earth pin. 2 board sets(1 pulled from a working one). Complete. Price; free. Comes with a 100% "I won't take it back from you" guarantee. Pin does not work(and that's why its free)

I was not surprised in the least that RQ passed. When you have not one but two fundraisers for a place(which is not a non-profit), yeah, you're having issues. There was talk on reddit when they were a comic book store how they were trash-talking a competing well-known comic store. Comic store was gone, up went the toy store. Then the toy store became the arcade.

I also remember the constant talking-down to reminders on their Facebook posts(don't do this/that), which turned me away a bit.

A while back on FB he said if he had to close, it was because arcades in general were dead. Nope, just poorly-ran ones. There's other arcades across the nation(the barcades) that are doing just fine.

Well there is that beer-dispensing pin that's out there. I'm sure it can be made.

So, three fundraisers? Jeesh. That I did not know. Welp,I hope the sold-off arcade cabs go to better places.

Good to hear. Phantom is a stupid-fast nutty game that's fun to play.

Extremely cold weather.

Postmaster: for real, you have a Transporter? This close to buying a populated Transporter PF, but realize it would cost way more to build a machine around it.

I'm going to a redditor's house for a "Thanksgiving orphan" dinner, so I just might do that after.

Stopped by Sun Ray and got to play ID4 for the first time. Played a 2 credit game, and got really great scores. That game must have lasted me 20 whole minutes. A really underrated game. Somehow managed to have complete ball control. Lots of stuff to do, and numerous ramps do other things if you don't hit it all the way. Adds nice depth to it.

For Transformers, however I would suggest switching the flippers from black to white. They are really hard to see considering the dark purple PF area.

How does one get TWO Metallicas? Heh.

But yeah, I would pick NGG over Metallica. The challenge lies in getting that hole-in-one shot. And it's just good bonkers fun.

A similar get together had me hooked on NGG, in favor of AC/DC, and just about all the other machines. Mind you, I had a competition going with a few friends to get the highest possible score on the Xbox 360 port.

I emailed the guy who posted on CL wanting broken pins, quoting him free, and he hasn't written back.

Is it me, or did a lot of pins just show up on Craigslist? Not too shabby on the prices either. You could build an arcade for the cost of one STLE with dough to spare.

I think I saw a Baywatch for $1250 local on CL.

You have a 3D printer? That's even cooler than any pin. You can make stuff with it.

Here's what you do: you make it make another 3D printer...

But seriously, what's the specs on it? Could it potentially make, say, a replacement controller knob(a much better fitting one) for a ColecoVision? There's a guy on AtariAge who used to sell them(ie you mail in your controller, he mails it back with the aftermarket part), but the part looks so simple it looks 3D-printable.

Screw this weather. I spent more time chipping out snow & ice to get to my garage(I got stuck 6 feet away) than doing anything else today. There's no room left to displace said snow.

And to think my Vector is schedules to come home this weekend. Uh, can I defer to next spring?

I got huge tax return back(refi'd my house) which could easily buy me a decent recent DMD machine.

So I did the right thing and booked a vacation.

But the vacation memories last a lifetime. I haven't even gotten my Vector home yet(due to snow buildup around here). It has become an annual tradition to take a distant vacation every year. if I didn't, then I would have dough for a game room.

I know you're havin' fun. I'm looking forward to the arcades there, even though it's probably going to be pinless.

I wanna play that MACH 3! Soo rare.

Too much WI talk here, so I'll post a picture of this Vector plastix set I just got in the mail today.

vector-plastix.jpg

I just knew the Wisconsin Pinball Ego(tm) would grow beyond the state's boundaries. Not even Lloyd could stop that!

I know a friend who had pick of the machines for a tournament, and he picked that Orbitor 1. Won the round. I still contend that as being the ever biggest troll move in a tournament to date.

I went last weekend, and there was a ton of credits on Pokerino. While the gap between the flippers is tiny, don't let it fool you. I drained many a ball between the flipper pairs.

I also got the replay several times on Freddy NOES next to it. Strange lil game.

FP2 - Fire Power2?

I'm convinced there's just 1 HS out there in project form that just goes from house to house to house and never gets finished.

MN Car peeps:

Anyone know a good paint guy? The place I got my paint work done($100 wheel, a great deal!) is no longer in business. Still got some spots here & there to get repainted.

Also, need a good exhaust guy who won't yak at me about catalytic converters. My Spitfire's exhaust is hanging a bit low from mounting a not 100% compatible header + new muffler.

I should also get that seat headrest re-stuffed too...

Are you sleep-selling again? 3am and you're trying to fold down a dang backbox.

I kinda wanna sell my Vector but I haven't fixed everything up yet. The Big Game is however a keeper. Man is that fun.

Three weeks until the Minnesota State Fair.

Fun fact about the MN state fair: It's not in Wisconsin.

Swords of Fury is a great game. Nice diversion from the usual pf layout.

He did not give me a number for Firepower II, which was clearly listed on the website. He just kept going on and on and stuff. Again, I ask, why list it for sale when you ain't gonna sell it?

But I digress.

I think have bad pronto pup years sometimes at the MN State Fair.

So far replacing drop targets in my Vector has been a bag of fail. I dropped a screw which disappeared into another dimension.As you know, once you drop a screw, it becomes sentient & looks for the nearest couch to go under, never to be found again. The rest are seized in the DT cage. If only the right ones were seized, I could rotate the cage bottom plate & free 'er up.

And yesterday I refused delivery on a replacement fridge since it had a big 'ol dent on the top back. So this is what buying NIB pins are like.

Any brick & mortar stores around where I can get an 8 amp slo-blow fuse? I have a feeling it's not going to be easy to find. Want to apply the Williams rectifier fix as not to fry things.

Found 'em at Menards. 3.50 for 2 of 'em? Ouch. But now I think I have the ingredients to rectify(heh) Time Fantasy so it doesn't fry.

Girlfriend's birthday bash plans: guns, then pinball. All of it was her idea. Heh.

What's better than your gf into pinball? Your gf into pinball wearing heels you just bought her. Now she wants a pin.

pih.png

I never thought I would get 4.5 million on Dungeons & Dragons. My last time I played that was 4k for the whole game. I scored 2+ mil on the first ball. The 3 other players were side-draining quickly. I was somehow able to manage the magic save buttons. Heck, I was once a bit late and it just pinched the ball back in play.

MGC seemed to have an innovative solution for games with no free-play option: set the replay score super-low. Always credits!

There's a KISS at Moose Country in Mendota Heights. However, I had no luck with it. A hollow victory with a 10m replay, but of all the credits I played, I got zero multiballs. Gene's head insisted on STDM drains, so I just shot around him when I could.

Never saw it there. There's just 1 machine. Before that it was a NASCAR, and before that was a Fish Tales.

My girlfriend's working security overnight at the Fair. If only her schedule was a bit more syncro'd, she'd love to play some Fish Tales.

Girlfriend'so dream game. I like it since it's super fast. Can't afford one so we play on location.

First world problems: My 40th birthday is coming up, and now my dream machine(Barracorra) is on the market. In fact, there's two of them! But I'm broke from buying myself an early birthday present: a Calico M-100.

I visited Up/Down in Uptown. Not a bad place. Plenty of pinball to go around,and priced to 1 credit/game. I was in time for 2-for-1 tokens, so pinball was just dirt cheap to play. A nice change. Last night was super-crowded.

Offhand I saw:
TAF
SP(with color DMD)
Fun House
Ghostbusters
Metallica(with color DMD)

and a handful of others I can't remember. Pinball is in good supply there.

Back to Minnesota: Visited Can Can Wonderland today. Really was a bad time for the change machine to be out. No dollar acceptors on the pins.

Finally got to play Bally's Rapid Fire. Very difficult game with the side tanks.
They have a good mix of EM(most of the pins) & early SS & a few DMD games(TZ, TAF, Maverick). The downside is 50 cents for an EM machine? 1 buck for Centaur? A bit strange. There's also a handful of mechanical arcade games.

Didn't see any operator card on any of the aprons. Their pinball offering could be a bit better with the pricing. A lot better with a working change machine(or 2 change machines).

Crazy levels of crowding at MGC seems to be not so much of an issue. Friday night I was able to have dinner with someone, and there was barely anyone in the bar. Saturday night wasn't crowded either in the bar area. Sometimes hard to get a drink still, but that's a different issue.

I like how the redesigned bar have USB ports &power outlets at each table. They were thinking ahead.

It was around 3-4 years ago the bar area was shoulder-to-shoulder crowded, especially when Ben Heck was singing Pinball Wizard.. Much more chill now. Miss playing arcade games drunk at 3am though. Heh.

Went to Tilt last night. Not bad at all. The machines were in great condition, and at great prices. Got crowded due to the grand opening. Was nice to finally play Embryon for the first time. Meteor was in beautiful condition.

tilt (2) (resized).jpg

I miss the earlier days of the MN State Fair arcades, when there were 3 of them(Playland, Penny Arcade, & one in the Midway). Well into the 2000s, they had early 80s-era games to play, before it went almost 100% redemption. There was even a huge environmental Galaxy Force(think that was it), that rotated a full 360 that was a hoot to see in action.