the great pumpkin

This weekend involved much more than pinball (Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, and the Edible Manhattan Fall Harvest Party), but we did manage to check out a couple more machines.

I had been reading about Satellite Lounge for a while, and heard that they had several machines… Satellite Lounge is a very short walk from Grand Street, and after finishing dinner at Caracas we headed over for a beer.  The sign outside the bar said “Good Vibes,” and that is something harder to deliver than one would expect…but that is exactly what Satellite Lounge is….Good Vibes.

As we walked up to the bar we could see five glowing pinball machines!  Typically I’m surprised to see a bar with two machines, but 5 is unheard of.  Four of the machines are newer machines produced by Stern (Batman, Simpsons, 24, and Lord Of the Rings), but they also had one machine made by Williams (Taxi). All of the machines were 50 cents a play, expect for Batman (75 cents per play, or 3 for $2).  All of the machines were pretty level, but the Lord of the Rings and 24 machines were a little on the steep side…not bad, but a little fast.

Beers were reasonably priced too…Lagunitas IPA for $5, and the bartender had good taste in music as well.  I will definitely be making the trip to Satellite whenever I have the urge for pinball…it is by far Brooklyn’s Best Pinball destination.

Saturday night we stopped in at the Levee on the way back from the Harvest Party.  The Levee isn’t my favorite bar, but they do have really reasonably priced beers (and good beers at that…$5 Dogfish 90 mins).  The Levee only has one machine, and that is the same Batman machine that Satellite Lounge had.

The Batman machine showed me how much two identical machines can differ.  The machine at the Levee was very steep (I can’t call this one level), and wobbly (the machine shook when you hit the flippers hard). The machine itself also did not work like the one at Satellite Lounge Machine either.

A little bit on the Batman machine itself…at Satellite Lounge this was our favorite machine.  Very unique playing field, and bonuses…the machine even rumbled (literally shook the whole machine) during some of the bonuses, but at The Levee this feature was broken.  The machine at the Levee is playable (although we did have problems with the ball getting suck), but not ideal.

For more (easier to read details..including addresses to these places) please click through to the North Brooklyn Pinball Directory.

Tags: brooklyn, pinball, The Levee, The Satellite Lounge, Williamsburg