Tuesday, January 8, 2013
BIG MONEY! BIG PRIZES! I LOVE IT! Stern's Monopoly!
WHOA WHOA WHOA! Here I thought I knew of every machine in Toronto but recently my friend AK and his ol' lady Allison spotted a machine out in the wild that I have never stumbled across! Now, I have a few things I consult in order to locate pinball like my Google Map, Pinballin' in The Big City, as well as a great app, Pinfinder. There is a free version but it only shows you the machines in your immediate location. But I digress... In what I consider a FINE HUNT, Stern's Monopoly has been spotted at Humber Cinema!
Monopoly was released in September 2001 and was a part of Stern's earliest licensed tables alongside Austin Powers and NFL (The first licensed table by Stern was Harley Davidson). Monopoly was designed by Pat Lawlor, who also designed for Stern Roller Coaster Tycoon (Would you like a review? OF COURSE!) and Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Happy New Years from Bright Lights Bumper City!
Hello friends! I just wanted to wish everyone a happy New Year's. I'm certainly looking forward to 2013. Lots of pinball on the horizon I hope! 2012 made for a lot of new discoveries and also a few sad moments but c'est la vie.
I took a bit of a sabbatical from since the Pinball Cafe closed and unfortunately haven't posted since. I have some stuff coming up for you though so keep tuned in! If you want to follow my pinball adventures more closely, may I invite you to my Instagram page! I tend to post new machines and whenever I'm playing pretty often so if you want to keep up with BLBC, then Instagram is a good way to go! (Please keep in mind that I post a lot of other stuff like... cats and food haha)
Check it out because there may be a few hints as to the next reviews coming up this month!
I took a bit of a sabbatical from since the Pinball Cafe closed and unfortunately haven't posted since. I have some stuff coming up for you though so keep tuned in! If you want to follow my pinball adventures more closely, may I invite you to my Instagram page! I tend to post new machines and whenever I'm playing pretty often so if you want to keep up with BLBC, then Instagram is a good way to go! (Please keep in mind that I post a lot of other stuff like... cats and food haha)
Check it out because there may be a few hints as to the next reviews coming up this month!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Farewell to The Pinball Cafe... Part II
I'll keep it brief... More pictures here of The Pinball Cafe's line-up throughout it's lifetime.
Visit Part I here if you haven't looked through yet. Plenty of pictures there too.
One of my most favourite machines to grace The Cafe's lineups... Stern's TRANSFORMERS LE!
Visit Part I here if you haven't looked through yet. Plenty of pictures there too.
One of my most favourite machines to grace The Cafe's lineups... Stern's TRANSFORMERS LE!
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| BEAUTIFUL |
Good Night, Sweet Pinball... Farewell to The Pinball Cafe
Nothing in this world is permanent and much of the things we love have a way of coming and going. Especially in pinball where in the late twentieth century, arcades and pinball machines were around every corner, in convenience stores, laundromats, pizza parlours and the like. Then, almost suddenly, arcade doors were closed, the windows shuttered and a permanent out-of-order sign put on the machines. Here in Toronto, I even thought the era of arcades came to a close when the Union Station arcade shut its doors with hardly a peep and pinball would go extinct.
The silver ball still rolled on, though, and in 2012, perhaps even saw a resurgence with Toronto's own twenty-first century arcade, The Pinball Cafe. Before The Cafe, pinball machines were scattered about the city and were more so decoration than entertainment. When Toronto's best, and only, pinball arcade opened up in January 2012, there was finally a storefront dedicated to the game. Instead of having to travel all over the city just to get a few rounds of pinball in on some machines of questionable quality, I finally had a place I could go with multiple clean, working machines.
Unfortunately, coming in just under a year, as of December 10, 2012, The Pinball Cafe has been forced to close its doors. It's a lot of politics, by-laws, and zoning variances which means it's a lot of stuff I don't really understand. I don't want to inundate you with a bunch of crap as to why The Cafe closed or where to point fingers, especially because it is very uncertain right now.
Jason and Rachel are two awesome people who I would call my friends. They've always made me feel welcome whenever I came by and it was always a pleasure to see the two of them. I've had lots of great times with both Rachel and Jason and I wish them all the best in their future endeavors. Hopefully we will be able to play pinball again soon!
I don't want to call this an obituary because that is hella sad. Consider this a tribute to one of my utmost favorite places in Toronto. I want to post a bunch of pictures for you that I have collected over the year during my visits to Toronto's best, and only, Pinball Cafe. Enjoy!
The silver ball still rolled on, though, and in 2012, perhaps even saw a resurgence with Toronto's own twenty-first century arcade, The Pinball Cafe. Before The Cafe, pinball machines were scattered about the city and were more so decoration than entertainment. When Toronto's best, and only, pinball arcade opened up in January 2012, there was finally a storefront dedicated to the game. Instead of having to travel all over the city just to get a few rounds of pinball in on some machines of questionable quality, I finally had a place I could go with multiple clean, working machines.
Unfortunately, coming in just under a year, as of December 10, 2012, The Pinball Cafe has been forced to close its doors. It's a lot of politics, by-laws, and zoning variances which means it's a lot of stuff I don't really understand. I don't want to inundate you with a bunch of crap as to why The Cafe closed or where to point fingers, especially because it is very uncertain right now.
Jason and Rachel are two awesome people who I would call my friends. They've always made me feel welcome whenever I came by and it was always a pleasure to see the two of them. I've had lots of great times with both Rachel and Jason and I wish them all the best in their future endeavors. Hopefully we will be able to play pinball again soon!
I don't want to call this an obituary because that is hella sad. Consider this a tribute to one of my utmost favorite places in Toronto. I want to post a bunch of pictures for you that I have collected over the year during my visits to Toronto's best, and only, Pinball Cafe. Enjoy!
 |
| One of the first lineups at The Cafe |
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
BATMAN
The Pinball Cafe has been going through a few different tables since September. One of the newest tables to hit the Cafe's floor is Stern's Batman.
It seems the machines come and go with certain themes. At one point there was Bally's Addams Family and Data East's Tales From The Crypt rocking a little bit of a horror theme. Then Williams' Diner and BAAAD CATS brought in some System-11 style which is still going on although Williams' Pin-Bot has replaced Diner. Gottlieb's Black Hole and Genie as well as Bally's Mata Hari and Xenon were keeping the late 70's/early 80's widebodies alive but have now all gone their separate ways. Now it seems we have a comic theme! Stern's Iron Man had a pretty long stay and X-Men is still residing at the Cafe. Now Batman is making its presence known.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
TRIP REPORT... PART II: The Pinball Gallery in Downington, PA
I have so much I want to talk about the Pinball Gallery and I didn't want to write a Russian novel in my first post. Plus, I wanted to share as much pictures as possible and I understand that can slow some computers down. Hell, even watching YouTube videos on my computer slows it down to a crawl! Anyways, enough about computers and more talk about Pinball!
If you haven't had a chance to read Part I of my Trip Report to Pinball Gallery then STOP and do yourself a favour... Read it!
Since I ended the last post talking about one wicked unusual table, Gottlieb's Bone Busters Inc., why don't we start Part II talking about it!
Back in 1984, Gottlieb was closed down by its parent company, Columbia Pictures as they thought pinball wasn't making the money it used to. A former Gottlieb employee, Gilbert Pollack, got together a group of investors to buy out the old assets and bring the company back under a new name, Premier. That is why you see a lot of machines post-1984 alternating between Gottlieb/Premier. Bone Busters Inc., which debuted in 1984 is an example of this, as you can see Gottlieb on the card holder by the lock bars but also the tag line "The Premier name in Pinball" throughout the table. An Impromptu Review for Bone Busters Inc. dropped in on my previous post, Silver Ball Spook Show Special, so check it out here and dig on a few other timeless Horror-themed pinball tables.
If you haven't had a chance to read Part I of my Trip Report to Pinball Gallery then STOP and do yourself a favour... Read it!
Since I ended the last post talking about one wicked unusual table, Gottlieb's Bone Busters Inc., why don't we start Part II talking about it!
Back in 1984, Gottlieb was closed down by its parent company, Columbia Pictures as they thought pinball wasn't making the money it used to. A former Gottlieb employee, Gilbert Pollack, got together a group of investors to buy out the old assets and bring the company back under a new name, Premier. That is why you see a lot of machines post-1984 alternating between Gottlieb/Premier. Bone Busters Inc., which debuted in 1984 is an example of this, as you can see Gottlieb on the card holder by the lock bars but also the tag line "The Premier name in Pinball" throughout the table. An Impromptu Review for Bone Busters Inc. dropped in on my previous post, Silver Ball Spook Show Special, so check it out here and dig on a few other timeless Horror-themed pinball tables.
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