The Pinball Cafe

Unfortunately, the Pinball closed permanently today, 10 December 2012. Here’s an article in the Toronto Star announcing it, and the events that lead up to its closing.

Really enjoyed our few visits here ! Eclectic and fun; cozy atmosphere and great pinball! Wish I had this place in my city!

I came here two hours before close on a Sunday night, and it looked like the food part of the place was closed, which is understandable.
The place was adequately lit and all of the pinball tables were in fantastic condition.
The owner greeted us as me and my bud came in. The owner mingled with aspiring high score makers throughout our time there, fixing tables on the fly and addressing any concerns the players had with the machines.
There’s a good mix of vintage, classic, and contemporary pinball machines for all skill levels, with NBA being a surprising new favourite of mine. I’ll definitely come back here with a date sometime, too, as it’s just a streetcar ride away from High Park!

The Pinball Café seems to be off to a great start. I came in on a Saturday afternoon to find the place about half full with a couple families and a few couples hanging out. The décor is bright and fun, not dark and dingy like you usually find in many pubs and arcades where you would expect to be playing a game of pinball.
There’s a range of machines from old to new. The majority of the machines are $ 1 per play or 3 plays for $ 2. The Transformers machine held my interest for the duration of my visit.
While things seem a little bootstrapped here currently, I’m sure it will only get better as more of the (pin)balls get rolling.
April challenge ²¹⁄₃₀

Well, cue The Who why don’t you?
The is the best place to bring a date! My date and I went to The Pinball Café to play old school games, when they were ’bout skillz and fun.
The games are as follows, from west side of the wall curving to the north side:
Iron Man
Chariot
AC DC
(didn’t play)
Mata Hari
Transformers
Comet
I didn’t like Comet b/​c it was too fast and hard to keep track of that little speed ball. Mata Hari was too boring. AC DC is amazing. What fun! Iron Man has all the bells and whistles. My fave was Chariot — an oldie but goodie. Iron Man would be my next favourite one.
They also have an old arcade (game similar to galaxy invaders, but I didn’t play so don’t remember) and the best: a table top arcade with 20 games! Being the nerd I am, I was in heaven with Frogger, Pacman (it has many more variations), Galaxy invaders, and many more.
They also a retro jukebox with Blondie, Michael Jackson, The Culture Club, others and of course, the pops to this place: The Who.
The prices are a godsend in these economic times. The coffee and hot chocolate are well made. The space is nicely decorated with retro but not over the top or overwhelming to render it a parody.
This is a really great place to bring a date, or just to hang out and have some fun.

Oh snap! I’ve been waiting for pinball to make a comeback! I knew it had to happen some day… Over the rainbow… Well, as it turns out near the end of Queen St. W. The Pinball Café is a new café in the west end which features a handful of pinball machines from the 70’s and 80’s (and one more recent: AC/​DC).
It’s a rather humble place, nothing too fancy, and has a bit of a retro feel. The front of the café has a small seating area, then as you venture deeper the café bar to the right and then the pinball arcade in the rear. The walls are adorned with the pinball machine back-​glass graphics, you have an old jukebox (not sure if it’s working), a pinball machine table, and a few other odds n ends sparsely put about.
I tried the espresso, not bad considering it’s the generic Segafredo stuff. With a large number of local roasters it be nice to see them go with locally roasted beans. They also have a decent assortment of baked snakes and apparently offer sandwiches as well if you are feeling a might peckish.
Of course the real feature here is the pinball machines. There are a few classics like Comet and Dark Knight. Some of the machines are feeling the signs of wear and old age but overall they all were playable. I just herd they are getting in Tales From the Crypt and that my favorite table, Twilight Zone, will hopefully be added once money and availability comes into play. Currently the café is sponsoring a tourney around the AC/​DC table, high scores get a free AC/​DC T-​Shirt.
As people are tiring of the sheer isolation of modern technology it’s cool to see a resurgence of old school games that inspire you to go out and socialize with other people over a lil friendly competition. That’s the way the pinball arcades use to be, even if you weren’t playing in tandem there was always people hanging around interacting with you, bonding over the pinball machines. Pinball is sexy too, all those hip thrusts to further spur the pinball to it’s target, you don’t get that with video games. To note The Pinball Café is also hosting board game nights like a Scrabble-​a-​thon and so on.
I think the place is cool and I hope it really takes off. There is about 50 – 60 pinball tables I wouldn’t mind playing gain.

UPDATE
Immediately after writing the review below, I received a message from the owner Jason who has informed me that a liquor license is in the works. I would like to note that my orignal comments were based on a quote from Jason in this BlogTO article (
). I am glad to see he has changed his stance and I have to eat my words that there is no business plan behind this place.
ORIGINAL REVIEW
This place is great but it won’t be around for long. There is a reason you don’t see pinball arcades any more. They just don’t make money. While the guy running this place is clearly trying to buck the trend, he isn’t even coming close to doing it in a way that is sustainable.
Located in Parkdale, The Pinball Café is, as its name suggests, a combination café/​pinball arcade with café-​style seating at the front of the store and eight machines (seven classics and one modern — AC/​DC) crammed into a small space at the back. If you like pinball, you will enjoy having the opportunity to try a variety of games with like-​minded people. While I was there with my dad, the place was quite full and the 2009 Canadian Pinball champion was tearing up one of the machines. I had a great time playing some classics that were released before I was born and I appreciated the low price and chance to compete against my dad at something he used to play many years ago. In addition, the café looks decent with many of the standard coffee and baked goods offerings.
While it is obvious I like this place for the reasons listed above, it just doesn’t work as a business. The owner charges 25 cents a game and opts to give 5 balls per play. If we assume that an average game lasts 5 minutes and that the place is open 70 hour/​week, this place would be bringing in $ 1680 in revenue if every machine was at full capacity for every minute the place was open (8 machines * $ 3/​hour/​machine * 70 hours). Given that the utilization rate for the place is more like 20%, it is quickly apparent that this venue is going to struggle to pay the bills with revenue from pinball machines. If that is the case, the only hope is the high margins on the the alcohol. Oh wait — the owner refuses to get a liquor licence because he wants to keep the place family friendly. As that is his stance, he clearly does not want to face reality on two fronts:
1) There are no kids in this place. This type of entertainment will appeal only to adults as kids have never really been exposed to pinball machines in the same way that the previous two generations have.
2) You need the money from alcohol to supplement the terribly insignificant revenues from the machines. There is no other choice.
While I hope the owner sees the light, I pretty much have no hope this is going to happen. The calculus that this place is doomed without alcohol is obvious to anyone who can write a basic business plan and it therefore must the be the case that this guy does not have one.