SydyneBall Searching for RL Tables -> The Journey

Every since I found and started playing TPA, I've been itching to get back to playing RL pinball. So here is my journey.

Last weekend took my teenage son to experience some RL pinball.

Started at Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio.
They had an arcade that had a few machines and $7 all day play last time we walked around with the family, but it was closed. Bummer. Saw a Monopoly and a couple other pins through the window.

Two other arcades had machines, Woody's World(2) and The Arcade at Eddie's(5).
Out of the 7 machines, 6 were in good working order, the Simpson's machine had a broken garage...

We played:
JunkYard - 3 times. I'm terrible at this game.. lost to my son twice!
The Addams Family (TAF) - 2 different machines, one at each arcade
Indiana Jones - I rocked this one after a few games, Collected some specials! Son got board while waiting.. (hehe..)
Simpson Pinball Arcade - Garage broken - only played once.
South Park - Rocked this game. Got a nice Kenny, right flipper backhand to Kenny Going. Son applied his video game lingo... I was told to stop "boosting" Kenny.. lol.
Pirates of the Caribbean. Sunk some ships. had some fun.

Played for about three hours between the machines and arcades.

On the way home, stopped at Capps Pizza, they have two machines. It's about 9 miles from my house, so I've played there a couple of times before.

Lord of the Rings (LOTR) - Balrog! Nice working order.
Creature from the Black Lagoon (CFTBL) - Nice to show son RL pin that is on TPA. Collected a special. Hologram didn't work, but rest of pin was good working order. Right Flipper didn't seem to have enough down angle to me, but I adjusted.

They used to have a Harley Davidson machine here, but the motorcycle was broken, so it was replaced by CFTBL.

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Two weeks ago, I found myself on the West side of Cleveland, Ohio, so I stopped into Kidforce Collectibles.
They have 12 nicely restored machines. Of these I played:

Twlight Zone (TZ). This machine was always a bear in real life, this one no different, couldn't get ball control, outlanes vacuums..Played twice.
Attack from Mars (AFM) - One of my favorites from back in the day. Nicely restored machine. Collected a special on score. Nice volume level, not too loud, but you could hear it.. 'Not you again...'. Nice. "I'll be back" to play this machine.
Metallica - Played twice. Interesting to play new machine.
Theater of Magic (TOM) - Another one of my favorites. Nice to play a well functioning machine. Played three time.
X-men LE: Magneto - Played this twice. Magnetic kickouts/ spots make this a little too random for me.

Nice to see restored functioning older machines along with newer machines. They have a good mix here, didn't have time to play them all. Would have liked to play Dr. Who, Dracula, and the rest of their pin collection, just ran out of time.

Nice to play some RL pins that are on TPA. TZ was way harder then TPA, TOM Trunk entry shot much easily in RL, ATM is a very close digital version on TPA.

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Two weeks before that I stopped in to a place by work called The Boneyard. They had two machines.
World Series of Poker (WSOP) - Complete junk - Top half of playfield lights out. over half of drop targets broken. Playfield dirty. Barely playable.
NASCAR - Another dirty, broken table. Left slingshot top broken, falling into habitrail from right ramp shot. Ball gets stuck! Unplayable.

So I won't be back there again..

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Couple of other local places I'm planning on visiting around home/work.
I'm also thinking of making a trip out to New Hampshire or Las Vegas to have a couple days of pinball play. Mini Pinball Vacation.

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I mostly play TPA on a 8.9" Kindle Fire HD.

Thanks for reading! I'll try to keep this thread updated with my RL pin journey.

I definitely want to check out KidForce Collectibles. They need to open a 2nd locations in Columbus!

its only a matter of time......

Found another place closer to work advertising 5 pinball machines and micro/craft brew. Stopped in last week.

The place is BottleHouse brewery near Cleveland, Ohio.
Nice microbrew with a old style tavern atmosphere, basically many long tables, a patio, and a stage.

They do have all the pins setup in a semi separate area.

Oh, they had five machines:
Shadow
Black Knight
JunkYard
CFTBL
AC/DC

AC/DC set to 3 play for $2, rest at 0.25 (nice!)

Sadly, the machines were not all functional, but were turned on:
Shadow: Stuck on Searching for Ball.
Black Knight: Start button didn't work (This is a bummer, as the playfield is great condition, no visible wear).
AC/DC: Broken plastic piece stuck in left ramp return, preventing balls from returning to inlane. So I put all four ball there Then it was unplayable...
CFTBL: Top half completely dark, playable, but couldn't see shots, so not enjoyable..
JunkYard: Working!

Luckily, the JunkYard was in good working order, so I played that. had a good time and learned much more about junkyard. Special started really low, so I made up for the lost credits on the other machines with this game.

Played for around 45 minutes, had a few craft beers, overall a good time.

I did contact the owner about the machines. After some back and forth, he did email me that the vending company has come out and repaired all the machines. So I'm going back, hopefully this week, to see if I can get some play on the other machines!

I've been lucky enough to play three pins in RL I've never played before the last two days.

Saw a new location on Pinball Rebels website and decided to visit:
Retroland Toys in Willoughby, Ohio:

Doctor Who : This game is great IMHO. Highly enjoyable to play. Machine in excellent condition. I think the three tier center riser is great. Paid to play four times(0.50/game) and won 2 credits. I liked the layout and the shots needed. Video mode is lame, but it's a pinball machine. In great working order, level, and clean!

Who Dunnit: Another pin in great condition. Interesting layout. Played five times (5 for $2). Didn't score that high because I had no idea what was what. Phone shot seemed more difficult then other ramps and lanes.
I read the rule sheet today. Will be playing this again now that I at least know the rules and what all that up/down/exit does.

The also have a Pinball Pool that the owner is trying to sale. It's set to free play and not at all level. Tried one ball, reminded me of Big Shot in TPA, but with the ball rolling right to left (yes, that unlevel), it was not enjoyable.

Spoke with the owner. He wants to get up to 5 machines in store and in working order.
Said he's trying to get a newer Stern in store as the next machine. Sound good to me.
Maybe start a league in 2014.

Definitely be back. Only about 15 minutes from work and home.
Very happy to find this place and the high quality machines with games I see talked about on here all the time.
Great to find decent pins closer to work/home that are well maintained.

So today, I'm meeting someone for lunch at a place called Danny Boys in Chesterland, Ohio. Low and behold, there is a:
Ripley's Believe It Or Not(RBION).
What a find! I've only played this machine a couple times in the past and really played it on TPA.
Set to 0.50 a play.Interesting to play in RL once playing on TPA. This machine is dirty and the flippers are starting to weaken, couple of lights out, but everything else seems to work and it is level, so still enjoyable.
Only got to play once, as my lunch partner called and said they would be late, so played a game.
Play was slow due to the grim, but it actually helped with multiple ball, not so much flying around as fast.
I'll have to play this more, as it's real close to my route home from work.

So overall, a good two days finding and playing machines I've never touched in RL before.
Trying to schedule some time on Saturday to get back to the Dr. Who and Who Dunnit and bring my bag of quarters.

Well, Haven't played much good pinball in IRL, But since the tournament is over, Went out to play some today.

Went back to Retroland Toys and they now have an AC/DC.
So played Doctor Who, AC/DC, and Whodunit. All in great condition!

Played for about an hour and a half on all machines. I was just off today. Constantly hitting the rubber beside the ramp instead of the ramp. Outlane drain. Zero, count them zero Specials, even on the matches..

Oh Well, great time getting some time in on RL machines.

Doctor Who is still fun and I really enjoy this game. I love killing Daleks. Getting better at the cliff Ramp.
WhoDunIt I played the least, about 4 games.
First time on a working AC/DC. Wow, a lot faster then the above. Game in nice condition but 'rubber' on the flippers looked more like hard plastic and it bounced as such. Like the music, I'll ave to learn the rules for this one. didn't get much above 20M. Not even close to 45M Special range. 9/10 Cannon shots went to left outlane and drained. That was annoying. Bell shot was tough. I'd like to get more time on this game.

I did find a Corvette in a restaurant I visited a few weeks ago. Motor was broken and blocking the exit lane from the left ramp, so the ball stuck there. So sad, I enjoyed this game when it came out and had a race started.

They added a few more pins at Retroland Toys, had a chance to stop there last weekend for a few hours.

They now have:
WhoDunIT
Doctor Who
AC/DC
No Fear
Star Trek - Stern - Yes, the new Stern Star Trek. This machine is amazing.

Finally got a high score on AC/DC - only number 4, but I think I'm finally getting better.

It has been a long time since I played a brand new pinball game (Think the last one I played that I knew was new was BOPB).
I do like the LED changing light colors and the action on this table. Seems much smoother then AC/DC or Metallica.
Still getting used to it, finally spend the hour to watch the PAPA video. Plan on stopping in again this weekend to see if it helped.

Earlier last week, stopped in the local pizza place, they took out CFTBL (Bummer), now only has LOTR, but in good condition.

Next week, Heading to the Ohio Pinball Show, first ever pinball show, expecting it to be interesting and entertaining.