# Ed's Epic Pinball Road Trip: A Midwest Journey To Incredible Pinball Destinations

**Source:** Wild Dog Arcade  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2026-07-30  
**Duration:** 26m 51s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGQKqThqCho

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## Analysis

Ed from Wild Dog Arcade documents a Midwest pinball road trip visiting venues in Ohio and Illinois, evaluating five locations (Galloping Ghost Pinball/Arcade in Chicago, Pins Mechanical in Cincinnati, Arcade Legacy in Cincinnati, Cartridge Gaming in Lima OH, and The Distillery in Toledo OH) using a three-tier scoring system covering atmosphere, maintenance, and pricing. The video showcases the diversity of pinball venues, specific machines encountered, and community venues that blend arcade gaming with other attractions.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Galloping Ghost Pinball and Arcade are only three blocks apart in the Chicago area — _Ed states this early in the video when describing the Chicago location and notes that $30 covers both venues_
- [HIGH] Pins Mechanical is a chain with multiple locations and staff rotate machines between different pins locations on a regular basis — _Ed mentions learning this is a chain and notes staff told him they trade out machines between their different pens locations_
- [HIGH] Arcade Legacy has staff actively working on machine maintenance and cleaning — _Ed observed two staff members working on machines doing cleaning and maintenance, which impressed him as a player_
- [HIGH] Cartridge Gaming in Lima, Ohio recently acquired a Rollergames machine — _Owner told Ed that Rollergames was one of the newer pins they had just gotten, describing it as an underground hit among fans_
- [HIGH] The Distillery in Toledo hosts pinball tournaments on a regular basis — _Ed explicitly states 'they do also have pinball tournaments on a regular basis there'_
- [HIGH] Ed visited Galloping Ghost Arcade with Gary 10-15 years ago and has watched the business grow and expand — _Ed says 'we've been visiting this arcade for about 10 and 15 years now, Gary and I. We've had a lot of fun watching this business grow and expand'_
- [HIGH] At Arcade Legacy, there is a Predator machine by Pinball Brothers (different from the Skip-by version) — _Ed explicitly compares the two Predator versions, noting the Pinball Brothers version has cool Predator-looking graphics_
- [HIGH] The Distillery maintains all machines in perfect condition with perfect leveling — _Ed emphasizes multiple times that each machine at The Distillery played amazingly and was 'being in perfect Nick, being in perfect level, being in perfect everything'_

### Notable Quotes

> "Where are all the great machines? That's when I had an idea. Instead of waiting for the next adventure to come to me, why not go find it?"
> — **Ed**, 0:00-0:30
> _Establishes the motivation and premise for the entire road trip_

> "I will be critiquing each of these pinball establishments using a simple system of three categories: atmosphere, including friendly staff, maintenance of the machines, and finally overall price and deal."
> — **Ed**, 1:00-1:15
> _Explains the evaluation framework used throughout the video for all venues_

> "You cannot beat what this place has to offer. It's just an amazing amount of fun."
> — **Ed**, ~15:00
> _Shows Ed's enthusiasm for Galloping Ghost Arcade's scale and variety_

> "Rollergames is kind of a weird underground hit of a pin amongst fans."
> — **Ed (paraphrasing arcade owner)**, ~50:00
> _Characterizes Roller Games' niche status in the community_

> "Pinball is so much fun when the game responds perfectly to the way that you think it should. And that is how I felt about each of these games that I played."
> — **Ed**, ~65:00
> _Emphasizes the importance of machine maintenance quality to player experience_

> "The sacrifice of less pens gave you the perfect balanced pen and it was greatly maintained. 10 out of 10."
> — **Ed**, ~70:00
> _Explains The Distillery's maintenance score rationale—quality over quantity_

> "I'm grateful for that. I'm happy that this hobby has found me years ago in California and found me again here in the Midwest."
> — **Ed**, ~75:00
> _Personal reflection on pinball's role in his life across different regions_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Ed | person | Host of Wild Dog Arcade YouTube channel; conducted the pinball road trip and venue evaluations |
| Gary | person | Associated with Ed and Fliptronic; visited Galloping Ghost with Ed 10-15 years ago |
| Wild Dog Arcade | organization | YouTube channel and content creator associated with Ed; produces pinball-related videos |
| Galloping Ghost Pinball | venue | Pinball-focused arcade in Chicago area; contains classic and vintage pinball machines; three blocks from Galloping Ghost Arcade |
| Galloping Ghost Arcade | venue | Large multi-game arcade in Chicago area; massive selection of arcade and pinball games; adjacent to Galloping Ghost Pinball |
| Pins Mechanical | venue | Chain venue in Cincinnati (Mason, OH area) combining bowling, arcade games, pinball, and cornhole; rotating machine inventory between locations |
| Arcade Legacy | venue | Cincinnati arcade with dedicated pinball section, video arcade, bar, retail media sales, adjacent hotel; noted for staff maintenance focus |
| Cartridge Gaming | venue | Lima, Ohio venue combining video game/physical media retail with arcade and pinball; owner mentioned plans to add food service |
| The Distillery | venue | Toledo, Ohio basement bar/dive with pinball machines and restaurant above; hosts regular pinball tournaments; known for perfect machine maintenance |
| SeatGeek Stadium | venue | Stadium near Chicago where Ed parked his vehicle during the Galloping Ghost visit |
| Attack from Mars | game | Classic Williams pinball machine from 1995; seen at Galloping Ghost Pinball |
| Starship Troopers | game | Pinball machine; Ed mentions falling in love with this game and featuring it in a previous video; encountered at Galloping Ghost Pinball |
| Medieval Madness | game | Classic pinball machine; seen at multiple venues (Galloping Ghost Pinball, Arcade Legacy) |
| Godzilla | game | Pinball machine variant with color DMD; seen at Galloping Ghost Pinball |
| Predator (Skip-by version) | game | Rare pinball machine variant by Skip-by; only three in existence; encountered at Galloping Ghost Arcade with unique UV hunt mode and four-ball multiball |
| Predator (Pinball Brothers version) | game | Pinball machine variant by Pinball Brothers; encountered at Arcade Legacy with different graphics than Skip-by version |
| Rollergames | game | Pinball machine described as underground hit; recently acquired at Cartridge Gaming in Lima, Ohio |
| Labyrinth | game | Pinball machine; seen at Arcade Legacy |
| Twilight Zone | game | Pinball machine; seen at Arcade Legacy |
| [name withheld pending review] | product | Digital leaderboard system seen at The Distillery in Toledo |
| Super Mario Bros. | game | Pinball machine at Cartridge Gaming; Ed found it fun but noted it didn't play as well as hoped |
| Rollergames | game | Corvette pin observed off to the side at Cartridge Gaming, unclear if being removed or installed |

### Signals

- **[venue_signal]** Multiple venues combining pinball with other entertainment: Pins Mechanical (bowling, arcade, cornhole), Arcade Legacy (bar, video arcade, retail), Cartridge Gaming (retail, video arcade), The Distillery (restaurant, bar, basement arcade) (confidence: high) — All five venues visited offer hybrid entertainment experiences beyond pinball alone, suggesting market trend toward bundled venue offerings
- **[operational_signal]** Pins Mechanical staff actively rotate machines between different location branches on regular basis (confidence: high) — Ed reports staff explicitly mentioned trading out different machines between their pens locations; suggests operational strategy to maintain novelty and refresh inventory across chain
- **[operational_signal]** Significant variance in machine maintenance quality across venues: Galloping Ghost (7.5), Pins Mechanical (7), Arcade Legacy (8), Cartridge Gaming (7.5), The Distillery (10) (confidence: high) — Ed scored maintenance ranging from 7-10 across five venues, with The Distillery achieving perfect score due to sacrifice of quantity for quality; Pins Mechanical older machines needed TLC
- **[venue_signal]** Venue pricing varies significantly: Galloping Ghost ($30 both venues), Pins Mechanical ($1 for 3 balls), Arcade Legacy (50-75 cents, heavy free play), Cartridge Gaming (50-75 cents classic, 25 cents older, $1 for 3 balls new), The Distillery ($1 standard) (confidence: high) — Ed notes pricing and deal scores: Galloping Ghost 10, Pins Mechanical 8, Arcade Legacy 10, Cartridge Gaming 9, The Distillery 8.5; Arcade Legacy noted as having best deal in town
- **[community_signal]** Midwest pinball venues show strong community orientation: tournaments at The Distillery, friendly staff across venues, group gathering spaces, established relationships (Ed's 10-15 year history with Galloping Ghost) (confidence: high) — Multiple mentions of tournaments, friendly staff, group seating, bleacher areas, and Ed's established long-term relationship with Galloping Ghost; venues serve as community gathering places
- **[product_concern]** Venues show mixed curation: some emphasize breadth (Galloping Ghost, Arcade Legacy with diverse eras), others focus on specific eras or quality (The Distillery prioritizes quality); variation in how venues balance classic vs modern machines (confidence: medium) — Galloping Ghost shows 90s/80s/classic mix; Pins Mechanical emphasizes modern Sterns with classics sprinkled in; The Distillery sacrifices quantity for perfect maintenance; suggests different operator philosophies
- **[venue_signal]** Multiple venues showing expansion plans: Cartridge Gaming plans to add food service, Arcade Legacy planning food service and has adjacent hotel, Pins Mechanical is part of expanding chain (confidence: high) — Ed notes multiple venues mentioned future food/service additions; Cartridge Gaming owner indicated growth plans; Pins Mechanical confirmed as chain with multiple locations and inventory rotation strategy
- **[content_signal]** Long-form video documentation of pinball venues as travel/tourism content; Ed's road trip framing pinball as destination-driven experience across regions (confidence: high) — Entire video structured as organized road trip with scoring system, venue comparisons, and travel narrative; represents emerging content category focused on pinball tourism and venue exploration
- **[market_signal]** Rare machines (Skip-by Predator with only 3 existing units, Godzilla Sega color DMD variant) appearing in operator venues; suggests collectors/operators seeking unique variants (confidence: medium) — Skip-by Predator noted as 'only three in existence' and available at Galloping Ghost; Sega Godzilla color DMD variant encountered; indicates market for rare variants among venue operators
- **[design_philosophy]** Machines with unique/unusual design elements noted as points of interest: Q*bert's Quest with flippers in peculiar spots, Rapid Fire with heavy silver balls, various themed oddities (confidence: medium) — Ed highlights Q*bert's Quest unusual flipper placement as fun with unique angles, Rapid Fire as curiosity despite being machine he only wants to play occasionally; suggests collector/operator interest in design novelty
- **[operational_signal]** The Distillery hosts regular pinball tournaments; indicates venue-level competitive community infrastructure (confidence: high) — Ed explicitly states 'they do also have pinball tournaments on a regular basis there'; suggests ongoing competitive play infrastructure at smaller boutique venues
- **[venue_signal]** Strong integration of pinball with adjacent retail/entertainment markets: physical media retail (Cartridge Gaming, Arcade Legacy), food service (Pins Mechanical, The Distillery), bowling (Pins Mechanical), video arcade (all venues) (confidence: high) — All five venues combine pinball with other entertainment/retail; Arcade Legacy has retail media section, Cartridge Gaming has media store, Pins Mechanical has bowling, The Distillery has restaurant/bar; suggests bundled venue model as standard

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## Transcript

Pinball is full of surprises. Every game  wants you to make split-second decisions, adapt to the unexpected, and chase one more  shot. But eventually, another question starts to creep in. "Where are all the great machines?"  That's when I had an idea. Instead of waiting for the next adventure to come to me, why  not go find it? So, let's hit the road, find a comfortable seat, and enjoy the ride. Welcome to Ed's epic pinball road trip. Hi, this is Ed from the Wild Dog Arcade and I'm  happy you're here. I finally had a chance to explore what Ohio and Illinois had to offer this  fellow pin head. Thus, I will be critiquing each of these pinball establishments using a simple  system of three categories. atmosphere, including friendly staff, maintenance of, you know, the  machines and finally overall price and deal. We're at our first stop right now. It's  We're in Chicago. I like drive by a stadium, though. It's kind of weird. Like I don't know why  I'm parked next to a stadium. I I'm kind of hoping that there's no God I hope there's no show tonight  cuz I'm going to be out late. Okay, so I I dodged a bullet. That that stadium that's behind me, it's  the SeatGeek Stadium and thankfully they don't have anything going on tonight. At least that's  what AI Google says. So we'll see if they're accurate. At any rate, here we are. hits Galping  Ghost Pinball and then Galping Ghost Arcade for today. This is near Chicago, Illinois. The great  thing about Galping Ghost Pinball is it's only three blocks away from Galping Ghost Arcade. Um,  right here you'll notice it kind of reminds me, at least me, a little bit of Winchester Mystery  House. I wasn't quite sure what was here before Galloping Ghost moved in. Um, but it was  definitely definitely an eclectic looking business. So, here we go. We're walking in. Um, I  think the thing I noticed right away when I walked in was, well, it's not the size of Galping Ghost  Arcade, but that means it's not as cramped. So, I had a nice selection of 90s and 80s stuff  right here. Actually, mostly '90s in this room here. Attack from Mars, Dracula, uh, some older  machines. Now, we're getting to some 80s stuff. Funhouse Bash, that's '90s, uh, and Medieval Madness. So, you got your basic good goodies there. And then  as I pan around, you'll notice I've also have a Starship Troopers machine. I fell in love with  this game not terribly long ago. in my last video when I was also showing off that game as well. And Joust, look at that. Joust is there as well at your disposal. Uh Space Invaders, Defender. Um  here we go with some of the solid state games. Uh, yeah. I mean, and now we've got our room where  we've got some horror themed stuff. Elvira, monsters, not sure if Led Zeppelin's horror  themed or not. Um, firepower, some early EMs, and of course, Evil Dead. Um, this I'm not in love  with the layout with Evil Dead. It's a fun theme. Here's Qbert's Quest. I really enjoyed this  particular weird oddity of a pen. Um, the flippers are in very peculiar spots and it made the game  fun with a lot of unique angles. Here's Godzilla, but this is the Sega version with the color DMD. I really liked that [music] color DMD a lot. Um, it really brought out the game itself. "Got  it. Got it. Go, go, go. Got it. Go, go, go. Got it". And here's a  weird oddity. Here's Predator by Skip-by. Uh, this game featured unique elements like a UV hunt  mode and a four ball multiball and all this other stuff, but unfortunately this company had major  legal issues, so it didn't come out. A highlight highway pinball's version of Alien was also there,  but not um I was not able to play it. Pinbot, uh, Bride of Pinbot and Jackpot were all there. And rapid fire. Oh, I did I really wanted to play this machine. I I know it's just more or less a  curiosity and it's probably a machine that I only want to play every once in a while, but damn,  it's so fun to hit targets with balls. I kind of expected that. Big heavy silver balls. Anyway,  here's Galloping Ghost Arcade. We're going to walk over there now and uh check out what they have  offer. Oh, check out what they have to offer. Uh again, can't tell you how how much how cool that  is. Um, we've been visiting this arcade for about 10 and 15 years now, Gary and I. Uh, we've had a  lot of fun watching this business grow and expand. And really, you again can spend an entire day here  in both arcades. Um, and should. All right. So, here I am at Galloping Ghost Arcade. I'm just  kind of wandering around the endless rows of entertainment here, and I'm still gobsmacked how  much is here. It's just an amazing amount of fun. I mean, it just keeps on going here. I'm going to  keep walking here. Oh god, I even remember seeing this at like my dentist office. I think they  had this exact same game or something. Yeah, weird memories. I used to have a uh Atari uh 800  cartridge of that game. It was actually a really fun game. All right. Sunset. Wee. I mean, here  here are the endless rows of excitement. Um, they have a Neo Geo section as well. They have  a whole entire section of um puzzle games. Yeah, I mean you cannot beat you cannot beat what  this what this place has to offer. But there you go. So, how did this stop measure up? Let's  break it down. I'll be scoring each location in three different categories with each one earning  a score from 1 to 10. one being the worst and 10 being the best. For atmosphere, Galp and Ghost  Arcade had an excellent ambiance and overall feeling to the place. They had friendly staff. Uh the guy that was at the booth at Galping Ghost Pinball was friendly. I will say that the  atmosphere is an eight. On to our next category, which is maintenance. Um I I felt that each of  those machines did play fairly well. Not every single game was on. Not every single game  played to their optimal ability. However, I felt that it did a really good job of getting  there fairly closely. So, I'm going to give them a 7.5. And then finally, overall price, $30 for  both places within three blocks. And there's a lot of parking available at Galping Ghost Pinball  and along the way. Sign me up. They get a 10. All right, that was a lot  of fun. Now from Chicago, we're going to drive all  the way over to Cincinnati. The bypass. So, there's a there was a  major accident apparently last night, today, whatever this morning. Uh, by the  way, it's Tuesday. We have some nice, beautiful views and an opportunity  to explore the back roads. Hi, I made it alive to Cincinnati Mason and I'm  going to go to a place pins mechanical company. Apparently, it's a chain. I wasn't even aware of  this uh particular thing being in existence. So, I figured, all right, we'll give it a shot. It's literally two minutes away from this hotel and I was thinking to myself, you  know, after almost getting killed today, uh, making my way over here. Um, maybe I want to  take today a little, you know, a little easier and not do much today. Seriously though, it sucked. I was driving down a divided highway and there were cars waiting. There were there was a truck  that was slowing down and actually pulling over off to the side um onto the shoulder for some  strange reason. I don't know why, but the lady couldn't see me coming. And I literally had to  slam my brakes simultaneously also swerving around the car that thankfully was moving a bit more  towards forward cuz basically she was here's her, here's me. I had to go like this otherwise I  wouldn't like this if I hadn't have done evasive uh action. So yeah, my adrenaline uh is uh nice  and spiked up. Uh hopefully it'll help me play pinball tonight. [music] So, let's see what we  got. All right, [clears throat] so after driving this silly roundabout twice since Google [music]  Maps was wrong about where to turn, I arrived at this huge and very inviting area. Um I liked this  entryway. Uh once I arrived, I was immediately blown away with how massive the outside  looked. This place was also massive inside. Uh the rustic and industrial feel and  ambiance uh was very well represented here. Uh leaving the visitor with many  options and many places to go. Here's a b here's a bowling alley as well. This is  kind of what they're known for based on their names. I kind of thought the pins was  talking about I thought the pins meant the pinball machines. That's just a appetizer  for the main attraction it would seem. Uh here's one area where there was a high score  leaderboard in a retro sort of way with a bunch of the uh classic arcade games just sort of hanging  out by the window there. I didn't like the fact that they're just kind of all sitting in the sun  baking in the sun with no like no mini blends or anything like that. Then I got to the second floor  of this place and I mean there are bleacher seats in this area [music] as if you're watching a real  sport ball game happening in front of you. Um, so if you have a massive amount of people that  you know, I don't know, bring them here. Uh, we got cornhole in the corner. And as I [music] make  a my way around the first set of games, you'll see on the second floor. Um, you'll see all of the  eclectic choices that they've got there. Decent amount. Um, I felt they play decently. And then  of course you got your basketball games as well. So downstairs, this is the first floor. where  they had a lot more modern stern pins um with a couple of classic games sprinkled in. I love that  the art motif um that you'll see here in a moment was all over the walls and ceiling encouraging you  to stay hydrated. You know, definitely during the summer months, you want to make sure you drink  water. So, you know, they've got their version or they've got a Elvira as well. Um Hot Wheels,  you don't see a lot of Hot Wheels out and about nowadays. Um [music] Pokémon, Monster Bash, there  it is again. and Cactus Cooler or Cactus Canyon. I always want to call it Cactus Cooler. I like that drink. Here's Kiss and Venom, Stranger Things,  Ninja Turtles, Iron Man. So, yeah, some good good solid stuff there. But yeah, this place is  massive and I've enjoyed it so far. Uh there's a lot of different places to kind of hang out at and  just chill. Great for groups obviously. It kind of reminds me of the place in Minneapolis that we  used to go to. Um I don't remember the name, but it has a similar vibe and stuff like that. Not as  many games. Um they're more focused on all sorts of stuff, but they do have quite a bit of pinball. And I didn't know that it was a whole massive amount of stuff up here upstairs, too. Anyhow, I  keep playing pinball and uh catch you on the flip side. All right, it's time now to rate how this  place stacked up with everybody else so far. So, for atmosphere and overall ambiance, I felt this  place was great. It hit everything out of the park in terms of its rustic and industrial look. It  had plenty of places that you could go and relax at or have a great ball and a great fantastic time  with all of your friends. The staff was friendly. I enjoyed talking to the lady that it had met when  I walked in. She also mentioned that on a regular basis they do trade out different machines between  each of their pens locations. So, this is not just one location. So, with that all in mind, I  felt that it scored a 10. For maintenance, I felt that it didn't score as high as Scalp and  Ghost. Uh, the modern sterns mostly played fine. All the flippers seemed like that they were at the  right strength. All the different angles seemed to be doing okay. All the different mechanisms seem  to be working properly. However, the other pins, they were in need for some TLC big time for some  of these machines. So, for the maintenance score, I will go ahead and give them a seven. For the  overall price and deal, I will go ahead and give them an eight. And this is only because they  have really no deals, but they do have a fair price. It's $1 for three balls as you typically  would expect in any other place. And that's that. All right. I'm sitting at my uh in my hotel  room thinking about life and the pursuit of happiness through pinball. And and this is this  is literally where my hotel is next to you. With each new generation, things change. This is  how you get fed. This is how you get fashion, technology, everything. Everything that is  except Grers. Raiders's ice cream is still made the same way my great-grandparents made  it, by hand in French pots. One very small batch at a time. From my family to yours, enjoy  Grers Ice Cream. Look for it at your local ger or at grater.com. I'm going to spy on you  if you're spying on me. Here we go. Yeah, I knew it. My dad's doppelganger. I knew it, dude. What's going on? Happy Wednesday and welcome to day three. I  am in Cincinnati and now we're going to play Arcade Legacy. Let's do it. So, I make my way  from Pins Mechanical over to Arcade Legacy. All right. Well, I just arrived at Arcade Legacy  and it looks pretty big. So, apparently there's a lot of different rooms and things that you can  do. Um, they haven't sold they're they're planning on selling food. Food's not available yet. Um,  if you really wanted to pinball it up, there's a hotel right over there. All right. Here we go. All  right. So, I really like the design of the front of this building um with additional space for this  sales and service portion of everything. Uh silver ball. Once inside, I was greeted with a wide range  of machines with some old classics mixed in with new machines. I was actually very impressed with  the amount of machines that they had to offer. Uh which meant I could easily spend an entire day uh  in this pinball section alone. I mean, we're only at this moment only scratching the surface here,  but yeah, as I make of my way through each of the hallways you see here, um you'll notice all  the different sterns that are all lined up. And um they do have a labyrinth there in the corner. They have a Twilight Zone and of course a midnight medieval madness right there in the corner. And  uh on the walls, they have a whole bunch of Stern posters as well. Um Dr. uh I should say James Bond  is over there, Deadpool. uh Whitewater. And I'm making a nice spin around to seeing what some of  those posters look like. Bonsai Run. And here's Predator. This is the Pinball Brothers version of  Predator. Um this is a lot different from the one that we just saw, the Skitby version, which is one  that uh isn't widely available to play. However, this one here, as you can see, it's got some  really cool Predator looking graphics. We get so close that uh we see inside it. But yeah,  here's the other machine that I had uh that I've seen earlier. And there are only three  in existence. Uh this again is over at Galping Ghost Arcade. This is not in Arcade Legacy. I  wanted to show you what the two machines look like and what the differences are so that you're  aware of that. Oh my god, the sound in here. We're going to have to free these machines here  in a minute. Free them from their pain. Play me. We are now entering the video arcade area of this  place, which I felt had a lot of great art on the wall on the various classic video game visuals  and various colorful logos and things like that. very reminiscent of a classic arcade that you  might see in the 80s yourself growing up. And then I made my way over as I'm going through all these  different games and things. I mean, there's a good decent amount of stuff. Here's the bar. [laughter]  I couldn't believe that was able to walk right in. I wasn't quite sure why there wasn't a whole lot  there at the moment. I think the bar opens up a little later and uh but it was interesting to see  what was there to begin with. This is also inside this place. the wide range of physical media  that's available to purchase here. So, what did I think of Arcade Legacy? Well, here's what I've  got. Their atmosphere was pretty topnotch. Some improvements were needed here and there since  the overall layout was a bit clunky. However, each area made sense. So, I'm going to give their  overall score a 7.5. Maintenance. I noticed two staff members working on the machines. They were  also doing some cleaning and overall maintenance, making sure that each machine is maintained and  and kept. That that definitely uh impressed me as a player. So, um that was great to see. In terms of each of of the games in general, I felt that they also did decently. Not perfect,  but definitely not terrible. So, I'm going to go ahead and give this place an eight. Their  overall price and deal for Arcade Legacy is pretty pretty topnotch. They more or less have  the best deal in town. From what I can tell, most of the machines were 50ents. Some of them  are 75 cents, but also there's a huge amount that's on free play, including the arcade itself. Either way, overall, I'm going to give this place a 10 for their overall deal. I love a good  fit. Here's my microwave dinner. Is it done? It's a little more hot than it  was before. I think we're finally done. It's still going there. Don't want to burn the  [censor] place down now, do we? All right. [screaming] [music] On to our next arcade,  Cartridge Gaming in Lima, Ohio. Okay. Hello. By the way, cover the earth. We're  right next to Sherwin Williams. Can you Can you look out the window? Can you see it? That's where  we're at. We're right here at Cartridge Gaming. Let's take a look inside. It was a relatively easy  place to find. Um, there was plenty of parking available. Uh, I found the entrance because once  you enter the building, it gives you the Super Mario Brothers going into the pipe sound effect,  signaling that you really are being warped into a whole new world. [music] And once inside,  you are greeted with a video game and physical media store and an arcade with video games with a  great selection of pinball machines. Chef's kiss. I really appreciated the huge amount of space  that was available, including places where you could just chill. Um whether it was the couch-like  setting or couch-like seating over there in the corner that you see there. Uh they do have plans  on putting food in as part of the options at some point. Um, I did speak to the owner of the place  who was a really nice guy. He had mentioned that one of the newer pins that they had just gotten  was Roller Games. Roller Games is kind of a weird uh underground hit of a pin amongst fans. Here's  Pac-Man. Pac-Man is also a weird pen that I didn't really get a chance to play growing up. In fact,  we have the playfield of this game in our basement right now. Uh, here's something I really enjoyed  seeing. his mini arcade cabinets of his classic games. But this is where I got really excited. The Super Mario Brothers folk. Unfortunately, it didn't play as well as I hope it would, but  it was still very fun to play it nonetheless. Welcome to a new chapter of Ed  Breaks Games. "Wow". I am your host, Ed, and I broke roller balls  apparently. I don't know why. It won't do. We'll see if it does bolsters. And  finally, um I noticed a broken Corvette pin off to the side. Not sure if they're taking it out or  putting it in. Speaking of DVDs, here's a quick float through the video game section of this  place, which is a lot of fun to walk through. There's a wonderful amount of unique media from  the ' 70s, '8s, and '90s. By the way, that last arcade that I was at, it was pretty solid. Um,  I didn't feel comfortable kind of sort of doing my little monologue while I was in there, so I  figured, okay, I guess we'll do a little bit of it now. But guy was friendly, talked about his uh new  Roller Balls game that he gotten and uh overall it was a great atmosphere, great time. So, really  pleased with it so far. But yeah, I think I think it's worth checking out. All right, so how did  Cartridge Gaming stack up? Well, the atmosphere was great. I loved their entry into the building  with their sound effect of warping going through the pipe in Super Mario Brothers. The arcade part  of the building was fun. The toys and cartridge part of the place was also very fun and plentiful,  and it looks like they're trying to grow even more with the layout of the building having a wonderful  flow between places. They also had friendly staff. Overall, um, with everything put together, it  it's a solid 10. Maintenance, I felt that some of the machines were leveled differently than  I would have preferred. It wasn't at floating MC floats level where it's completely slow, but I  was able to adapt. Either way, I give this place a 7.5. [music] When it comes to overall price and  deal, I noticed that most of the games were 50ents with some of the older games being 25 [music]  and the brand new pins being $1 for three balls. To me, that is definitely a fair price, and there  really is nothing to [music] complain about. With that being said, I'm going to give them a nine. With a little bit of rain threatening my trip, I decided to go ahead and rush off to the basement,  which is inside the distillery in Toledo, Ohio. So, this is a smaller location, but it has  everything that you could want. Uh there's a full restaurant up above on the first floor  when you walk in. And then down below, which is the basement, is where all of the games and the  dive bar is located. So there's plenty of seating, plenty of places to roam. They do also have  pinball tournaments on a regular basis there, but there really isn't a whole lot to look at. I  mean, it is a fairly small location, but each of these pins played amazing. That is the one thing  I want to tell you right here and right now. Uh, that alone is a huge win for me because pinball  is so much fun when the game responds perfectly to the way that you think it should. And  that is how I felt about each of these games that I played. Being in perfect Nick, being in  perfect level, being in perfect everything. Um, that to me was amazing. So, with that already  being out of the way and the short video that I have of this whole thing because there  wasn't a whole lot to look at. Oh, by the way, here's a little bit of the uh high score insider  connected board that they had available. So, the overall atmosphere of the place, I mean, it's it's  a bar. It's a typical bar and beer grub place. So, it's going to be okay. It's nothing outstanding. It's nothing crappy. It is what it is. So, that is going to get a 7.5. Maintenance. The  distillery had scored a perfect 10. The sacrifice of less pens gave you the perfect balanced pen  and it was greatly maintained. 10 out of 10. The overall price and deal, well, almost all the games  were a dollar as far as I could tell, and that is just fine with me. So, I'm going to give that a  8.5. There's something special about exploring the world of pinball, and I'm grateful for that. I'm  happy that this hobby has found me years ago in California and found me again here in the Midwest. I know I've only scratched the surface and that's the exciting part. So, wherever you live, I  hope you take the trip, explore somewhere new, meet the people, play the games, because you never  know what memories are waiting just down the road.

_(Acquisition: supadata_caption, Enrichment: v5)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-08-03 | Item ID: 9004c032-ce01-44fe-96f0-a7a5f4fd2b3c*