To sum up Blackpool 
Pinball info
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Where to find pinball blackpool edition!
- Thread starter russdx1
- Start date
Just been in Blackpool today (fortunately, pinball was just a tertiary concern, main event was the airshow). Ghostbusters is still there today, but was turned off and non-functional - asked someone and its been like that for 2 weeks.
Also on central pier and also made by Stern Pinball I did find https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/The_Simpsons_Kooky_Carnival
Rather disappointing, thought for a moment it was a weird pinball-esque machine I'd never heard of, but no 0 pinballs and 0 flippers in it!
Checked a few other places between central and north piers but nothing there; didn't get to south pier area today.
not 1 pin!! (apart from ones at play expo)
every arcade (and I'm almost certain i tried them all) said the same thing TO MUCH MAINTAINENCE
How come pinball is making a big come back in the states? sounds like you can find a new stern anywhere yet here iv not seen one new machine.
The vintage trams where great though
made the 3.5 hour drive each way worth it
every arcade (and I'm almost certain i tried them all) said the same thing TO MUCH MAINTAINENCE
How come pinball is making a big come back in the states? sounds like you can find a new stern anywhere yet here iv not seen one new machine.
The vintage trams where great though
made the 3.5 hour drive each way worth it 
Aye there's more pins in the houses of people who live there these days.... shame considering the number/size of arcades. Just seems to be overpriced vids.
Are pinball machines really too much maintenance compared to penny pushers that need refilling with plastic crap every five minutes?
Maybe they're just not popular with the general public, I've never seen anyone else playing on the few pinball machines I've seen on location (which is admittedly not many).
Maybe they're just not popular with the general public, I've never seen anyone else playing on the few pinball machines I've seen on location (which is admittedly not many).
Sea of cranes fruitd and pushers. When coral island caught fire l though well at least nothing of value will be damaged
Think it's what can they make most money from with least work/aggro. In Blackpool, where budgets can be tight for people living and visiting there, the gambling machines are an easy win, exploiting the habit/temptation/fun aspect. Just my cynical view.
Amongst collectors and people just interested in playing pinball, probably common knowledge these days that there are none and any found there will be shagged.
Amongst collectors and people just interested in playing pinball, probably common knowledge these days that there are none and any found there will be shagged.
I must admit that coral island place was INSANE never seen such a big arcade with all the latest slots / machines. Was very impressed. And the little mono rail thing was very cool.
One that that really struct me though was all the new stuff (iv known this for fruit machines for a while now but not with arcade machines) is everything is now ink jet printed
and use cold white leds. Just looks so $hit compared to the silk screen printed artwork with proper lamps behind them. I miss those days so bad!!!!!!!
One that that really struct me though was all the new stuff (iv known this for fruit machines for a while now but not with arcade machines) is everything is now ink jet printed
and use cold white leds. Just looks so $hit compared to the silk screen printed artwork with proper lamps behind them. I miss those days so bad!!!!!!!
Penny pushers make a lot of money and loading up with plastic toys can be done by anyone. It's not a skilled task.
Machine takings always interest me. Redemption is where it's at though. I'm a games engineer for Namco and at the location I work for we do the machine collection every Monday morning. There's a section filled with the latest video machines which all look incredible and there's also a redemption section filled with games which I consider to provide very little entertainment for the price of play.
Every single week I find any 1 of the redemption cashboxes to have more money than all of the vids put together. Times have changed and I think the average Joe would rather spend £1 playing a naff game to win a couple of tickets than actually just pay for some quality entertainment... It's as if they need that reward otherwise it's not worth playing
I'd love to get an old Gottlieb with a ticket mech fitted and put that in the redemption side and then get a Jurassic Park or something brand new and stick that in the video side and see how they compare, pretty sure the results would probably be the same
Every single week I find any 1 of the redemption cashboxes to have more money than all of the vids put together. Times have changed and I think the average Joe would rather spend £1 playing a naff game to win a couple of tickets than actually just pay for some quality entertainment... It's as if they need that reward otherwise it's not worth playing
I'd love to get an old Gottlieb with a ticket mech fitted and put that in the redemption side and then get a Jurassic Park or something brand new and stick that in the video side and see how they compare, pretty sure the results would probably be the same
Yep... a little bit chicken-and-egg, hardcore gamers aren't hitting the arcades in their numbers anymore, so there's no reason to put anything there for hardcore gamers, etc. etc.
The money can be made and a 'classic' venue can be made to work - I know of one person that pulls it off with every arcade he's allowed to work with (long story) and of course, the likes of Arcade Club just hitting it out of the park. But these are high-effort for the love of the games first and foremost. It's far less effort to earn the same money just with prize redemption.
For some reason I thought a few guest houses had some pins but I can't find any pictures (or links) anywhere. Is the Vintage Slot Machine Museum on the North Pier still there?
Eee, it's all changed since I was a lad. Blackpool was a dump then but at least it had a fantastic collection of videogames and pins.
Eee, it's all changed since I was a lad. Blackpool was a dump then but at least it had a fantastic collection of videogames and pins.
So I'm on a stag do in blackpool next weekend is ghostbusters still on site? and if so where? and is it working thanks
North Pier I think.
Rather than starting a new thread makes sense to add to this one. I've just had a day trip to Morecambe, not particularly in search of pinball, but pinball is what I found.
Had a look in all the arcades on the front, and in Treasure Island they have a Stern Pirates of the Caribbean. It had a switch triggering randomly when it shouldn't (one that made it easier to sink ships), but otherwise was playable. Set at £1 per play, but replay value was set low so I got 3 free games from that, and another 2 from random match at the end. My best game (helped by that switch) was about twice my second best (and a long way off top 5 which were all well over 200M).
Also ended up seeing 2 other unexpected things in Morecambe - RNLI Hovercraft (didn't even know that existed) getting launched, and on the way back to my car there was a film crew filming on the promenade. Many, many years since I've been - maybe I'll go again sometime as its relatively close (about 50 miles away).
Had a look in all the arcades on the front, and in Treasure Island they have a Stern Pirates of the Caribbean. It had a switch triggering randomly when it shouldn't (one that made it easier to sink ships), but otherwise was playable. Set at £1 per play, but replay value was set low so I got 3 free games from that, and another 2 from random match at the end. My best game (helped by that switch) was about twice my second best (and a long way off top 5 which were all well over 200M).
Also ended up seeing 2 other unexpected things in Morecambe - RNLI Hovercraft (didn't even know that existed) getting launched, and on the way back to my car there was a film crew filming on the promenade. Many, many years since I've been - maybe I'll go again sometime as its relatively close (about 50 miles away).
i spent every school holiday in morcambe in the 60’s and 70’s. my granny had a boarding house there. it was fantastic back in those days. plenty to do, big funfair with wooden rollercoaster big dipper. marine land with dolphins, two piers. loads of arcades, joke shop, happy mount park and the go cart track up at heysham. shame it went to ruin.
Happy Mount park is still there (I went there as well today), some of those things you list had probably already gone by the first time I went in early 80's.