I decided to dust my winter hibernation and join my friend T as he hosted the “Open to the Public” pinball golf event on Tuesday night at the Capital Pinball Club in Concord, NH – 70 Pembroke Rd, Concord, NH, 03301
The Capital Pinball Club is a private club of pinball enthusiast situated in an old factory building in Concord, NH. They share the space in the building with other small businesses like martial arts instructors.
The club has around 25 pinball machines, young and old and collect monthy dues of $50 from members who have 24/7 access to the machines and space to hang.
The public is invited in for $15 for a day pass. They have open play nights, tournament nights and even special events for beginners to learn about pinball. Click the link below for their events calendar.
Capital Pinball is very begineer focused with the idea of expanding the pinball community in the area. Special game nights like the “Pinball Golf” night I attended makes the games more accessible.
For a $1 a card (proceeds go into the pot for the winner) you get a list of pinball machines and a certain goal. For example on the Jaws Pinball machine you might have a goal of reaching 40 million points. If you achieve the goal on your first ball, that equals one stroke.
Reach it on the second ball and you get two strokes and so on. If you play all three balls and still don’t reach the target, it’s a penalty so it counts as a “4”.
I got plenty of fours last night. But I did manage to get a 1 and several 2s.
Once you play all the games, your score is tallied up.
I found the crowd on Tues night very chill, it was like hanging out in the basement at that cool house in the neighborhood – except with 20-25 cool pinball machines.
And the collection is really good. Lots of newer Sterns that accept the Stern Insider acheivement app to track your progress. Classic 90s machines like Attack From Mars (1995) and Cirqus Voltaire (1997). A few real oldies like Gottlieb’s Hulk (1979). It’s a good mix.
Some of the machines need a bit of work but the members of the club have experience fixing pinball machines and they even have a workshop room.
Pinball in the area around Concord and Manchester, NH certainly has grown over the past few years with the addition of the Capital Pinball Club and the Tycoon Arcade in Manchester, NH.
Capital Pinball Club in Concord, NH – 70 Pembroke Rd, Concord, NH, 03301