Welcome

If you are finding this for some reason thanks for stopping and reading. This blog comprises all of my stops in the winter of 2012/13 where I tried to locate as many pinball machines as possible in the Twin Cities area. Some of the information in my stories has changed, but perhaps you will enjoy it anyway.

In the end all of my playing culminated in creating the Twin Cities installment of the Pinball Map. There you will find all you need to know about finding the nearest pinball machine to you in the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas as well as a few from out-state Minnesota as well.

Now go get that replay.

Justin

Josie's Coin Laundry (Roseville near Larp & Lex)

Well as baseball season has started ramping up my pinball season is winding down. I got word that my uncle's laundromat had a pinball machine. I had heard that it was commomn for laundromat to have them, but hadn't ever looked. His has "Fish Tales."

Hank and I stopped in there with $3.00 in my pocket. It turned out it was $0.50 per game so we each got to  play three. The tilt is pretty generous on it, ad although dirty, the game plays very well. I never hit a multiball, which seemed odd, but the ramps are easy to shoot, and there is a built-in video game where you torpedo jet skiers. That built in game is where the points are really at. One round of it and you can get easily one-third to half-way to the replay. I was on the way to the replay when, on my last ball, I tilted and it forfeited my bonus points leaving me just 5000 points away from the 44 million point replay.

Hank's top game was his third. He actually was beating me until my final ball. Yes... I was almost beat by a three-year-old.


Replay: 44 mil
My top score: 43.99 mil
Hank's top score: 3.6  mil

Mortimers' Monthly Tournament (Uptown MPLS)

Well I was going to go out tonight and check out a few places I haven't been yet, but it would appear my truck has different plans. I'll be working on that tomorrow morning. Instead I guess I'll tell you about last Sunday.

I made my way through the snow and ice to Mortimer's for their monthly tournament, which takes place the last Sunday of every month. I was a little unsure of what to expect as far as crowd or skill. All I knew was that my skills were way to scatter-shot to win anything. However, a $5 entry fee isn't bad.

The main reason I wanted to go was to spread the news about the new pinball map site and app that I am moderating for The Twin Cities. A few weeks back while BT was in town he told me all about the app that he uses in Portland to find pinball places to play. I checked it out and they had many cities already listed, but nothing yet for us. I contacted the creators and shared my map with them. They were very excited and put me in charge of creating one for here. Knowing once winter comes to an end and baseball starts back up, pinball will be taking a back seat, I was looking to share the site it with a core group who will help it grow.
These were just the people.

I was initially worried that it may be a pretty close-knit group, but everyone was very friendly and talkative. There were 18 people who entered, and I would say about 1/3 of them were first-timers as well. There were 16 men and 2 women all in the 30-45 age range. We all first played the new Avengers game to determine seeds in the tournament. I placed 14th out of 18. While waiting to get started I told everyone about pinballmap and they were all very excited. I even made up some business cards with the site on it so they would remember later. After we were all placed Fred, who runs the tournament, announced the brackets, and randomly drew four peoples name to get their $5.00 back. Lucky me I won.

From there our 4 person groups each played three different machines. With the best players advancing.
We played Avengers again, AC/DC, and X-Men. I really don't care for any of these and I didn't expect to advance. I was right. I took last place on the Avengers and X-Men, but pulled the upset winning first on AC/DC (although for the life of me I can't figure out what you are suppose to do in that game with the cannons.)

All-in-all it was a fun night, and if you want to join me for February's I'll gladly go again.

Lastly, if you have't yet, join the community and get yourself the pinball map. You can download it for free to any apple device or android, or you can just use the website

http://pinballmap.com/twincities

Rocco's Pizza (Little Canada)

After going to do some batting practice last week I decided to explore some places along Rice Street. I had found Rocco's Pizza on google maps when I noticed the picture on their listing was of pinball machines. Rocco's is a take-out/delivery only pizza place with a lobby consisting of a cooler with pop in it and five pinball machines. I wish I lived by this place so I could give them my pizza business. I started talking with Eddie there, who I believe is the owner, about pinball. He is very passionate about it and excited to talk with.

The five machines they had out were Lethal Weapon 3, No Good Gofers, WWF Royal Rumble, Gladiators, and Roadshow.

I played all of them but NGG, because it was out of order. The other four I can say I did really bad at.

Gladiators is one of the fastest games I've played, both in speed of play and time I played.
Replay: 188 mil
My High Score: 12.8 mil

Lethal Weapon 3 kind of sucks, but you do get to choose what music you get to listen to. There are two choices; ZZ Top and CC Music Factory. Clearly between the double-consonant choices you have to go with CC.
Replay: 128 mil
My High Score: 26.9 mil

WWF Royal Rumble is pretty awesome as the whole game actually rumbles when you play it.
Replay: 395 mil
My High Score: 102 mil

Red and Ted's Road Show also has the rumbling effect to it, as well as two construction worker heads that are very similar to Fun House. I liked this one a lot, but couldn't even fathom the scoring on it. Nearest I could tell there was no replay just an extra ball award. Still though I think it was my favorite.
Extra Ball: 467 mil
My High Score: 69.1 mil

The Spot Bar (West 7th, St. Paul)

The Spot Bar was our second to last stop in St. Paul for the night, but for purposes of this blog the last place worth writing about. After this we went to the Goby Pub, which was incredibly uninteresting and has "World Poker Challenge" which you can find everywhere.

So, on to it. I think of all the places we went to The Spot Bar is the one that I would most like to go back to and hang out. Its a little bar with an all wood interior. Definitely that quintessential Northwoods feel. When we walked in there were four guys at the bar regaling each other with stories of rock concerts from their days-gone-by including complaining about people singing along to the band Tool. The bartender was an older fellow who understood what we were there for. He welcomed us when we walked in, and said "Have a good night fellas," when we left.

They have the wonderful game "Tales Of Arabian Nights." It's $.50/1 or $2/5 plays and it is quite possibly my new favorite game. I honestly don't think I have ever done so well. I cleared the replay twice despite the shooter being a little week and making the skill shots tough. Otherwise there are some great ramps and crazy magnets. Plus there is a Genie that you need to repeatedly hit in the crotch for extra points. Search this game out. So far this is the only spot n town that I have found it at, so its a good thing its such a cool bar.

Replay: 5.5 mil
BT's High Score: 3.1 mil
My High Score: 6.8 mil

Skinner's (West 7th, St. Paul

Stop #10, Skinner's Bar. This is your typical local bar/restaurant. We went through the main room to the side  dining room where "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" was located. It was turned off, so we asked  the waiter to turn it on for us. He started it up, and it couldn't find a ball, so it just kept cycling and cycling until the waiter grabbed the machine and vigorously shook it until it started working. I started trying to put money in the machine, but it kept falling back out. Finally one of the kids at the table next to the machine instructed me on how to do it, and we started our game.

It seemed a little uncomfortable how close the family in the booth next to us was while we played. We soon learned that the famil was the cook's ladyfriend and their kids (approx 12 and 8 years old.) The wings on their table looked good, and the pizza smelled good. I really wanted to just reach down and grab one. I was certainly close enough to.

The waitress was chatting with them about a rash on her arm, until she was called in back. She returned to deliver the bad news that owner was not willing to pay for the family's meal. At that point the cook went back to work.

The game was pretty fun, as well as easy. We both passed the replay and got our extra game. Occasionally the ball would get stuck, but we were always able to shake it free without tilting.

After we finished our free replay games, wouldn't you know it, I hit the match for another free game. I looked over at the table, which only had the kids sitting at it, and said to the oldest, "Wanna play?"

To which he replied forcefully, "We don't play."

No sooner had he said that did his little brother jump over him and in front of me to start playing the free game. Its nice to see that kind of want in a young kid for pinball. We started walking out and his mom ran past us yelling "Get off that game!"

I assured her that we had a free one and we let them have it.

Replay: 4 mil (bumps to 8 mil)
BT's High Score: 5.9 mil
My High Score: 5.8 mil

JR Macs (West 7th, St. Paul)

Making our way west we stopped in at JR Macs. Stop #9 of the night was a nice bar as much as I didn't care for the game that was inside. The game "Roller Coaster Tycoon" was right inside the door, and boy weren't we floored to see someone actually playing it. That's right. Save the two arcade I have visited, we witnessed live, in-person, for the first time since I started this blog, someone playing pinball. We couldn't believe it. We were so shocked that we had to order ourselves a beer. 

The bar is a union-friendly joint with stickers all over the taps. I found Local 539 proudly representing. I probably should've asked if they gave discounts to card-carrying members. We sat and drank our beers and discussed who the ad-wizards were who came up with the idea of basing a pinball game off of a moderately successful PC game. When it was our turn to play we found that clearly little effort was put into the game as it has sound effects ripped off from the South Park pinball machine, and for some reason it randomly has a troll doll popping up inside it. The lighting in the bar makes playing a little difficult. It has four flippers, of which the top right one serves no other purpose other than to infuriate you. However, its only $.50/1 and $2/5 plays and the replay seems reasonable. BT was able to hit it, but I just sucked.

Replay: 3 mil (bumps to 8 mil)

BT's high score: 4.5 million

My high score: 867k

Keenan's (West 7th, St. Paul)

Down the road we went to Keenan's. Stop #8 of the night was lackluster to say the least. The bar was empty except for one guy and the bartender. I was excited to play the Batman machine as it had been fun in the past when I played at 3 Squares. We put in our quarters ($1/1 play) and started. The desperate bartender came out from behind the bar and asked if he could get us anything. I said no,  that we were just there for the pinball. He shrugged his shoulders and turned back around. Unfortunately after we each had played one ball the machine locked up. Like a computer brain-freeze lock up. Doing what any mechanically inclined person would do, we shook it. It woke up just long enough to say "TILT." Which is where it re-froze. I reached under the machine, turned it off and back on, and said to BT. "Do you want to play it so bad that you will risk losing another two dollars?"

He didn't, and neither did I.

Replay: 25 mil
BT's one ball score: 2.3 mil
My one ball score: 1.3 mil

Grand 7 (West 7th, St. Paul)

Stop number 7... The Grand 7. We circeled back into downtown and down West 7th street for the second-half of our run. We entered Grand 7 and found a very nice bar that was mostly empty, as the football games were now over. Standing in the back of the bar was Mata Hari, $.50 per play. This '70s classic is a favorite, and this one  in particular looks like it was just delivered from the factory. Unfortunately it doesn't play that way. We put in our quarters and immediately had the machine eat two of them. We put in two more, realized the multi-player option didn't work, and started playing. I turned around to see the bartender come over and ask if she could get us some drinks. I politely said that we might later. She gave me a puzzled look and turned and walked off.

At this point a really drunk girl sitting alone at the end of the bar said, "Are you guys really just here to play pinball?

BT responded "Yeah. We are on a mission to play everyone in the city."

The girl seemed very confused, and we were unsure if she thought this was cool, or if she was going to make fun of us. She asked a few more questions, and decided that she liked the idea, so much so, that she should recommend another place to us.

"You know where you guys should go," said the lady. "That other bar that is right down there."

"Burger Moes?" I said

"By Tom Reids..."

"Burger Moes?"

"...but its not Tom Reids. They have a machine there."

"Burger Moes?" I said one last time.

"But you should hurry. They may close soon."

We thanked her for her help and said we would check it out. BT then hit the replay on the game, but it didn't register and cheated us out of that. We said our good nights and moved on.

Replay: 220K
BT's High Score: 255K
My High Score: 39K

Pappy's Chicago Style Eatery (Greater East Side, St. Paul)

Stop #6... Pappy's.

One day I pulled up to a stop light on White Bear Ave. and looked over and saw a pinball machine sitting inside the restaurant. This worked out as a perfect midway stop for us to get a bite to eat and discover a new machine.

When we walked in the "arcade" side of the restaurant was closed and everything was off. I asked teh cashier if we could play, and she said she was about to clean it, so if wanted to order and eat she would clean it for us. I got a chicago dog and pepsi while BT got some cheese curds. Probably because they don't have good ones if at all in Portland. When we finished up she let us through the roped off area and we put our quarters in to "NBA Fast Break." This was game two of the Say No To Drugs series.

This is a strange game.  It costs $.50/1 or $2/5, and it keeps track of your score like a basketball game  We couldn't figure out if there was a replay, but it said that the score to beat was 62. we stumbled through, confused, and wondering what we were doing. In the end BT beat me 23-21. Then a NASCAR drove past and gave us the "match,"

For our second game we had things a little more figured out, or at least I did. Just not quite enough to surpass the "score to beat" and find out if it really was the replay.

Game 2
Justin 57
BT 23

Beehive Tavern (Dayton's Bluff, St. Paul)

Bar #5 of our St. Paul Tour brought us to The Beehive Tavern, and based on the amount of police cars we saw, I think this part of town may be a little rough. When I called ahead and asked them if they had a pinball machine it went like this.

Me, "Do you have any pinball machines?"
Owner, "Yeah. We have a pinball machine."
Me, "Do you mind if I ask you which one?
Owner, "What?"
Me, "Which pinball machine do you have?"
Owner, "I don't know. Its Pinball!"

At first we thought it was closed. The front door was locked, and being a 3.2 bar and a Sunday we thought maybe there was some sort of "blue law." I peaked through the barred window and saw the machine in the corner, but couldn't tell which. We walked around back to look in another window, and discovered the back door. It was open and we went in. There was only one other person there with the bartender. The machine, "Street Fighter 2," was off. We politely asked if it worked, and if we could play it. The owner was kind enough to turn it on.

We noticed some advertising  making "Street Fighter 2" the first of two games that we would run across from the "Say No To Drugs" era. Remember that? The machine had been there so log that the was actually dust on the play-field below the glass top. It costs $.50/1, $.75/2, and $1.00 for three games. We put in our $.75 and began. At one point, BT got confused when it appeared that nothing was happening yet noises were going on. I then noticed that there was a secondary game sunken in the middle of the play-field. It was so dirty that we could barely see the flipper and ball in it. Multiball is very dull as it only has two balls go at a time. One great thing was the replay score...49,>?0,000

Replay: 49,>?0,000
BT's high score: 14.9 mil
My High Score: 33.5 mil

Arcade Bar (Payne/Phalen St. Paul)

By the time we made it to bar #4 on our St. Paul tour we were getting pretty thirsty. After all, we had eaten some delicious beef roast I had made before we started, and we were working pretty hard. The Arcade Bar sits on a depressing "main street" in St. Paul that has certainly seen its better decades. It has a great neon sign sitting out front that you can't miss, and you can be alone with your thoughts inside.

Right as we walked in we saw the "Indiana Jones" machine right by the door. We walked up to the bar and ordered a bottle of Grain Belt and a mug of MGD from the tap. The tap selection is pretty good. I believe it included: MGD, Budweiser, Miller Lite, High Life, MGD Lite, and Bud Lite. Our two beers cost a whopping $4.50 total. Seriously. Also, I believe this may be the last smoker friendly bar in the area. I mean who's going to tell them to stop. Not me. As far as patrons there were a few ladies at the bar, some older guys playing pool, and us.

We grabbed our drinks, and put some coins in the slot. This is the newer "Indiana Jones" machine that  includes graphics from the "Crystal Skull," or you may remember its alternate title "Indiana Jones Cashes In."

The game is great. I generally don't care for $1/1 play games, but this one is a breeze. We both cruised to the replay, and in fact, BT did it without ever even getting a multiball. When you do get the multiball it is pretty fun. The Ark rises up, opens, and dumps like 5 balls out at once.

Replay 19.85 mil (bumps to 39.7 mil)
BT's High Score: 48.6 mil
My High Score: 24.5 mil

Nickel's Sports Bar (Frogtown St. Paul)

Our 3rd stop into St. Paul brought BT and I to Nickel's Sports bar (aka The Nickel Joint.) Your stereotypical neighborhood bar, it reminded me of a dirtier version of The Knight Cap. The football playoffs were still going on the TVs, so most people didn't notice us slide into the back of the bar where they have their "Monopoly" machine. It would appear the bartender did notice however as he gave us the stink-eye when we walked out without ordering a drink.

"Monopoly" itself isn't a very good game. It's $.50 per game, and has 4 flippers including a strange one that just slowly spins in a circle. For a newer game it's scoring is set really low, and the game moves really fast. Neither of us cared for it much.

Reply; 3 mil
BT's High Score: 2.6 mil
My High Score: 634K

Gabe's By The Park (St. Paul)

The second bar on BT and My St. Paul tour was Gabe's. It appears to be a very vanilla suburban sports bar plopped down in the middle of a St. Paul industrial park. It's big, it's clean, and the beer of the month is $3.75 Heinekens so get there while they last.

Back near the pool tables they have "Lost In Space." This was the first time I had ever seen this one, and it's safe to say we dominated it. Its a pretty easy game with some interesting ramps, a spinning magnetic wheel, and a push button shooter. For whatever the reason the multi-ball is really easy to get. BT tagged it three times and myself twice on the way to our replays. We also had a third player going that we were switching off doing because $1 got you three games.

Replay: 40 mil (bumps to 60 mil)
BT's High Score: 62.4 mil (could gone higher but he had too much want and tilted on ball three)
My High Score: 51.6 mil
Player 3 High Score: 4 mil

Ted's Recreation or Ted's Liquors Bar (Roseville)

Yesterday, my friend BT and I embarked on a 12 bar, 4 hour tour of pinball machines in St. Paul. BT and I have been playing pinball together since high school, and I would consider him on the higher end of mediocre. Every trick I know, I learned from him.

Our first bar of the evening was Ted's Liquors. A cement building, with a great neon sign, it sits on a nice stretch of Larpenteur across from Key's Cafe and a quaint little Dairy Queen. Inside however is a different story. We were three steps through the door  when the whole bar stopped and looked at us. No sooner did I make half-a-turn towards the "No Good Golfers" machine in the corner when someone yelled out "Uh oh. Here comes the Pinball Wizards." Being two street smart guys we kept our goal in mind and payed them no heed.

To be honest though I don't remember to much about the game. It was $.50 per play with a fun little skill shot. I probably don't remember because I was worried about accidentally backing into the two guys standing about a foot behind me. It appeared that a key part of their rather aggressive video bowling game was cursing at each other.

After they finished their game and went back to watching football I overheard one say to the other in a threatening tone, "All I'm asking is what high school you went too."

"Why?" said the other.

"Why? Cuz I'm tying to figure out who you are rooting for. That's why."

As we turned and left I glanced over my shoulder to see one of the "video bowlers" glaring at me, and I couldn't help but think... "Am I about to be followed out?"

Replay 11.2 mil
BT's high score 550K
My high score: 2.1 mil

CC Club (Uptown Mpls)

Most everyone in Minneapolis is familiar with the CC Club. Personally I've never seen the attraction. I'm 15 years too young to have seen its heyday, and haven't lived i nMinneapolis ong enough to have even experienced a place with cheap drinks. Personally, it just seems like someone is capitalizing on its dumpy interior and punk rock past as a way to charge a buck more than everyone else for a crappy beer. However I will give them this. They are one of the few places in Uptown with pinball.

If you head to the very back of the bar, next to the door to the patio, you will find the newer Spiderman machine. Its wholly unspectacular and offers very little to remember it by. Cost is set at $1.00/1 $3.00/4, and $5.00/7 games.
My High Score: 3.1 mil
Replay 64.4 mil

Dulono's Pizza (Uptown)

On Lake Street in Uptown is a dark, dingy little pizza place called Dulono's. This is where Soozie and I made our second stop. I'm not sure how this restaurant stays in business, because nothing about the place, inside or out, is inviting. I ate there once about 6 years ago, and I can't remember the food. All I can figure is there must be some sort of history about it that has created a cult following.

Right away as you walk in the door from the parking lot there is an arcade to your left. The arcade is kind of separated off from the rest of the restaurant, like it was once some sort of coat room. This is perhaps part of the reason it is dark and smells bad. They have two machines. Lord Of the Rings and World Poker Tour.

LOTR is a pretty common game, and I have made my opinion known of it throughout this blog. This one in particular had all its display lights out, and a right flipper that wasn't very responsive.
The replay wasn't unreasonable and the price was nice at $.50/1 or $1.00/3 games.
My High Score: 11 mil
Soozie's High Score: 3 mil
Replay: 20 mil

The second game, World Poker Tour, had something going on with it causing it to shoot the ball for you most every time. The ball launches up into a pregame where you try and hit an opening on the back of the table. This was difficult because the right flipper only half-worked. That said, it isn't a very difficult game, the replay is very low, and I got the match. Pricing set at $.50/1, $3.00/4, and $5.00/7 games
My High Score: 4.5 mil
Replay: 5 mil

Rusty Quarters (Uptown Mpls)

This is a fun little place. A small little storefront with about 20 old video games and 3 pinball machines in the back. Apparently they rotate them in and out. My friend Soozie, who joined me, said that last time she was there they only had two. Its well lit, and would be a fun place to take your kid. Just make sure to not drop them off. That is strictly prohibited,  or so said the hand written sign on the door. Apparently it happened, or why go through the trouble. A great bonus was that they had the Terminator 2 arcade game with the machine guns. My brother and I spent so much money on that as a kid.

 The first game played was Indiana Jones and The Pinball Adventure  I hated this game. First off it has the pistol shooter that was so popular at that time. Secondly, I couldn't for the life of me stop that ball from going right down the middle. Oh and it tilts real easy. $.75 per play. Save your quarters.
My High Score 8 mil
Replay: 246 mil

Next in line is Medieval Madness. It comes complete with a castle that goes crazy when you hit it and a moat. I only played this one once. It was Soozie's favorite of the group, and I only played it once. $1 per play, and it uses a big electronic button as the shooter.

Soozie's High Score: 5.7 mil
My High Score: 1.3 mil
Replay: 37 mil

Last was my favorite, Funhouse. At $.75 per game this old school game has a nice easy replay and a third flipper that can seriously help you dominate if you figure it out. I didn't until at the end of my first game, so I had to keep playing. I rocked past the replay, and was so excited when I finished I forgot to play it. I walked off to shoot Terminators, and when I turned around a girl, who looked incredibly bored, dumped in three quarters and played her game. Not realizing the credit was on there, she walked off and I got free my game.
Soozie's High Score: 800k
My High Score: 6 mil!!!
Reply: 3 mil