On a Train to Scavanger NO - Oslo Wrap Up

This morning we set our alarms for 7:30am instead of the usual 8am. We have woken up to an alarm every day but one day so far on this trip and that's uncommon for us now that we don't work. We went down and ate breakfast and then packed some sliced meat, cheese, bread, pickles, and some mustard on a plate and took it upstairs to make train sandwiches. The train food is more expensive than the regular food and our trip is 8 hours so we need food and snacks for sustenance and entertainment. 

We arrived at Olso Central quite early and explored it as well as checked on our trip. 

We looked at The Big Board and it said our train was cancelled between 2 places we didn't recognize. We went to the help desk and they seemed confused about what we were reporting. It took the attendant a few minutes and 2 phone calls to determine that a fire was blocking our original route and that we would be diverted south to avoid it. We would still be on a train, but the trip would be 9.25 hrs now. Oh well, it's considered an epic train trip so we just get to see more epicness. 

Walking to Track 3

Our train arrived and we excitedly boarded. We were looking forward to seeing just how great our upgraded seats would be!

Sad Trombone!

We asked the conductor if we could switch seats and he said the train is fully booked. Today is the start of a 3 day weekend so everyone is taking advantage. 

The seat ain't great but it's better than this photo makes it look. 

Oslo was a great week long stay. We rode a ferry to the small islands in the fjord for the price of public transportation. 

We got off on Greasholmen Island, which doesn't have people living on it, and did some hiking. 

We hiked for an hour or so and then got back on the ferry and enjoyed the rest of the ride. 

When we hit dry land, we used our transit pass to have a hot dog with a little blanket on it. 

Donna got the potato salad hot dog, which is exactly what you think, a hot dog with potato salad on it   I got the jalapeno hot dog. The jalapeno was actually pickled jalapenos in a creamy sauce, like a potato salad without the potatoes. They were both delicious and the little blanket was a potato bread made out of potatoes, so you could eat it!

The next day we went to The Munch Museum, the largest museum in the world dedicated to one artist. It was amazing. There were so many great paintings and they had an awesome collection of paintings by painters that were inspired by Munch. 

We did see The Scream but didn't take photos. There are enough photos of it. 

The top floor of the museum has great views. 

The following day we walked to the Botanical Gardens 

It was really cool hiking around the gardens. 

We also visited Oslo City Hall. 

Another day we hiked Ekebergparken Sculpture Park. It's a giant nature area with sculptures throughout. It was really cool and there were good views of the city from the top. 

This marks the place where they think Munch had his, I guess panic attack, at sunset and painted The Scream depicting the feeling of existential dread. 

I, however, was not feeling existential dread. 

We saw stones set in the shape of a boat, to signify a Viking burial ground. 

These crystals glowed with led lights. It's supposed to be amazing at night. It was amazing during the day!

The views from near the top were awesome. 

This gnome has something for you!

The next day we walked around near the waterfront some more. 

We went to a fish shop and I got some freshly caught and cooked shrimp and ate them in the bed. 

That might we had tickets for the Orchestra. It was a great show. 

And that catches us up to this train ride to Stavanger. While I was typing this I noticed the lady behinde airing out her feet. 

I tried to ignore them and continued enjoying the train ride. I do find myself thinking that it's just Americans that are gross and have no sense of others, and that all Europeans are fancy, but I guess that's not the case. 

Now we are in Stavanger for 4 nights. It's a 3 day weekend and the younger generation has found enough money to get plastered at the bars here in Norway. It ain't easy to get throw up drunk on $16 4.5% beers, but they are doing it. 

The sun setting on our hotel room view.  See you in the morning Stavanger!

Playing Illegal Pinball in Oslo

Tonight I went to Illegal Pinball Club in Oslo to play in their monthly tournament. The club is only open to the public a couple times a month, so we timed it perfectly. 

It's very easy to miss. You have to find a door with a button that says Illegal Pinball on it and then when they buzz you in you have to get through two sets of doors before they lock again. Luckily, I had emailed them to confirm the time, so they knew a new person was showing up. I ended up making it through 1 set but then got stuck at the 2nd set of doors.  Luckily the man upstairs (no not God, just a man) rebuzzed me and I figured out to go through the next set of doors. 

The club is on the 3rd floor, which isn't as clear as you would think. Sometimes the floor we call the first floor is called E in Europe and Floor 1 is the next floor up or Floor 2 as we call it in the states. I ended up going to the top floor looking at all the doors and there were no clues as to where it was until I heard a door open 2 floors down and pinball sounds. I quickly made my way back down and caught the door before it closed. 

I was greeted by the man upstairs, who I now know is named Kjetil, with a warm welcome.  I paid my entrance fee and started warming up. 

All of the machines played great. 

At 7pm the tournament started. 

They were kind enough to make the announcements in English for the one guy that only spoke English. 

All the machines were set to free play even though they had the 10,00 Kr cards in them. 

In my first round I got to play with Kjetil, who tuned out to be the Norwegian champion this year and headed to District 82 for the world championships in June. He was very good and destroyed us all on Flash Gordon. 

I played well but didn't make the playoffs. Everyone there was solid and knew the machines well. I had a few really great rounds but it wasn't enough to overcome my poor rounds. 

I got to enter my initials on Indianapolis 500. 

I need to clean my lens...

It was a great tournament and everyone I played with was very friendly and wanted to talk Pinball and travel. It was another awesome experience brought to me by Pinball!  

Pinball Tournament in Göteborg!

Tonight we went to RedStone Pinball here in Göteborg. It's the premier public (more on this qualifier later) pinball place here. They are open Wednesday through Saturday and they have a weekly IFPA tournament on Wednesdays. The tournament is included in your entry fee with no money going to a prize pool. The winner gets a giant bottle of non-alcoholic cider and free entry the following week. 

Donna and I took the trolly for about 25 minutes and found RedStone in an old Sugar Factory that is now converted to mixed use including art studios and an awesome pinball location. 

The arcade is a pay a flate rate and play all night model. We tried to pay with our Visa but it was having issues so David, one of the owners, volunteered to pay and have us transfer money to him via PayPal. That worked great and we really appreciated the favor. 

There are 3 rooms with pinball and arcade games. The first room is a coat rack room with Alien Remake and Metallica Remastered. The middle room, seen above, is a really cool looking room with classic Solid State Machines. 

I got to play Cosmic Gunfight for the first time. One of the owners came by while I was playing and said it was their newest addition to the arcade. 

I also got to play Dragon, which I had played before, but not often. Many of the classics were set to 5 ball. It made sense once the tournament started because it made the classics play about as long as the moderns. 

The main room is also cool. The machines were all in great condition and playing well.  They were fixing and working on machines the whole time we were there. 

Donna and I got to play ABBA, a machine you mostly see in Europe. In fact, one of the players I played with did voice over for the machine. 

We got there at about 5:30 and the tournament started at 7pm so I got some practice in and also talked to a journalism student about pinball. He was writing an article and trying to find the story he wanted to tell. 

I also took the opportunity to have another delicious Swedish beer. 

Why so serious?  Well the tournament was starting soon so we all got serious!

At 7pm a horn honked and everyone gathered around the monitor showing the tournament info. The tournament director was kind enough to go over everything in English for the 1 person that was there that didn't speak any other languages. 

27 players showed up to play in the tournament. There was only 3 hours to play so things went fast. The rounds went up and we were off and playing. 

For round 1 I played with 3 other players in 3 different machines. 

Hot Doggin' was set to 5 balls and my ball 2 was amazing. Your bonus carries over ball to ball in Hotdoggin' so my good ball 2 led to the rest of the balls being good and I took first place without having to play my last ball. 

Kiss went well too. I had a good game and came in 2nd and then Medieval Madness went fantastic. Again, balls 1 and 2 were enough to take 1st place. I didn't need my last ball. 

Round 1 was almost a perfect round for me so round 2 was going to be tougher because I would be matched with other players that played well. 

TMNT isn't my jam. Somehow I eeked out a 3rd with almost no points but, I I believe the game malfunctioned. I chose Donatello and his perk is a multiball ready to go, all you need to do is hit the right ramp. I did that instantly and multiball didn't start. And then things didn't go well after that. 

I had a good Roadshow game and came in 2nd. This left Bally Kiss, which is one of my faves. I crapped the bed. :( Luckily my first round had me in position for making finals. I had to sweat 2 2 groups but the players that could have moved me out of a finals spot didn't. 

The goal is always to make finals and then do my best. 

The first round of finals, or semifinals if you will, I was paired with Karyn, one of the top players in the world. 

I was also on TMNT again. I had an even worse game than I had in qualifying. And finished last, but...

my Stranger Things game was great and I finished 1st and I had a good Mandalorian game finishing 2nd. This gave me enough points for 2nd in my group and I was moving on to the finals. 

The finals round didn't go well for me. I had bad games on Star Trek, Kiss, and Pokemon. I ended up in 4th which is great, but I feel I had the skills for 2nd but it didn't work out. 

(Insert podium photo from RedStones Facebook page when it's available)

Proof!  Podium finish photo!  

It was a super fun time and I met some great people that hopefully, I will run into in the future. 

While I was messing around in the tournament, Donna was playing all of the machines. She put up a GC (Grand Champion) score on Grand Prix!

The Complex Relationship between Sweden and Pinball 

I'm not able to find any good links about Swedish Pinball Laws so I will recite what I remember from my talks;

Pinball was classified the same as slot machines here in Sweden until about 2 years ago. Up until recently, most of the pinball has been in private collections and private invite only clubs. 

RedStone doesn't take coin drop so it is harder to call it gambling. You pay to get in and then games,. including arcade games are free. I do see places with 1 or 2 machines around, but I didn't check to see if they are coin drop. 

One of the people I played with said that the law said or maybe still says that you need to provide a receipt for every credit of pinball played, like the slot machine requirement. Again I can't find any info online in English so that's the best I can do. 

Walking a Scandinavian Mile

Göteborgs botaniska trädgård (no affiliation with Trogdor the Burniator)

Today we went to The Göteborg Botanical Gardens, which for me, replaced The Phoenix Botanical Gardens as the best botanical gardens I have ever been to. It's huge and there are accessable trails next to more adventurous trails. At times I felt like we were walking in the woods. 

I didn't get my feet wet!

I didn't hit my head!

We have been walking a lot on our trip, but today we only walked a mile, BUT, it was a Scandinavian mile!  Scandinavian miles are 10 kilometers or 6.2 "normal" miles. Texas take note, not everything is bigger in Texas, your miles are 6x smaller.

There was a fungus among us. 

On the way home we ran into Pippi Longstocking!  The American version of the theme song ran in my head the rest of the day, or at least the way I remember it. I loved those movies as a kid.