Champion Pub!

This is a crazy machine!   Though hard as hell and frustrating, Champion Pub has the potential to be played and played and played and played......its that good.   In my visits to Old Port Tavern Billiards, I've felt a wide array of emotions - ecstatic joy and pure defeat.   Classic!

Old Port Tavern Billiards is a classy joint...at the front door there is a "proper dress required" sign, not something you would pass by at, say, ForePlay.   but putting other bars down aside, the ambiance of   OPTB is truly alluring - low lights over eight full size tables (for just $7 an hour), free darts and this jem of a pin.   

This game is progressed through a series of training exercises that lead up to the "main event" in which the punching bag rotates to reveal your opponent.   Training events include a mechanical/magnetic jump-rope event, a speed bag as well as many dot matrix sub games, all of which are very clever and difficult.   There is a stopper between the flippers that rises for the main event and stays up only when your "health" is high.   Basically, the game kicks ass.   I'm no high score champ on this pin, but the game-play allows for me to improve each time I visit.  The pace is high, the shots are difficult and precise and the sound effects are pretty funny (although HORRIBLY offensive and stereotypical).   I really like this pin.   If i could put machines in my house, this would be one of them.......

World Cup Soccer.

Fore Play.   Have you been there?  I hadn't either, but i figured they might have a Pin - I've come to find that i don't really dig this joint and their pin is in desperate need of servicing!

That being said, I would REALLY love to play this machine when its working - its got tons of cool shots, a great array of possible scoring options and gadgets galore.   Oh, but it sticks....and its at fore play.  

Lets put it this way - the first opportunity i had to run in and give it a shot was a Thursday night at about midnight.   Well, there was a line of scantily clad girls at the door with their Frat boy friends.   Not that I'm against scantily clad anyone and who can deny the alluring charm of the pledge paddle, but really?   This place was kind of whack.   Plus, when i finally did get in to shoot, the machine was totally haywire.  wonk-wooonk.....

  
That all being said, ill check this spot in a month or two and see if anything has been done about it.   This pin really is my speed and i'm starving to try it once its prepped.......

TRON....

I love Tron.   the movie, TRON that is.   An ahead of its time science-fiction film staring a young 1982 Jeff Bridges - I even loved the current day remake/episode 2 of the series, but seriously?......

Out on Forest Ave lies a little hole in the wall bar called Forest Gardens.   I walked in at like 10pm on a Tuesday night to find the bartender asleep on his stool.   The bell startled him as well as did the fact as i was there just to play pinball.   Its a shame a six thousand dollar machine meant for professionals goes unused.   I literally had to wipe the dust off before i played.    

Unfortunately, this pinball machine is a downer.   Like, beat you over the head, write on your face with sharpie, steal all your money and take a picture to send to your loved ones.    I'd heard that the pin was "unforgiving," but I've come to find out that this machine was actually designed to limit the game-play time, thus increasing revenue.   Its made for pros, and i'm no pro.   I like to be able to explore a game, find its rythm and tricks, but this thing was so fast and consistantly draining that i never got a chance.   Five dollars of quarters and no progress to speak of - I'll pass.

In good news, I'm glad to say that I've spent some time on this rig.   As this machine was produced just a year ago (May 2011), it has many of the new advancements that Stern has to offer.   The spinning disc shot and upper-flipper light cycle shot are really cool as is the lighting on ramps and bumpers that replicate the effects from the big screen.   Also, the sound board on the machine really hits the movie right on the head.   Catch phrases from the film show up when you hit specific shots on the table - pretty cool.

I think Stern went a bit far with the complexities of the shots.   If you had this machine in your house and were able to really figure the order, it would be a blast, but in order to progress in the game-play one has to make shots in a specific order.   For me, it was just too much  Also, the outer rails are vicious as is the kickback off the disc spinner.   It would be alright too if there was a ball-save, but there isn't, so it isn't.   Ultimately, I won't go back....not for another year of playing is under my belt and need another dose of humility.