Tag: featured

  • I Finally Needed a Bigger Boat!

    I Finally Needed a Bigger Boat!

    After spending the past two years sitting on the fence, I’ve finally pulled the trigger and bought one of my “must-have” pinball machines—a Jaws Premium!

    I’ve always loved playing Jaws whenever I’ve come across one, but I deliberately held back from buying it because I already owned two machines designed by Keith Elwin. I thought it would be better to have more variety in my collection.

    After giving it a lot more thought, though, I realised something quite simple: I like what I like—and I really like Keith Elwin’s games!

    There are plenty of machines by other designers that I enjoy playing, but for me, they just don’t have quite the same feel or level of fun as an Elwin design.

    That left me trying to choose between Jaws and King Kong. For the two weeks leading up to UK Pinfest, I kept going backwards and forwards and simply couldn’t decide between them. I went to Pinfest determined that I would come home having chosen one.

    Thankfully, the pinball gods were smiling down on me!

    Chris B had an absolutely stunning Jaws Premium for sale, and it was just too good an opportunity to miss. The machine is in amazing condition and plays incredibly well—it is completely dialled in. I’m not sure I’ve ever played another Jaws that feels as good as this one.

    It also came with some brilliant upgrades, including mirrored backglass, powder-coated armour, Stern Expression Lighting and upgraded speakers.

    It’s just… WOW!

    I feel incredibly lucky to own it, especially as it’s a machine that both Luke and I really enjoy. I think this one is going to get played a lot!

    Paul did manage to put a high score on it while it was at Pinfest, though—so my first mission is to blow that score off the board! 🙂

  • Guinness, Catch-Ups and Plenty of Pinball at SpaceBar

    Guinness, Catch-Ups and Plenty of Pinball at SpaceBar

    While enjoying a break in Northumberland with Kat and Solo—with plenty of dog walks and castles along the way—I took a trip to Sunderland on Thursday evening to meet up with Paul and visit SpaceBar Cocktails & Arcade.

    What a place! All the machines were in top condition and clearly very well looked after. They have a fantastic selection of arcade games, including both classics and newer releases, but we were there for the pinball—and a few pints of Guinness! 🍺

    SpaceBar’s pinball lineup is all modern Stern machines, which was exactly what I fancied playing. It was also my first chance to play Stern’s new Pokémon machine, which made the visit even more exciting. I particularly wanted to spend more time on Jaws and King Kong, as I was trying to decide which one I wanted to add to my own collection.

    We had a brilliant evening, played loads of pinball, drank some Guinness and enjoyed a great catch-up.

    One of the things I really love about SpaceBar is that all its pinball machines are online through Stern Insider Connected. The live leaderboards are shown on a massive screen above the machines, which adds a little friendly competition and makes the whole experience even better.

    An amazing venue, great machines, good Guinness and a cracking night with Paul. I’ll definitely be back!

  • Memorable Weekend at UKPinfest 2025

    Memorable Weekend at UKPinfest 2025

    What a weekend! UKPinfest 2025 with Luke was an absolute blast—non-stop laughs, brilliant people, incredible pinball machines, and (maybe just a little too much) alcohol. Couldn’t have loved it more
    Didn’t exactly light up the leaderboards in either the Open or Classics comps, but loved every second of giving it a go! We’ve really got to stop picking machines we’ve never touched before mid-competition—it’s way too tempting to try them out on the fly. Still, nothing beats flipping on something new!

    Had a blast hanging out with AsiaPinball—seriously need to steal some of his flipper skills! Huge respect to everyone who puts the graft in to make this event happen. It was brilliant meeting so many faces. Pretty sure I met a few people twice for the first time thanks to the IPA haze 😅. Scariest moment? When the bar ran out of IPA… thank the pinball gods Guinness was there to save the day!

    Gameplay highlights for me: I kept gravitating back to Shadow, Black Knight, and Walking Dead—such flow and fun. Biggest surprises? Aliens, Hobbit, TOTAN, and Baywatch all turned out to be absolute crackers. And TNA… wow. That game is pure chaos, loud, brutal, and completely addictive. Loved the setup.

    On the flip side, Blues Brothers was the true ‘what the hell?’ of the show—just didn’t click at all.New titles were strong across the board, but if I had to crown one, it’d be Dune (though I didn’t get nearly enough flips on it).
    Luke’s picks were Evil Dead, TNA, and Hobbit—solid choices! and rum and coke :-)

    And the biggest shocker of the weekend? Not the fancy dress… 😀 but the food! Paul’s pub suggestion was spot on, and the Italian gem Alan & Clare uncovered was an absolute belter.

  • I’M TOO YOUNG TO DIE, book

    I’M TOO YOUNG TO DIE, book

    Great pickup from The Video Game Market @TheVGMarket today from #bitmap_books . It’s incredible. Looking forward to diving into it; the pictures don’t do it justice. It feels and looks super high quality, and from what i have already read, it has top-quality stories/content #RETROGAMING

  • Dragon 32 and Astro Wars pickups

    Dragon 32 and Astro Wars pickups

    A few things I picked up #videogamemarket, it was bloody busy #retrogaming. My son did a lot of pokemon hunting. Managed to pickup a Dragon32 and Astro Wars today, me and Luke went. Had a fun day.
    Dragon 32, last time i played on one of these is when i went to my mates house at school and he had one, would have been about 13 yrs old
    Astro Wars, one of my childhood favs. Remember my mum and dad getting me this at Xmas. used so many batteries in the day

  • Bring on the Mechs, at R3play Blackpool 2010

    Bring on the Mechs, at R3play Blackpool 2010

    Me and Chris deep in battle, Steel Battalion on the Xbox
    R3play 2010 Blackpool. Both decided we needed this game and controller
  • Hello to the Atari 2600, my 40th birthday present from Jason

    Hello to the Atari 2600, my 40th birthday present from Jason

    Amazing 40th birthday present from Jason, an Atari 2600 with several top game Pitfall, Pole Position, Space Invaders. Mega surprised, just fantastic. I only just started collecting and Jase is ace, its a

    • Atari VCS – CX2600 Sunnyvale Edition , an original 1977 model known as a “Heavy Sixer”. Manufactured in Sunnyvale, California. This first model was only produced for 1 year. (1977)

    Hook up to a LCD and still looking cool as hell, game play still great.