Second Look at TRON: Legacy

*DERK'S NOTE: After a brief hiatus, Bumper City is back up and running! Took some time to rejuvenate and get things sorted out but we're back it and ready to get posting! this is a bit of an older post, something I have had written up for some time now but just never had the chance to post it. I really like TRON so I want to get this post out to you instead of just collecting digital cobwebs! Also, there is a TRON: Legacy within city limits at Silver Snail on Yonge Street, just north of Dundas Station! I heard it is really nice so go check it out!*

After more than a year, TRON: Legacy has reappeared in Toronto! Back in 2011, before I moved to the city, I first experienced TRON at Done Right Inn and learned about Done Right Inn's infamous TILT settings. A few years later in 2013, I found TRON at Pegasus Bar and wrote a review about it! A few months and a couple of seasons later, TRON once again appeared at May Cafe. During its stint at May, I really got to sink my teeth into TRON: Legacy.

After May ditched TRON, it reappeared at Monarch Tavern.

TRON is long gone from Monarch Tavern, having been replaced by The Sopranos which has now been swapped out for The Walking Dead which has now been switched out for KISS! Geeze louise! The very same TRON made its way to Lipstick & Dynamite down in Parkdale for a good moment then over to Brass Taps on the Danforth, however, the wear and tear was certainly beginning to show. Right now, this particular TRON is no longer around but another TRON machine has popped up at Silver Snail on Yonge!

Hiatus

Hello everyone, Derk here with some unfortunate news. I'm going to be taking a hiatus from writing and updating Bumper City for a little while. After 3 great years of this blog, I'm beginning to feel a bit of burnout and so I want to step away for a little while and recharge. I haven't been posting as much as I would like to and trying to create new content has become a bit of a chore which stinks because it should be fun! Life has also been quite busy as well and it's been hard to find time to balance everything so I want to take some time off from Bumper City in order to regain some focus. Life is good right now but there's just so much going on that I need to scale down a bit.

I'm really happy to see what the pinball community has become over the past 3 years and I am excited to see the future but as of right now, I just don't have the energy. Thank you for your readership; I really appreciate every single person that has taken the time to read my posts.

I will still be updating Pinballin' in the Big City, the best Toronto pinball map around! If you need to know where to go to play pinball, look no further than my map!

All the best,
Derk

NO FEAR! at Coalition

There has been a lot of action in Toronto's pinball scene! The city's pinball numbers have been on the rise lately with many new venues getting outfitted with tables. One of the most recent places I have heard about is Coalition in Kensington Market, just a few steps south of College St. on Kensington Ave. I recently got the chance to stop by Coalition on a rainy Saturday night and not only found a few cool pinball machines but also a really cool bar! Similar to Junction City Music Hall, the moment you step into Coalition, you will descend a few flights of stairs down to the bar itself. There's a room with a pool table but make your way over to the main part of the bar and you will find the pinball tables and a arcade cabinet tucked away in a corner. This place is big so there will be plenty of room to play and you won't bump anyone that is on their way to the washroom. Coalition is serviced by Toronto Coin Exchange, one of the best operators in the city, and they have placed some great machines!

WHOA! NO FEAR! When I heard that No Fear had entered the city, I was super excited to check it out. Street Fighter II... not so much but I did play it a round or two. Anyways, I think it's time we talk about a real cool and TOTALLY X-TREEEEEEEEEEME table in the form of NO FEAR!

This table is just plain crazy! You want fast gameplay? you got it! You want a ton of shots? You got that too. Plenty of modes? Oh yeah, more than enough to go around! You want fear? SORRY BUT WE'RE ALL OUT!

BUMP & SURF 4: Jammin' in The Junction

You know that I've been posting about this lil thing called Bump & Surf the last couple of months. I joined forces with local Surf band, Luau or Die for a monthly residency at Junction City Music Hall. We combined two of my favorite things, pinball and Surf music! If you have been following this blog for any time at all, you know how much I love JCMH's pinball line-up. It's even better when you can play along to some great live Surf! We are reaching the end of summer and along with that, the end of our lil residency at JCMH! 

Unfortunately, Luau Or Die are unable to make this show but in their stead we have two fantastic bands from the Toronto Surf Scene, The Cliff Divers and The Calrizians. In addition, I will be spinning all sorts of great surf tunes on physical and digital media. 

Since you may be unfamiliar with the bands, I'll give you a quick review! 

The Cliff Divers consists of Johnny G on the guitar, Nautiloid Rick on the bass, and Big Bad Danny Brody on the drums. They got a real heavy Surf sound, keeping things a bit like the traditional Surf that you are used to while also throwing in some real neat tricks to get you movin' and shakin'! 

Just wait till good ol' Johnny G busts out the steel lap guitar, Surfy! They got a few other surfadelic licks up their sleeve so you better come out to Bump & Surf and experience it for yourself! 

Next up we have The Calrizians and they are real cool. The Calrizians rock a unique sound by incorporating an electric organ to their mix of classic surf tunes and covers you never thought you would hear! I'll give ya a hint... Blondie and Black Sabbath. Want to know how that sounds? Well, you better make it out to the show on September 26th!

As for the pinball at JCMH, if you caught my previous post about City Pinball, Twilight Zone has joined the lineup and man it is GOOOOOOOOOD! 

Thanks to Mike B. for this pic!

Hopefully this is enough to entice you to come out to Bump & Surf 4 at Junction City Music Hall on Saturday, September 26th! That's next week! It is a matinee gig so come on out around 1PM, stick around for some awesome Surf music, maybe grab a drink and play some pinball, then go home and have a nap so yer ready for Saturday night! NICE! Don't forget to click this link and RSVP on the Facebook page!

NEW LEAGUE INCOMING!

I keep my eyes and ears open to all the latest happenings of pinball in Toronto and most recently, I have heard word of a new pinball league starting up in the city!

City Pinball is the new pinball league based in Toronto and will be operating out of Junction City Music Hall, right in the heart of the Junction! That's right, we will have a league right here in Toronto so for those that are confined to the limits of public transit, this is a much more accessible pinball league. Big ups to the fellas running City Pinball, this is something that the city really needs.

The first night will be on Wednesday September 9th (click the link for the Facebook event page) and will be running bi-weekly in a three-month season, operating exclusively out of Junction City Music Hall. Registration will be a one-time $20 fee for a single season and the games will be set to coin-op, ranging from 25 cents to $1. Make sure to grab a drink or two at the bar and help out Junction City Music Hall too. JCMH is a great venue and has one of the best line-ups in the city thanks to Dan of Guelph Pinball Club. BIG THANKS to Dan for keeping the machines at JCMH in working order and updating the line-up every once in a while with new machines. Word is that Twilight Zone is now among JCMH's roster and will be available for play on the inaugural league night on September 9th!

Thanks to Pinball Mike for the pic!

The bar has been set, gang!

The main goal of City Pinball is to organize Toronto's pinball fiends together in a great venue accessible by TTC and especially to have fun! That's what pinball is all about and that is what City Pinball is all about too! So mark yer calendar for Wednesday, September 9th, save up $20 for the registration fee (just a one-time fee!) and go couch fishin' for a couple of quarters and loonies! You can also RSVP at the Facebook event here. Let's establish City Pinball as the number 1 pinball league in Toronto!

Johnny Mnemonic

In my previous review of Georgian Grill's pinball arcade, we took a look at "the woman of the 90's", The Machine: Bride of Pin·bot so how about we travel into THE FUTURE and review Williams' Johnny Mnemonic!

Like Demolition Man, this was a table based on a Sci-Fi film that flopped in theatres. It seems as though Williams was trying to recreate the success of Terminator 2: Judgment Day but had a string of bad luck, basing their pinball machines on movies that became box office bombs. Despite the quality of the movies, both Demolition Man and Johnny Mnemonic are solid but underrated tables released in the golden years of the mid 90's. Johnny Mnemonic takes full advantage of the trappings of the film the table is based on which makes for some interesting designs. The feature that catches one's eye upon stepping up to the table looks like Nintendo's powerglove.

Not quite though! It's the DATAGLOVE, a piece of the VR equipment that Johnny uses to cyberhack the 'net. In the movie, Johnny has to "physically" navigate a virtual reality landscape of the internet in order to obtain some information. The dataglove acts as a part of the ball lock, capturing the ball and dropping it into the Datamatrix (WHOA)

The Simpson Pinball Party

The legendary Stern classic, The Simpsons Pinball Party has once again entered the city limits! There was a very brief period where The Simpsons Pinball Party was at the old Pinball Cafe but it has now found a place among the lineup at Junction City Music Hall!

This particular table first set foot at Handlebar for the Beer & Ball Festival before making its way over to the Junction.

The Simpsons Pinball Party is one of Stern's most ambitious tables; the table was produced by Keith Johnson and Joe Balcer, the latter going on to design Jersey Jack Pinball's Wizard of Oz. TSPP was released in early 2003 and certainly was a sign of things to come with the release of The Lord of The Rings near the end of the year.

The Simpsons Pinball Party is jam-packed with all sorts of shots and features. When you first step up to the game, it's nearly impossible to figure out just exactly what you are supposed to do! The complexity of TSPP isn't just in the playfield; the ruleset is considered one of Stern's most in-depth. There's a variety of modes to activate, like the episodes or the Itchy & Scratchy Multiball episodes, Otto's 2X scoring, or obtaining all of Cletus' kids, just to name a few.