Pinball Update for March 2014

There has been a lot of action in the pinball scene this winter. During my last update in January, some new tables popped up in Toronto like Batman at Harborfront centre, which has now been replaced by Shrek. The Rolling Stones popped up at a new location, Bar Radio.

Speaking of old rocks, AC/DC has returned to the city.

The table is is at a new locale, Lipstick & Dynamite. The address is 992 Queen St. West, right around Queen and Ossington. The table is located in the back of the bar, near the washrooms. Word is that this particular AC/DC table has the updated code and it really shows. The game just feels much more fleshed out and there are now quite a few new animations on the Dot Matrix Display. The table is brand spankin' new right now; the playfield is so clean that you can hear the ball sliding across it. Everything is in order save for the cannon; when the ball is loaded into the cannon, it tends to stick and pressing the Fire button won't do anything. I also realized how much of a pain that cannon is. The right outlanes are obscured by the cannon and the ramps and makes it difficult to save your ball when it falls down near the right side.

Another War Machine championship for MUF!

This past Saturday, I went on a pinball marathon with my buddy, Adam, and played pinball all over the city, from 3030 to Monarch Tavern and everywhere else in between. Lipstick & Dynamite was the 4th stop on our trip and was my third time putting up my initials! Prior to L&D, we were at Boo Radley's in the Junction at Dupont and Symington. Wheel of Fortune is gone and Family Guy is now standing alone. It's been fixed up somewhat and the table doesn't spew out more pinballs at random as much any more. It still does, mind you, but not as often. One of the Stewie pinball slingshots is broken and blocks off the left outlane and makes for an awkward game. It's not too bad but it might screw you up once or twice.
I managed to get a ball stuck on Stewie Pinball.

I then went and got the 4th high score!

Not satisfied with 4th place, I beat my previous score and got NUMBER ONE!

Later on, we went to California Sandwiches where we had some hella tasty veal sandwiches and feeling quited POWERED UP I took NUMBER 1 again on Sopranos.

Geeze louise! I played quite a few good games, if I do say so myself!

I've made a few trips down to the Danforth this past month and was pleased to see some new entries on the D. Brass Taps is rockin' the rock'n'roll theme with Rolling Stones and Metallica.

Metallica's grave markers don't work so you cannot get Master of Puppets Multiball.

The Court Jester has NASCAR now.

Well, that's all fine and dandy, just a couple of Stern tables, that's usually par for the course. ETON House normally has a Stern placed in the back but this time around, they got something  a little better...

NICE!

DAAAAAAAAANG! Black Rose! It's not often that you see a table this old in the city, let alone a classic Bally!

Although there are a few good old school tables like Data East's Star Wars at Unlovable and Tommy at Monarch Tavern, as well as an assortment of Electro-Mechanical tables and Williams' Pin-Bot at 3030 but a rare early 90's Bally Solid-State is a real treat! In all my time of playing pinball and attending various expos, I have never come upon Black Rose. My only exposure of this table is through The Pinball Arcade but now that has changed. Black Rose at ETON House is in incredible condition. I swear it's like the machine came right off the floor in 1992. The playfield is spotless, everything is in working order and the table just plays so dang well. No matter how pretty Black Rose is, this table has some serious teeth. It's a really tough table with not one but THREE target banks set up to make you drain right down the middle.

That wraps up this update! I've updated my Google map, Pinballin' in the Big City so you can track down all the pinball machines I know of!

One last plug! Come check out Bright Lights, Bumper City - The Tumblr for all sorts of pinball pics! I post a new pinball picture each day, some of which you may not see on the blog!