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Pinball at warp factor 8 .... long live the Electric Circus .. 2

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Sounds like it is a "wet" bar - most have had to go food led in these days and that's their hook, hoping that the coin-op approach drives in the wet, and that this subsidises the wet side too.

Out of interest @steve brum @Courtney Blush - what are you charging on the beer?
 
Hopefully, there are still plans for a single-fee, free play session provision. Think Saturday or Sunday day-time was mentioned previously as a possibility?

Or is that now unlikely? At least for the foreseeable future?

Of course, it’s early days and imagine we’re talking months rather than weeks before you can really get a solid insight into what you feel is the best approach for your customers and yourselves as a business.

Really wish I had discovered the original Electric Circus before it closed.


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Agree with coin play on all pins. Makes winning credits worth something!

Obviously in tournament days or on one off events change to free play..

Good work Steve & Courtney. You have the space. Could easily turn into the Mecca for Pinball and tournaments :)
 
Club has never done hot food even back in the 30s. No space or provision . Traditionally buffets put on for functions etc.

Free play sessions didnt work for us before and as most players will be casual then traditional pay per play is the way we have gone.

Prices at the bar are very competive even for the local area. Our webmaster should be updating site ASAP
 
@steve brum Ah that’s a shame. All the more reason I’m gutted I missed visiting the original Electric Circus. Pinball machines on free-play always had the ring of too good to be true.

Thanks for responding though and of course, I wish you every success at the new place. Hope to visit soon, just waiting for the opportunity to arise that I can untangle myself from the kids - almost never happens [emoji2957]


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I am amazed why people on here are discussing entrance fee vs coin per play.

Some people will use the club for simply drinking - others will use it to play pinball and drink - and some others will use it for live music (oh yes - and drink). So why should the people who just want to drink or watch bands pay a flat entrance fee to play machines they dont want to.

50p these days is nothing for a game of pinball, most places its £1.

It is not just a pinball club, these guys have got to make some money.
 
Pick Holder said:
I am amazed why people on here are discussing entrance fee vs coin per play.

Some people will use the club for simply drinking - others will use it to play pinball and drink - and some others will use it for live music (oh yes - and drink). So why should the people who just want to drink or watch bands pay a flat entrance fee to play machines they dont want to.

50p these days is nothing for a game of pinball, most places its £1.

It is not just a pinball club, these guys have got to make some money.
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Agree totally! 50p per game is a great price and I’m not complaining!




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@Pick Holder My posts were purely from a subjective, personal interest in what provision was going to happen at the new venue. I only found out about the previous venue as it was closing. That had a set-fee, free play system I believe? This same system was mentioned in relation to this new venue as well. Hence my interest.

Now I know that is no longer under consideration for the time being, my curiosity has been met.

My posts were never in any way meant to be complaining nor presuming knowledge of what best serves a business. I’m just a bloke new to the hobby, excited by the prospect of playing machines in the wild. Coin-op or free play. End of. Nothing more to add.


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Lroy said:
@Pick Holder My posts were purely from a subjective, personal interest in what provision was going to happen at the new venue. I only found out about the previous venue as it was closing. That had a set-fee, free play system I believe? This same system was mentioned in relation to this new venue as well. Hence my interest.

Now I know that is no longer under consideration for the time being, my curiosity has been met.

My posts were never in any way meant to be complaining nor presuming knowledge of what best serves a business. I’m just a bloke new to the hobby, excited by the prospect of playing machines in the wild. End of. Nothing more to add.


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@Lroy where are you based? (Our of interest?

Plan to visit this he club as just an hour and a bit from London


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@Benleigh250

Fortunately enough I’m about an hour or less away from both this new Electric Circus and Tilt in Birmingham. So location is great for me, as alluded to before my only real hurdle is free ‘adult’ time to get out too them [emoji23]


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Pick Holder said:
I am amazed why people on here are discussing entrance fee vs coin per play.

Some people will use the club for simply drinking - others will use it to play pinball and drink - and some others will use it for live music (oh yes - and drink). So why should the people who just want to drink or watch bands pay a flat entrance fee to play machines they dont want to.

50p these days is nothing for a game of pinball, most places its £1.

It is not just a pinball club, these guys have got to make some money.
Click to expand...

Everyone seems to be a back seat business man these days! I pay 0% interest and stop reading!

Easy to comment then have the balls to have a stab at it themselves
 
Kenny Taylor said:
Obviously in tournament days or on one off events change to free play..
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Certainly not 'obviously'.

The vast majority of comps in the USA are in bars and all of the machines are set on 'pay to play' - a significant number of tournament organisers don't even have keys to the machines they use.

Can you imagine how long it would take to change the settings on 45 machines from casual play to tournament play - and then change them back again?
 
And of course, freeplay doesn't pay the bills for the host.

A day's pinball is honestly not the most expensive time at the arcade a person can have, not by far - unless you're a new player and cannot manage greater than two minutes per credit on a machine, or you're playing a real butthole-slammer of a machine.

Maybe it's my history of being an arcade rat playing music games like DDR for hours and hours on end, but those games are a solid 6 minutes per pound (assuming you don't fail on any of your three songs) and I call that a very reasonable average for anything in an arcade at ten pounds per hours packed-solid entertainment, with longer-per-credit being good value for money and shorter games than that being expensive and money-sapping unless there's a payout chance or you're deliberately playing stuff that's too hard for you in order to progress your skills.

Pinball is more variable given that you can drop a credit in three minutes or less if you just tank each ball, but pinball is also one of those games where you can drag a credit out almost indefinitely. If there's low replay scores or you get lucky on matches it's even better. I've literally walked away from some pinball games in the wild after a single pound coin because I kept resetting the replay score, and I was getting bored after an hour. Some video games are like that once you reach a certain skill level, too.
 
We will announce the first IFPA tourney shortly but we have a separated raised area so would set up 8 games of various vintages there for the tournament and leave main room on 50p play . The big red pin trolley makes it relatively (LOL) easy to shunt machines about. There would be no entrance fee for the tournament as such or if there was this would just go into a prize fund. That means casual players could still play the other pins and videos and might be drawn to see what is going on in the tournament area and maybe even register. We are considering pinball party hire where you can hire the entire room and its bar with games on free play but this would only on quieter times like weekday afternoons.

It is obviously a predominately wet sales venue so our main efforts at the moment are concentrated on the main bar. Its a groaning process getting games to work on coins but hopefully 90% of games in the main section will be 50p ready by the weekend.

We have entertainment on each of 3 the bank holiday days so check out the FB page!

At least now the Circus is in colour !!

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steve brum said:
Thanks Ben for making the trip from the south east

And yes Taxi is a hard game!
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Yup - @steve brum nice place you’ve got there hope to be back later in the year! Messaged you privately about ac/dc. Loved back to the Future pinball tricky to get the millions and yet to work out how to tune travel on the game!


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You open on Tuesday ? I’m thinking of driving over. What time are your opening hours ?


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