Since I first heard that such a thing existed, I had wanted to visit the Pinball Cafe. However, living where I do and where it is located, I knew that finding the time to get out to the west end would require some compromise, hard work, and possibly even a scrapbooking party for Gabi. Hey, marriage is all about working on the relationship, right?
So you could have knocked me over with a feather when she offered to take me there as my Valentine's Gift. I have to admit - I feel bad - I just brought her a chicken shwarma after squash on Monday.
So we decided to go Friday afternoon, what with us having the lieu time for our late night at work the night before, one kid at my mom's and the other in daycare. We were thinking about grabbing lunch on the way down at my old haunt when I worked near Queen and Bathurst, the Prague Deli, but parking near Bathurst was near impossible, and I'd read on Twitter that the Cafe was now serving sandwiches, so we just went right there.
There's ample parking nearby, and relatively inexpensive - $4 got me the rest of the day, and the parking lot even has it's own couch and toilet, although I wouldn't necessarily recommend using them. Somehow or other I missed the Cafe on my quest for a parking spot, and we wound up walking the wrong way, but got things turned around pretty quick and found the place, once we'd looked up the address again. Being nearly one o'clock and well past our regular lunch time of 11:30, we were ravenous, so each ordered a sandwish combo. Gabi got the roasted chicken, and I went with the curried egg salad. I was delighted with my choice, as it was flavourful on a really fresh kaiser, and had lots of cucumber and lettuce on it as well. I sampled Gabi's and wasn't as thrilled, although I probably shouldn't be too critical, as alfafa sprouts and pesto NEVER make it on any sandwich that I'm making or even considering ordering. The combo included a bottle of soda from the Pop Shoppe, and I wound up having something I don't think I've had since I was a kid - a bottle of Black Cherry pop. It was awesome, and the sugar rush was perfect as I took my handful of quarters to the back of the cafe.
Since AC/DC, my main goal, was in use, I headed right over to Flash Gordon. I have one here, but it's a bit of a project, and I wanted to see what one properly tuned up felt like. I will be ordering the flipper rebuild kits when I'm done writing this, because a properly working right flipper makes all the difference. Their machine was missing the flasher, same as mine, so I still have no idea if I want to try and track that part down. It was fun, but since it's a machine I can play all I want for free, I didn't play again.
At this point, AC/DC was free, and I took it over. Three plays for two bucks. I have to say this - I've played a lot of Stern's latest titles, and I quickly loved this. I've read a lot of complaints about the face on the centre of the playfield, but trust me - this is such a fast game you don't have time to notice. The volume was turned way down, which I imagine is necessary for the sanity of the owners, but I could easily envision one of these in my basement with a subwoofer hooked up. I really enjoyed the game, it was a lot of fun, but the pop bumpers were drowning out what you could hear of the music. I also lost about 6-7 balls that drained right down the middle at the start of each ball - quite a few when you consider I played maybe 4 games. Other than that I loved it, and the multiball was crazy!
Gabi played a few other machines, and then joined me at AC/DC, and to my surprise and delight, she quite liked it too, although it's faster than anything we've got here. As we were taking turns playing, and I tried out Wild Fyre and Spacelab, we both noticed a rather large camera hovering around, filming us and the other players as we went at the machines.
After we'd hogged AC/DC for what felt like an appropriate amount of time, we went back to our table for the final element of our combo, the dessert. Rachel, one of the owners, said that this was her best brownie batch yet, so with a tip like that we both skipped the rice krispie squares. I'm pleased to report that the brownie was excellent - if you head down for some pinball, make sure you pick up one of those too.
I then struck up a conversation with the cameraman, and when I found out they were from Global, did a bit of name-dropping, since I know a few people there. They asked me if I'd answer a few questions, which I did, but I doubt any of it will make the story. I got interviewed so many times with my Scrabble Club kids last year that I didn't think it would be a big deal, but I started sweating and mumbling and got all nervous. If anything does make it, I'll come off like a bumbling idiot. Ah well. Jason, the other owner, got interviewed next, and I'm sure more of his stuff will make the story, from what I could overhear. Much smoother than I. Monday night on Global News, if you've got the time.
At this point, I ordered a hot chocolate for myself that quickly got taken over, and we both enjoyed it, then I headed back to the machines. I was dying to try Black Knight, as I'd almost had a deal in place for a trade for my Orbitor 1. I'm kind of glad it fell thru - I don't think I want one. It was all right, but I couldn't make the ramp shot to save my life - not sure if it was the flippers or me, but I got frustrated and moved on.
There were only two pins we hadn't tried, and since we couldn't get near Supersonic as a family had taken it over, Gabi and I headed to Comet. We both quite liked it, and stayed there until we ran out of quarters. In fact, she liked it so much that she's willing to let me pick one up. I wonder if the fact that she beat me on it has something to do with that. Now all I have to do is find one.
To sum up - food and ambience were very good. It's a bright space, comfy and welcoming, and Rachel was very friendly, although for some reason I introduced myself but never Gabi, a shortcoming I apologized for later. I loved my sandwich, my pop and my brownie, and the hot chocolate was ok, as was Gabi's sandwich, although I think that's my tastes, not necessarily the sandwich. I'm regretting not checking out the juke, something I'll be sure to do next time I pop by.
The pinballs were a nice collection. They're in good player condition, with the obvious exception of AC/DC, it being released just a few weeks ago, so it was near mint. Other than the BK flippers seemingly not being able to get the ball up the ramp (also could have been just my lack of skill, to be totally honest), everything that should work seemed to be working, which is always nice to find when you do go out to play pinball. Jason spent some time working on both Comet and AC/DC during our visit, so witnessing the maintenance going on usually indicates the machines are well cared for.
Both of us had a very good time, and Gabi is even willing to go back, which is nice for someone who more tolerates my pinball habits than truly enjoys them.
Basically, if you like pinball even a little bit, I think it'd be well worth your time to pay a visit.
Oh, and I imagine the sound on AC/DC rocks as much as the game. Next time I play one, I've got to figure out how to crank it.
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