You Dirty Rat!

The Stern Spider-man Pinball machine at the Ft MyersAle House no longer displays my initials on its high score leader board. Someone has known only to me by his initials of D.O.N. aka the dirty rat has wipe me from existing on the face of this Spider-man pin. DON did such a beat down to knock my 102 million with his fourth rank of 168 million. He must be putting some time in on that pinball machine. He has the second & third spots locked up also & that is just plain getting greedy! New Challenge: Gun for the D.O.N. & knock him off that leader board! If you have the skill or luck and success in doing so, contact me here and I will post your results.

The Spider-man Pinball Machine can be found at: The Ale House - 4400 Kernel Circle, Ft Myers, FL Have fun, Dan

Name up in Lights

Success. My second visit to the Spider-man Pinball Machine turned out to be a great night. I had an awesome first ball with an extra ball awarded to help me put my initials up on the leader board. I fell in at fourth rank with 102,047,770. This game is a smooth setup with entertaining layout & design. It was fast & furious with multi-balls shooting from all directions. I found my timing groove which helped for the Vemon shots off the upper right flipper. The Challenge: I welcome everybody and anybody to replace my high score in lieu for their own. If you have the skill or luck and success in doing so, contact me here and I will post your results. The Spiderman Pinball Machine can be found at: The Ale House- 4400 Kernel Circle, Ft Myers, FL Have fun & good luck!

World Poker Tour Shanghai!

The Stern-World Poker Tour pinball machine has been put to sea and replaced by the Stern-Pirates of the Caribbean at Stevie Tomato’s Sportspage Ft Myers location. The pitch is set high on this machine causing fast balls and short games especially if you go after the center pirate targets, so good luck with putting your initials up on the leader board. Stern- Pirates of the Caribbean: Clean, bright, playable but pitch high with fast play, Stevie Tomato’s Sportspage- 11491 Cleveland Ave, Ft Myers 33907- Bar & Restaurant Have fun. Dan

Hell of a Night!

I had a hell of a Saturday night.

A group of us planned a quest for pinball locations. We heard rumors about a location way up in the Port Charlotte area, (thanks Rome) which is about 70 miles away from where we were.

So, we stopped in Ft Myers on the way to grab a bite to eat and a beer, before starting the drive. We ended up stopping at the Ale House to find a solo pin, the new Spider-man. Sweet. No one else was playing it, so we dominated the machine for over two hours, eating between play.

The play was fast and had a good flow. The sound was good and it fit the game play well. It was a real good layout by Steve Ritchie, I never cared for any of his other past layouts like WPT, Elvis, STNG, BK, T3 or Getaway, but this one is definitely different and better. I liked the spider sense back of flipper shot. The center post certainly helps from a center hit on the sandman from draining. The game was fresh on location, but still could not put my name up on the board with the score of 67m.

What was more exciting was a young kid started to gather around and was watch us on the machine with increasing interests, so my wife invited the kid to join our group and she tutored him about the flippers. She pulled up a stool and he climb atop to the pinball machine & his face shown with awe. I was surprised at how quick the young kid picked up skill with his timing and shots, for never having touched a pin before and plus he look to be barely nine years.

He played a few rounds before he and parents had to leave. He was looking back at the Spiderman over his shoulder as he was led and heading out the door.

Maybe pinball is not dead like others think.


So, we continued on to our original destination: Port Charlotte Our goal to find additional pinball location based solely on speculation with little to no information on what machines they had & conditions that they would be in.

We found the place with no problems, only to find out we might not be able to gain access to the pinball machines, vids only! So we told the young lady our story and where we drove from and promised to treat the machines with respect since we were all owners of pins ourselves. She walked us into a dark side room…. with eleven Bally/Williams machines? No…. this could not be true or even real. An unbelievable site, a STNG, MB, AFM, TOTAN, SS, TOM, TZ, CFTBL, FH, RFM, and a SWE1 all lined up, sitting there silent, power off, in the dark room.

She started with a warning, saying the owner was very particular about his pins & that he did not like the younger kids beating on them and being careless with food & drinks & that was the reason that they stood silent in the dark. We assure her we were not that young anymore.

None of the pinball machines were powered up, and this young lady didn't know how to turn them on, so I told her that I could take care of that little problem for her. Plus, she said that she was not sure which ones were operational, so again I offered a helping hand and reassured her not to worry for I would be happy to find that answer out for her. The pins look to be really clean & in good shape. I walked up to the AFM, powered on to be greeted with a enter report warning. I proceeded with putting two quarters in only, then launched the ball into action without any problems. It was everything that I hoped it to be and way more. We took our rounds on every machine and enjoyed everyone.

What an overload, I was in “a kid in a candy store” mode, but the evening got better when the young lady stated that there was four more pinball machines that were located in a different building, two over from where we were. So, my wife volunteered to track down “the others” while we continued with our present quarter pumping onslaught. She reported back without any excitement that she found the missing pins: GOOD NEWS- the pins were a MM, CC, TAF, and an IJ. BAD NEWS- that building was closing in ten minutes. We chose to stay at our current position, to leave those machines to be explored at a later date.

We had the place to ourselves, which made me happy that “we owned the place”, but makes me sad that such a great collection of public “A” list pinball machines exists without being enjoyed to the fullest.

The Port Charlotte Locations is:

JJ’s Pool & Arcade- 18505 Paulson Drive, Port Charlotte, FL 33948
(941) 743-5572.

They are only open on Friday 5pm -1am & Saturday 5pm – 2am.

What a great evening. What a great find. I only had seven pinball machines located on the web site at http://pinballavenue.blogspot.com/ before this night. Now we have twenty-three with a little extra driving time.

Have fun.

Dan

Spiderman Found in SW Florida!

Hell frozen over, expect cooler weather. A Stern pinball machine was found on location at The Fort Myers Ale House and it happens to be the BRAND NEW Spider-man with a Steve Ritchie Design. The game play is clean & fast. The ramps are quick & fast. Be warned: the sandman center shot, after the drop targets are down, will guide the ball toward the middle to drain, use the center post between the flippers as a last alternative. The Vemon ramp is a sweet shot coming off the upper flipper & I like the Spider Sense shot, off the back of the upper flipper. If you are local, give it a shot. Ale House- 4400 Kernel Cir, Ft Myers, FL UPDATE: We only had seven pinball located on my web site at http://pinballavenue.blogspot.com/ before the weekend. Now we have twenty-three. Have fun. Dan.

Pirate Pinball Night

With the help from Tony B. for the locations, I played two new machines: World Poker Tour & Pirates of the Caribbean pins mentioned in the Update: new locations found article. The WPT was the only pinball machine & looking lonely while it was surrounded by pool tables, mames & arcade games at Stevie Tomato’s Sportspage- 11491 Cleveland Ave, Ft Myers. The first game play on the WPT seemed to “knock the rust loose” on the drop targets. These drop targets weren’t resetting in the upright position until the third ball was played, then they sprung to life to join in for the rest of the evening. The only big complaint was the sound was nonexistent, so we were force to do our own commentaries & sound effects. The POTC was also solo in the field of video bowlers & poker machines at Stevie Tomato’s Sportspage- 3422 Del Prado Blvd, Cape Coral. The same problem was present on this machine as the pin before, no sound. Fortunately, I can do a better imitation of a scurvy pirate & firing cannons, then a bluffing poker player so the non present sound was no real loss & plus the solo performer on the small stage was quite entertaining. PLUS A NEW LOCATION: Stern Pirates of the Caribbean: Clean, A few burnt bulbs, no sound present, playable, but out of level to right & pitch set slow, 8 Ball Lounge-14500 South Tamiami Trail, Ft Myers, FL 33912