This is me and my new good pinball friend (all pinball friends are good friends), Joakim. We took a moment to memorialize our meeting. Joakim is one of the members of Nacka Flipper and has a great collection of solid state era games in amazing condition.
Nacka Flipper is 1 subway and 2 busses outside the center of Stockholm. It's a private club, but if you contact them in advance, you can pay 200 SEK (cash) to play for the evening and even play in a tournament if you want. There were many people there just playing on their own. Also bring cash if you want to purchase reasonably priced beers and a cool T-shirt. I only had enough cash to play. Sweden is largely cashless at this point and this was the only occasion I needed it.
Beer and Pinball go hand in hand.
It was a quick trip on the subway to a bus that was practically waiting for me. My 2nd bus took about 7 minutes to arrive so I snapped this shot looking back across the bay towards where our hotel is.
The two busses I took were straight up commuter busses. Everyone had headphones on and were minding their own business so I did the same. I felt like I lived here. It was actually more fun than I thought it would be.
I arrived and followed the great instructions given to me by the member I was talking to in email. Whenever I contact these private clubs I include my IFPA (International Flipper Pinball Association) profile link so they know I am a regular pinball player and this time they were able to see I had already played twice in Norway and once in Sweden.
These private clubs are usually pretty well hidden because their business model isn't bringing people in off the street, but in order to run an IFPA sanctioned tournament, it has to be available to the public in some form. It doesn't mean it has to be easily available to the public.
I walked up to the door and heard distinct pinball sounds so I was pretty sure I was in the right place so I opened the door...
This was another shoes off place so I took off my shoes and found someone who was at the computer to get signed up. It all went smoothly and soon I was flipping!
The tournament was a classics tournament so I focused my practice there. There were a few machines I had never played before.
This is Torch, an unlicensed Olympics Game by Gottlieb. Gottlieb was kind of famous for their slightly off brand games that were just different enough to not require a license. Check out Hollywood Heat for an amazing example of this. Look familiar? Not to a lawyer!
I also hadn't played Genie before coming to Europe. I may have play it once before on the trip. All of my trip notes are kind of disorganized at this point. It's been two and a half months.
It's a really fun machine with an early "upper playfield" type element. Not truly an upper playfield, but plays like an upper playfield.
Check out that "upper playfield" in the top left. It's a really fun element.
This is Zaccaria's Pinball Champ. Zaccaria was an Italian company making pinball machines from the 70s to the 90s. They are famous for being incredibly beautiful as well as fun. I have played Pinball Champ a few times, but it's always great to see it and play it.
It does have an upper playfield right in the center. It's hard to see because it's clear plexiglass. While you play you earn "Time". When you have enough "Time" you shoot it to the upper playfield and shoot drop targets for big points. When your "Time" time runs out, the flippers die and the ball returns to the main playfield. It's a really fun game.
Now, take a close look at the playfield on Pinball Champ and compare it to this next game...
Its nearly the exact same layout, but with much different art. This is Pinball (yes that's the whole name and it causes much confusion)! Pinball is an incredibly rare game by Bell Games in Italy. Well that isn't completely a true statement, Bell Games made the playfield, back glass, new game code chip, and metal art panels to go on the sides of the machine. The rest of the machine is a Gottlieb Pinball Machine. Bell Games just made conversion kits for Gottlieb machines. When coin drop slowed down because the pinball machine was getting old, you could buy a brand new pinball machine, or you could buy a kit to refresh the machine you already owned for less money.
This is still its original Gottlieb coin door.
The art on this machine is wacky!
It's the 2nd machine I know of featuring Laurel and Hardy, the other is Prospector.
It's also the 2nd machine featuring Popeye! The other is Popeye Saves the Earth.
It's the first machine featuring Poppy that I know of.
And the first machine featuring what appears to be James Cagney.
It even features Humphrey Bogart! What a wacky ensemble of iconic figures.
It's the only pinball machine that I know of that has a boxing kangaroo. Also if you look closely you can see Charlie Chaplain, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and references to 101 Dalmatians and probably The 7 Dwarves on the playfield. I really should have taken more photos. It's an amazing art package.
If you want to read more about Bell Games, you can read about them
here.
Near the end of my tournament time was when I met Joakim. We talked about pinball and traveling to play and then he asked if I wanted a ride back into town because public transportation is less reliable after 9pm. I excitedly said yes and thanked him.
Anyway, the tournament didn't go too well. I started off poorly and then had a few proud moments and then was out.
I headed outside for some fresh air and saw the open door for Nacka Flipper. It's a lot more obvious when the door is open.
Joakim went on to greatness and finished tied for 2nd, so I continued to play pinball while I waited for my ride. It's an easy way to kill time.
I took this selfie before I knew I would have a photo of me and Joakim for the top image of the post.
I played a handful of games on Space Jam, a machine I haven't played in years. It's fun!
Then I ground out some Stern Badges on Metallica Remastered.
The ride back to the hotel was uneventful and awesome at the same time. Stockholm is so pretty at night and Joakim said I should come back when it is a bit warmer to see it really alive.
Sadly this was going to be our last night in Stockholm, but it was a great way to spend it. Tomorrow we take an overnight train north.
No comments:
Post a Comment