Comments on: Love for a Timeless Classic: Playing Pinball in Raleigh

By: Spatula

Spatula — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:09:40 +0000

I was too young for pinball, unless it’s the computer game that comes with windows, but there’s nothing wrong with having a bit of nostalgia for cool machines that are occasionally older than I am.

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:56:30 +0000

Old school(77-82) Raleigh’s best pinball players were always in the gameroom downstairs at the NCSU student center. There were always 4-6 pinball machines there. They kept notebook paper attached to each machine with the high scores.I remember they had a sweet Fireball machine for a long time.

I also played at Woolworth’s, GC Murphy’s, Sears, & “The Gold Mine.” I think it was at the mall in Durham.

Lastly, wasn’t there a double wide trailer that someone made into an arcade up hwy 70 called Score Seeker?

By: Sarah Mascarah

Sarah Mascarah — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:32:27 +0000

grew up with this is my dad’s den.

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1003&picno=23243

he collected things…

also, i think (and maybe my memory is completely wrong) there is a machine tucked away in the back room at the brewery. maybe…

By: Drew

Drew — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:21:03 +0000

Frankie’s Fun Land has three tables now. Indiana Jones (covers all four movies), Family Guy, and one more that escapes me right now. I love this post, btw, pinball is a favorite time killer of mine.

By: Oren

Oren — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 03:28:57 +0000

I also used to walk to Crabtree Valley Mall in the ’70s to play pinball at Murphy’s and Sears, and I also remember Woolworth’s in North Hills. Each of them had at least 5 or 6 pinball machines, plus a whole bunch of video games. I remember the Kiss Machine, and I also remember an Elton John Captain Fantastic machine at the Woolworth’s. All the bowling alleys had great pinball too, including Western Lanes. There were a lot of machines in those days, but they definitely got better in the ’80s when multi-ball play came along.

By: Christry

Christry — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:38:18 +0000

Love the blogh and pinball. You used to repair machines? Now, can you tell me how to repair the scoring lights in my old Williams machine?

By: Robert E Leebowitz

Robert E Leebowitz — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:09:05 +0000

The Pinball Museum in Las Vegas is THE greatest thing in that dump of a city. $10 in quarters and a $5 joint will provide you with over a million dollars worth of entertainment value. You may also notice that many of the machines in the museum come from Thorpe Music, of Rocky Mount. They purchased a truckload of rare games from Thorpe, who has 3, or 4 warehouses in downtown Rocky Mount, all filled with old pinball machines and coin-op machines.

By: Dana

Dana — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:18:55 +0000

I’m with the above posters on GC Murphy, Sears, and Woolworths. SportsWorld had a nice row of about 5 machines. Right now, Frankies seems to be the best, as far as clean machines that work correctly.

In college (UNC) I seriously got into playing Cyclone and Pinbot. Cyclone is the greatest coin-op game ever created (IMHO). They had a great one in the student union and a good one at Spring Garden. I got to the point where I could play for 45-60min on 50-cents, which made for a slow-burn! Sad to not see Cyclone on this list. :(

On my next Vegas trip, I will make a point to visit the pinball museum there. They supposedly have one of everything ever made, even some rareties.

By: David

David — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:37:05 +0000

Growing up in North Raleigh, my favorite place to play was Woolworth’s at North Hills. I remember starting out with some of the old machines with the mechanical scoring. They even had a Hercules machine (the jumbo-sized machine that used a cue ball – not that good, actually). I also played the machines at GC Murphy’s and Sears as well.

When I started at State in 1979, I played at Blimpie’s, Western Lanes, and Battlezone.

Woolworth’s was still the best, though.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 22:26:23 +0000

I just donated a Charlie’s Angels pinball machine to Helping Hand Mission. It probably needs a new board but you can buy them brand new for $120 on eBay. Go get it!