This is the EM Journeys Pinball Podcast. Hello, and welcome back to the EM Pinball Journeys Podcast. My name is David Morgan. This is the first episode of the beginner series for those who are new to EM pinball or pinball in general. Today I'm going to talk about where to find pinball machines on location near you, including EMs. There are a few ways to discover where you can play pinball near you and find pinball machines somewhere in your travels. My favorite tool for this is the Pinball Map app. Its creators Scott Wayne Stock and Ryan Gratzer started the Pinball Map website in 2008. Soon after, they created the Pinball Map app, and with the assistance of Beth, it is the best app for pinball players. Both the website pinballmap.com and the app are free to use. The app is simply called Pinball Map and is available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. Both the app and pinballmap.com show you where pinball machines are on location in places such as an arcade or bar. The features are the same on both the website and the app. Pinball players are encouraged to help keep the map up to date. You can add or remove pinball machines from a location as you find that pinball machines were added or removed or swapped out. The app will help you find pinball machines on location from the EM era as well as the solid state era and newer games. When you open the app, pinch and move the map around until you find numbers on the map. The numbers represent how many pinball machines are at that location. Tap a number to see the name of the location and its address. Tap the name of the location to view a list of the pinball machines at that location as of the last update. From this list, you can favorite the location and confirm the lineup if the games at the location match the games on the list. If you find that the list is incomplete, you can easily add a machine to the list for that location. You simply tap "add a machine." A list of every pinball machine in the database appears. Next, scroll down the list to find the game that you want to add. You can also filter the list with the search box. Tap the game to add it to the list. Be careful that you are looking at the right version of the game though. Some newer games such as the ones made by Stern come in a pro, premium, and limited edition version, so please do try your best to add the correct version. Tap one of the games to view machine comments and high scores that people have added. You can add a comment about the game or add your high score. From here you can also tap "Machine Info" and learn more about the game from Kineticads.com. Tap "Done" when finished. You can also tap "View Playing Tips" on Pintips to view all of the playing tips that are specific to that game title. Tap "Done" when finished. Also from this screen you can remove the machine from the list. Please be sure that the game is really gone from the location before tapping "remove machine." Sometimes pinball machines are not all together in the same place at some locations. You can go back to the location screen using the arrow at the top right. From here you can also click "Activity," which will show you what has changed recently, such as games that were added and removed. You also see any recent comments. There isn't a way to pull up only EM machines on location with the app or website. You have to scroll through the list of games at a location and look at the year. If it is 1975 or older, it's going to be an EM. 1976 through 1978, well, it could be an EM or a solid state. One great feature of the Pinball Map app and website is that you can search for a specific game that you would like to play and see all of the locations where it can be played. On the app, tap the filter icon to the right of the search field. The next page will say "Filter Map Results" at the top. Tap "all locations for this machine," then scroll or search for an EM that you want to play. For example, I'm looking at Pop-A-Card. I only type the first three letters, POP, and the game appears in a list of results as Pop-A-Card, Gottlieb, 1972. Then I tapped "Apply Filters" at the bottom. I then moved the map to view the northeastern part of the US and tapped "Refresh this area." I can see that there are five locations: two in New York, one in New Jersey, one in Ohio, and one in Virginia. When you tap the locations, you can now see other EMs that may be at that location that you also might want to play. There are probably a lot of different Pop-A-Card machines. Chances are they are in good playing condition, but please know there is no guarantee that the game plays well or is even still there. You can also filter by location type. For example, I selected Laundromats and moved the map a few hours south of me. There are eight laundromats with a pinball machine in Syracuse, New York. I've not visited yet, but Brooklyn, New York has a laundromat called Sunshine Laundromat with 20 pinball machines. It looks like they have a lot of great game titles. No EMs though. Other options for filter by location are: Airport, Amusement Park, Arcade, Bar, Bar and Arcade, Bar and Restaurant, Bowling Alley, Brewery, Campground, Casino, Family Fun Center, Game Room, Ice Cream Parlor, Lodging, Mini Golf, Movie Theater, Museum, Music Venue, Pizza Parlor, Pool Hall, Recreation Facility, Restaurant, Shop, Skating Rink, Special Event. I've read in online forums where people have played a virtual version of a pinball machine and now they want to play a real version somewhere on location. I love to hear when this happens. I recommend the Pinball Map to them, and I hope that other people do as well. Another interesting feature of the app is finding pinball tournaments nearby. Tap "More," then tap "Events." It shows a 50-mile radius by default. You can then tap 150 miles or 250 miles to widen your results. You can also track your contributions to the Pinball Map. On the app, tap the word "You" at the bottom. You can see stats such as the number of machines added, removed, machine comments, and location. I often open the app and tap "Activity." This will show you all of the recent activity, such as a newly added or recently removed pinball machine from a nearby location. The radius settings are 30 miles, 75 miles, and 150 miles. I've talked with many operators of pinball places about the Pinball Map app. There are several locations that are now on the Pinball Map app because I told them about it. They have added themselves, or in a few cases, I've added the location myself. You can submit a location by tapping where it says "More" and tapping "Submit Location." You'll need to gather some details about the location, such as their address and website address. The Pinball Map admins will verify and approve the addition in a few days or sooner. I've talked with some operators about their take on the Pinball Map app. Some of the pinball places that have been listed on the Pinball Map app for a while have told me that the map app has brought them as many customers as their other marketing efforts that they spent money on. Pinball Map creators Scott and Ryan have their own podcast called "Mappin' Around with Scott and Ryan." I've listened to all 12 episodes. They put the first seven episodes out in 2018 and 2019. In 2024, they returned with five more. They mentioned that there are over 10,000 pinball locations and over 44,000 pinball machines listed on the Pinball Map. On the podcast, I learned that you can edit and delete your own comments. Also on the podcast, Scott and Ryan have a fun intermittent segment called a "scene report." They leave each other a voicemail talking directly from a pinball location that they're visiting and talk about the experience and highlight some of the games that they played there. They encourage listeners to email them audio of a scene report. They mention this toward the end of episode 10 in case that is of interest. You can help support the Pinball Map app and pinballmap.com by going to the website and clicking "Donate" or by clicking "Store" and making a purchase. Currently, they have beanies and stickers for sale. Another pinball map that you might find useful is Pinside.com's pinball map. Go to pinside.com and click "Pinmap." It is similar to pinballmap.com. I found it a bit easier to search here for where my favorite pinball machines are available to play on location. I have not found the data to be as up to date as the Pinball Map app, but most locations are there. There are also several noteworthy features on the Pinside map. The main page shows a few dozen featured locations. At the bottom right-hand corner of that area, if you click "list all locations," you can browse locations by country. There are currently 33,378 pinball machines at 7,110 known locations in the United States. Interestingly, France seems to be in second place with 3,461 games in 2,375 known locations, and Canada seems to be in third place with 2,336 games in 782 known locations. Also on Pinside, if you search for a pinball machine from the game details page, you will see a statistic showing the number of public locations to play this machine. Below that, click on "Visit Map." The next page shows a list of where to play this pinball machine. A related resource about pinball locations that I recommend is episode 43 of the Wedgehead Pinball Podcast called "Megalocations." They talk about many of the pinball locations that have over 100 pinball machines. Most megalocations also have EMs. All of the megalocations that I've been to have a large number of EMs to play. I've been to Pastimes in Girard, Ohio, Pinball PA in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and Electromagnetic Pinball Museum in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. I look forward to someday soon visiting the Silverball Retro Arcade in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and also Pinball Perfection in Westview, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Please let me know what good locations with EMs you find near you using Pinball Map, as well as any good locations with EMs that you are already aware of. And that concludes today's episode. I want to thank you for joining me today on the EM Pinball Journeys Podcast. I hope that you enjoyed this episode. Please look out for more beginner series episodes. If you want to contact me, I can be reached at empinballjourneyspodcast at gmail.com. You can also follow me on Facebook or Instagram at Adirondack Pinball, and Adirondack is spelled A-D-I-R-O-N-D-A-C-K. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, corrections, or suggestions of future EM Pinball topics. I'd love to hear about your journey so far. Next time on EM Pinball Journeys Podcast, I'll be starting my Pinball Machine Spotlight series and we'll talk about Pop-A-Card. I'll talk about the unique features and their place in pinball history. I also have a story to tell about Pop-A-Card because I bought one as a project. Thanks for listening. I'll be back again in two weeks. Subtitles by the Amara.org community