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Las Vegas Pinball Museum - Paris Pinball Museum - Tokyo Pachinko


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Hey everyone,

 

Just got back from a RTW trip, which included the Las Vegas pinball museum, the Paris pinball museum, and some trips to Tokyo pachinko parlours. Here is some photos and video of my journey:

 

First up, the LV Pinball Museum. My impressions were mixed. I appreciate what Tim Arnold is attempting, but the machines were in average to poor condition and the experience was, for me, just OK. Some stuff I really wanted to play was either not working, or in poor condition, so I can't rave about the place. I fear that when it moves to the main Strip, the amount of customers will ruin the place because the amount of upkeep will be quadrupled, and the effort will just not be there. Happy to be proven dead wrong though.....

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0143.jpg

 

CHALLENGER from Gottlieb, 1971. Head to head game with 8 flippers. Can ONLY be played with 2 players, and as I was by myself for this trip to the museum......

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0147.jpg

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0153.jpg

 

 

FAST BALL from Williams, 1969. Decent baseball game. Interesting to play as the 'fielders' pop up when you hit the ball infield and attempt to capture your ball. Best, as usual, with 2 players.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0154.jpg

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0155.jpg

 

Wizard! by Bally, 1974. A very nice example. Great backglass in real life.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0156.jpg

 

Superman by Atari, 1979. Many of us will remember this from our childhood. A very impressive machine to see and play when you were only 4 feet tall !!

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0157.jpg

 

Carnival by Bally, 1957

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0158.jpg

 

Quick Draw by Gottlieb, 1975. OK condtion and to play, but like many of Tim's machines, its set to shallow on its legs and plays too slow. Needs a higher angle on the back legs to give it some 'kick'.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0159.jpg

 

Fireball by Bally, 1971. I understand the collectability, as it contains zipper flippers, multi-ball etc and amazing for this time, but, pretty average to play in my opinion and, again, not in the best condtion here.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0160.jpg

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0161.jpg

 

Nugent by Stern, 1978. In bad condition, left flipper is useless, sounds has been turned off and a real shame. I love this pin and won't let this poor example change my mind. Give it a shot if you get the chance.

 

more tomorrow.... :)

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If you'd spoken to The Hippy (Tim's techician) I'm sure he would have sorted out that Nugent for you.

 

As for Fireball: I played that machine and loved it. The grippy rubberised spinner, and the need to keep balls locked in order to achieve multiball, make it an interesting challenge in my view.

 

Perhaps the fact that they're in the process of relocating explains the condition of the pins?

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Continuing from last night's post, here's some more from the LV Pinball Museum:

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0162.jpg

 

TWIN RIFLE by Chicago Coin, 197?. 2 Player, unlimited shots, timer. In OK condition - targets didn't register well and got stuck often.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0164.jpg

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0165.jpg

 

BALL PARK by Williams, 1968. Preferred other, later, bat games.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0166.jpg

 

STRIKES N SPARE by Gottlieb, 1995. 4 Player bowler, using flippers to bowl with. Not too bad in practice, but you would need 3 drunk friends to really get the best out of this I think. :)

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0167.jpg

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0169.jpg

 

CANADA DRY by Gottlieb, 1977. I love target games and this one is heaven for fans of the same. Has the identical playfield of El Dorado, Gold Strike, Lucky Strike, Target Alpha and Solar City. 4 Players. This one played well.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0168.jpg

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0170.jpg

 

The Museum has only one Bingo machine, and this is it. MIAMI BEACH by Bally, 1955. Again, the machine was broken and would not play at all. Huge disappointment for me - I was really looking forward to this.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0171.jpg

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0173.jpg

 

Wow, here's one you don't see too often? Q*BERT'S QUEST by Gottlieb, 1983. Actually played OK - vey different to what I expected. I didn't love it, but it is an interesting machine. In nice nick...

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0174.jpg

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0176.jpg

 

FLYING TURNS by Midway, 1963. Has a neat 1 player v 2 player action with little race cars in the backglass. Flippers weren't working that great, so it was just OK to play. Needed more time with this one. Cute though...

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0175.jpg

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0178.jpg

 

BLACK KNIGHT from 1980, side by side with BLACK KNIGHT 2000, from 1989. No introduction needed here. :D

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0179.jpg

 

METEOR by Stern, 1979. I absolutely love this machine (this and Galaxy would be my two favourite Sterns), but the upper flipper was broken and, well, you know the story by now. Not very playable and disappointing..... :x

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0180.jpg

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0183.jpg

 

Well, I just had to play this one didn't I? VEGAS by Gottlieb, 1990. Didn't love this one - but OK to play. Looked good.

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0184.jpg

 

POPEYE SAVES THE EARTH by Bally, 1994. Didn't play it - presented here for your information only.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0185.jpg

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0186.jpg

 

SAFECRACKER by Bally, 1996. Ran out of time to play it, but I know this from playing at Mark Child's previously. I like this machine and wish it had been a huge success - I think it could have saved commercial pinball. But alas....

 

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Edited by candyflip
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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0187.jpg

 

And now the one you've all been waiting for : the insanely rare Pinball Circus by Williams, 1994. Only 2 ever produced and this is one donated straight from the makers.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0188.jpg

 

I played a few games and to be honest, I was not impressed at all. I see what they were trying to do and respect the levels of play in a tighter cabinet idea. But the entire left hand shots (from the right flippers) are near *impossible* to make. And seeing as these are what raise the ball into the higher play levels, you never really feel satisfied with the game.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0189.jpg

 

Of course, I understand anyone would only get better with more practice on this machine, but to pull in a casual player (like me), well, I just don't see it working. I think they made the right decision to pull this one from production.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0190.jpg

 

Still, interesting bit of pinball history.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0191.jpg

 

Apologies for the reflections in all the shots - this machine faces the road and direct sun, so I had difficulty in shading it enough for decent photos.

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0192.jpg

 

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http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0195.jpg

 

GOLDEN ARROW by Gottlieb, 1977. In very nice condtiion and played well.

 

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And some random shots for you to finish the LV Museum part...

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0172.jpg

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0177.jpg

 

http://www.jonscanlon.com/LV/IMG_0193.jpg

 

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I will continue the other parts of the trip in a separate post now.

 

Next up : the Paris Pinball Museum.

 

cheers

 

jon

Edited by candyflip
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  • 1 year later...

Great pix, I have also just returned from a trip to the LV museum. Loved it.

 

Love the MIDWAY FLYING TURNS machine, must get one. I remmber playing this in a Pinball Palour at Rye (mornington peninsula, VIC) in the VERY early 70s.

 

Also agree Meteor is a great game. Best of the Sterns, I have one and play it more then any of the other pins I own.:D

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Hi Dean - how's it going on the new part of the Strip? And were the machines playing any better?

 

Most machines played well, there were a few not working, but hey thats Pinball for you! Thats why the operators today hate em..too much repairs.

 

Seemed busy the afternoon I was there, also met Tim Arnold, he seems cool.

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  • 10 months later...
  • 1 year later...

I just returned from Vegas on Sunday, and had the opportunity to visit the Pinball Hall of Fame for (only) an hour (whilst my wife was shopping at the south outlets) not long before I had to catch our flight home.

 

It goes without saying that with my limited time, I was looking and not playing. I saw a few favourites from my youth (Spy Hunter, 8-Ball Deluxe) but was disappointed not to see Centaur II. As others have reported, quite a few were powered off (presumably out of order) which was also disappointing. But overall, I think any pinball enthusiast could find enough there to play for a few days at least. I'd love to return with one of my pinball-playing mates and spend a few afternoons/evenings there, perhaps punctuated with lunches at Chili's and at least one dinner at Texas de Brazil! The real tragedy is that I worked in Vegas for 3 months about 2 years ago and didn't even know it existed! :(

 

I was also chuffed to see a row dedicated to classic (and some generic) video arcade machines. Notable for me were the likes of Defender, Donkey Kong, Joust, Asteroids, Centipede, Space Invaders and Super Mario Bros (all but the latter original dedicated cabs).

 

During that 1 hour I also had to squeeze in a trip next door to Gamer's Paradise, one of two sister stores in Vegas specialising in retro video games. I visited the other (north) store on my aforementioned last trip a few years ago, and must say that the south (Tropicana Ave) store isn't nearly as impressive. I did come away with a couple of game guide books (DK64 & Gauntlet Legacy) for USD$5 a piece, and a US Namco Museum 64 cart for USD$7 to test out my recently acquired US N64 console. The Dreamcast & Gamecube selections were particularly poor, with a large proportion of games in generic CD jewel cases with hand-written (scrawled) cover inserts. And I only noticed the boxed N64 games high up on the shelves behind the counter - and beyond my powers of reading in dim light - on the way out. From a quick glance I got the impression that the collection of NES & SNES carts consisted mainly of numerous duplicates of common, unwanted titles. The staff were helpful enough but seemed more interested in repairing XBOXes than any discussion on retro games. In fact, the guy in the north store last time was great; I bought a couple of cheap Dreamcast games and because neither of us could recall whether or not DC games were region-encoded, he threw in a working US DC console for free!!! Trivia: this store was featured on the Pawn Stars TV show (which is why I sought it out in the 1st place).

 

Again, with more time I would first go through my own collection and update my 'wanted' list before returning to spend an entire afternoon going through the store with a fine tooth comb. In this day and age with eBay etc you're never going to score a bargain in a store like this but you might just pick up a handful of the more common games that you haven't gotten around to acquiring just yet.

 

In conclusion, if you find yourself in Vegas, make sure you set aside a full day or 2 to visit both Gamer's Paradise (north & south) and Pinball Hall of Fame!

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