March LOCATION OF THE MONTH: Pinball Palace This Month’s Location of the Month is Pinball Palace, truly looking like a castle in Brunswick, Georgia. Open 7 days a week with nearly 90 pinball machines available, plus arcades, air hockey, a bounce room and more! Q: When did you get into the pinball business? A: “We have been open just over 4 years and I have been an arcade, pinball, video game fan most my life! I started collecting pins in my home and when I ran out of room there, I opened the arcade. Q: When did you open this read more…
MARCH TECH OF THE MONTH: MATTHEW MANDARANO Meet Matthew Mandarano, located in North Carolina working under Carolina Pinball Repair and a full time technician at Abari Game Bar located at in Charlotte, NC. He re-found this hobby in 2011 and began repairing machines in 2013. I would seek them out and put some quarters in any pin I came across. While my contemporaries were playing TMNT, The Simpsons, X-Men, Mortal Kombat, etc. I was the weird kid in the corner playing the pinball machines. Q: How did you first get into the hobby? “My best friend’s dad was big into read more…
This month’s laborer of love is Randy Walker – located in Maryville, TN between Knoxville, TN and the Smokey Mountains. A long time repair tech, Randy has begun to delve deeper into the restoration side of this hobby. I have only been doing [repair/restoration work] professionally for 3 years. Before that is was just for myself and a few friends Q: When did you get into actually restoring machines? A: “Well, I have been repairing and restoring pins for about 30 years. But I have only been doing it professionally for 3 years. Before that is was just for myself read more…
This year, the return of It Never Drains in South California (INDISC for short) created so much excitement that the Thursday Targeted Matchplay with 120 available spots sold out in less than 30 seconds. The hole created by the loss of Pinburgh has left many pinball players and enthusiasts scrambling to fill that spot with other events and shows – which INDISC has provided! This year the venue changed to the Convention Center in Riverside, CA and was run in conjunction with the Festival of Fights (an FGC weekend event ran in the larger ballroom next door). There was a read more…
February LOCATION OF THE MONTH: Morristown Game Vault This Month’s “Location of the Month” is Morristown Game Vault, uniquely situated in Morristown, New Jersey! Open 7 days a week with a variety (almost 110) of retro arcade cabinets and pinball machines inside of a former bank. Q: When did you get into the pinball business? A: I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s playing these games as a kid. In 1999 I came across an ad in the newspaper for some games. Me and my cousin Vinny rented a U-Haul and grabbed my first 3 games. Asteroids, Ms. Pac-Man read more…
FEBRUARY TECH OF THE MONTH: EVAN BOOKBINDER Meet Evan Bookbinder, located just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who has been working on pinball machines under “Shoot Again Pinball Repair” for both residential and commercial customers. He services games for several Stern distributors. In terms of operating, Evan helps run the Pittsburgh Pinball Dojo, a collective of approximately 60 pinball and arcades owned by myself and several other folks well known to the Pittsburgh pinball community — all of us formerly associated with PAPA as well as having helped tech for Replay FX and Pinburgh! Evan says, “Believe it or not, I read more…
This month’s laborer of love is Stephen Prusa – located in Cleveland, OH. A recent addition into this side of the hobby, his love for delving into and restoring these classics back into their former beauty and glory is apparent and growing! I’ve been playing for quite sometime, about 7 or 8 years and I started to become burned out on playing pinball, but I feel like a new flame has been lit after starting to work on games. Q: When did you get into actually restoring machines? “I started restoring machines the beginning of 2021. I’ve been playing for read more…
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 read more…
JANUARY TECH OF THE MONTH: KERI WING Join us this year as we highlight a tech/operator every month in our effort to showcase one of the backbones of this niche community. With their skills, passions and love for this hobby Pinball continues to thrive. Meet Keri Wing, located in Overland Park, Kansas who has been working on pinball machines all around the Kansas City area. She is an operator at Pizza West and Knub’s Pub in Shawnee, Kansas, at the 403 Club in Kansas City, Kansas, and at Solid State Pinball Supply in Kansas City, Missouri. In total, she helps read more…
Listen above to Krystle’s recap of the Houston Arcade Expo, which took place Friday November 12th-14th in Texas. More images and notes are below! The Episode can also be downloaded here: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-4wxs9-114744b Show Notes: Links –Houston Arcade and Pinball expo –Space City Pinball –Joystix –The Game Preserve -Upkick Pinball -Atari Matt FB As always, you can find us here: Marco, Twitch.tv , Youtube, FB Some other great places to play pinball in Houston: -Einsteins -Poison Girl -What’s Brewing
