Madison Pinball Eastside location: Pooley's

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Hilton
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Madison Pinball Eastside location: Pooley's

Post by Hilton »

Hello gentlemen,


I wanted to officially announce that a location has been secured on the eastside of Madison (location annouced at a later date but it is a nice place and ideal for pinball) and we will have 4 pinball machines of good playing condition arriving in early April!!!

This is a joint effort by some local pinheads to try and bring pinball back on location in Madison and to have a spot with enough good playing games to hopefully increase play on a local level!
The slated starting lineup is STpro, TAF, SpaceShuttle, and FunHouse. Our intent is to keep all machines playing well like they would in our personal colelctions. We also intend to rotate machines once or twice a year to try and keep things fresh (one of the benefits of having a few collectors work together on this is more machines that we can rotate when needed).

This is done out of the love for pinball and a hope to get pinball into the hands of people that do not get to experience our private collections as well as to get those of us that are private collectors out into the real world and meeting new pinheads ;). What Jon and those guys have done in MKE is really cool and I hope we can get something similar happening in Madison. I am pretty excited that this has come together but we still have a ways to go and I would appreciate your feedback.

As part of the deal to secure a location, I have promised to host a monthly event at the location in an effort to get people in the door and show the bar owner that pinball on location is not completely dead! I appreciate that the bar owner is taking a risk and giving up valuable space, so I am hoping we will get folks to come out and have some fun while also buying a drink and some food to say thanks to the bar for giving us this opportunity.

I wanted to pick your brain on what day/time would be best to hold a monthly event and would you be likely to attend?

Basic idea is that it would be something like "the first Monday of each month" or the "2nd Tuesday of each month" but actual day of the week/week of the month is yet to be decided. Are there certain days you would suggest avoiding? I think I should avoid Mondays due to MNF during football season... Are there days that bowling or volleyball typically happen where I should avoid those days also?

The bar owner is open to me deciding whatever week day so long as I remain consistent after it starts. My gut tells me "the 2nd Tuesday of each month" is good because it avoids football and most holidays during the year? It will also avoid the MKE stuff (not sure how many people would come over from MKE?) I also tend to feel Mondays are bad becuase people are stressed getting back to the work week?


The general format would be more social in nature (but still competitive in a fun way) and my best guess is we will get 12-20 people on avg (hoping?). People would be put in 4 packs and play through each of the 4 games together and record scores as they go. The top scores of the night would be used to do a top 4 or 8 playoff. My best guess is that it will take 2-3 hrs on any given night to play. IFPA would be reported monthly and seperate from the bar build up tracking of points for prizes.

People would be awarded 'bar' points for position and attendance? each month and all points would add up over the year (as an incentive for people to come more often). We would then do some sort of yearly capstone on the last month of each year and award the big trophy (maybe even one that stays at the bar and has your name permenantly engraved?) Is there a time of night to start that you would suggest? 6pm start? earlier or later? why?

other suggestions onf format? I want something that has less wait time and more play time. I also like events that get people playing with others as it means you learn more and possibly meet a new friend.


There is no fee to play besides the coin drop for the games and I am hoping to find some fun prizes for each month and hopefully a cool annual trophy and prize.


I appreciate your input on this and want to try my best to help bring pinball back in Madison which means we need to appeal to both the novice casual and more competitive players.


thanks in advance for your constructive input, Hilton
Last edited by Hilton on Wed Dec 03, 2014 9:38 am, edited 2 times in total.
noncommittaldave
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by noncommittaldave »

great, now i don't need to look for a funhouse. Any reason why you can't name the place now?

no input on any of the other things as i would only go there to play the games at my leisure, assuming they will be available outside of league play.
Last edited by noncommittaldave on Tue Feb 18, 2014 2:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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KingPin Games
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by KingPin Games »

i would think that wednesday would be a nice day. it would be that little something special to get you through the week.

i will try to make it down to the events as often as i can.

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MikeS
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by MikeS »

This is great news! Congrats on getting this put together and a big thanks to the collectors' that are putting their personal games on location. This is a great way to put pinball on the map for Madison! Looking forward to hearing more about the location that you found.

As far as days go, I think Wednesday or Thursday would work best for me. I bowl every other Tuesday and I know that Sean bowls nearly every Tuesday so that probably isn't a good day for either of us.-Although with all the pinball stuff going on now between league and tournaments I may end up cutting back on bowling since I like pinball a whole lot more!
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Hilton
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by Hilton »

Thanks for feedback so far guys!
Hilton
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by Hilton »

noncommittaldave wrote: no input on any of the other things as i would only go there to play the games at my leisure, assuming they will be available outside of league play.
games would be available at all open hours of the establishment after they go in during the first week of April.
Hilton
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by Hilton »

Is there a time of day that would be preferred for event start?
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u2sean
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by u2sean »

MikeS wrote:I bowl every other Tuesday and I know that Sean bowls nearly every Tuesday so that probably isn't a good day for either of us.-Although with all the pinball stuff going on now between league and tournaments I may end up cutting back on bowling since I like pinball a whole lot more!
Blaspheme! How dare you cut back on bowling?? :) That being said, both Monday and Wednesday would work out best for me. As far as format, I personally feel that it should be something that:

1. Anyone can compete in.
2. Keeps moving along quickly so you're not standing around
3. Nightly payout of some sort. This isn't a league and if someone happens to show up for 1 or 2 annually they should have just as much chance at winning as others.
4. Bar specials for participants
5. 6-7pm start time, keep it 2 hours or less. Of course people can play earlier/later as well

Keep it simple. Keep it fun. Everyone plays 1-2 games on each machine and at the end of the night is ranked across all other entrants for their place.
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by jpolfer »

Good luck with the new location! If you decide to do Tuesdays, I probably won't get a chance to attend for several months, so I wish you luck on that.

So many great ideas here... only extra thing I would add is: right venue, promote promote promote, and pick a good format, especially if you want it to be more mild-mannered and social. Those things make the biggest differences IMO.

Also - if you're putting your own machines out there - prepare for the worst. Most people don't think twice about being kind to the machine when they play. If it were me, it would be tough to put my own property out in public like that. Brave people, you gentlemen are.
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by Methos »

Wednesdays would not work for me due to I teach each Wed night. The 2nd Monday of each month also will not work due to those are School Board Meeting nights.

I know, my schedule sucks.

Thursday's work very well, and Tuesdays for the most part are ok. Thanks for driving this awesomeness Hilton!
Hilton
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by Hilton »

doh... up to you Mark it appeared that Wednesdays would be best...

anyone else have input? I would like to shoot for a day that works best for as many as possible. Where are you at Ken? I figured you would have some work restrictions also?
Hilton
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by Hilton »

All you suggestions are what I am shooting for Sean. Worth mention that monthly 'payout' will be in IFPA points and any sponsor donated prizes I can wrangle up. Since there is no entry fee there is nothing in the bank to payout. I am hoping to get the bar to kick in a gift certificate each month for a sandwich or a pitcher. I am also hoping to find a few other local sponsors. I suck with finding sponsors but if anyone has any ins I would welcome the help!

"1. Anyone can compete in.
2. Keeps moving along quickly so you're not standing around
3. Nightly payout of some sort. This isn't a league and if someone happens to show up for 1 or 2 annually they should have just as much chance at winning as others.
4. Bar specials for participants
5. 6-7pm start time, keep it 2 hours or less. Of course people can play earlier/later as well

Keep it simple. Keep it fun. Everyone plays 1-2 games on each machine and at the end of the night is ranked across all other entrants for their place."
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BigDaddyBanjo
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by BigDaddyBanjo »

Setting one machine aside for aside or ending the night with a "golf" tourney is a fun way to break the routine up. This is going to be really fun! Thanks Hilton.
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Ken
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by Ken »

Crazy week at work. I'd prefer Thursday. My schedule rotates. When I'm on the front half of the week I could go to madison. When I'm on the back half, I can go to milwaukee events. But no biggie either way. I'll make as many as I can either way.
Hilton
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Re: New Location in Madison! need your feedback pls

Post by Hilton »

So would Thursday be optimal?

Followed by Wednesday?


(Reality is that once you all see how awesome this is you will hopefully drop all your other things to play pinball :) )
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