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Archive for the ‘Amusement Game’ Category

Split Flipper Valentine’s Day Pinball Tournament for Couples

Posted in Amusement Game, tagged pinball, pinball tournament, Valentine's Day on February 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Each player is allowed to use one flipper in the Split Flipper Valentine’s Day Pinball Tournament at Reciprocal Skateboards. Photo via PinballNYC.com

Happy Valentine’s Day! One of the day’s most playfully romantic events is New York City Sport Flipper Association’s Split Flipper Valentine’s Day Tournament for Couples. According to PinballNYC.com, the event starts at 4:30pm at Reciprocal Skateboards in the East Village.

This is a couple’s tournament and competitors will play with a partner. Each player is allowed to use one flipper button during the game. The qualification period will start at 4:30pm will end at 9 pm (and will run concurrently with NYCFSA Winter Pin-Golf). The cost will be two dollars for each qualifying attempt. Each qualifying attempt is for a high score with no extra balls played.

The top four qualifying pairs will advance to the finals and play a best of four games series for high score with no extra balls played.

The format for the finals: 3 points for a win 2 points for second 1 point for third 0 points for fourth.

The partners with the most points at the end of the four matches will win the prize pool. If there are ties for first place, then a single tie-breaker match will occur.

Located at 402 East 11th Street, Reciprocal Skateboards has nine pinball machines including the Who’s Tommy Pinball Wizard, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge from Mars and Spider-Man.

Study up on flipper techniques via rocketcarmike’s video:

Coney Island Rumor Mill: No Rides But Games, Food & Merch Coming to Thor’s Lot

Posted in Amusement Game, Coney Island Redevelopment, Food, tagged Coney Island, Coney Island 2015, Coney Island Rumor Mill, Joe Sitt, Thor Equities, Wahlburgers on January 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Thor’s Coney Island: Aerial view of vacant lots on south side of the Bowery between W 12th and W 15th where amusements once thrived. July 7, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita

Today brought a new twist to the November rumor that an amusement park is coming to one of Thor Equities’ CEO Joe Sitt’s vacant lots in 2015. The latest from the Coney Island Rumor Mill is that there will be no rides (insert unhappy face emoticon) but about 20 trailers with games, food and merchandise. If true, the games would fulfill the “Use Group A” amusement component required by the zoning.

The location is in the heart of Coney Island adjacent to Luna Park’s Scream Zone and Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park. In recent years, this lot on the Bowery between Stillwell Avenue and West 12th Street has hosted failed flea markets and made a mockery of the rezoning in 2009 and 2011. “Festival by the Sea” and the “BK Festival” were granted City permits as a “temporary fair” because a flea market is not a permitted use on this property in Coney Island. A color coded map on Thor Equities’ website currently designates it as “Future Retailer/Entertainment Spaces.”

As a critic of flea markets on land where the Tornado roller coaster (1927-1977) and the Bobsled (1941-1974) once thrilled, we were happy to see the BK Festival and Thor Equities bring in rides, games and sideshows in 2012. Why not do it again?

Abandoned MegaWhirl Ride on Thor’s lot in Coney Island. November 11, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr

Despite various amusement operators efforts to negotiate lease deals with Thor Equities in the past, the lots remained vacant last year as well as in 2010 and 2013, when the City issued a stop-work order on a permit for “temporary parking for the amusement district.”

Across the Bowery, Thor’s retail building is said to be the site of New York City’s first Wahlburgers –Donnie, Mark and Paul Wahlberg’s burger franchise– opening in May. There’s a vacant space on Stillwell next to the Brooklyn Nets store that was designed to house a restaurant. Rumor has it that is the location and it’s set to be revealed during the Wahlberg’s reality show on A & E.

Mozzarepa and other street fair food at Cha Cha’s Steeplechase Park on Thor’s Stillwell Avenue lot, June 23, 2012. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Rare & Vintage: Antique Punch-A-Bag Arcade Game

Posted in Amusement Game, Artifacts, tagged antique game, arcade game, Boxer, International Mutoscope, International Mutoscope Reel Corp., Mutoscope, Punch-A-Bag, punching bag on January 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Early 20th century carnival midway arcade punch-a-bag game at Urban Country

How strong is your punch? Coney Island Arcade‘s Boxer, a popular punching bag arcade game, can be found throughout Coney Island during the season. The mechanical punching bag, in which players compete for the highest score, dates back to a strength tester introduced at penny arcades more than a century ago. Antique dealer Urban Country is offering this antique Punch-A-Bag arcade game manufactured in the early 1900s by the International Mutoscope Reel Company Inc. of Long Island City.

Detail of early 20th century carnival midway arcade punch-a-bag game at Urban Country

Originally formed to produce Mutoscope machines, which contained “peep show” movies with a viewing time of about a minute, the company went on to produce a variety of coin-op amusement devices.

According to the International Arcade Museum, other machines made by International Mutoscope Corp. during the time period Punch-A-Bag was produced include Uncle Sam, Grandmother’s Predictions, Mystic Mirror fortuneteller, Mutoscope Puncher, and Voice-O-Graph aka Record Your Voice.

Detail of early 20th century carnival midway arcade punch-a-bag game at Urban Country

While the cast iron and wood machine with original paint pictured in these photos is said by Urban Country to be “on hold,” similar models are being offered here and here and here on eBay for $4,800-$5,900 or best offer. All appear to be in need of restoration before you can drop a nickel in the slot and play the game.