Do you remember the times when every kid spent hours on oldschool video game consoles such as Atari or Pegasus? Not everyone had access to the computer, plus it was more interesting to play with a group of friends. Thousands of kids and teenagers used to spend their after school time in their local arcade spots playing Tekken or pinball.
If you don’t remeber such ancient times, because you were not even born yet, you might recall The Palace – local arcade in Hawkins where kids from widely popular “Stranger Things” TV series spent their afternoon whenever they were done fighting monsters. If you’d like to feel like “Mad Max” for a minute, and beat everyone’s score on an arcade or pinball machine, there’s a perfect place for you! Simply visit Pinball Station on Kolejowa street. It’s an interactive flipper museum with an amazing retro atmosphere. There’s over 30 different flipper machines and 4 arcades, and there’s going to be more. There’s no way you’ll get bored playing.
We talked to the guys responsible for this amazing spot’s existence – Bartek Radomyski and Paweł Nowak. Friends, long-time gamers, pinball machine collectors and experts in the field of retro gaming. We spent several hours in their interactive flipper museum and we didn’t get bored for a second. We talked to the guys about nostalgia, flippers’ rise and fall and the recurring popularity of old school arcades. They told us some things we never knew about and even shown us the insides of the most complicated machine they have in their possesion – the Twilight Zone flipper.
Who will beat the record?
We asked Bartek and Paweł about the beginning of their adventure with arcade games. Neither of them could remember the times before gaming. Paweł was always more into classic flippers, Bartek, on the other hand, prefered arcade machines. They always prefered going out to their loacal arcade spots to staying home with a console. It’s just better. You’re active, standing next to a machine, moving, and not sitting down on your couch for 12 hours straight staring at a screen. There’s a also a social aspect. On every machine there can be multiple players. Even on the very old ones there can be up to 4 players. Then begun making multiplayer pinball machines in the 50s and it never stopped. So there’s a direct rivalry that makes everyting more exciting.
As kids they used to go to the arcades closest to their homes. Paweł grew up in Góra Kalwaria, not far from Warsaw, and he remembers his local pub with four pinball machines. He used to spent every friday playing games. The only thing that changed, was the addition of beer after a few years. Bartek grew up in Warsaw, in Wola district, so he had access to more arcade spots. He recalls there were some big ventures in the city center, one next to Rotunda (sadly the building was recently demolished), another next to MDM. But he spent more time in his local gaming spots. I’m from Wola district, I remember that the nearest place was located in an underpass under PDT. There were some cool spots at Central Station and at West Station. I did not go inside every one of them. I was too young and such places were often associated with some shady business.
Retromania
Pinball Station opened in june. In this short period of time they managed to attract attention of numerous gaming enthusiasts. The location is pretty cool. It’s in the city center but it’s a bit hidden. Whoever is supposed to find us, will be able to find us. Without a doubt. It’s not a mainstream thing, we don’t need to be loacted on Nowy Świat street or in strict city center. Pinball enthusiasts will find us. It’s interesting when guys over 40 visit us. They’re just like us. We have an old machine called ‘Spirit of 76’ upstairs, it’s not very popular in our country, but there was a guy who was extremely happy to see it. He said that he remembers one just like that, located in Ochota district in Warsaw. He used to play it when he was young. Bartek adds that he wanted to create a place where people who remember flippers and arcade machines from their youth years would feel right at home. People who are just like him. That’s what it’s all about. We wanted to refer to the best memories from our guests’ childhood. We wanted to use this sentiment, this nostalgia for the past.
The interactive flipper museum in Warsaw opened at a perfect time. We live in a pop age gone crazy for retro and for commemoration. Nostalgia is more trendy than ever. The return of the 70s, 80s and 90s started a few years back and it seems to be going nowhere in the nearest future. We feel nostalgic for our childhood, and you don’t have to look far to find examples of the retro trend. The remakes of cult movies such as “Jurassic Park”, “Ghostbusters” or, more recently, “Blade Runner” are in cinemas and on Netflix. When you enter any highstreet shop such as Topshop, Zara od H&M you’ll find numerous examples of outfits that look like they came straight off Spice Girls members (who, btw, are said to be planning a comeback!). The vinyls are trendy again and are being mass produced again, after years of being irrelevant. And we can’t forget about Instagram and VSCO filters that we use everyday to give our mobile photography this oldschool, analog feel. People enjoy the stuff that they already know. Why? Because of a ‘culture of nostalgia’ that arose in the 1960s and 1970s, a time of great social transformations accompanied by a growing media culture and the commercialization of nostalgia through popular culture. This social phenomena may have arose in the 60s and 70s, but now it’s still here, with us, to this day.
Retromania is not a new phenomenon. As Simon Reynolds explains in his book “although earlier eras had their own obsessions with antiquity―the Renaissance with its admiration for Roman and Greek classicism, the Gothic movement’s invocations of medievalism―never has there been a society so obsessed with the cultural artifacts of its own immediate past.” The cycle from first-round appreciation to a kitschier, nostalgic appreciation is getting shorter and shorter. Clothing companies constantly feed us fashion trends to which we happily said our goodbyes just a few years ago. The silhuettes, the materials, the logos we were obsessed with in the 90s are back. FILA, anyone? We regret ever throwing away those cassete tapes that were supposed to be relics of technology. Well, now they’re coming back, and we have to pay for them once again. So, we have our Fila sweatshirts and our walkmancassete players, what now? Well, we need a retro type of activity to go with all this stuff. Let’s go and play some pinball, shall we?
Pinball in the digital age
Flipper machines did not have an easy life. In Poland the popularity of arcades was limited due to the comunist government. Gamers’ culture was thriving in Western countries, while there were barely anly machine in Poland. The oldest flippers didn’t have a chance to ever reach our country, that’s why finding classic arcades in Poland is so difficult for the collectors. Bartek and Paweł explained that majority of the classic machines literally burned. At first there weren’t any collectrs, so as soon as electronic pinball machines were invented, the old ones had no real value. They were mostly destroyed to make room for the new invention. In Poland arcades became popular in the 1990s when electronic machines were all the rage. They were complicated mechanical devices with way more elaborate display and sound systems than oldschool flippers.
The space identified with arcades was mostly around train stations and pubs. Those were the places considered shady, but even more so after the collapse of the coin-operated video game industry. It was more profitable to own slot machines than pinball machines. Arcades became obsolete and in their place slot machines identifed with gambling and shady characters appeared. Even though arcades have nothing to do with gambling, because of their history they might still be perceived as something evil.
Machines with soul
The ‘Stardust’ machine, I mentioned before, was produced in 1971 and at the moment is the oldest machine at Pinball Station. However Bartek and Paweł’s goal is to find and renovate older machines at some point. They’d like to have pinball machines from all eras so that guests of the museum can see the entire process of arcades’ evolution. We have a lot of pinball machines from the 90s, but are lacking in the ‘classic models’ department. We’d like to have some older devices, preferable from before the war, to be able to show the evolution. In the beginning there were no flippers as a part of the machines. The only mechanical feature was a plunger device to propel the ball into the upper playfield. We’d love to show all that to the people who come to Pinball Station.
Not only for hardcore gamers
If you’re not one of the people who spent hours and hours playing arcades as a child, if you do not feel nostalgic about those robot-like sounds and flashing lights, you’ll certainly still enjoy your experience at Pinball Station. Not all guests of this interactive museum are “gaming nerds”. Total noobs, such as ourselves, come as well. Often times it’s kids and young people that nostalgic parents bring over to show them joys of their long past childhood.
Another group of visitors are tourists. Paweł talks about ‘arcade tourism’, which basically means planning your trip abroad with arcades in mind. He himself is definitely ‘guilty’ of such behaviour. Visiting foreign countries is often just an addition to the real travel destination, which is one of many pinball tournaments around the world. In Western countries pinball machines had it easier and they did not ‘die out’ completely, like they did in Poland. You can still find them in pubs and train stations. Hungary is a great example. There are tons of pinball machines and electronic arcades in Budapest. There’s also the biggest pinball museum that is open every day. There aren’t many such places in Europe. The only ones are those in Budapest, Cracow and now there’s our place in Warsaw.
It was important for the guys that their interactive museum is open every day. It was thought out as a place where you can just drop by after work or school. You don’t have to plan anything. You can just enjoy yourself for a few hours. There’s also a well-stocked bar at Pinball Station. We have more adult clients than underage guests, so we wanted them to be able to relax with a beer in one hand, while playing on a pinball machine with the other. It was alwayts this way – arcades, beer and just hours of gaming. Many people remember that. I remember that. Well, we’ll definitely spend long winter evenings at Pinball Station. And we recommend you to do the same!
Become a champion!
Every game is better once rivalry is a part of it. You can feel the excitement yourself, and take part in polish pinball league that just started at Pinball Station. From 19th of November there will be several arcade tournments every few weeks. Everyone can come, sign up, and take part in this exciting experience. More info available at Pinball Station Facebook fanpage.
And what do you need to become a champion? Well, first of all you need to practice. According to Bartek a good player is characterized by an excellent knowledge of the machine. He knows what to do, he plans ahead, has his pwn tactic. every machine is flawed in it’s own way. The best players are able to see the flawes and characteristics of a machine and can play around that, count and try to do it some other, more efficient way, to gain as many points as possible. Another important advantage is 20:20 vision, reflex, coordination and ability to think on your feet. Paweł adds that going to tournments is a method of practice itself. That’s the perfect situation to learn from the best, observe what the best players do and try to repeat that later on.
[Where] Pinball Station, Kolejowa 8a, Warsaw
[When] Monday to Thursday from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 3 p.m. until midnight, Saturday from 1 p.m. until midnight, Sunday from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.
[How much] Ticket for adults is 3o złoty, for students 25 złoty and for kids it’s 15 złoty. For this price you can play for however long you want on all of the machines.