Quite Possibly The Best Airport for Pinball

Being both a frequent traveler and a fan of pinball puts me in an interesting position. Logic would dictate that I have access to a wide variety of venues in which pinball machines should be present. Unfortunately, when I travel I don't have time to explore all of the local bars and bowling alleys for pinball.

However, on travel days I do spend a lot of time walking through airports, so I'm always on the lookout for arcades and any bar that might have a pinball machine. Most of the time I come up empty, but occasionally I am pleasantly surprised by what I find.

Such was the case when I flew out of the Minneapolis airport (MSP) about a year ago. At that time I found a small arcade that had three machines. I remember being impressed at finding three machines in an airport and I wished that I had more time before my flight.

Just recently I had a connection through the MSP and as soon as I landed I remembered the three pinball machines, and I knew that I had to play a little pinball while I was there. On my way to my departure gate I found a small arcade near gate G8 which had three machines (Elvis, NASCAR and Lord of the Rings). I was pretty sure that this wasn't the arcade that I had visited previously so I decided that a little investigation was warranted.

Checking the airport map wasn't helpful as arcades were listed. I made a stop at an information booth where I met met the very helpful Nancy who informed me of the locations of all of the arcades in the airport- all three of them!

It turns out that there were also arcades at F12 and one near C1. Thanks to a 2 1/2 hour layover I had time to visit all of the arcades, so I began my tour of MSP pinball. In total, I found 7 pinball machines distributed over 3 locations. The condition of the games varied from very playable to completely non-functioning. Below is a list of the games that I found along with their locations. The links will take you to the Internet Pinball Database www.ipdb.org for the machine.

Aurora Borealis - Start of the C gates.
Indiana Jones (2008)
Wheel of Fortune (2007)

Lucky Lindy's- Near Gate F 12
Spiderman (2007)
Pirates of the Caribbean (2006)

Unnamed Arcade- Near Gate F 8
Elvis (2004)
Lord of The Rings (2003)
NASCAR (2005)

All in all, the games weren't in the condition that I'd like them to be in, but most of them were playable. Pinball machines are maintenance intensive devices and they can be frustrating to play if not properly maintained. If the machines were a little better maintained, MSP could become a viable pinball destination. This may sound like a bit of an overstatement, but living in Pinball starved New England has given me a new outlook on this topic. Now I get really excited when I see more than one pinball machine in a single location.

I have contacted the vendor that maintains the machines (Theisen Vending Company) to let them know about the condition of their games. When booking flights in the future, I won't cringe when I see a long layover at MSP.

If you know of any airports that also have pinball machines, please let me know. The airport in Akron, Ohio had one pinball machine the last time I was there, but beyond that I don't know of any specific "pinball airports".

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The Cold Truth About Pinball Wrist

Two weeks ago I discussed my passion for playing pinball while traveling in Pinball on the Road. What I didn't mention was that I injured myself while playing Pinball.

I was having a really great game on Pirates of the Caribbean, I was set to beat my personal best, when my ball was about to drain so I grabbed hold and shifted the game to the right. While I did save my ball momentarily, I felt a sharp pain in my wrist. Every time I pressed the left flipper with my index finger, the sharp pain came back. I abandoned my game and called it a night from playing pinball.

The next morning the pain subsided, but it still returned when I picked up heavier things. Weeks went by and the pain came and went until I decided it wasn't going away on its own. I went to see a doctor and after explaining what pinball was and getting back a clean x-ray, I was diagnosed with tendinitis of my left index finger.

Getting to the point, my left hand is to be immobilized and I'm not to type with it. This is making working on my blog more of physical challenge than it should be, but I'm hanging in there.

My posts may be shorter over the next few weeks while my tendon heals, but I will write something new each week. For now I have some exciting posts coming up that I can let you know about.

There will be two more entries in the regional cookie series and one of those, believe it or not, will be Oreos. I've got three product reviews in the works including a review of a spork that some silly marketing department calls a foon.

As always, I've got some trips coming up. In May I'll be in Akron, Ohio trying some of their micro brews and I'll be in Sudbury, ON to pick up some Coffee Crisp candy bars. No personal travel, but I've got other things in the works on that front.

Thank you for you continued support of Graham's travel blog. For now, I'm going to rest my good hand.

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Pinball on the Road

Photographs by Nicole Holt

My fascination with pinball has been long in the making. Growing up, we had a pinball machine in our house and living in Southern California meant that there were always plenty of machines to play in arcades and even at the local hobby shop. When I moved to Oregon, I could easily find pinball in pizza joints, bars and even at some gas stations. In short, access to pinball is something that I have taken for granted.

About a year ago I became acutely aware that as far as pinball is concerned, all places are not created equal. Before deciding to move to the Boston, MA area, I did not check out the pinball situation. This turned out to be a mistake as there just aren't that many places to play out here. When I do find machines, they aren't always in playable condition. If you've spent much time playing pinball you know that playing a malfunctioning machine can be worse than playing no machine at all.

When my travels took me back out to Oregon, I made it a point to visit one of my favorite pinball destinations: Ground Kontrol.

Ground Kontrol proudly advertises itself as a "barcade" because after 5PM they serve a variety of bottled and canned adult beverages. This is a wonderful strategy for an arcade since the more you drink, the worse you play.

The ground floor houses the bar along with a variety of arcade games, but I'm always more interested in going upstairs where the pinball machines are located.

On the second floor, you'll find a large variety of pinball machines which will appeal to both the hard core fan, those with just a passing pinball fancy and members of the video game generation who get lost trying to find the restroom.

There's usually an old electromechanical machine in the mix, but most of the machines at Ground Kontrol are from the 80's through present day. On my last visit I counted 23 machines, nearly all of which were fully functional. They take pinball maintenance seriously here, so if a game is not 100% they'll turn it off until they can fix it. I appreciate these efforts greatly.

Ground Kontrol may be my favorite place to play pinball, but there are two other pinball destinations that I'd like to mention. The first is Shorty's of Seattle, WA and the second is the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, NV.

Shorty's is another barcade, but they boast a full bar, a food menu and the booth tables are made out of old pinball tables. To get to the pinball "cave", just pass by the bar, but don't forget to show them your ID as pulling it out mid game is not fun. Shorty's is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

The Pinball Hall of Fame boasts over 200 playable pinball machines at any given time. I don't know if you've ever seen 200 pinball machines in the same room before, but it is a sight to behold. If I ever get back to Las Vegas, this will be one of my first, and likely last, places that I visit.

As long as I'm on the subject of pinball and travel, I must mention the mythical "pinball train". A couple years ago, my father-in-law was on a train from Portland, OR to Eugene, OR and claims to have found a whole car that was full of functioning pinball machines. I've searched for mention of this on the internet, but I haven't found any details or pictures. If you have any information about the pinball train, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I would also be grateful to anyone that can point me toward good places to find Pinball in the Boston area.

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