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Filthy RCT and shonky TAF in the wild

lukewells

lukewells

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10 Years
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
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Location
Blackpool, UK
Been playing this today at St Annes pier.

It always looks like this, there is no GI and the flippers are super weak. I don't think it has ever been cleaned as long as I have been going there.

I put one credit (50p) in and won 2 replays and a special, carried on playing for about an hour and won 1 or 2 replays on most games. I got bored of battling against the weak flippers, so abandoned it with 3 credits still on it. Went and told some random guy he could have my credits and it looked like I made his day. He said he loved pinball :)

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Then I went over to the TAF and NOPE, I am walking away

The slings are classy! Flippers look awesome, there is no GI, The DMD has got more lines out than there are working now and the plunger is a tap lol

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I correctly guessed which arcade you had been in by the game titles before reading through the thread. I had played those very games two years ago in nearly the same state....

I was down in Weston-Super-Mare last week and went for a few games on the pier. The four games that were brand new four years ago are now in a shocking state. All are filthy dirty and all now have at least a couple of features not working. The Shrek is unplayable as the centre Skill Post is completely MISSING and the ball just sits in the hole left. :(:mad:

I went back there the following day and the ball had been removed from the hole with the machine left switched on ready to catch out another punter. :(


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In another arcade in Weston there was a X-Men which played OK, apart from the left sling rubber that was missing. This had been bodged up with rubber bands. Of course the ball kept getting stuck behind these needing a call to one of the attendants to free the ball each time. :rolleyes:
 
If this is in a arcade with a pirates of the caribean I no who owns it
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Yep that's the one, last time I was there the SWEp1 was unplayable and the screen had died. The POTC, while very dirty, was at least playable. There's another 3 pins in the Pier arcade but they're all knackered and switched off :(
 
ronsplooter said:
Yep that's the one, last time I was there the SWEp1 was unplayable and the screen had died. The POTC, while very dirty, was at least playable. There's another 3 pins in the Pier arcade but they're all knackered and switched off :(
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I no who owns them then and they won't ever sell them they said if they sell them it would leave a empty space in the arcade
 
The arcade in St Annes has Elvis, RCT, TAF and RFM all in shocking condition, they have been like that for years (practically unplayable) The RFM is set on 30p a play and no one ever plays it, so I can only assume the electric to run it costs more than it makes. I've asked a few times over the years and they are not interested in selling them at all, even agreed they barely take any money.

Surely they would get played more if they were clean and working?
 
They both look MINT to me, quick dust down with an old rag and ready for ebay with the essential sentence " I have seen these sell for £10,000 so no silly offers, I know what they are worth!".

I try and avoid arcades but feel the same way every time I do venture in, it's all the same, same shoot' em ups, driving games, 2 pence drop coin machines and the slots, every arcade needs at least one fully functional pinball machine to break the monotony, unfortunately the above examples do not qualify.
 
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Judge Dreads said:
same shoot' em ups, driving games, 2 pence drop coin machines and the slots.
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Sounds better than average. Last time I went in an arcade there were no shoot em ups, no driving games and obviously no pinball. There were dancing games, claw grabbers, a few crappy whack-a-mole things, and row upon row of slots. Oh and maybe a coin pusher thingy as well. It was utter bollo_cks. These places used to be glorious palaces of pleasure for kids and teens, now it's just sad old women blowing all their savings on slots, or chavs blowing their giros. A sad state of affairs.

Hopefully we will start to see a few 'retro' arcades spring up soon.
 
cooldan said:
These places used to be glorious palaces of pleasure for kids and teens, now it's just sad old women blowing all their savings on slots, or chavs blowing their giros. A sad state of affairs.

Hopefully we will start to see a few 'retro' arcades spring up soon.
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Unbelievable isn't it.... :(. Got fantastic memories of the Blackpool arcades in the 80's and they're all ****e now. Those pins at St. Annes are really close to me and just can't bring myself to see them again, never mind play them.

One light on the horizon is a couple of local lads starting up an arcade in Haslingden (loads of info on J+), mainly video cabs but supposed to be 8 pins initially (latest report). Not sure on opening day or how this will be operated yet, but check out the pics on J+. Impressive !!
 
cooldan said:
Sounds better than average. Last time I went in an arcade there were no shoot em ups, no driving games and obviously no pinball. There were dancing games, claw grabbers, a few crappy whack-a-mole things, and row upon row of slots. Oh and maybe a coin pusher thingy as well. It was utter bollo_cks. These places used to be glorious palaces of pleasure for kids and teens, now it's just sad old women blowing all their savings on slots, or chavs blowing their giros. A sad state of affairs.

Hopefully we will start to see a few 'retro' arcades spring up soon.
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The arcade here is exactly the same. I have got to know the manager a little bit since moving here and he is adamant that he will never ever site another pinball machine there. Too much hassle and not enough profit. Space is a premium etc etc. You can't blame these people though. They will take 100 times the money on a 'stop the red light win a prize' type games than they will on a pin. Most arcade owners cannot be ****d to perform the maintenance required to keep a pin in a decent playable condition. Not when they can stick a Deal or No Deal fruit machine there and never have to touch it.

And video games in arcades were doomed the minute home consoles were able to play games that looked and played as good as the arcade machines. Just look what you can get for your consoles - Steering wheels and pedals, guns, flight sticks, joysticks, quiz buzzers etc etc. So you can have the full arcade experience without leaving your house.

Same deal with Retro games sadly. There are quite a few retro games that I still love to play. But I can get them all for a couple of quid on the Playstation Network Store or on a compilation disc. It's not exactly the same as playing the dedicated cab version but it is pretty close.

I used to love arcades when I was a kid. Well I still do! It was always my favourite place to go back then. But they will never ever be back to how they were. :( Those days have gone. The kids of today are just not interested. They've got it all at home.

That is why this is such an awesome hobby though. Just a few nutters who keep it alive by having machines at home, hosting meets, putting on shows, driving around with an ACDC and setting it up all over Worthing :eek::clap:etc etc..
 
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The machines in Southend are in the same sorry state as above.

I'd love to have the funds to open up a retro arcade or something like swl in north Devon. We have nothing like that down here anymore
 
cooldan said:
Sounds better than average.
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I'm talking N Wales, in a few years ours will be like yours although to be honest even now they are sad desperate places, apart from the one in Pwllheli I have sworn never to enter any of them again, Pwllheli used to have a TAF on site but has been missing a couple years due to the same problem (a fault that is beyond the operators scope to repair and no techie within a 100 miles) I used to go there and give it a tweak and a wipe free of charge everytime I ventured that way but it's now in storage :(.
 
Its such a shame we aren't in America, Pinball has always been part of their culture and with barcades popping up its actually on the upswing, I don't think barcades in the UK would be viable though :(
 
I guess it's just the arcade mentality living on.

Machine has long since paid for itself and is costs ~50p in electricty a day to run. If profit from leaving be > cost to run = keep.
 
The main reason I pulled my Tron out of the local pub was because I was constantly getting calls from the landlady to say the machine was jammed.
Despite three separate signs saying 'THIS MACHINE ONLY ACCEPTS POUND COINS' it was always jammed with 10p's, 20p's, Euros etc. I would say 95% of the visits I made were due to wrong coins jamming the slot.
 
I TiltAlot said:
I correctly guessed which arcade you had been in by the game titles before reading through the thread. I had played those very games two years ago in nearly the same state....

I was down in Weston-Super-Mare last week and went for a few games on the pier. The four games that were brand new four years ago are now in a shocking state. All are filthy dirty and all now have at least a couple of features not working. The Shrek is unplayable as the centre Skill Post is completely MISSING and the ball just sits in the hole left. :(:mad:

I went back there the following day and the ball had been removed from the hole with the machine left switched on ready to catch out another punter. :(


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In another arcade in Weston there was a X-Men which played OK, apart from the left sling rubber that was missing. This had been bodged up with rubber bands. Of course the ball kept getting stuck behind these needing a call to one of the attendants to free the ball each time. :rolleyes:
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RUBBER BANDS FOR SLINGSHOTS,,, WHAT EVER NEXT, JUMPERS FOR GOAL POSTS
 
Maybe someone needs to come up with another way of paying to play then instead of using coins? With todays technology it should be possible to add credit using some other method instead. But yeah, the few Pins we did have around this way were all in terrible condition and most of them have vanished now.

Sad. I can only hope to get moved and saving so that I can hopefully snag a few more for home use over the next few years before prices get even more crazy. At least then I can indulge my habit at home.
 
Wiredworm said:
Maybe someone needs to come up with another way of paying to play then instead of using coins? With todays technology it should be possible to add credit using some other method instead..
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There are and they're in use in other countries... the best one appears to be the pay for a swipe card and charge the card at reception before swiping the machines for a game or two...
 
I do believe we have a X Men set up in the U.K. on the Barclays Ping it system. Pay for a game with you mobile.
 
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