no arcade is complete without neon signs. Here are 2 bad boys I bought.
Lineup is growing
3 machines, looking good.
Hulk Avengers LE
After we made more room in the basement for 4 pins, I realized that 2 I have pre-ordered (Predator and Ben Heck’s Zombie Adventureland) I will probably not see in 2013. So I decided to get something else!
Thinking about it, I decided to get the new Avengers from Stern. There was 1 Hulk limited edition left so I pulled the trigger on it. Light shows are really important to me, and the latest modern pins with LEDs deliver that, so it made the decision to go newer than older easier.
Me taking possession of it at Playdium/Starburst. My second New-In-Box in 5 months!
Hulk Playfield
Video of Hulk added to the lineup, the arcade is taking shape.
Theatre of Magic LED upgrade
I found the game kind of dark in my basement so I installed an LED kit from cointaker.com. Here is the before and after results.
Theatre of Magic joins the lineup
My second pin arrived. Theatre of Magic, considered one of the top 10 pins of all time. Designed by John Papaduik in 1995. Produced by Bally. The game features incredible art and flowing design. It also features several magic “tricks” using magnets to pull the ball around. The main toy is a magic trunk that you shoot for.
TRON Pinball in all her glory!
My first pin is in the house (barely). An Amazing Tron Legacy pinball from Stern. Modded out with el wire, led backbox, light cycles, arcade mod, led flipper buttons, lighted recognizer mod…. it is beautiful!
TRON delivered!
After much effort, my NIB Tron is here.
first pinball
After our visit to the Church, Robin wanted to get a pinball, so I was clear to get one. Prices of pins range anywhere from several hundred, to several thousand and beyond.
I did happen to see an for sale ad online for a Lethal Weapon 3 pin for a modest $1400. I actually had played this pin quite a bit when I was a teenager, so it had the nostalgia factor going for it and at the price seemed like a good entry level pin. It had been for sale for a couple of months. When I contacted the seller, he had sold it just the day before. My pinball dreams were crushed already.
At the same time, I had been spending a lot of time looking at Tron Legacy pinball, one of the most recent releases from Stern. The theme, music, lights, and whole package were a winner for me. Problem was the price. It was also out of production and becoming hard to find, none were available in Canada.
I had begun hanging out on Pinside.com, and saw a NIB (New In Box) Tron for sale. I wandered downstairs telling Robin “man, I really want the Tron but it’s so expensive”, to which she responded “Oh, just get it, it’s the one you want”. Just like that the decision was made.
Buying pins like this is a luxury, but people also spend money on other things, like golf, vacations, snowmobiles, seadoos, luxury cars, the list goes on…. so this was my luxury item. The side benefit is that they are so collectible, they don’t lose their value and most have increased in value. I’m not saying it is an investment, but I was able to rationalize the decision knowing I could get most of my money back if it came to that. And at the end of the day if I had to make a mortgage payment or something, the pinball can go.
I made the deal with the seller in the US, and arranged for shipment to Canada. Now all I had to do was wait.
Visit to the Church of the Silverball
My mom was visiting on the weekend and available to watch the kids, so Robin and I could have a date night.
“Do you want to go play some pinball?” I asked her. “Sure”, she responded, but she hadn’t played pinball in many years.
I discovered the Church online, just following some Toronto pinball links. It is a private collection housed in a warehouse by Mike & Christine Hanley. Every once in a while they open it to the public, and they happened to be doing one of their “Pinball Faith” nights this Friday.
We drove to the Mississauga warehouse, which was fun just to drive too… driving the car into a deserted warehouse district, but then seeing a bunch of cars parked in one area. Reminiscent of our old days.
We went inside, and were greeted by Mike. It was $10 per person, any games that had power were free to play. His collection spans from older Electric Mechanical games, on through solid state and DMD. The crown jewel of his collection was the complete “jpop” collection of pins, from World Cup Soccer, Theatre of Magic, Circus Voltaire, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and Star Wars Episode 1. I would find out later him and jpop are actually really old friends and Mike actually inducted him into the Pinball Hall of Fame the year previous.
Mike had a game open and Robin was immediately intrigued by all the guts, so she asked Mike to show her some more which he was happy to oblige. By the end of the night Robin declared “We’re getting one!”. Usually the wives are the resistance on any pinball acquisitions :-).
My new blog
Welcome to my blog where I will document my progression building a personal pinball arcade!
I played pinball as a kid and teenager at the arcade, and as an adult I had always wanted one. It wasn’t until recently though that I discovered others had been building home arcades with multiple machines.
Multiple machines seems to keep things more interesting than just 1 in the corner. You can have multiple people over all playing together, running tournaments, etc.
A pinball is like a piece of modern art, and great to show off and demo to people.
When I moved into my current house out of our previous 2-bedroom apartment, having the basement available meant I could finally realize the dream. The basement is on the small side (older house), but I think it will do the job for now.
When I move, a proper games room will be a big feature we will be looking for in our next house.