From Soho down to Brighton

Does anyone remember pinball, that game with a metal ball that was slapped around by two paddles and made a bunch of noise? Does anyone know someone who plays pinball? Or has the game, which was already considered old school by the late 80s, finally died?

Here in Fargo-Moorhead, it isn’t dead but one has to really look to find the old rectangular boxes.

There are a million bars in Fargo-Moorhead but only three have a pinball machine: the Bismarck, Tailgaters, and Mulligan’s. There are five million restaurants, hotels, and their supporting businesses but only two have a pinball machine: Leisure Laundry and Tanning Center and Flying J.

The Flying J and Tailgaters both have a South Park pinball machine. The one at Tailgaters, while more convenient to play, has a broken paddle, making it as fun as a popped balloon, not that it is much more fun even in working order. The game is too easy. The openings into the specials are too wide, allowing the specials to be easily hit. There’s no challenge, so it gets boring quickly. Ball handling is not needed on this game, nor is it needed on Austin Powers, the game at Mulligan’s.

Mulligan’s Bar houses the Austin Powers game, one that is so ridiculously easy they should just call it ‘slut.’ My friend, an amateur like me, scored over one hundred million and got four free games before getting tired and wishing for an end, and that was on his first quarter, on his first time playing.

Leisure Laundry has Monopoly but they made it clear to me that the games are for paying customers only, which is too bad because they have a few arcade games worth playing. Since I wasn’t asked to leave, only to not return, I played four games and was happy, although it was bittersweet. The game play is challenging but with only four games under my belt, I can’t say much about it, except it’s better than South Park and Austin Powers but not as good as Playboy.

Playboy at the Bismarck is patience-wearing and challenging. I’ve come close, numerous times, to grabbing a bar stool and bashing the front in out of frustration. Ball handling skills are a must have. The lanes are narrow so one’s aim has to be exact. There’s also a magnet underneath so sometimes the ball doesn’t go where it should. There are enough combinations of specials and multi-balls to keep play interesting and the machine itself is kept clean on a regular basis, a signal that while pinball may be dying, in the Bismarck it’s as loved as the people on the bar stools..