3 Squares (Maple Grove)

Maple Grove certainly was one of the last places I would look for a pinball machine. However, it's nice to be surprised. We went get dinner at 3 Squares before a movie.  Squares is notable for a few reasons. It is the only restaurant in "The Grove" that isn't a chain, their food and beer selection is the best in the city, and I, sometimes regrettably, run into people I went to high school with. Now the restaurant has a 4th distinction, awesome pinball machines. They said there was a 20 minute wait for a table, so we played pinball until we got a table. Then we placed our order and played until the food came. It was perfect.

The first game we played was the newer Batman. It has a fun addition where you have to hit the Scarecrow, which is like a crane hanging over the table, for extra points.
Vonny's High score: 12.8 mil
My High Score: 12.4 mil
Replay: 29.7 mil

Next we moved onto the classic Addams Family. Previous to us someone was playing tournament play and left the 4th player with a turn left and a full credit on the machine, so score one for us. I finished out the tourney play, and Vonny took the credit.
Vonny's High Score: 21.6 mil

Last we moved on to T3: Rise Of The Machines. Like T2 it also has the "pistol" shooter which I don't like. This game was our least favorite.We didn't catch right away that there is a way to trigger a second game on the scoreboard where you shoot a ping-pong ball at some lights.
My High Score: 13 mil (but I got the match)
Vonny's High Score: 11.7 mil
Replay: 33 mil

Flaherty's Arden Bowl (Roseville/Arden Hills)

Apparently this place is one of the oldest family run bowling alleys in the country. I expected it to be packed with college students from Bethel and Northwestern who are looking for vice-free fun on a friday night. I guess they all went home for the holidays, because it was pretty dead. I found three machines, however, right when you walk in the door. South Park, Family Guy, and High Roller Casino.

I started with South Park, and played two games. Its $.50/1 game or $2.00/5 games. Is it just me or is this a really boring game? The shooter was really sticky, so I cleaned it off with my coat sleeve and started. When it does multiball it launched 5 at me, which was a bit more that this mediocre wizard could handle. Eventually, on my last ball of the game, it got stuck under a flag. I couldn't get it loose without shaking the machine. First shake. Tilt. No good. Second shake. Tilt and game over. Ball still stuck. Finally the third time i shook it it came free. I guess I should've asked for my $.50 back
High Score: 56 Mil
Replay: 245 mil

Next was High Roller Casino. $.50 per game. This game is pretty fun. It really tripped me up though when it started yelling JACKPOT! and adding balls to the shooter alley. I didn't realize it was doing it until there were 4 stacked up. Let me tell you the spring is not made to push four balls. I ended up having to pull it back and hit it as hard as I could until I cleared them all. It's a clever way to do multiball, and I would play it again.
High Score: 73 mil
Replay 185 mil

As one of my new favorites I saved Family Guy for last. It was $.50/1 or $2.00/5 games. I probably shouldnt have waited to do this one last, as when I got to it, I really wasn't in the mood to play for some reason. I played on anyway. It wasn't pretty. I even sucked at Stewie Mini-Pinball.
High Score: 5.4 mil
Replay: 7.9 mil

Sportys (Como, Mpls)

I remembered that there were a couple of odd bars on Como just west of 280, and lord knows there is no better spot to find a pinball machine than an odd bar. My first stop was Station 280. My guess is this place used to serve to a lot of workers in the industrial days-gone-by. Now it seems to be a sports bar with a d-bag clientele from the U who are choosing  to not live in Dinkytown. They have a large game room, but no pinball, so I headed further west to Mannings and Sportys. Mannings seems like the kind of place that is owned by The Mob. At 10:30 on a Saturday night it had four employees and two customers, with a clean, quiet, old school atmosphere. Sadly they had no pinball machines, so I walked across the street to Sporty's.

 Sporty's is kind of strange. There was definitely nothing sports-related about it, and the clientele seemed college-hipster. Its an old bar that added a weird dining room by expanding into the space next door. Here I was excited to find Terminator 2 and Star Trek: The Next Generation machines.

I first played T2. The right side coin slot ate my quarter, but I looked up to see it had a free credit on it. It is only $.50 per play. Not a bad game, but I don't care for the "gun" shooter it has.
My High Score: 5.6 mil
Replay 36 mil

Moving over to Star Trek: The Next Generation I was disappointed to see that it also had the "gun" shooter, although it would probably be categorized as a phaser. However, don't let that get you down. This game is great. It had a ton of ramps to shoot over and over, and a reachable replay. Its priced at $.50/1, $.75/2, and $1.00/3 games. I got an extra ball and came so close to hitting the replay that I almost added another quarter to keep my game going. However, part of me feels like that is cheating, and it was getting late. I look forward to playing this machine again.
My High Score: 321 mil
Replay: 345 mil

Mortimers (Uptown Mpls)

I had never been here despite the fact that a good friend of mine spent a year living within a 5 minute walk of it. I don't know why we never went. Its a pretty cool bar, and well known by pinball enthusiasts thanks to it's 8 machines and monthly tournaments. For some odd reason you can't find it on google maps either. This is especially strange since its the only building on the block and has expanded to take up all three store fronts. When I was there the bar had the added attraction of a barfly in her 40's hassling men for a drink. She even went after a group of 5 guys playing the Lord Of The Rings machine, calling them nerds for not wanting to spend time with a sexy women like her.

Most all of the games are $.75/1 play or $2.00/3 plays. The games the had that I didn't play were: Rolling Stones, Lord Of The Rings, Sopranos, and X-Men.

I did play the following:
Iron Man
My High Score 4.6 mil
Replay 25 mil

Tron (new)
My High Score 4.8 mil
Replay 28.2 mil

Transformers
My High Score 5.5 mil
Replay 31.1 mil

AC/DC (includes weird cannon)
My High Score 5.5 mil
Replay 29.5 mil

these are not good scores

Caffetto (Uptown Mpls)

This is another, that like Jimmy's Pro Billiards, could be an old-school enthusiasts dream. Sadly 1/2 of the machines are out of order. They are a little hard to find, but if youwalk in the front door, and go straight past the barista there is a staircase going down to the basement on the left hand side. In the "Saw-esque" basemet there is a ping-pong table and these four machines;
Big Guns... out of order
Black Knight 2000... out of order

Cyclone
Each game is $.50/1 play. Cyclone is kind of a fun circus-based game, and some good ramps.

My High Score: 340K
Replay 1.4 mil

Jack Bot
Jack Bot is kind of cool. It's an awesome look at the future. A robotic future where mass-inflation has driven pinball scores into the billions. I'm not kidding. I have never seen a machine with scores this high. A robot greets you to the game, and the shooter has a metal tip which makes an awesome metal-on-metal sound when you launch the ball. Unfortunately many of the lights on the left side of the game were burned out making it a little difficult to play

My High Score: 308 mil
Replay: 1.4 Billion

Grumpys (Downtown Mpls)

Grumpys Downtown is always a solid bar. Good beer selection and food. If you walk in the backdoor, from the parking lot, immediatly on your left there is a "Family Guy" machine. I initially didn't care for this one, but its growing on me.The replay again isn't unreachable, extra balls, are easy, and the Stewie Mini-pinball adds for a fun novelty. The last nice aspect was, like Macs Industrial, they had the volume low. You can only take a machine farting at  you for so long before you get annoyed.

My High Score: 14.5 mil
Replay: 16 mil

Burger Moes (Downtown St. Paul)

I was tipped off to Burger Moes having a machine called "Hurricane." What I wasn't told was where it was. If you go through the main bar to the back, and hang a left just after the bathrooms and before you get to the kitchen you might see a handwritten sign pointing to the game room in the basement. The game room is a brightly lit room with concrete walls, a few chairs, a pool table, darts and "Hurricane." It's a weird space. It feels like that one "friend's" house you used to go over to. You know which one I'm talking about. The one you really didn't like, whose house smelt funny, but he had a Nintendo in his basement. Yeah, that one. Anyway the "Hurricane" is a bargain 3 games for a dollar. It's pretty old school, next to no digital stuff going on. It has some sweet ferris wheels on it, and the ramps are easy to shoot. It has a fairly attainable extra ball and replay, which is good, because there is no ball save. You have to lift it off teh ground to tilt it, and The machine incessantly yells at you while you play that its "CLOWN TIME!"All in all this is worth your quarters though.

My Top Score 9.4 Mil
Replay 11.4 Mil

Mac's Industrial Sports Bar (NE Mpls)

Mac's Has a great beer selection and good burgers. Stay away from the Chili though. I got food poisoning once. Right when you walk in the front door there is a "Family Guy" machine. I like the novelty of the Stewie mini-pinball, however it doesn't make up for this beat up game.  The shooter sticks on it, and there is a broken flag laying on the table that floats around whenever the ball hits it causing the ball to go who knows where. I'm a little unsure how anyone could hit the 60 million replay with it like this. It must have been from before it took the beatdown that left it in its current shape. Also it cost a buck to play this broken machine. Save your money for another beer and go play somewhere else.

My High Score: 2.7 Million
Replay: 60 Million

Columbia Grill and Tavern aka Starbar (Columbia Heights)

I was never at this place when it was called Starbar. I hear they had a "Simpsons" machine back then. Well under new ownership it has been replaced by "Lord Of The Rings," The machine says one play for $1.00, but actually only charges $0.50. This is cool, because I am quickly beginning to hate this game. I've never had a machine send so many unhittable balls down the center. I didn't want to put too much into it as I was afraid one of the townies might say something. Plus this machine in particular had a shooter that would stick half-way through the pull unless you pulled it at just the right angle.

Anyway... whatever. The place is a dump.

My High Score: 2.9 million
Replay: 25 Million

Jimmy's Pro Billiards (Columbia Heights)

I walked into this joint and got very excited. Its a mammoth space with a lot of pool tables, and, at 4:30 in the afternoon, a few depressing old men. Apparently they sell food as well, but I wouldn't guess it to be to great. Anyway back to the pinball. They had 4 machines lined up. I haven't heard of anyplace yet, save SS and Blainebrook, with more than two. First is Addams Family. We all know what to expect from this. Although it is no longer my favorite, it does still hold some love in my heart from when I was younger. Its $0.50 a play with no bonuses for paying in more, and it operates just fine.

After I played that I moved on to the next three old school classics. They were "Pool Sharks," the awesome "Matahari," and "Eight Ball Champ." Unfortunately all had handwritten signs on them saying "Out Of Order. What a disappointment. This cold have been the best find in the Northeast area.

Oh well, "Addams Family" had a credit already on it, so I played for free. At least that is a nice bonus.

My Best Score: 15 Million
Replay: 54 million

Midway Pro Bowl (Midway, St. Paul)

Pirates Of The Caribean is quickly becoming a favorite. There are a lot of fun things to do in the game, which makes someone like myself feel much better about my skillz. This bowling alley can be a bit sketchy depending on when you go there, but the arcade is well lit. This is good, because you don't have to worry about someone jumpng out and knifing you, but bad because the large flourescent light above the game made it really hard to see. 1 game is $.75. 3 games is $2.00. I was glad to have played three, because I dominated my second game getting both an extra ball and hitting the match number. Also it appears that this game has no tilt. I gave it some love and moved it a good 4 inches with nothing happening except for a well timed ball save.

My Best Score: 10.8mil
Replay: 84mil

Machine Removed:The Knight Cap (NE MPLS)

--------Update: 12-17-2012 Machine has been replaced by Golden Tee-------

After leaving the Spring Street I ventured over to The Knight Cap another classic NE bar. They have recently gotten "Avatar." Its tucked away in the back corner next to the darts, and you can't see it from the front door. I was a little worried when I saw it wasn't on, but I noticed they had that whole area of the bar off. The bartender was happy to turn it on for me. Its only $.50 a game and the replay is pretty low. Its pretty tricky to lock balls on it, but I found it to be a really fun basic game to play. I've been to the Knight Cap a few times, and its real good bar to go to and not be bothered. "Avatar" makes it even better now.

My best score: 3.0 mil
Replay: 9.0 mil

Spring Street Tavern (NE MPLS)

I called up the Spring Street Tavern to see if they had a pinball machine and the lady who answered very enthusiastically told me that in fact they did. They had "Rolling Stones," and I should come down and play it. I stopped in after work and found it just as you walk in the door next to the pull tabs. It has a very high replay on it and its a pricey machine. $1 for 1 play, $3 for 5, and $5 for 7. Although a fairly standard game, I found it to be pretty difficult with its Tongue swinging back and forth to block your ball and it slips very easily down the sides. Guess I should put more hip into it. Lastly, the beer sign next to the game casts a bit of a glare.
The Spring Street is nothing special and for what the game costs, I'd probably go The Knight Cap instead.

My Best Score: 800K
Replay: 30 mil

TheTriple Rock (Cedar/Riverside MPLS)

"Matahari." At the Triple Rock Social Club in the Cedar/Riverside area of Minneapolis, this may be my favorite find so far in the Twin Cities. It's super old-school and only $.25 a play. This is however is just part of this black widow's plan to draw you in and devour every cent on you. An old game with no frills. It looks so easy, however it will leave you wishing for the "match," game after game, until you find yourself begging for mercy. Get there quick. The manager says they may be removing it soon. A tragedy this would be.

My Best Score: 325K
Replay: 900k

S.S. Billiards (Hopkins)

Known as one of the best places around for pinball I made it to S.S. Billiards on my birthday. It could best be described as a destination place. Located in a mini-mall, it smells weird, is really dirty, and has a man and his dog working it to give you change. He loves pinball though and hosts competitions on a regular business. When I was there, they had 12 machines running, and were working on a few others. Only one or two of them played at $.50 a game, most were $.75, and a few a dollar. Everything played top notch however. I did not. Machines in operation included: Big Bang, Taxi, Addams Family, Corvette, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Attack From Mars, Police Force, Family Guy, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Spiderman, Wheel Of Fortune, and Twilight Zone.

Elsies Bowling Alley (NE MPLS)

I stopped here at Elsies today very quickly. I only had $0.50 on me and the street parking only had 15 minutes before it became a tow zone. They have two machines. The first was "Lord Of The Rings" however it was out of order. The second was "Elvis." It plays at $.50 a game or 5/$2.00. The machine played fine, but the lighting in the bowling alley made it really hard to play. They had the lights all on in the alley. I think because there was a field trip. Either that or kids are really into bowling these days. My guess is the lighting wouldn't have been an issue at night. I plan on coming back here in a few weeks for a friend's daughter's birthday. Hopefully the LOTR will be up and running. If not I need a rematch.

Update: I have since played this two more times. The first I dominated, hitting the replay, getting an extra ball,  and getting the match. The second is the more important. Don't even try to play this machine after they drop the lights for late night bowling. You can see anything.

My Best Score: 20 Million
Replay: 10 Million

Memory Lanes Bowling Alley (S. MPLS)

They have "Railroad Tycoon," but it was unplugged and out of order. I've never tried that one so I was a little disappointed. Next to it though was "Lord Of The Rings." I've always kind of liked that one. Just as at the Kitty Kat Club I was alone and waiting for a friends band to go on. It played at $.50 per game or 5/$2.00. I started playing and noticed a very low replay score. I soon found out it was because the left flipper sticks on it. The only way to get it to come back down is to hit the right one. That trick does work every time, but is hardly something you want to be thinking about. However I kept at it and nearly moved that replay number. This was quite a feat for me.

In the beginning... Kitty Cat Klub (Dinkytown MPLS)

I've never been good at pinball, but I haven't let that get in my way when it comes to enjoying it. Recently I played my favorite machine, Addams Family, at the Kitty Cat Klub in Dinkytown while waiting for my friends band to go on. As usual I did slightly above poorly. My quarters ran out and I felt weird about asking the bartender for more. It was then that it occurred to me that it would be great to know where more machines were. Not only this, but I bet others would like to know as well. After all there aren't that many left. So here is my go at it. I plan on writing something up for each one I find, and included will be a Google map of the area where you an go to find all of the locations. Feel free to add anything to it or let me know of any that I can check out. Tilts to you, Justin