New horizons and old haunts

Sidenote: I may skip around a bit in the next few posts. I still have a lot of stuff to catch up on from February through April, stretching into early May and late January. I’m going to be playing often enough that there may be trips I omit completely, though I endeavor to cover all tournaments and leagues I am a part of.

After the tournament, the rest of the first half of May, at least pinball-wise, consisted of trips to Speedy’s.

Having tired of the usual, for the week of May 18-24 I mixed in visits to old haunts with a couple of new venues, both being smaller bars with only one pinball machine apiece.

The first of these bars was Darkhorse Tavern, with a Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man pinball machine. I got to play this one only a couple of times when it was relatively new, and honestly, I was too young to know what the heck I was doing. Now, of course, it’s different. This particular machine has maze controls that are a bit glitchy (particularly the left flipper direction change). There’s also a dead pop bumper, but overall the game is quite playable. I was able to ease a relatively low high score up a bit winning a good handful of replays before busting loose with a 1.6M+. There are also apparently either no replays by score, or they come at much higher scores than I was able to achieve (high score gives 2 replays, matching as usual gives one). This game is priced at 50 cents per play despite the original inserts saying “1 Play – Quarter” (with the only clue of the pricing change being a machine-made label saying “50 CENTS BRO” on the lockdown bar).

The second was The Cellar Bar, with an AC/DC (Premium). The only small issue was apparently one of the targets on the lower playfield was dead. I was still able to put up some monster scores before it was time to head back. Pricing is $1 for 1, $2 for 3, with a bill validator (which probably only takes $1 bills), the usual quarter mechanisms, and no change machines.

A brief sidenote here: I had originally inserted into this area with the idea of stopping off at Kelvin Highlander to play a Black Knight Sword of Rage (Pro). Unfortunately, this bar was closed (the premises had been vacated, leaving only some damaged furniture and decorations behind) but at least Pinball Map got updated to reflect the new status. I am looking for another place to play this title on location in the Houston area, ideally a premium or LE. (I know Bishop Cidercade has one, but it too is a mere Pro.)

Rounding out the week was a brief stopover at EightyTwo before heading out to EinStein’s Pub & Arcade in Richmond. Since the last time I was at EinStein’s in Richmond, this location has acquired a Guns & Roses (Jersey Jack); I didn’t notice any games missing from before (the change machine had been moved into the main bar room to make space). Finally the last few days covered in this post brought a few more games at Speedy’s.

Only pictures of the highest scores on each machine at each venue for each day, plus initial/name screens where available (unfortunately at least one initial screen didn’t save properly/got corrupted), have been uploaded, as otherwise there would be way too many. This is going to become the usual format, periodic summaries, unless there’s a specific visit I’m highlighting in one post (particularly a new venue, which I’m hoping we get a couple of before the year is up).

Speedy’s May 6: