Location of the Month – January 2022

JANUARY LOCATION OF THE MONTH:

Bang Back Pinball Lounge

This Month’s “Location of the Month” is none other than our hometown’s Bang Back Pinball Lounge! Located in Columbia, SC — A Stern Army Location, home of the Little Flippers of Columbia and The Columbia Belles & Chimes, they currently have 23 machines, a full service bar and food menu including a kids menu!

We interviewed owner & founder of Bang Back Pinball Lounge, Fred Richardson:

Q: When did you get into the pinball business?

A: This April marks my 30th Anniversary in the world of pinball. First as a competitive player, then shortly after that (within the first year) I became an advocate for growing pinball awareness (Leagues, Tournaments, Sponsorship, etc.). I directed my first tournament about a year after that.

Q: When did you open this location?

A: Officially we opened on June, 18th (my Father’s Birthday) 2020.

Q: Do you guys run any tournaments or leagues? If so can you give us more details?

A: We do! While we’re more focused on building up recreational play, we have the following: Tuesday IFPA Leagues (currently 32 players), Freeballin’ Fridays (casual IFPA sanctioned rec night), and starting in 2022 once a quarter we are doing 4 day weekends, with 4 IFPA Tournaments.

Q: Do you have a specific pinball night and what other events/specials do you run?

A: We have SINdustry Night (service industry workers) on Mondays. FREE PLAY from 7pm-midnight. Wednesdays are Gamecock Pinball Nights (for USC students only), Thursday Belles & Chimes Women’s meet up, 3rd Saturday of every month is The Little Flippers!

Q: Do you fix your own games or do you use a local operator/tech?

A: We handle cleaning and small repairs in-house. Otherwise we have weekly visits from Bill Laracova, and/or Ken Grant for larger issues. Bill is mentoring a couple of our staff now for bench development.

Q: What’s the last game you brought in and how often do you rotate?

A: Our 3 latest games added have been Godzilla, Legends of Valhalla, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. We have new machines in here all the time. Lineup changes at least once a month. For a full list of games, visit pinballmap.com.

Q: What would be your holy grail of a machine?

A: No “holy grails” per se, however, would love to see a Big Lebowski in here. Maybe a Zaccaria title. Also haven’t had yet; Circus Voltaire, Dragonfist, Skateball, Blackout…

Q: Do you partner with any other locations?

A: We promote the community of pinball here in Columbia. We have partnered and helped promote pinball with just about every location in town. We’re always down to spread the good word.

Q: Do you go to any shows and IF SO which one is your favorite?

A:Many, many of them… lol. Pinball expo in Chicago is my “home” show, having first gone there in ’93. I love INDISC, MGC, and Free Play Florida.

Q: And your closing thoughts and what you do for the pinball community or your local community?

A: We have one of the largest active Belles & Chimes groups in the country. We promote kids in Pinball with The Little Flippers program. We’ve gained popularity with the state’s largest college, University of South Carolina by hosting The Gamecock Pinball Club. We host charity events with Project Pinball, and other groups here locally, including the Ronald McDonald House. Breaking news: We just signed with the Columbia Fireflies and Segra Park to be the title sponsors for their Kid’s Club! Brought to you by The Little Flippers and Bank Back Pinball.

Visit their website https://www.bangbackpinball.com/ for more info!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bangbackpinball

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