Poppin' the Frick Off #2: The Monthly Tourney at North Star Arcade (Montreal, QB)
Charlotte Filmore Handlon and Adam Keisler are the owners and operators of North Star Pinball Arcade in Montreal — but that really minimizes who they are and what they’ve done. With 71 pinball machines stretched across a dozen locations all over Montreal, they’re more like a revolutionary force or band of renegades than anything else. One thing that is clear: these folks are pinball obsessives. From their sense of history to their bizarre antics (more on that bird later,) they’ve helped build something special and totally unique in the pinball space.
North Star’s most popular tournament is their monthly 3-strike format that’s happened at their flagship space on the first Wednesday of every month since 2016. While there are bigger tournaments out there, what struck me was the natural bon homie that seemed to emminate from these tourneys. But actually the thing that intrigued me most? I kept seeing the winners frenching this bird on social media after every tourney. Why did this happen? Was this a canadian thing? I had to know. I asked Charlotte to take pics of their last monthly tournament then interviewed her and Adam about what the hell I was actually looking at. What follows is a true dispatch from Pinball freakdom.
You’ll kiss the bird, and you’ll like it.
Nudge: Let’s start with he bird. It’s become something of a legend because it’s so prominently featured in your social media. It’s really captured the imagination of perhaps TWO nations. Gimme the backstory. Does it have a name? Why are people kissing it?
Charlotte: It’s just known as the bird. The bar opened on New Years in 2016. Our first tournament was in February and we needed some sort of trophy. This thing showed up in a mystery shopping bag. And the people — I don’t know, they were drawn to it. They seemed to want to fondle it a lot. So we decided that yes, kissing the bird would become the grand prize. It just sort of naturally came up.
Adam: A lot of what we do at North Star is ceremony and repetition. You know, like when the bird is presented at the end of the tournament we play this specific song on vinyl. It’s the welcoming song to the Montreal Olympics. So we crank that up and there’s a real medal ceremony where the bird is presented and there’s a lot of fanfare. We have a lot of stuff like that. Like this old cowbell that we ring whenever somebody gets a high score.
The sacred vinyl that is played at every medal ceremony.
Nudge: How surprised are first-timers when they come to your tournament?
Charlotte: So the first thing most people see is the bird and they’re like, ‘what the fuck is this’? The best is when there are just some randoms in the bar while the tournament is happening. I don’t think people are too surprised after a time, it’s the first thing you see at the counter when you sign up.
Nudge: You guys have a lot of knickknacks. Any that are especially meaningful?
Charlotte: So that torch there that you see on the right is actually a pinata. Yeah, a pinata torch. That’s from when we changed the pinball law in Montreal and we flew in Roger Sharp. And we had a big party and we gave away a pinball machine. And we had like a passing of the torch ceremony, so like Roger blessed us and Oh, torch dressed as Roger.
Adam: Yeah. I was dressed as Roger too. He passed the torch to me, and, uh, he said “I DUB THEE LEGAL!” Well, that was one of the best moments of my life. So he's the best. He's so sweet. Yeah. He's the sweetest. Is such a nice guy
Nudge: Speaking of pinball royalty, Johnny Crap (illustrator, artist, and pinballer) is a regular at your bar. How did that happen?
Adam: It was by chance. Our van had been parked outside for a street festival, and he decided it was a cool thing to paint. So he painted it and put it up somewhere, and I saw it. I looked him up and he was doing cool stuff — and invited him to come check out our spot.
When he first started coming to North Star, he’d never played pinball before but I think he was just doing research, like starting to work with stern, and wanted to see all the different machines. He wanted to see what this pinball shit was like — and he just never left. Now he’s just like, there all the time. We play together like two to three times a week — so now it’s just old hat. But sometimes he’ll be at the tournaments and people will be looking at the list and be like, ‘oh my god, Johnny Crap is here!”
Nudge: So what’s with the name?
Adam: The design is based on the original 1947 Montreal Company that we are named after. They manufactured two pinball machines in the late 1940s, because there was an embargo. You couldn't bring pinball machines into Canada, so they made two of their own. Um, and then we got permission, uh, to carry on the name and steal all of their graphic design. (laughs) That's all.
Nudge: Do you know the games that they made? Do you know the titles of 'em?
Yeah, we have one of the back glasses in the bar. One was called Richelieu and it is about the horse racing track in Montreal. The other was called Sea Breeze. Then after the embargo lifted, the market was flooded with cheap pinball machines from the states and they shut down.
Nudge: Who is this? They look way too happy to be a bartender.
Adam: That’s Shannon. We've been working with her like pretty much since the beginning. The first year she came and, uh, she always liked to tell everyone it was her bar, so she manifested it. So now, now she's one of the owners.
Nudge: Wow, a true feel-good story. And look at those pickles!
Adam: Yeah. Put them in a beer. So you get a pint of beer with a giant pickle in it. Oh yeah. And then you just drink some beer and you pull out that pickle. You take a nice snap into it, drop it back in. (laughs) We used to have two jars back in the day when we had lots of time. We had pickled eggs as well. And Charlotte would pickle them, making batches of, then we'd have like a full jar like that, just full of pickled eggs. It was… well, what a time to be alive.
Nudge: Why are you holding an avocado here?
Charlotte: So that's actually my coin pouch. But it looks so much like an avocado and I just like to. Like, when I go up to play someone, I just hold it in my hand and then people are like, what? And I just like turn around, open it up, and I take out my tokens
Nudge: And this is the famous photo booth?
Charlotte: Yes, it is. Just recently converted (to digital). You can see the black and white photos like around the mirror and stuff. Those are the new photos. And the ones in the top left are like the first photos taken in it.
Nudge: So, great. Do, do you wanna just give, I know we've talked about it before, but give me just like a little bit of a rundown of the history of that just because it is such a kind of a cool, um, piece.
Charlotte: Yeah. So we're the last color chemistry photo booth in Canada and I think top three in the world. I think one identical model to this is still somewhere in the UK and is still operating, but basically, they haven't made the film in SO LONG. But then what ended up happening was because they didn't make the film, they stopped selling the chemicals. So I still had some film left, but I couldn't get the chemicals and then the parts were just like falling apart. So everything was just going sure the shit at once. But, I kept it going for a pretty long time. Once it was over, I then I just gutted it and I turned it into a cool digital booth.
And that’s the way we’ve been able to keep it alive. Like, and the spirit of it. Sure, we could cry and complain that we can't do it, you know, the way that, we want to, or whatever. Or we could have something where it's like those young kids can still have that experience. it's like, well, they're not gonna know or care about the chemical part of it.
To them it's just like, I want to go get my picture taken. And it's like a fun thing to do, but the experience is the same.
the bird and friends
Nudge: So you play in tournaments?
Adam: I used to not because the skill gap between me and the rest of the players —
Charlotte: — but now there are a lot of people who can kick your ass! (both laugh)
Nudge: Thanks so much y’all. and good luck!
Charlotte: You’ll have to come and visit us! Preferably before October!
Nudge: Why is that?
Charlotte: I’m having a baby!
Nudge: Oh nice, nice!
So tell us, what’s your favorite tournament theme or style? Like what’s a memorable format that you’ll travel for — or what’s a memorable theme night your league had? We wanna know. ESPECIALLY IF EVIDENCE EXISTS IN THE FORM OF COMPROMISING PICTURES.
For real, email us! We might feature you in a future Nudge story. Gain infamy and clout, you know? It’s ALL about that clout.
