Pinballz arcade (Austin, TX) mini review

ifkz

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I finally got a chance to stop by and give a mini review of our new local retro arcade. It is on the lower level of a two level location. You enter an enclosed entryway first and then the arcade itself through two double doors. When you are in the entryway you can see a restored Tron on the left and a Centipede on the right. As you step through the double doors Avatar, LOTR, and Iron Man 2 are the first pins you see. They seem to have all of the accepted high dollar pins: Taxi, Adams Family, STNG, Indiana Jones, etc. The place has a very pin heavy lineup, but also boasts a nice selection of classic vids and a couple of redemption games. All games have price stickers on them, most are set at standard retail prices back when arcade sales were at their peak several years ago. Most vids are priced at .50 a play. Standouts from their vid lineup with prices as best as I can remember:

Major Havoc - Tempest conversion with a cig burned overlay and a dim tube. Brightness is cranked up too high and retrace lines are visible. $2400 (compared to the rest, almost reasonable).

Xybots - good to compare against my machine. Monitor needed a cap kit, but the image wasn't bad. The monitor was set too far back in the cabinet and the game had an inch of space between the bezel and the glass. $1200

Quasar - worked fine, made in Italy. Must be rare, price tag $5000

Tempest - nice, no issues. I finally saw another working Tempest so I can compare monitor images. Mine looks just like this one, great!

Tron - "fully restored" Nice enough cab, I could swear I saw a ripple in the side art. The sound seems upgraded, either new speakers or a subwoffer. $5000

Asteroids Deluxe - internal blacklight burned out so the floating effect was lost. Horizontal axis to narrow.

Space Invaders Deluxe - wonderful machine, all operational, if I had more room, I would love to add it to my lineup of games.

Centipede - Nice monitor but front lower corners are gone, literally down to the particle board. $2000 or so

Galaga - monitor sharp but brightness is turned up too high, needed a cap kit.

Multi-Pac - Better cabinet than mine except for one flaw: the kickplate artwork has deep gouges. Monitor seemed a little off, but not bad.

T2 - no issues

The Pins that stood out:

Black Hole - neat to see one finally, fully working and very nice. Someone left a game in progress so I got to play two balls. Two of the pop bumper lights burned out, but very nice.

Paragon - Mine has a reproduced translight, so it was neat to compare against an original. Some broken plastics, but plays nice. I also learned my soundboard tones are a bit off. Faded cab but nice playfield. $2000

Indiana Jones - My co-worker sold this machine to the arcade. The mechanical issues were fixed, and it was getting a lot of play. The side stickers are still very faded, they promised her these would be fixed and the machine would be new. I guess this will happen a little later.

Some machines were down and marked as "Coming Soon!" One of the techs was out on the floor and I got to strike up a short conversation:
Me: So how hard is it keeping these machines running?
Tech: Verryyy hard!

I let the busy man get back to work :) If any of the management is reading this, I suggest removing the price stickers on each machine. Anyone that wants to buy a machine will likely ask. I honestly thought if every machine in the house has a price sticker, that can't reflect very well on the health of the business. The prices made me feel really good about my collection, I remarked to my fiancee: "I must be sitting on a gold mine baby!"

I look forward to going back when I have more time, great to see a new arcade in town with this theme.
 
Tempest - nice, no issues. I finally saw another working Tempest so I can compare monitor images. Mine looks just like this one, great!

What are you talking about? You've seen mine... :rolleyes:
 
The prices made me feel really good about my collection, I remarked to my fiancee: "I must be sitting on a gold mine baby!"

Be careful what you wish for. Now she's gonna say "Honey, can we see that Tempest and get a new XXXX?" Gold is worthless until it's sold.
 
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