The last pinball table in Niagara?

Most of you have come to know me as the fun and friendly editor of your favorite daily destination, The St. Catharines City Guide. But did you also know that I'm an avid gamer? What's more, that I'm something of an amateur pinball enthusiast? Well it's all true.

My daughter Julia, now 4 years old, has been watching me play simulated pinball (ie pinball video games) since she was still in diapers. This past week, I thought it might be time to give her a real treat. Daddy and daughter were going to go on a quest! The quest? To show Julia her first pinball machine.

It proved harder than we'd thought. When I was a kid every bar and restaurant had a pinball machine kicking around. Nowadays there aren't even arcades. Heck -- there's only one company left out there that still makes new pinball machines! We knew it was going to be a challenge, but we percevered anyways.

Our first try was the Great Canadian Midway. $20 in ticket-spewing child-friendly games later we were no closer to our goal. After that we crossed the street to Adventure City (formerly Marvel Superheroes Adventure City). No luck there either.

As most of you know, there are very few options left in Niagara for those wanting to play arcade games. In most peoples minds, those two are it. But I had one more trick up my sleeve -- the one place I knew of that still had some classic arcade machines kicking around at 1 token a play -- the basement of the Skylon Tower.

That's where we found what you see above -- three lonely pinball tables, probably the last in the region. On the far right is The Getaway, a sequel to the classic High Speed table that I loved so much as a kid (they had one in the Julio's on Hartzel, and I must have broken my piggy bank playing that thing). Sadly, it was dead in the water. Beside it was Terminator 2: Judgement Day. A great table from the 90's era, and one I had spent a good deal of time on when Tropi-Golf was still in the Pen Centre. it seemed to be working despite it's decrepit state -- missing a button for the right flipper, skull seemingly glued back onto the table, etc.. Our first ball got stuck in a way that would require dismantling the table to resolve. Something tells me this one is destined to have the plug pulled on it too.

And finally, there was Road Work. Road Work was... well, it was perfect. Everything worked exactly as it should. It's a great table, an absolute classic in the Williams catalogue. It was designed by Pat Lawlor, the same guy behind FunHouse and Whirlwind. It even has two big construction worker heads chatting away just like Rudy in FunHouse. As the last table in Niagara, we couldn't have picked a better one to save.

So if you're in the mood to play pinball, you'd better get while the gettings good. One table left, basement of the Skylon Tower. If anyone knows of another working table available for public play in Niagara, please let us know in the comments.

TAGS: Arcade, Niagara, Niagara Falls, Pinball, Skylon Tower, Video Games