A "state of affairs" commentary from the manager at Funland on Yonge:

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19730.aspx

No surprise, but still sad to hear.

I imagine the condition of their games doesn't help matters either.

Dave
http://usergallery.myhomegameroom.com/gallery/dmp65

Its like a circular problem.....

1. Games are poorly maintained and no one plays
2. No one plays poorly maintained games.

Actually there is some truth if the machine is broke they dont get played.
But if theres a DDR machine and other type of simulators those are the machines that kids will go to play.
Trust me I work for an coin-op partime and even if his best machine is 100% in a prime location it will make nothing compared to what the new vids do.
Kids will go out of there way to go play them just like the old days.
Adults on the other hand won't and let's face it now a days adults are the bigest population that play pinball few kids play pinball now a days.
Sad to say i wish it was not true but it is.

Quoted from Monkeybug

Its like a circular problem.....

1. Games are poorly maintained and no one plays
2. No one plays poorly maintained games.

"Nobody plays pinball anymore"

... Because most of MAACA users own their own pinball machines and play at home  
Well, we are a minority compared to the pinball-playing public...
So I am sure this is not the reason.

As mentioned above however, there are a plethora of other types of entertainment
(computers, home video/consoles, etc.), plus the fact that pinball machines in general
do require more maintenance and work than videos games...
Much of the entertainment industry seem to be competing for the same spare change in a way.

I also wonder if people's spare time has actually gone down in the last few years due to
more global competition and higher demands/expectations at work (and higher cost of living
that does not seem to have been offset by salary increases)...

Cheers,
- Sylvain.

This should be titled "No one leaves their house anymore".

From what I see the difference is people today don't seem to get out and go anywhere. The pool halls and movie theatres are dying too. Between home theatres and console games people just don't go out into society anymore.

Someone should point City TV to groups like this to see how invalid a statement like that really is.

TOPL used to use that arcade on a regualr basics in the location rotation.  But poor maintained games and the clientel in the area has really pushed us from going back to the location.

What it really comes down to is customer appeal.  That place is a HOLE!  No where to get something to eat or drink, no bathrooms, everything is dirty and disgusting inside and out and the crazies that show up to that place are something in and of itself.  I can remeber when we would have league night I would have to plan not to eat or drink anything a few hours before or make sure I used to washroom before I left because you are basically scrwed if you need to use the can while you are there.  When we used to go there I would leave my laptop at work for fear some punk would try and grab my bag and take off with it.  So really it's not hard at all to understand WHY it's failing.  


What amuses me most about that article is why after seeing that place would they even have to wonder why no one would want to go there.  Arcades do just fine, look at Chuck E Cheese, even in Newmarket, Ontario there is In Play which from my understanding isn't doing too bad.  The Arcades in movie theaters are allways packed, it's about adapting and upgrading to today's market, all of which Funland has not done.  Union Station arcade is pretty crappy quality wise but there is allways someone in there playing something.

Quoted from Vengeance

... and the crazies that show up to that place are something in and of itself.

I assume you are not including certain TOPL members?  

Quoted from Monkeybug

I assume you are not including certain TOPL members?  

No were are own special kinda krazy  

I'll never forget this one regualr was allways there when we went.  She was pretty obese ran around in one of those little motorized scooters and would almost run you over 90% of the time.  She allways was there playing Ms. PacMan and muttering to herself.  Ocasonaly she would play a game of pinball, I remeber one time she was playing Elvis and started screaming at the top of her lungs "ELVIS IS KING!" over and over, all very scary, lol.  

There is much truth in necro_nemesis statement; young people look for the instant gratification and technological visual appeal of video games, while their parents keep them more rooted to home due to renewed fears about the harmful effects of the outside world.  There may be arcade machines in movie theatres but movies in general are not as popular as they once were despite what you may see on a Saturday.  Anything with a video screen attracts kids more than pins.

So we are to blame for killing the pinball, by staying at home, building gamesrooms and giving our kids access to home video games and HD video.

One observation I have from the youngest players who come by our house, my son's friends or our friend's kids is that while the pinballs are a blast, they don't hold a candle to WII, PS3, Xbox 360 etc. since they are easier to play, and the majority of them will gravitate to console games (or to a more active competitive sport like foosball or air hockey).

Quoted from websherpa

One observation I have from the youngest players who come by our house, my son's friends or our friend's kids is that while the pinballs are a blast, they don't hold a candle to WII, PS3, Xbox 360 etc. since they are easier to play, and the majority of them will gravitate to console games (or to a more active competitive sport like foosball or air hockey).

Yes, sad but true. When my niece and nephews come over they play pinball for an hour then my outdated xBox for the rest of the day  

Interesting note, when I had a pinball at their place, they played it constantly. Go figure. Maybe it was the novelty of actually having it in their own house. It was there for well over a month and everyone really enjoyed it. My brother in law kept talking of getting one until he heard the price !

Duane

This is true of people my age as well. Most of my friends are 20 somethings (I guess they're kids to most of you), and I have to practically beg them to try the pinball machine. I just don't get it  
I'm a big gamer as well, when I'm not playing pinball I'm playing Halo 3 or CoD 4. Yet, there's something more visceral and 'real' with a physical pinball machine.

I think it comes down to the fact that "life is busy" - so people don't have as much energy to make the extra effort to go out for entertainment. What could be easier than turning on the television or gaming console after a tough day. Another factoer is that our children (the majority) no longer have to work (chores) to help the family make ends meet so they don't get the reward of learning the pride of hard work at as young an age. I was an avid motorcyclist from the time I was 10 years old and my Dad taught me how to care and nurture my bike - I spent as much time every week cleaning it and shining it as I did riding it - you could see my smile from a mile away when it was all shiny! I think many of the people here on MAACA get that same sense of pride when they rebuild a pin, repair and shine a playfield - it is in a sense a form of entertainment. Hell, I am only a rookie but my wife can always tell when I was working on the pins in the basement by my smile and constantly comments upon how clean and pretty they look when lit up. I don't think you can instill that sense of accomplishment in anyone by cleaning a gaming console (and you certainly can't fix it. Well maybe but you could buy it cheaper).

I used to spend hours in my uncles basement listening to a HAM radio just to talk with someone in Asia or South America (now every kid has a cell phone - too easy). Pinball is more work and it is certainly harder and more expensive to own one. Video games are (can be) effectively free (copyright issues) and pinball is not.

Just the ramblings of a reminiscing old(er) fool ...

Any way if pinball became cool and everyone had one we would all find a new hobby. (I used to be overjoyed that I had a surround-sound system and Hi-Def VCR in the eighties - now I could care less as you can get a decent one for less than $1k). I am sure that the low keyness of it keeps many of us interested.

Still it would be nice if pinball was a little bit more mainstream again! I miss visiting a nice arcade.