Bergen Pinball Club

Today we got to visit The Bergen Pinball Club, a private pinball club a short walk from the city center. 

I contacted them in advance and they said to let them know when we were in town and they would work out a time. We agreed on Saturday at 3pm. There was talk of a donation but not how much so I visited the website and looked at the membership tiers. I came up with a price that I thought would be fair and generous was going to go with that when I got there. 

We arrived at the address and messaged them via Whatsapp and they came out to meet us and led us in via a side entrance. 

It's a shoes off place so don't wear holey socks. 

The layout of the club was explained to us. It's laid out roughly, by era. 

There is a nice map showing the rooms and their eras. 

Pinball Map shows them having 130 machines, but they weren't all available for play. There were still a good number of games that I had never played before, so that was great. 

We got a really nice tour of the facility and then I bought a T-shirt and we made our donation of 300 NOK each, or about $60. The donation ended up being above what I had worked out in my mind, but we were there and the money was going to pinball machine upkeep. 

Lots of work was happening because about 20 people were coming later in the day. 

Sadly, Alarm wasn't operating, but what an amazing looking machine!

Robot wasn't working either but they turned it in for me so I could get a good photo. 

Kjell is very passionate about the machines here. This was a very rare Mythology. It had an issue and couldn't be played, but Kjell cleaned the glass so I could get a good photo. 

Enough with the broken machines, here are the machines that played great. 

The back glass for Laser War was wacky and the game was fun. 

Look at those near vertical side flippers!  

The Firey 30s had a crazy outlane gate. 

The gate closed off the inlane!

But there were switches around that closed the gate which opened the inlane and closed off the outlane. 

This might be the only publicly available Walkyria in the world. 

A Solid State version of Joker Poker

It was a really great afternoon of pinball. It was one of the most unique pinball experiences we have had yet. 

After pinball we walked back to city center and waited in line for a delicious hot dog. The hot dogs here are out of this world. 

Putting the Fun in Funicular

Today we rode the Fløibanen top the top of Fløyen, a mountain practically downtown. Well we rode to the top of the funicular, the mountain continues on beyond the end of the line offering great hikes. 

We walked through this cool looking street market on the waterfront. It was hailing / raining but we have the right clothes for this weather so we were all good. Also the weather changes every 5 minutes or so. 

You can purchase your ticket online, or at a kiosk in the station, or from an attendant at the station. You can purchase a ticket for half way up, all the way up, or all the way up and back down. Hiking both up and down is free, but we chose a round trip ticket. It was just about $21.50 USD each after the conversion. 

The views on the way up are incredible. 

You know you are exactly halfway there when you pass the other vehicle. Funiculars are unique because they only have 2 cars.  They operate at the same time, with the car coming down, helping pull the car coming up so it is more energy efficient. It's an old but cool technology. 

When you reach the top, there are a few more stairs exiting the station and then views!

There is something for everyone at the top. 

Cashmere goats to pet

a cool playground for the kids and the young at heart 

you can rent this treehouse or the yurt in the background 

there are also bars, places to eat, and a gift shop. 

We chose to go hiking. There are long hikes and short hikes, easy hikes and hard hikes. 

We chose not to do this hike...

There is even a short hike to a lake where you can canoe. 

It seemed there was some sort of severe weather event that knocked over a bunch of trees. 

After our hike we ate lunch at Fløirestauranten. It was a bit pricey, but the food was great and the ambiance was fantastic. 

Alcohol here is expensive but this brewery is great. 

Donna had the seafood soup that Bergen is known for. 

After lunch, more views. 

After taking in the rest of the views, we headed to the station for our trip down. 

On the walk back to the hotel I took photos of a few murals. 

The Fløibanen is a great way to spend half or even a whole day while in Bergen.