Goodbye, Detroit! You are a V lit pinball community

This week was a crazy one for us at Nudge HQ. Why? We’re packing up stuff and moving on out to the Twin Cities. Yes, we’ll definitely miss parts of Detroit — Green Lantern Square Pizza being A#1 on that list. Shittt. But we thought we’d use this as an opportunity to highlight some dope ass bomb ass dank ass pinball spots around the greater Metro Detroit Area. Here’s where you need to go for some pinball in the motor city.

Free Play

34830 Utica Rd #100, Fraser, MI 48026

This place is inside a strip mall, below a yoga studio. It’s fun as hell to vape in the parking lot while watching pre and slightly post-menopausal women discover the sacred act of yoga for the first time. As for Free Play? Well, Free Play fucking rules man. They have something like 40 machines — Every newest Stern (pro models only, which is a dope stripped down way to do it) most of what you love from Bally Williams (Addams Family and whatnot) and like a ton of solid state crowd pleasers. It’s an all-you-can-play spot, but 15 bucks on a weekday was my preferred way to burn an afternoon. Plus, did I mention Yoga Ladies.

*Ambience second to absolutely FUCKING NONE*

Terry’s Terrace

36470 Jefferson Ave, Harrison Twp, MI 48045

What if I told you there was a place where you could get the best fish and chips of your life, luxuriate with like unlimited diet coke refills, then after you’re properly caffeinated up, you could go into what looked like a torture dungeon with 15 pristine pins. You could play those pins as much as you wanted, by yourself — with only the odd child and their dad slogging their way thru a Simpsons Arcade Game to bother you. That place exists. It’s on the Northeast side of Detroit and it fucking rules. This is my go-to spot for any pinball casual. They have a fun mix of new games, but with some niche fun ones too. The original Jurassic Park, Monopoly, and Attack From Mars to name a couple. Plus, did I mention the Fish? SHEEEEESH TERRY

See what we mean about the sex dungeon thing?

Bowlero

4209 Coolidge Hwy, Royal Oak, MI 48073

Bowlero is the single vibiest spot on the planet. Seriously — it’s like The Big Lebowski, but better. Every time I brought someone there, they were like “How does this place exist?” It’s like a pristine replication of 1976. That, plus they got Stuffed pizza slices for three bucks and a small selection of PREMIUM sterns. INCLUDING A GODZILLA. This was the NUDGE spot. We were based about a mile away, so I’d say those machines got played at least 30 times on a bad week.

Even the trashcans are dope at Bowlero.

Which was cool, because sometimes there were good dumpster finds too! They had like a million bowling shoes in there one day. I’m a size fourteen, so no luck there, but damn if I was a 9? I’d have been living high on the hog, I can tell you.

Bogartz

17441 Mack Ave, Detroit, MI 48224

I’m not sure what Bogartz deal is. They have amazing food (I mean look at those onion rings) but they always seemed completely overwhelmed whether there were 2 or 20 people in there. That said, they had the only Shadow in metro detroit. THE ONLY ONE. We I drove almost an hour there and back just so I could get my hands on those sweet sweet diverters while Alec Baldwin’s piercing blue gaze tore us to pieces. OK, I gotta stop or I’m gonna get emotional. This is the greatest place to be named after Humphry Bogart while seemingly being a place that Humphry Bogart would never go to. I mean, doesn’t he feel more like a dive bar? I can’t see Humph tucking into a buffalo chicken sandwich the size of his head. Maybe that’s just me.

Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum

31005 Orchard Lake Rd, Farmington Hills, MI 48334

This place is cool but kinda fucked up. Like, they have a bunch of curios from the turn of the century which is awesome and fun, but also after a while starts to leave a bad taste in my mouth. Like do I wanna be staring at all these weird deformed sculptures and sorta demonic looking penny arcade games? I guess some days I do. This one is also in a mall which makes it extra hilarious. The first time I went there they were having a fire scare. I stayed outside with some strangers for a little bit, but eventually an employee came out and told us the alarm would be off in a second. It did. Oh, and they have Rick and Morty there! So that’s cool.

Checker Bar/Upworld Arcade

124 Cadillac Square, Detroit, MI 48226

Hipster pizza place with a dope ass arcade. I’m gonna put as much effort into writing this as my bartender put into getting my order right. Not much! That said, this place is awesome and has a ton of games that you won’t really find anywhere else. My fave was Independence Day, which probably tells you all you need to know about me.

Additional Shouts

Sparks Pinball Museum! Grand River Ballroom! Any place that keeps pinball alive. Y’all are the real heros. Detroit, you’re real as hell and I was proud to be a part of your pinball community. Now on to the next.