Lyons Classic Pinball should be #1 by a long shot. Open Thurs-Sun nights. Thurs is league night, but that only occupies 5 of the 35+ machines - so it's easy to go and play even if you aren't in league. And there will be good people to meet (like me!).

1-Up and 1-Up Colfax also have great selections, the games are in fantastic shape, and they are open more often. I never interact with the bartenders, so I have no opinion. However, if it's a Saturday night (possibly also applies to Friday and Thursday), you might want to avoid 1-Up which will be jam packed with screaming drunk people. Colfax is probably better on one of those nights, but I haven't been (at least there is more open floor space and the pins aren't 10 feet from the bar).

Press Play (in Boulder): meh. Used to have 9 pins, replaced 5 recently with air hockey. Condition depends how recently they've been serviced, which is not always that often. Pinball is definitely an afterthought there, though they're in a separate room so it's still okay to play on a busy drinking night (which will be college kids who mostly don't care about the games).

Backcountry Pizza (in Boulder): I was there last week and it was just Tron, AC/DC, and Genie (with X-Men turned off). Games play decent and are in a separate room.

Tilt (in Louisville): This place is probably good for very casual players. Not good if you're serious. I went about a month after they opened, and about half of the machines had issues (not level, plays slow, slingshots not working, coin mechs eating quarters, balls getting stuck). A friend went a few weeks ago and said that pretty much every machine has issues now. The atmosphere is more like a YMCA than a place to play pinball unfortunately.

Pinball Jones (in Fort Collins): Never been, but I hear good things.

Abo's Pizza (in Boulder) has 3 games I think. Never played there but I hear they play well.

Indeed I do! The scene has really changed since this thread started. Since November of 2014 I've personally put out 16 pins.

I've got 4 games at the UMC at the moment (Tron, IJ4, Fish Tales, and WCS), and plan to add back in a 5th in June. It's all ages, and they're generally open from around lunch till midnight (though less consistently when school is not in session). I've got a monthly tournament scheduled for the 4th Sunday of each month.

I was trying go get a pinball student group to form and hopefully build some momentum for the next school year (the machines have only been there for one semester). If your son is into making that happen, I'd love to chat with him.

I've also got 11 games at Press Play (GB, LOTR, MET, WOZ, SP, Congo, GOT, TZ, BDK, IM, WOF). It's 21+ after 7pm, but all ages before that. Opens at 4pm on weekdays, and noon on weekends. I run monthlies there, and have semi-continously running leagues - though those are after 7pm so not open to those under 21.

There are a few other places to play (Abo's Pizza in South Boulder has 3 machines, and BackCountry pizza has 4) too - although it seems like all of the events and most of the "scene" is happening around my machines.

Press Play, Wednesday Sept 7th. 7:30pm. Be there.

Dory Hill is the 9th - 11th. You should probably be there for that. Where else can you play 18 holes of pingolf outside, in the mountains?

Yup, Press Play is still the place to go. They're my machines, so I'm biased, but the selection is exactly what you're looking for, and the largest in Boulder. Got to add two more games not long ago, so up to 12 now. (Old Chicago and High Speed were the additions to a lineup that was previously all 90s and newer). Dialed In should be arriving any day.

I've got 4 machines at The Connection, the bowling alley at the UMC building on the CU campus in Boulder.

I also just put 7 pins into a newly opened brewery in Gunbarrel called Gunbarrel Brewing. That's about 15 minutes away, and if you're going that far out of Boulder, you should be going to Lyons Classic Pinball (but they're not open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday).

I want my games playing 100%, so if you ever find any issues, please message me.

All my machines and locations are on both the Pinside map and the Colorado Pinball Map...the latter of which is pretty up to date on the scene. Vision Quest Brewery is another option, but it's almost entirely older games.

Dialed In has arrived!

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So glad you came and played! Being there on a Friday or Saturday night is a whole different experience. All other times, the Jenna is not in the pinball room, and two of the games are moved out onto the stage where the DJ booth is.

Old Chicago is pretty new there and actually is getting played more than any other machine t the moment!