Six Flags has changed their on-ride recording policy

I highly recommend Arcade Legacy if you're in Cincinnati. 70 pins: 40ish on hourly/daily play and the rest 50c/play, all well taken care of, if a bit difficult (used for weekly tournaments). Also has lots of vids, including an amazing collection of import rhythm games, and a massive media store to boot.

That said, I need to play more location games myself. Jeff has 50% more plays than me already haha

https://insider.sternpinball.com/players/metallik

We have a couple/three Pins Mechanical locations. In a warehouse atmosphere you get pinball, duck pin bowling, vid games, beer and cocktails, Mikey’s Late Night Slice, giant jenga, a big slide to go down, and more. Have your birthday party at these adult chucky cheese places.
It’s a great concept and seems to be a cash cow. We saw something similar in Dallas- Punchbowl Social or something like that. Another one of those “now why didn’t I think of that?” moments.

I bought an arcade bowling machine about 15 years ago. Looked periodically for one but couldn't find one relatively nearby (weight north of 600 pounds so not easy to transport). Found one in Dayton. Worked well initially. But then developed some issues. At one point, 4 pin didn't work making a 90 a perfect game. Machines are electromechanical and need tweaking from time to time. Trick is knowing how to tweak them. Talked to a few techs who said 20-25 years ago, many bars in Cleveland had them so there was steady work fixing them and many techs who could service them. But now that is no longer the case. And from what I understand, if you don't use a solid state pinball machine for an extended period of time, it will still work (may be overstated). But with electromechanical devices, extended periods of non-use result in the machine not working and a lot needing to be done to fix it. At this point, the machine hasn't been used much in north of 5 years and it has developed a number of issues. Still looks good though. LOL

The wiring and electronic parts are dramatically reduced in a modern machine (they have the equivalent of a CAN bus, splitting the computer from various control nodes), but all of the solenoids and such are essentially the same as they ever were. Along with the rubber parts all over, which wear out or degrade over time, unfortunately there's still a lot to keep up with. Typically the flippers are first to get sloppy. The linkages get loose and springs wear out.

I've wanted to get into pinball for years but it's pretty cost prohibitive when a single machine typically goes for between 2 - 10k. Thought about virtual pinball for the variety, and while it's visually impressive, I can't imagine it coming close to the feel of actual pinball.

I've always been more of a retro video arcade game enthusiast and I've scratched that itch with a single cabinet running MAME and Daphne (for the laser disc stuff), plus most of the retro gaming consoles (Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, 400/800, NES, SNES, Colecovision, Intellivision, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System). I designed the control panel myself to allow for most 2 player games, plus a trackball, spinner, flight stick, and a ball-top stick for all the classic single player stuff, all of which together can handle most games up to 4 players, though that can be a little clunky. About the only games I can't play are those that require a light gun. Driving and flight sim games aren't great either, but the spinner and/or track ball does make them playable.

That's so cool. I've thought about building something like that myself for decades, but never pulled the trigger. (I did buy a Pac-Man's Pixel Bash, a real licensed product, with a fridge in it!)

That's really nice. One half of me wants to build a little retro setup with my NES, Super NES, N64, PS1, etc, and would love to have it all on a switcher to an analogue TV. The other half wants to sell it all and get rid of the clutter.