70 replies to this topic

[RJ]

A co-worker told me about a pizza place near me that her son visited this past wkend. Mentioned some coinops, she named PacMan, Centipede, Donkey Kong. I didn't know what to expect but took the family there tonight for dinner. it occupies the corner of a strip mall, & one corner of the business is rounded out, which lo & behold has 9 coinops & 3 pinballs!

Centipede
Ms PacMan (had a menu screen w/ choice of several Pac games & Piranha)
Frogger
Mario Bros (NOT Super; the one w/ the creatures & multiple floors)
Galaga
Asteroids
Zaxxon
Donkey Kong
Dig Dug
Fish Tales ( broken?)
Gilligans Island
Avatar

some of the cabs aren't authentic, but my kids got to see the glory of several together, until now they've just seen the 2 I have. "We" got high scores on Centipede, Mario Bros, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug. Granted the high scores were low to start with. I spoke extensively to the owner, about my age (40) it's been there 2 yrs. He contracted w/ a local amusement company, & wanted strictly 80s coinops ONLY. He said He may swap out Galaga for Paperboy soon. There's a monthly high score contest, for May it's Donkey Kong. I will definitely be back, maybe even as soon as this Fri on my day off.

My wife thought it was a bit slow for a weeknight, I thought a little interweb mention may drum up some biz for them- every little bit helps. Check it out if you live nearby, it's off Tamarack Rd/I-694 in Woodbury behind the Sheraton. Mon/Tues pizza buffet for $8 bucks!

[pce_collector]

Nice. I used to walk to a local haunt to play Paperboy back in the day. Now it's nothing but claw machines and hunting games in my neck of the woods.

[david_mn]

The family and I have become semi-regular patrons on buffet nights.

[RJ]

I usually only make it there once a month, even though we live close by, so my high scores don't stick for the contests. I think I took unofficial 3rd place in Mario Bros; I was never notified.

My wife doesn't like the pizza, & doesn't like me spending money on "games I can play at home" (even though we had a ton of leftover quarters from an Illinois trip- tolls you know) but whenever it's just my 2 boys & me for dinner, we go there.

[david_mn]

Went there again with the family tonight. Played Zaxxon, Galaga, Frogger and Ms. Pac-Man.

[RJ]

Hey what's the December game of the month?

& did they fix Frogger? Last time we played seems you couldn't go left, may have been something else but it was something significant like that & I told my kids not to play it.

Edited by RJ, Fri Dec 7, 2012 6:31 AM.

[S1500]

I'll have to hit this place.

However, it needs MOAR PINBALL.

Sadly, Cafetto in Uptown when I last visited it had 4 nice pins downstairs. None of them were working. One was a Stargate!

[RJ]

Hey guys let me know when you plan to visit this place, we can do a dinner time meetup.

[S1500]

RJ, on Fri Dec 7, 2012 12:55 PM, said:

Hey guys let me know when you plan to visit this place, we can do a dinner time meetup.

So it's like Rusty Quarters, but with pizza. And closer to my house than Zap arcade! I'll have to carve out some time & make a shoutout.

[RJ]

I wouldn't say it's an arcade w/ pizza, more like a pizza place w/ arcade games. So far it's still all the games I listed up top.

Edited by RJ, Fri Dec 7, 2012 2:08 PM.

[S1500]

I did a scouting mission tonight. Played 3 credits of Avatar for a buck. Earned 2 replays & played those. Left the machine after those 2, and heard 2 replay solenoid kicks(matched twice!) which were quickly claimed by 2 kids. I came at a bad time, during some kid's birthday party. Then just when I was about to leave, another party comes in. But yes, they have games.

[david_mn]

We were there Saturday night too. We got there while both parties were in full swing. It was chaos wasn't it? Actually we ended up sitting next to the three pinball machines. The Indiana Jones pinball wasn't there a couple of weeks ago.

[S1500]

david_mn, on Mon Dec 17, 2012 1:36 PM, said:

We were there Saturday night too. We got there while both parties were in full swing. It was chaos wasn't it? Actually we ended up sitting next to the three pinball machines. The Indiana Jones pinball wasn't there a couple of weeks ago.

Yes, it was chaos. I'm no parent, but I'm starting to understand these "Terrible twos". I did real good on Avatar and got comfortable with the machine. Maybe it was because I wasn't sinking $1.00 to play a credit like Blainbrook.

As for the Indiana Jones game, I could take it or leave it. The '08 Stern table is nowhere near as good as the Williams one.

As I was leaving I noticed the wall of snapshots of arcade game winners. It was like a little Twin Galaxies board, but with no scores posted. I noticed they used to have an Adams Family machine there as well as a Gilligan's Island pin. Looks like game rotation happens.

Hey, 5 or 6 more pins and we could do tournaments there!

[david_mn]

I've seen some rotation in the pinball machines since we've been going there, but none in the video games yet. Their Facebook page shows that they used to have the Tron video game. I wish that one would come back.

I didn't play anything last Saturday. The birthday party kids were taking up all the games. That was fine with me.

[S1500]

david_mn, on Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:46 AM, said:

I've seen some rotation in the pinball machines since we've been going there, but none in the video games yet. Their Facebook page shows that they used to have the Tron video game. I wish that one would come back.

With or without rotation, I've noticed arcade-ish pizza places don't seem to ever take photos OF their arcade. Point camera at games, push button, upload to website. It's that simple! The place in Wisconsin(similar to DeLeo's) has the same problem.

I would have taken pictures of said games, but there was a bunch of kids in the way.

Just show us the games! Don't show part of it, don't kind of go around it.

[RJ]

Aw c'mon you guys, I thought we were doing a meetup

But Sat & Sun wouldn't have worked for me...

I think my boys would really be impressed by your pinball skillz, rather than the 20-30 sec. games theyre used to.

Edited by RJ, Tue Dec 18, 2012 2:58 PM.

[S1500]

RJ, on Tue Dec 18, 2012 2:55 PM, said:

Aw c'mon you guys, I thought we were doing a meetup

Oh, we will. I just had to do a scouting mission in advance. It's like a podcast, don't subscribe all the way in for starters, listen to an episode first.

The key for DeLeo's? Call ahead to see if there's a birthday party going on.

If not, one of us has to dress up in a beanie and pretend to be the birthday boy and we reserve our own.

[david_mn]

When I go there with the family it is generally on about 20 minutes notice.

[david_mn]

Ended up these last night for the first time in a few weeks. I played one game of Dig Dug and that was only because there was a free credit on the machine. I was more interested in reading a book on my Kindle while waiting for dinner than playing video games.

[david_mn]

Ended up there last night for buffet night. It was pretty quiet. I played four games of Galaga and managed to get four of the five top scores. They obviously had reset the machine recently....

[RJ]

The owner told me they unplug them every night, thats why they use a chalkboard to save high scores for the Game of the Month contest.


Incidentally, I plan to be there this Thurs the 17th between 5-6:30 pm for dinner w/ my 2 boys. The wife has to work late. I'll try to wear a white Hard Rock Cafe Tshirt, but I'll have a black & white winter coat, & we usually sit at the 4-topper table right by the restrooms. Oh yes, Im a tall white guy w/ dark brown hair. Come over & say hi!

Edited by RJ, Wed Jan 16, 2013 6:21 AM.

[RJ]

Well no one approached me, so I'll assume no one made it out. There was a guy who looked a lot like david_mn but he didnt say hi, plus he was just there reccently. It was nearly empty when we got there, but it got busy quick & the games were too. There were a few free credits on Dig Dug so I got the HS on that, as well as Mario Bros (the top score was only 12000 which I can always easily beat on 1 guy). In fact, I WAS having a great game until I said so, then started dying. My kids tried Centipede, Galaga, Zaxxon, Indiana Jones & Fish Tales.

Unfortunately the owner said he's too busy & forgets to come up w/ a GOTM. Good to see he's still in business, if every night's like it was tonight he should be ok.

[S1500]

Sorry I coudln't make it tonight. I was at dinner with someone.

[david_mn]

Nope. That wasn't me. Must have been some other balding middle age guy.

[RJ]

Yeah, now that I think about it, a day & a half isnt really much advance notice. I knew a few weeks prior I had to do dinner myself, but only got the DeLeo's idea early Wed when I posted. Maybe next time...


@david_mn- heh, I cant tell how "big" you are from your pic, this guy was pretty large, but wasnt wearing glasses. He seemed to kindof hover around my table a bit, like he wanted to say something but diidnt.

Edited by RJ, Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:48 AM.