Wow! New hipster bar has 17 pinball machines

[Mr Johnson]

I haven't checked it out yet but I did email to make sure the rumor I heard was true. The general manager told me that they had Medieval Madness and 16 others!

It's downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.

http://pyramidschemebar.com/info/

[Mr Johnson]

So is pinball making a comeback or is it some sort of confirmation bias on my part?

[Compute]

I think that it will never be as big as it was. Between the 1970's and 1990's there was a huge increase in the number of machines made and locations to play. Nowadays there are not many arcades, and maintaining games (particularly games that are 20 or more years old) takes much more work than maintaining a video slot machine or one of those retarded coin op punching bags. I can think of a few places locally that have pins, and they all look like they have never been cleaned or had any work done whatsoever except to keep them flashing at least one bulb. Some collectors say that there is a price bubble in the market, at least for later solid state games. I have noticed many more bars with skee ball machines, so maybe something will happen down the line. In the end, I think pinball is still dead in the operators' eyes. For every "hip" bar with 10 machines, how many have 0?

[Mr Johnson]

You know I thought for a moment that maybe young people were gaining an interest in pinball, but I kind of forgot that "hipsters" are contrarians and follow fads that emphasize irony. Damn it all, probably not a good indicator.

I'm going to a pinball show next weekend, should be interesting to see if it will be all old balding guys like me.

[Compute]

I don't think it has anything to do with hipsters. I think the bar owner simply enjoys pinball and wants to share his games. Where there is pinball in decent shape I see people playing, but it takes a lot to keep a machine running decently. Much easier to put in one of those retarded coin op punching bags or whatever waste-of-a-trakball IT has concocted.

[Mr Johnson]

I think it does have something to do with the hipster crowd. This new bar appears to be directly competing with another hipster bar down the street in which they also have pins and old arcades. There's only one other pin location within a hundred miles of me. Image is everything with these types of bars so I don't think they would buy 17 machines because the owner enjoys them.

I have to get down there and talk to some people and see if I can get a feel for what's up.

[Mr Johnson]

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/i.../comments.html

[Compute]

Interesting. Maybe it just has not hit around here yet. Come to think of it, one of the heavy metal/live music bars and one of the we-have-odd-beers bars both have one pinball. It hasn't gone mainstream here, yet. Collecting is alive and well, there's just not much on location. Here's to hoping THAT hipster trend hits Appleton, as well

I think it may have something to do with the surge/re-surge in "small" gaming. More people playing more quick games lends itself perfectly to the arcade. Check out that bar, give them your business. The arcades here are more concerned with selling tokens than having people actually use them.

[kynrek]

I work in Troy, MI frequently I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the post!

[kynrek]

I think it does have something to do with the hipster crowd. This new bar appears to be directly competing with another hipster bar down the street in which they also have pins and old arcades. There's only one other pin location within a hundred miles of me. Image is everything with these types of bars so I don't think they would buy 17 machines because the owner enjoys them.

I have to get down there and talk to some people and see if I can get a feel for what's up.

What's the other bar with the pins?