pinball

Where To Play Pinball in Melbourne

07/02/2020 By ausretrogamer

Location pinball is experiencing a renaissance where the silverball game is popping up at more locations in and around one of the world’s most liveable city. If you want to get your pinball fix you may want to check out these establishments.

MELBOURNE

THE PINBALL PARLOUR (Located inside Man Cave Madness at 4/1813 Sydney Road, Campbellfield)
Melbourne’s newest and biggest pinball venue! Over 45 machines and growing. Classics from the 70s, 80s, 90s and latest and greatest pinball machines. Open every Saturday and Sunday with two, two hours sessions per day! Prices start at $30 for adults / $20 for kids.

BARTRONICA (335 Flinders Lane, Melbourne)
Right in the heart of the Central Business District (CBD) of Melbourne, Batronica is the place to be seen at. The renovated venue (titled: Batronica 2.0) has made playing pinball (and arcade) machines even easier while you enjoy a drink.

MOON DOG WORLD (32 Chifley Drive, Preston)
This brewery can accommodate 700 patrons spread across its massive floor space which sports an indoor lagoon, a bar equipped with 72 taps, a beer garden, a hidden tiki bar, a waterfall and best of all, pinball machines!

GENERAL PUBLIC (366 Boundary Rd, Dingley Village)
Home of the Bayside Pinball Club, this awesome venue has it all, from great food, lots of fun attractions, including bowling and of course beautifully maintained pinball machines for you to flip to your heart’s content. But wait, there is more – there is another General Public in Frankston with more pinball action (16-22 Playne St, Frankston).

B. LUCKY & SONS (Level 3/211 La Trobe St, Melbourne)
It may only have one pinball machine inside, but B. Lucky & Sons quirky arcade is so cool with other distractions, you won’t want to leave. Oh yeah, the big plus is that it is inside Melbourne Central located on the entertainment level, level 3!

FORTRESS MELBOURNE (enter via Shop 25, Lower Ground, Emporium Shopping Centre)
Open 7 days a week, Fortress Melbourne is Australia’s largest video games venue with a smattering of pinball machines in their Arcade Alley area. Entry is always free, so do yourself a favour, when in the CBD, hit up Fortress Melbourne, you may never leave!

MARVEL STADIUM (740 Bourke St, Docklands)
If you are heading out to the footy at Marvel Stadium, why not hit the pins there too. They currently have Deadpool, Spider-Man Vault Edition and Avengers: IQ!

TIMEZONE (various shopping centre locations: Highpoint, Knox, Forest Hill and Craigieburn)
That old staple is starting to add more and more pinball amongst their arcade and redemption machines – which is a good thing! Know and Forest Hill have a lineup of multiple newer Stern pinball machines, which we hope means other Timezones will follow suit.

BRAYBROOK HOTEL (353 Ballarat Rd, Braybrook)
In the heart of the west, you’ll find a Guardian Of The Galaxy (GOTG) pinball machine and some bronze statues of a couple of Footscray Football Club’s legendary players.

ARCADE GARAGE (518-530 High St, Northcote)
Arcade Garage Northcote is Melbourne’s largest retro arcade with more than 60 machines (including a handful of pinball machines) available to play spanning from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s+.

HIGHPOINT HOTEL (Level 1 Tenancy 10, Highpoint Shopping Centre, Maribyrnong)
If Timezone Highpoint’s pinball machine doesn’t tickle your fancy, then walk around the corner to the Highpoint Hotel where you can play NBA Jam and some cool Stern pinball machines.

FUNDERDOME (inside Hoys Highpoint Shopping Centre, Maribyrnong)
Looks like Highpoint Shopping Centre is the place to be, with not one, but three venues sporting pinball machines (Highpoint Hotel, Timezone and Funderdome)! Funderdome has Stern favourites, Deadpool, The Munsters and Black Knight: Sword of Rage – all at $2.50 per game.

THE DONCASTER HOTEL (855 Doncaster Road, Doncaster)
According to our intel, Bob’s Diner at The Doncaster Hotel has two machines for your enjoyment!

RIDDELLS CREEK HOTEL (10-12 Hamilton St, Riddells Creek)
Heading out of Melbourne? Stop by this hotel to get some Grand Prix pinball action with your beer and burger!

KARTING MADNESS (Factory 9/841 Mountain Hwy, Bayswater)
Don’t let the name of this place fool you, Karting Madness also has a mad collection of pinball machines that will keep you occupied for quite a while.

PEACOCK INN HOTEL (210 High St, Northcote)
This sleek venue serves up a couple of pinball machines amongst their gastropub menu. Oh yeah, they also have a beer garden when you need to take a break from flipping.

THE HAWTHORN HOTEL (481 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn)
With its wood-paling bar, bistro food, trivia and karaoke, it’s amazing that this comfy pub could fit in any pinball – luckily, they do!

TOWER HOTEL (686 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn East)
With $7 schooners, Stern’s Mustang and Star Trek, you are all set for some cool pinball action.

THE OLYMPIC HOTEL (31 Albert St, Preston)
If you are heading out to Preston, then you can get some dinosaur pinnie action on Stern’s Jurassic Park!

TAYLORS LAKES HOTEL (7 Melton Hwy, Taylors Lakes)
Hit the family hotel for some good food, good drinks and of course, pinball.

COMMERCIAL HOTEL (111 Walton Street, Werribee)
Situated 35km west of the city, the Commercial Hotel offers a couple of pinball machines to be enjoyed while watching live sports and having a tipple.

RETREAT HOTEL (280 Sydney Road, Brunswick)
Head toward the back of the Retreat for a special surprise – pinball. With live music , craft beer on tap and hearty pub grub, you can’t really go wrong.

GRANDVIEW HOTEL (429 Heidelberg Road, Fairfield)
This 130+ year old triple story grand Victorian hotel will keep your hands occupied, both with drinks and pinball.

THORNBURY EXPRESSO COFFEE BAR (792 High Street, Thornbury)
A café with pinball? Yep, enjoy a coffee and perhaps an ice-cream while also playing some pinball in this ultra casual and cool cafe.

THE SALOON BARCADE (273-274 Nepean Hwy, Edithvale)
With locally brewed craft beers, cocktails, wine, spirits, and of course, PINBALL (arcade and pool), The Saloon Barcade is the place to be if you are out Edithvale way! Oh yeah, for those with the munchies, there are the staples, pizza, burgers and pasta too.

Oh yeah, another pro-tip is to check out your local AMF Bowling Centre and the foyer of Hoyts or Village Cinemas, as they usually have at least one (or more) pinball machines!

This was never going to be an exhaustive list, but it should get you started playing pinball in and around Melbourne. Due to the nature of locations changing their lineup or removing machines, this ‘Where to play pinball’ list is correct as at the time of publishing. We’ll endeavour to update this post as new locations pop up (and remove the ones that no longer have pinball machines).

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Mad Max Pinball – The Original 1979 Movie

24/01/2020 By ausretrogamer

We have featured quite a few custom re-theme homebrew pinball machines, like Doom, Kill Bill, Undertale (Underpin) and Dragon’s Lair, but this custom re-theme by Australian Kurt Savage (aka: Jakusu on Pinside), is something else!

Based on the original 1979 Mad Max movie, Kurt had a dream to re-theme a Getaway pinball machine into the iconic Australian dystopian action thriller, complete with a young Mel Gibson (playing as “Mad” Max Rockatansky) on the backbox side-art!

Fast forward 10 months and Kurt’s dream has now roared into reality like a supercharged V8 Interceptor! The attention to detail on this custom re-theme is nothing short of jaw-dropping. We are in awe of this creation, where it seems no expense was spared, from the key start (an ignition car key starts a game of pinball), gear shift, speaker panel based on the XB Ford Falcon, supercharger and blower, the brilliant aural attack with brilliant sounds from the classic movie, to the playfield, cabinet and backbox art, and last but not least, the complete integration of the theme just oozes everything from George Miller’s brilliant 1979 movie.

source: Kurt Savage

When you check out the photos and videos of Kurt’s Mad Max Pinball (model cleverly named ‘Last of the V8 Interceptors’), you’ll no doubt be totally blown away. If Kurt decided to mass produce this machine, fully licensed of course, we guarantee he would be busy for a very long time. With the cost being around AUD$17,000 to complete his custom re-theme project, we reckon it was money very well spent. Take a bow Mr. Kurt Savage, this is an amazing accomplishment.

NOTE: Kurt was finalising the animations at the time of this post!

image source: Jakusu via Pinside

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Super Awesome Pinball Birthday Cake

20/01/2020 By ausretrogamer

Once we saw this pinball shaped birthday cake, we knew we had to track down its creator to ask her some hard hitting questions about pinball, and of course, the flippin’ amazing pinball birthday cake!

So sit back, relax, grab some cake as we speak to Belles & Chimes Melbourne pinball tournament player, Katrina Pingnam (aka: Kat), about her love of pinball and also making awesome and very yummy pinball shaped birthday cakes amongst other sweet creations!

AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: How did you get into pinball?
Kat: I always liked it as a kid, but stumbled across the pinball community after researching some unique venues for my 40th birthday party. FlipOut Melbourne 2019 popped up in my Facebook feed, which turned out to be my first pinball event I attended and am now hooked on pinball!

ARG: What do you enjoy about competitive pinball?
Kat: Although I’m not playing to win (as there’s so many skilled players), it does give you motivation and purpose to play. I enjoy two player games as well for that reason, having a reason to gain points also makes you aware of what to aim for in the games.

Most people who aren’t in the pinball community (like myself at first) wouldn’t even be aware that there are certain goals to achieve in the game. It’s so much more than just aimlessly flipping those flippers! The competition side of it is also fun as everyone shares their advice on the games.

ARG: Favourite pinball machines (& why they are your fave)?
Kat: I have so many favourites! Funny enough, it’s not ones that I thought would be my favourites (ie: based on themes). For example, I’ve never watched Guardians of the Galaxy, yet that is one of the most fun to play as it’s so easy to activate multi ball! Whereas Super Mario Bros which I’ve been a fan since the very first one, isn’t as fun as I’d hoped!

My other favourites I’ve played at the Australian Pinball Museum are Total Nuclear Annihilation (designed by Spooky Pinball), it’s a very fast playing game designed to have an 80s theme with modern technology, it even has a bass amp!

I also discovered Revenge from Mars at the museum which is a fun game and a nice smooth playfield. It looks (shape) like an old school stand-up arcade machine. It has a projection which changes for each scene you play. It also has my two favourite colours, red and green!

I’m hoping to play Stern’s Stranger Things in the near future! Other favourite pinball machines to play include:

Ghostbusters
Pirates of the Caribbean (LE)
Medieval Madness
The Simpson’s Pinball Party
The Walking Dead
Johnny Mnemonic
Judge Dredd (Super multi ball mode)
Bonsai Run
America’s Most Haunted (nice smooth playfield)
Jackbot
The Munsters (purely for the cute mini pinball game under the main playfield)

Favourite machines based on appearance, are JJP’s:

Willy Wonka; and
Wizard of Oz (love those ruby ‘flippers’!!)

Katrina’s brilliant creation! That playfield looks so flowy (and darn yummy)!

ARG: Tell us more about your awesome pinball birthday cake – what it’s got inside it and how long it took to make?
Kat: The cake itself is basically a Mars Bar slice, with a layer of chocolate, then fondant icing (pre-rolled from the supermarket) and the edible icing sheet with the playfield printed onto it.

The cake is complete with edible silver coated Maltesers ‘pinball’ and fairy lights for effect. The actual making of the cake and assembly/decorating only took a few hours. However, designing the playfield took about 10hrs all up, not including the backbox, which I designed separately and my husband, Luke, helped add lights to make it come alive.

As I mentioned initially, instead of traditional cake, I made a super thick Mars Bar slice (about 18 mars bars in it!) as I wanted it to be very sturdy, plus we had the petite cupcakes so then guests could have both cake and slice.

The slice itself didn’t take long to prepare, it was more designing the playfield to be printed onto an edible icing sheet. Since I’m no graphic designer and only have very basic skills in paint editing software, it took about 2 days at around 5hrs/day to design.

I found a website where you could design your own virtual pinball playfields. There were some uploaded that could be downloaded, so I took a screenshot so I had the general playfield already designed and edited the image by removing/adding images, customising to include little details about myself/things I love and changing up the colours. It took a long time as I only had Paint3D on my computer, and was basically self educating using the program as I went along. Plus, some images needed pixel by pixel filling/erasing, which took a long time.

The cupcakes were made by a cake shop, they were red velvet and I just added the edible ‘pinballs’ on top. ARG: Wow, just wow. Wish we could have a slice – Mars Bar cake is our fave!

ARG: We absolutely love your cake, I mean it looks like a playable pinball machine, and it is made out of Mars Bars! Have you made other cool cakes?
Kat: I haven’t really, as I’ve only learnt a bit of cake decorating from high school for one semester where we made and decorated a Christmas cake. For that one, I decorated mine with cartoon characters.

The other thing I’ve made isn’t a cake as such, but Choc truffle bouquets, where I customise the colour of the choc coating then match it with similar coloured edible glitter and decorations and make it into an edible bouquet.

The yummy choc truffle bouquet that was the inspiration for the pinballs!

The only other recent cake I’ve made was a ‘joke’ cake I made for my friend’s kitchen tea, which was a take on the Masterchef’s (a reality TV cooking show) lolly-bag cake complete with detailed ‘pressure test’ instructions! Except, mine had about 12 layers of all different flavoured lolly themes, such as Musk frosting, banana lolly syrup and popping candy choc spread. It was hideous and tasted horrible but it was hilarious!

Katrina’s joke cake! We actually wouldn’t mind trying this one.

Well there you have it peeps. Katrina’s natural talents and passion for pinball have culminated into one amazing birthday cake that not only looks great, but is also darn yummy (we are still drooling and waiting for our piece!).

Well done and thank you for chatting to us Kat. We wish you all the best on your special occasion and of course, in your pinball playing journey.

The pinball cake whitewood!

Playfield done!

The finished product! We can stare at it all day.
image source: used with permission from Katrina Pingnam

Star Wars Premium Pinball You Are Like Cinnamon!

20/01/2020 By ausretrogamer

Following on from the Diary Of A First Time Pinball Buyer feature, Nick has put pen to paper (Ed: shouldn’t that be fingers to keys?) to give us his take on owning Stern’s Star Wars Premium pinball machine.

We have now had our Stern Star Wars Premium pinball machine for 3 and a half months and have already clocked up playing over 6,400 balls or over 2100 total plays! The whole family has loved it, from my wife to our 11 and 7 year old sons. Although I still classify myself as a novice player, I have found it a really rewarding and enjoyable pin to play. Having the four different Star Wars characters and all the different missions, means it is an incredibly deep game to really engross yourself in, or just have a bash and see what happens!

As a huge fan of Star Wars, this is a very special pin to me. The artwork, playfield, excerpts from the films and the game itself, is just a terrific homage to the original Star Wars trilogy (which are arguably the best films of them all!). Stern have done a great job of making the playfield pop out and use of the screens without detracting from the mechanical elements of the game. I also love the ramps and the hyperdrive loop, they are so satisfying to hit again and again! While playing this machine over and over again, I find new details, scenes or features that I haven’t seen before.

I still haven’t managed to blow up the Death Star – through Death Star or Endor missions, but have been one shot away (hitting the hyperdrive loop) from doing so. I have adjusted the settings to easy, so as to encourage longer play and obviously some bigger scores. Also, playing the game at night with only the pinball lighting up is really cool – the Escape from Bobba Fett mission looks pulsating and amazing when you get to it.

Except for an occasional stuck ball, the machine has been trouble free. I have also bought a cover for the machine it doesn’t get affected by UV in our gaming shed. Since I do not have the official topper, I came up with one of my own – decorating it with Return Of The Jedi themed bobble-heads! It is an evolving collection!

Star Wars Premium Pinball, you are like cinnamon!

PS: For those that don’t get the you are like cinnamon reference, check this out 😉

CES 2020 Unveiled – Cool Retro Tech You’ll Want To Play With

07/01/2020 By ausretrogamer

Before the big CES 2020 event kicks off, the CES Unveiled event showcases the latest products and trends leading up to the main event.

Three products caught our attention from Arcade1Up, iiRcade and My Arcade which we thought we’d share with you all below.

We can’t wait to find out more about these hot items, so stay tuned!

1. Arcade1Up 3/4 Scale Digital Pinball Machines

Arcade1Up has teamed up with our friends at Zen Studios to bring you a couple of pretty awesome three-quarter size pinball machines which include titles from Bally/Williams and other yet to be announced, big names in the pinball space! We love both the Star Wars and Attack From Mars machines and can’t wait to hear more about them.

image source: northvibe via pinside

2. iiRcade – The Ultimate Home Arcade

This new ultimate home arcade, iiRcade, with online capabilities, enables gamers to legally download and play their favourite officially licensed arcade games – no more shady arcade ROM sites! Gamers who want to enjoy their favourite retro arcade games or play modern games in the arcade environment can now have the full arcade experience in their homes, either in a full size stand-up or bartop guise, it is up to you. With iiRcade, gamers can select and purchase a game they want on iiRcade’s app store, which is then automatically downloaded and installed on their iiRcade machine.

image source: iiRcade

3. My Arcade Super Retro Champ Console

The Super Retro Champ console is the successor to My Arcade’s award-winning Retro Champ and enables retro gamers to enjoy their SNES, Super Famicom, and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges from a single console. The Super Retro Champ features a 7-inch screen and a built-in rechargeable battery that offers up to 5 hours of play time. Retro gamers can play the Super Retro Champ in handheld mode or use the 2 included wireless gamepads to play in tabletop and TV mode. An HDMI® output allows users to enjoy their classic games from the comfort of their couch.

image source: Games Press

Celebrating Our 8th Anniversary!

05/01/2020 By ausretrogamer

It is amazing to think that we started ausretrogamer 8 years ago! How time flies when you are having fun!

When we started our site and social media channels in January 2012, we had no idea what was to come. We were pleasantly surprised to find so many like-minded people who enjoyed playing and talking about old games we used to play many many decades ago. Nostalgia is a powerful force that binds us all – long may it continue!

To all the people that have contributed and to those that are still contributing content and everyone that engages with us, thank you very much – you all rock our world!

Looking forward to another year full of retro gaming goodness 🙂

Happy Holidays and All The Best For 2020!

25/12/2019 By ausretrogamer

Ho Ho Ho, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus and Season’s Greetings everyone! No matter your type of gaming fun, be it modern, retro, pinball or something in between, we hope you all have a wonderful Festive Season and may your 2020 be filled with happiness, prosperity, lots of fun and good health!

The ausretrogamer and pinball press teams will be taking a short break to enjoy this time of year with family and friends. See you all in 2020 🙂

image source: Redbubble

image source: VPinball

Stern Pinball Unveils STRANGER THINGS Pinball! It’s Bitchin’

24/12/2019 By ausretrogamer

Stern Pinball Inc. announced today their new line of pinball machines celebrating the iconic Netflix series, Stranger Things!

Stranger Things is the comeback game for one of our favourite pinball designers of all time, Brian Eddy. Brian joined Stern Pinball in 2017 after being out of the pinball design game for a couple of decades. Brian is best known for two of the greatest machines of all time, Medieval Madness and Attack From Mars. With that kind of design pedigree, the excitement is quite high for his debut Stern title.

Well, from what we have seen of the three editions (Pro, Premium and Limited Edition), we reckon Brian has given us something magical – mind you, we haven’t played it yet, so once we do, we’ll give you our opinion.

source: Stern Pinball Inc.

Experience the terrifying forces in Hawkins, Indiana that turn this small town “upside down” with supernatural elements, strange sightings, and government secrets. Stranger Things pinball machines will immerse players in a search to unravel the extraordinary mysteries and secret government experiments taking place at the Hawkins National Laboratory. The gameplay focuses on unlocking the hidden meanings of supernatural events occurring in and around the town, including the appearance of a girl known as “Eleven” with telekinetic abilities. The ball is wild as Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Will, Joyce, and Police Chief Jim Hopper help Eleven close the dimensional gate.

The Pro, Premium, and Limited Edition models all feature distinct hand-drawn art in addition to the custom sculpted, interactive Demogorgon bash toy, guarded by drop targets and a rotating ramp. All models include two hideout ball scoops, a Demodog spinner, three custom ramps, and game rules that will transport players into the Upside Down.

The Premium and Limited Edition models feature a first ever video projector that displays images and animations directly on the playfield, creating dramatic interactions with gameplay action. The center of the playfield features a unique ramp that doubles as a screen and leads the player into a direct battle with the Demogorgon. These models also feature a new Eleven themed “telekinetic” magnetic ball lock.

As mentioned already, we’ll let you know what we think of Stranger Things pinball once we flip it – so stay tuned!

source: Stern Pinball Inc.

Star Wars Pin: The Force Is Strong In This One!

18/12/2019 By ausretrogamer

We recently visited our friends at Zax Amusements to wish them all the best for the Festive Season and while we were there we got to play Stern’s Star Wars Pin. In case you weren’t aware, this is the ‘home’ edition of Stern’s popular Star Wars commercial pinball machines.

Don’t let the ‘home’ moniker fool you, this machine shares a lot of DNA with its bigger brother, like the Spike operational system architecture, flipper, drop targets, slingshots and pop bumper sub-assemblies. Not only that, the playfield dimensions are also identical! The best part of this machine is its price, at AU$6,850 it is almost $2,500 cheaper than the entry level Star Wars Pro model. So for those budget conscious pinball fans that are into Star Wars and don’t want the complex maintenance, this machine may be for you.

So how does it play? Well, since it’s a George Gomez designed game, it of course shoots darn well! All of the 11-shots (in a fan layout) feel great when nailed, some being easier than others, which makes it great for all skill levels. What we loved most about this machine was its flow and ease of understanding in how to progress through the game, including getting to the timed wizard mode called Jedi Multiball. The implementation of sounds and iconic dialogue from the original Star Wars trilogy also add to the overall experience and theme immersion. Nothing is ever perfect in this world, so our main gripe was the small screen as we struggled to view the videos when looking up quickly while playing, meaning we missed our shot and drained our ball. Apart from this niggle, we felt that there was enough on the playfield to shoot at, from drop targets, a spinner that sounds awesome when hit and the two ramps, to keep us coming back for one more go – we were hooked by the FORCE.

For those that love easy to understand rules and objectives, this machine keeps things fairly simple – hit the F-O-R-C-E target on the left side of the playfield to light up each letter. Once FORCE is all complete, the Rebels (Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker) are then lit, which you then shoot one (for example Luke Skywalker) and proceed to complete the designated shots for that character. Once all Rebel characters are completed (including R2-D2), the timed wizard mode Jedi Multiball begins, with the objective being to rescue Luke, Princess Leia and Han Solo by shooting the lit shots before time runs out – pretty straight forward if you manage to not lose that elusive silverball.

With four multiballs, including the aforementioned timed wizard mode Jedi Multiball, super jackpots, timed double scoring, bonus mutlipliers and the clever R2-D2 ball lock (which you can use to start or steal your opponents locked ball for the R2-D2 mutliball) , there is enough depth in the game to have you playing over and over again. Without a doubt, one of our fave and most satisfying objectives and shot (apart from ripping the blaster spinner) is destroying the Death Star – the light show, video and sound are choreographed perfectly, making you feel like you had a hand in the Rebels bringing down the Empire.

This game really surprised us. We love pinball, so we were sceptical at first since this machine is targeted for the home. But once we started flipping it, all that scepticism went away. The total package does look and feel good, from the art, sound, sound effects to the video (even though the screen is on the small side) and general playfield, we felt like we were in the original Star Wars universe. If you are interested in Stern’s Star Wars Pin, you can contact the folks at Zax Amusements today to have a flip and see if it is for you. However, if after playing it you feel that this machine is not to your liking, then then check out the commercial-grade Star Wars Comic edition.

The Force is definitely strong in this Pin!

Christmas 2019 Retro Gaming and Pinball Gift Ideas

11/12/2019 By ausretrogamer

It’s that time of year when the ausretrogamer team does the hard yards by going shopping to curate a plethora of cool retro and pinball products that you can grab as Christmas gifts for your geeky friends and family (and yourself too)!