Tiki in Minnesota Don't Ya Know!

 Minneapolis, MN

Psycho Suzi's

Today we took a bus across The Mighty Mississippi and walked up to Psycho Suzi's for some Tiki goodness.  Psycho Suzi's is a giant bar that has to pump out the drinks during busy times so they premix their cocktails.  It's a much different experience than a place like Smuggler's Cove or Hale Pele where you order a drink and a bartender spends quite a while crafting it.  Both are great for different reasons.  Half of the seating is outdoors on the Mississippi and all of the locals were outside while we were inside sitting at the bar.  When the weather is nice the locals take full advantage.  During the winter they open up more of the indoors and pack them in.  During the dead of winter Psycho Suzi's offers a tropical get-a-way.  

We took transit across the river.  I liked the design on the transit shelter.

Hanging out on The Mississippi again!  We can't get away from it.

The place had a 70s / Tiki vibe.  It all worked together great.

Growing up some of my friend' Kitchens had these wooden spoons

They sold mugs and shirts out of vending machines.  They were mostly out of shirts but expect more soon so we will be back.

We asked for swizzle sticks and received swizzle sticks.

The tap handles for the premixed cocktails on tap

Tiki on The Mississippi

They have a queue with turnstiles for the bar.

Back to Reality 

Broken Clock Brewing

As we walked back towards where we came from we passed a brewery with pinball machines and when I say passed, what I mean is we went in.  The beers were solid, the space was cool, and the pinball machines were more expensive than most others.

Another Pull Tab Machine

They have a barrel aging program.

After the brewery we grabbed another bus and went to Kramarczuk's.  We bought all kinds of cured meats and then caught another bus home.  

That was today's adventure.  If you missed Baby's First Ranked Pinball Tournament, check it out.  I played in an IFPA Pinball Tournament and had fun.

Baby's First Ranked Pinball Tournament

 Minneapolis, MN

My First Pinball Tournament

Today Donna and I headed to Falling Knife Brewing for my first official IFPA Pinball Tournament.  We both played in a league when we lived in San Francisco that had weekly tournaments but it was just a fun league and didn't give IFPA points.  Once you add IFPA points you get all kinds of players, some are way too serious and the tournament leaders in SF wanted to keep it casual.  Anyway today I played in an official IFPA tournament and it was a lot of fun.  I got to play with 3 players that are rated top 750 or better in the world (according to IFPA ratings).  They were very nice and very good.  I was able to watch their play and view their strategy.  I have a long way to go but it's a fun journey.

Before pinball, coffee!

The host left us some Vietnamese Pour Over packets so we checked them out.  it was a cool little disposable pour over system and it came with sweetened condensed milk.  Pretty cool!

This is a great shot of me preparing for the tournament.  I am watching tutorials on games I might be playing today.  It's kind of like the scene in Rocky where he is punching the sides of beef but way less violent.

They had a really great Barleywine on tap.  You got a free beer along with the tournament entry fee which is $5 and the beers are normally $7-$9 so it's great value. 

Donna bought this sour beer that wasn't as good as we had hoped.  It was still good but not amazing.

The tap handles were fallen knives 

This is a Pull Tabs Minnesota State Lottery Machine. 

Donna got me practicing on a James Bond 007 machine.  The guy to my right was rocking the Game of Thrones machine.  I was hoping to not draw Game of Thrones because it's the game I know the least about.

This is me showing a competitor photos of Francis.  I use all of my resources to take people out of their "killer instinct" game mode.

My first game did end up being Game of Thrones and I had this guy in my group.  He ended up winning the whole thing and is 618th in the world.  I took my first strike by getting 3rd or 4th in this round.  I have 2 more strikes until I am out.

They had a nice looking light box tap list.

Col Pitfall! art.

I ended up getting 12th out of 17.  I played 5 games and got a strike on Game of Thrones, then got 2nd on Robocop (no strike), 1st on Foo Fighters (no strike), 3rd on Godzilla (2nd strike), and 3rd on Guardians of the Galaxy (3rd strike and out).

It was a really fun tournament and I met some very nice people.  I hope to play in a few more on my travels.  I am still waiting to get my IFPA points and end up on their site.  

After getting back, Donna and I walked to Kowalski's Market.  Kowalski's is a high end expensive market that Donna remembers from her short time living in the area.  We went for nostalgia and to buy some nice things. 

Donna checking out the cheese section

Fancy cakes and desserts

and Functional Beverage!  

That was it for today.  It was a fun day.  If you missed Pinball, Pinball, and Pinball check it out.  It features 3x more pinball action than today's post which is surprising.

Pinball, Pinball, and Pinball

 Minneapolis, MN

Francis loves going to Breweries with us.

Pinball in a Coffee House

This morning I got ready and headed over to the local Co-Op to get us transit cards and then stopped by Caffetto Coffee House.  They are open from 6:30am to 1am and have pinball.  I headed downstairs and played a few games to start the day.

Our Airbnb is just a block up from this photo.

I played some practice games on T2.  This game is at the place I am playing in a tournament tomorrow.

Pinball at an Arcade

After returning home, Donna and I headed to Up-Down Minneapolis.  Up-Down is a chain and they do a really great job.  We have played at Up-Down KC and Up-Down St. Louis.  Today is 2 for 1 tokens and the machines are 1 token so the cost is 12.5 cents which is amazing.  I purchased extra tokens and will use them during our stay.

We didn't buy a doughnut from the vending machine, this time...

This was another practice machine for the tournament tomorrow.

After Up-Down we headed home and took the afternoon off.  We cooked some dinner and watched some TV and then decided on one more adventure today.

Pinball at a Brewery

After dinner we grabbed Francis and headed to Sisyphus Brewing.  They have 4 machines there so I figured it would be a good stop for the day.  It also checked off Brewery in Minnesota.  There are a ton of Breweries here.  My early observation is that Minneapolis has it going on!

This is what Donna sees when I am on a mission to play pinball.

I played Avengers: Infinity Quest (Limited Edition) and Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast (Limited Edition).  

This is different than the Top Photo.

The walk home took us by the Sculpture Garden.  We saw this same piece at The National Gallery

Check out this cool pedestrian bridge!

We also saw this Roy Lichtenstein piece from across the field and called it and we were right!

That was it for today.  Tomorrow is my first IFPA Pinball Tournament.  I am looking forward to losing and learning.  If you missed Road Tripping Through Wisconsin, check it out.  We went to a cranberry shop and a cheese shop in Wisconsin.