cpiFeb 17, 2020
I have started a new series called Niche Collections, documenting the fascinating corners of the coinop world people collect, and what drives them
001: Scottie's Allwins http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2020/02/niche-collections-scotties-allwins.html
#NicheCollections #retroarcade #retrogaming #allwins
Niche Collections: Scottie's Allwins

Welcome to the first installment of the Niche Collections series, where we get to geek out and celebrate the unique coin-op related collecti...

Show threadcpiFeb 17, 2020
Niche Collections 002: pindude152's Bingos
http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2020/02/niche-collections-pindude152s-bingos.html
#NicheCollections #retroarcade #retrogaming #bingopinball #pinball
Niche Collections: pindude152's bingos

It's hard for me to get into the headspace of what an EM bingo parlor might have been like, with so little documentation of them having sur...

Show threadcpiFeb 17, 2020
Niche Collections 003: Craig's one-ball horse racing pins
http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2020/02/niche-collections-craigs-one-ball-horse.html
#NicheCollections #retroarcade #retrogaming #bingopinball #pinball #oneball #horseracing
Niche Collections: Craig's one-ball horse race pinballs

Once the pinball craze swept America in 1931 it didn't take long for them to create machines with automatic payouts.  For Amusement Only ...

Show threadcpiMay 2, 2020
Niche Collection 004: JC's Arrangeball & Challengeball machines
http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2020/03/niche-collections-jcs-arrangeball.html
#retroarcade #NicheCollections #pachinko #arrangeball #challengeball #japan
Niche Collections: JC's Arrangeball & Challengeball machines

On my journey into researching Japanese machines it took me a while before I discovered Arrangeballs.  I was watching some Japanese youtube...

Show threadcpiMay 2, 2020
Niche Collection 005: Caitlyn's purely mechanical and upright games
http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2020/05/niche-collections-caitlyns-purely.html
#NicheCollections #retroarcade #bagatelle #pachinko #pinball #smartball #pajatso #allwin
Niche Collections: Caitlyn's purely mechanical and upright games

The age of coronavirus is upon us and that means much more time spent home with family, and the collections.  For a while now I had been ...

Show threadcpi
Niche Collection 006: Neo Skywalker's Euro pinball machines https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2020/05/niche-collections-neo-skywalkers-euro.html
#NicheCollections #retroarcade #pinball #zaccaria
Niche Collections: Neo Skywalker's Euro pinball machines

When you're more new to pinball you seek out the games that hover at the top of the Pinside Top 100 list, for the most part.  You want to...

May 10, 2020 at 4:22amWeb
Show threadcpiJul 10, 2020
Niche Collection 007: Mr. Sugiyama's Pachinko Museum https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2020/07/niche-collections-mr-sugiyamas-pachinko.html
#pachinko #pachislo #retroarcade #smartball
Niche Collections: Mr. Sugiyama's Pachinko Museum

Each of these Niche Collection entries has made me very happy to write, but this one I am by far the most excited about.  Across continents,...

Show threadcpiFeb 4, 2021
Niche Mechanisms 001: the drop shelf http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2020/12/niche-mechanisms-001-drop-shelf.html
#retroarcade #pinball #allwin #pajatso #pachinko
Niche Mechanisms 001: the drop shelf

A horizontal bar, but you push a button and it recedes.  The ball or coin on it then falls.  That's it!  A delightful little gameplay mechan...

Show threadcpiFeb 4, 2021
Niche Mechanisms 002: catchers
http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2021/02/niche-mechanisms-002-catchers.html
#allwin #bajazzo #10¥ #retroarcade
Niche Mechanisms 002: catchers

One of the earliest coin-op game mechs, I've seen Catcher-style game examples ranging from 1900 to 2010! You can't mess with perfection like...

Show threadcpiFeb 10, 2021
Niche Mechanisms 003: skill flicks https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2021/02/niche-mechanisms-003-skill-flicks.html
#retroarcade #10¥ #japan #britain #germany #skillroll #pajatso
Niche Mechanisms 003: skill flicks

Perhaps you've seen a Bally Skill Roll before?   There is a long history in arcade games where you insert a coin and that coin becomes part ...

Show threadcpiMar 1, 2022
Niche Mechanisms 004: rotation http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2022/03/niche-mechanisms-004-rotation.html
#retroarcade #germany #japan #britain #labyrinth #mechanical
Niche Mechanisms 004: rotation

You turn a knob and the whole world rotates.  OK not the whole world, but the whole world under glass.  The platform shifts.  The playfield ...

Show threadcpiFeb 3, 2023

Niche Mechanisms 005: booze barometers
http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2023/02/niche-mechanisms-005-booze-barometers.html

#retroarcade #arcade
#nichemechanisms

Niche Mechanisms 005: booze barometers

Simple, effective, iconic. 2 bars. 1 circuit. MAY THEIR PATHS NEVER CROSS!!!

Show threadcpiOct 17, 2023

Niche Mechanisms 006: Spirals
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2023/10/niche-mechanisms-006-spirals.html

#nichemechanisms #retroarcade #japan #usa #germany #allwin #tradestimulator

Niche Mechanisms 006: spirals

The ball spirals further inward!  We're not talking about machines that use circles or curves or even spirals to launch balls, no these are ...

Show threadcpiApr 15, 2024
Niche Mechanisms 007: basketball ball-popping
https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2024/04/niche-mechanisms-007-basketball-ball.html
#retroarcade #arcade #nichemechanisms #sega #germany #italy
Niche Mechanisms 007: basketball ball-popping

An iconic arcade game mechanism that still has drawing power today, basketball games where you pop the ball into the net have been popular f...

Show threadDan Fixes Coin-OpsApr 18, 2024
@cpi I love your Niche Mechanisms series, it's my favourite series
Show threadDan moved, see pinned tootMar 2, 2022
@cpi This series is my favourite
Show threadcpiMar 2, 2022
@ifixcoinops mine too. I like stepping back and seeing the machine ideas across a century across a globe
Show threadDan moved, see pinned tootMar 2, 2022
@cpi I think your international focus is what sets your blog apart from other pinball/arcade blogs. If you're ever in the UK try to get to some steam rallies or motorbike shows; there's sometimes a tent full of old 1d machines (the only place I've ever played a Payramid!)
Show threadcpiMar 2, 2022
@ifixcoinops Payramid is cool but if I ever got one of those style I'd spring for the Retreeva where you can rescue your missed balls through the secondary forks catcher.
But tbh I am not going to the UK. Parents were going to do a family trip there but that got cancelled by COVID and I wasn't upset. So much extremist bigotry mainstreamed in the UK, I would never feel safe there.
Show threadDan moved, see pinned tootMar 2, 2022
@cpi The BBC's attitude towards trans folks is gonna be remembered as a shameful part of our history, aye. Ordinary folk trend a lot less transphobic in my experience but that's a regional thing and it's prob gonna be different wherever you go.
Show threadcpiMar 3, 2022
@ifixcoinops and I'm sure there's lots of great and safe places to go to in Jamaica, but j just can't risk going somewhere where LGBTQ hatred is so embedded and normalized within society. The UK just isn't safe.
Show threadDan moved, see pinned tootMar 2, 2022
@cpi (agreed on the Retreeva. I've never had a chance to play, but it looks like such fun!)
Show threadDan moved, see pinned tootFeb 11, 2021
@cpi You are REALLY making me wanna fire up my table saw and build one of these
Show threadcpiFeb 11, 2021
@ifixcoinops Oh you just gotta, it is tonnes of fun to design your own.
There's someone on pinside who has built their own from scratch and was talking about making the plans available.
Once you nail it, you can then go and make new and different playfields!!
Show threadDan moved, see pinned tootFeb 12, 2021
@cpi Don't suppose you've got a link :)
Show threadcpiFeb 12, 2021
@ifixcoinops enabling people to take on ridiculous projects is one of my hobbies
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/skill-roll-remake
Skill Roll remake | Homebrew pinball | Pinside.com

| Forum Topic by dudah

Show threadDan moved, see pinned tootFeb 12, 2021
@cpi You know I've been looking at your website on and off all day and I just wanted to say I think the way you're presenting these machines is really novel and important. You've got a properly international view of these things, which lets us see how different countries diverged and converged in how they approached coin-op games, and it's absolutely fascinating.
Show threadDan moved, see pinned tootFeb 12, 2021
@cpi I'd often talk with my PAPA colleagues about how different videogame cabinets looked and felt in England, how they were made to fit in pubs and chip shops, how we embraced generic JAMMA cabs and board swapping, how the joysticks were so much tighter and more sensitive (and sometimes with half a ball on top, sorta wineglass shaped, which I haven't seen in years). And hell that was only the 90's stuff. There are whole parallel timelines.
Show threadDan moved, see pinned tootFeb 12, 2021
@cpi So yeah, cool site m8, keep it up :)
Show threadcpiFeb 12, 2021
@ifixcoinops well that made my day, thank you.
I love seeing the evolution over the last century+ across the continents, spurred by a patchwork of laws, regulations, borrowed ideas, and a rush to innovation
Show threadAustin Dern, Dean of CoatisFeb 12, 2021
@ifixcoinops @cpi I'd like to echo this. It's great to see such a broad range of machines.