roadtrip pickups

Alouette is an institution for arcade operators in the Montreal area and they announced they were doing a big parts blowout sale.  We managed to turn it into a mini family vacation, but that also included a trip to the warehouse, a stop at a friends' place on the way for a few more pickups, and some stuff that other people were holding on for me migrated to the warehouse as well.

There is a bit of an indie pinball/arcade railroad of people are Toronto / Ottawa / Montreal.  Enthusiasts that are willing to pay it forward and help other operators / collectors / restorers in the arcade world.  It is always heartening to experience that kind of mutual enthusiasm, both in how we help each other, and the shared joys of sifting through endless parts shelves.

I am not going in to the full play-by-play, but here is just a bunch of stuff I picked up on the road

a MAACA member took this playfield for a few hours, cleaned it up, and scanned it.  They'll be working on doing a digital restoration of the art.

I have been getting a few "table games" as of late so I had to grab these amarith pool balls (in the box, from Belgium no doubt!) which are 1 7/8" size, small than most other pool balls which are 2"+.  So who knows when I might need these and worst case scenario kids can enjoy them.  The bag on the right is a bag of various plastic and marble balls from random arcade games.  And above it are Ginza-Boule slider balls, bearings with rubber rings attached.  Lots of table-game possibilities, so I got them because they're cheap.  Not pictured, but I also got a multi-faceted billiards table brush for cleaning dusty tables

a few more Canadian Coinbox issues from Robert, which I should scan within the month

had to pick up this Doctor Who pinball piece because there's bound to be a Doctor Who fan that needs it.

bingo machine backglass: 1969 Bally Safari
Love the leopard print, but also just the SHEER DENSITY of information it was made to convey

this is plexi, but apparently they are normally glass.  Very interesting game, a shuffle alley combined with a drop-shelf gimmick.

You best believe these magazines will get scanned:

mmmmm chirashi bowl!

As the pandemic seems to be receding, it looks like 2022 will be there year for pinball meetups again!  I am very excited.  I have to go through my art and figure out what is staying and get rid of the overage.  I still have a pachinko and 1934 pinball machine that has to go.

I still have 2 machines (a Rock-Ola World's Series and the One-Two-Three by Coin Craft Canada,) that are out for repair/restoration and have to ensure I have space for them.  I also found a guy in Virginia who might trade me an arrangeball I've been intrigued by, in exchange for some of my older stuff.

There are not many other planned shifts for the gameroom currently.  Purge, optimize, and refine.  My next big goal is to save for a newer Stern, like a Godzilla or Deadpool, but the way things tend to go around here I don't expect to be able to gather that kind of money for a while.  A goal like that seems eternally 2 years away as other unplanned expenses always seem to crop up.