Full tilt

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A quarter falls into the depths of the machine with a satisfying clink. Springs, gears and relays wake from their electric slumber, and a silver ball appears, ready to be sent careening into a psychedelic obstacle course of ramps and bumpers. 

A flick of the wrist launches the ball into play, and the machine responds with a cacophony of music, abstract sounds and visceral mechanical clacks and rattles. The flippers chatter, batting the ball into orbits around the board. A player watches their score shoot into the millions, looking for enough points to win a free game or claim the high score. An unlucky bounce sends the ball into the “drain,” followed by an inevitable groan of frustration and the jingle of more quarters down the coin slot.

It’s a ritual that repeats night after night around Columbia. 

Pinball is enjoying a resurgence in South Carolina, and the capital city is at the forefront. Serious “pinheads” and aspiring wizards alike are flocking to the city, where a handful of venues are offering unique takes on the classic arcade experience. 

“We’re doing something pretty special here,” says Frederick Richardson, a two-time pinball world champion and owner of Bang Back Pinball Lounge. “We’re bringing the community of pinball to the state of South Carolina.” 

PLAYING TO WIN

Located in Five Points near the University of South Carolina, Bang Back Pinball Lounge is built around the social aspects of the game, says Richardson. 

The venue boasts 16 machines, arranged “pinwheel style”—like spokes on a wheel—rather than the traditional side-by-side layout. This provides for safe distancing during the pandemic and also allows enthusiasts to get a better look at the playfield and the artwork on the colorful backbox where scores are displayed.

“People can stand on the sides and converse, and be with their family and loved ones,” he says.

As a kid growing up in Michigan, Richardson says he “scraped dimes out of the couch to put credits up,” on pinball machines, but largely forgot about the game until the 1990s, when he wandered into an arcade and discovered the Terminator 2 game.

“It had a gun, a cannon, a video display and a countdown,” he says. “I think I played that game for three hours straight.”

Richardson was soon competing in national pinball championships, eventually becoming a two-time champion doubles player. “That began a very formidable part of my life, which is competitive pinball,” he says. “I've been doing it for 29 years.”

Bang Back—named for a frowned-upon technique that involves smacking a pinball machine to keep balls in play—features older classics such as Twilight Zone, to modern hits like Avengers. Richardson’s beloved Terminator 2 is also on the floor.

The lounge is tournament-ready. Thursday is Women’s Pinball Night, and Bang Back is home to the first women’s pinball league in the state. “We’ve had this huge interest from women in pinball,” Richardson says. “We’re kind of at the epicenter of it here.”

The location features a menu of unique cocktails, craft beer and food items, served from their “funky fresh indoor food truck.” Richardson recommends the Bao Bun, a Korean steamed bun with dark hoisin pulled pork. For the less adventurous, there are tacos, sliders and other bar standards, often incorporating regional flavors.

Bang Back Pinball Lounge is located at 741 Saluda Ave. in Columbia.

Hours: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 3 to 10 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 3 to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Details: Call (803) 834-4462; bangbackpinball.com.

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Transmission Arcade

Food is at the forefront of Columbia’s other new barcade, Transmission Arcade on Main Street. But what began as an attempt to create “a really cool restaurant” gave birth to an arcade featuring a rotating roster of vintage video games and pinball machines, some dating back to the 1970s.  

“People in Columbia like pinball; there’s plenty to go around,” says J.P. Rainwater, one of Transmission’s four joint owners. “We don’t focus on the newest, latest and greatest. We focus on titles that have a little character and history.”

Indeed, the 8-bit chirps from an original Frogger cabinet, alongside the clicks and clacks of a Williams Black Knight pinball machine, can bring a nostalgic tear to the eye of the most jaded Gen-Xer. The restaurant’s eight pinball machines are a top draw for guests because “there is nothing like it at home,” Rainwater says. Adding to the arcade experience: Guests who achieve high scores on games get their name on a giant scoreboard posted near the bar.

“You can play arcade (video) games at home; it’s not the same but it’s very similar,” he says. With pinball, there is “physical chance” at play. “There is nothing else you can do besides interact with this game. You’re locked in and you can’t pause it.”

Transmission has an extensive selection of craft beer, and their menu is heavy on in-house smoked meats, thanks to the expertise of chefs from Columbia’s Smokey Loggins. Everything down to the barbecue sauce is made from scratch. 

“Most people don’t expect the food to be good,” Rainwater says. “They don’t anticipate an arcade having anything beyond Velveeta.”

Transmission Arcade is located at 1712 Main St. in Columbia.

Hours: Wednesday through Friday, 4 to 11 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 10:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. (21 and older after 7 p.m.).

Details: Call (803) 667-9140; transmissionarcade.com.

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Granby Grill

Located on Whaley Street in the historic Olympia neighborhood, Granby Grill sports just five pinball games but has become a destination for hardcore pinball enthusiasts. The games here are a mix of old and new, but they all cost just 50 cents to play. 

“I meticulously maintain these; it’s a passion project,” says daytime manager and semi-pro pinball aficionado Tony Evans. The grill offers up new titles like Black Knight: Sword of Rage, and their most recent acquisition is The Flintstones, an older machine based on the 1994 movie.

On a recent evening, South Carolina’s top-rated tournament player—Marcelo Hazan, a professor of Latin Studies at the University of South Carolina—was feeding quarters into a Star Trek game.

In March 2020, Hazan represented South Carolina in the International Flipper Pinball Association’s national competition in Denver, where he placed 24th. Then the pandemic forced a shutdown of tournament events. Hazan has only recently started playing pinball again. 

“After last March, I can count on my fingers the number of times I’ve flipped,” Hazan says of his visit to Granby Grill. “This is a place where you can do everything. You can play on really good machines, meet up with your friends, and have a really good burger.”

Granby Grill is located at 612 Whaley Street, Suite C, in Columbia.

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Details: Call (803) 834-6717; granbygrill.com.

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Firefly Toys & Games

The largest selection of pinball games in the Columbia area can be found at Firefly Toys & Games, located on St. Andrews Road just 10 minutes from downtown.

They may not have a bar, but they do have a dedicated lounge packed with 18 pinball machines, most of them, like Stranger Things and The Beatles, representing the latest and greatest in pinball technology. 

For nearly a decade, Firefly has been a family-friendly hotspot for tabletop gaming like Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, and Magic: The Gathering. In 2017, they added pinball, and it’s been full-tilt ever since. 

The shop holds weekly pinball meetups and monthly tournaments and even hosts a summer pinball camp for kids. Embracing the latest technology, many of the machines in Firefly are equipped with a camera so guests can watch the gameplay on high-definition screens above.

“It’s really interesting because people walk in and see we have pinball, and they ask, ‘Is pinball back?’” says Firefly employee Robbie Wise. “It never really left.” 

Firefly Toys & Games is located at 736C Saint Andrews Road in Columbia.

Hours: Monday through Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to midnight; Sunday, 1 p.m. to midnight.

Details: Call (803) 996-3473; fireflytoysandgames.com.

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A brief history of pinball

As a pastime, pinball has experienced its fair share of ups and downs, and for more than 30 years, Lexington County’s Marco Pinball—the world’s largest supplier of pinball machine parts—has helped keep the game alive.

Pinball-style games date back to the late 1800s, but most were games of chance. Balls were launched into play with a spring-loaded plunger and bounced off strategically placed pins.

The 1930s and 1940s led to many innovations that are recognizable to players today. These included tilt sensors to prevent cheating, bumpers, lights, and perhaps the key innovation, the flipper, which turned a game of chance into a game of skill and strategy. As technology improved through the years, so did pinball, with solid-state electronics in the 1970s, to today’s new machines with high-definition screens, light shows and booming soundtracks. 

Pinball took a back seat to video games in the arcades that flourished in the 1980s and then struggled to stay afloat with the popularity of home video game consoles and PC gaming. By the 2000s, arcades and pinball were both nearly extinct, and large pinball companies, like Williams and Bally, abandoned the game, leaving it to hobbyists and small upstart companies to keep pinball alive. 

Through it all, Marco Pinball has been there.

“Pinball has been declared dead a dozen times, and it keeps rising from the ashes,” founder and CEO Marc Mandeltort says. “The industry is rebuilding itself right now.”

More than a dozen new pinball titles were released in 2020. Ironically, the pandemic has been good for business because hobbyists, many stuck at home in quarantine, began buying and repairing pinball machines.

“We never would have guessed it,” Mandeltort says. “The market has exploded.”

For more information on Marco Pinball, visit marcopinball.com.

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Claim the high score

With YouTube and game-streaming sites like Twitch, it’s easier than ever to learn how to play pinball. But there is one principle most players rely on to run up big scores.

“Hit what’s lit,” says Robbie Wise of Firefly Toys & Games. “There is a strategy to each game, but telling people to ‘hit what’s lit’ works too. It’s the number one rule in pinball.”

Ball-control techniques such as “cradling,” the art of using a flipper to stop a ball to set up an aimed shot, and “transfers,” moving a ball from one flipper to another, are the first things new players learn. A deep understanding of the unique rules of each game is also key, Wise says. “Learn the nuances of a particular machine. Learn what to hit and when.”

Frederick Richardson, a two-time doubles world champion and owner of Bang Back Pinball Lounge, offers this advice: Select a game that you really enjoy and “play it over and over,” to learn how to maximize points. “Find a partner to help read the table. Learn the language of the game.”

And if all else fails, simply ask an arcade staffer for advice, says Richardson. “I spend hours every week teaching people how to play pinball.”