Ground Kontrol

[Dropshot]

I can just see this from GK's side. Unlike most other bars in Portland with pinball the main draw for that establishment isn't pinball. But for GK it is, granted I did google ground kontrol and it took until the 8th page for anything from our website to show up about it and it was the Pinbrawl 2010 tournament page. Anyway, let's say I am from middle of no where Idaho and I want to go to the big city to play pinball. In Seattle you can find lame-o Shorties and in Portland you can find Ground Kontrol and all it's glory. Now as an owner, you want that customer. Having bad reviews about machines that have already been fixed may stop him from coming to PDX. And then he won't go home and tell all his friends and family about how great it is. And then they won't come down. And then their kids and grand kids and great grand kids won't go to Ground Kontrol: Mars. And that would be a shame, because if there was a Ground Kontrol on Mars I would be very happy. Anyway, that would be great if Sauce got hired for a day or two. I know Mark has been stressed with all the work to do by himself. I think he gets stuck on the video's a lot. But that's not my point, my point is we have 34 pre-registered and counting. Those spots are filling up fast so you all better get on it. http://www.groundkontrol.com and you can figure it out from there I am sure. Major Tom signing off from Mars! That was lame. Feel free to laugh. At me.

[GroundKontrol]

[Jeri]

We love having you guys tell us when the machines are having problems. Most of the time the hired help at places don't give accurate descriptions of the problems or don't even call. You guys are great.

Jurassic Park is fixed at Voodoo. It was an end of stroke switch stuck open. (updating Voodoo link too) We will be taking over the change machine as soon as they find the key.

-Jer

[revtest]

Thanks Jeri you guys rock!

Good luck sauce!

I don't charge $ to use my broken toilet!
(sorry just thought that was kind of funny)

[ElRamos]

New at Ground Kontrol: The Sopranos. Moved out: Roller Coaster Tycoon.

This is the Sopranos that was shown at the NW Pinball Expo last April. The playfield hardware and artwork are like new! We'll do our best to keep it in top condition.

[revtest]

Nice, I love a good playing Sopranos!

[PirateMike]

The Dr Who is totally borked... Has been for a while now.

[Isaac]

I just checked out their new at the art gallery across 5th. It's pretty cool! They've installed a bar and as far as I can tell they have all the same pins and cabinets. Most importantly there's a ton of space now.

They don't mention it in their blog, but I heard that they'll be in that building till the end of January.

[Isaac]

Grand re-opening tomorrow. Road Show, Batman, Rollercoaster, Stargate out. Star Wars Ep. 1, Shrek, Indy: TPA in.

[Opto]

Looking forward to playing that Indy.

[FHF]

Yeah, i stopped by there last night for the pre-grand opening. It is looking pretty good! Definitely have a better layout now for the arcade games. The new seating is nice. DDR is downstairs now. I played Shrek. There's now a wall upstairs to the right. Not really much changed with the pin layout since they didn't expand the balcony. Oh, there's a kitchen now.

[Isaac]

There's also a door to the right room now, but when it's open it swings right into Demo Man (which is where King Pin used to be). Shrek and Indy played ok as far as I can tell. TOTAN is back but it was off. I don't remember seeing the RFM either. Also the new 4-player Pac Man game is a lot of fun.

[HornedGramma]

Well shit, there goes the last decent Road Show in town.

[ROM]

The one at Foggy Notion plays well. But... that's far away.

[PirateMike]

Road Show is still there.

[GroundKontrol]

First I'd like to thank everyone who made our grand reopening a huge success. Some responses and random notes:

* We're hugely disappointed that we couldn't expand the upstairs. The building code's a bitch, and the city's interpretation of it is even bitchier. I did find a way to squeeze in one more pin, which we haven't done yet, as we're currently negotiating the purchase of a top 20 pin.

* We've got a BSD that should show up some time this week, to go in the slot at the top of the stairs (it's not the aforementioned top 20 pin).

* Road Show was originally slated to leave, but it looks like it's staying for now. Thanks for the feedback on it being the only decent one. I hope it can stay, but unfortunately it's at the bottom in earnings, which means it's gone the next time we buy a pin, if customers don't vote for it with their quarters. The arcade business can be brutal like that.

* TOTAN has a major driver board problem, and our tech has been too busy with the move and shopping the "new" pins to finish the repair. Hopefully it'll be back up this week.

* We're still working on the finishing touches on the remodel. Please be patient while we dial it in. For instance, I just got the first covers on the upstairs light fixtures on last night. Drew was there and gave his approval, and I think everyone will agree it's a huge improvement when I'm done.

* We have to modify the drinkholders to avoid scraping up the floor. Hopefully this week.

Anyway, I've got to get back to work! If you have any questions, ask here and I'll try to answer them.

GK

[ROM]

GK - thanks a lot for putting in new lights in the pinball section. The lighting's great now, and it's cool that you made that one of your priorities.

A couple machine issues:

Shrek - the bank of drop targets is stuck down.

Indiana Jones - the path of adventure is rreeaallllyy slow. plus the switch on the upper left (on the path of adventure) is not registering when the ball rolls over it. Otherwise, plays nice!

[PirateMike]

doctor who was 6 kinds of fucked when I was playing it... it was registering shots I hadn't hit... at least W ramp shot... and I'm not exactly sure what else. The locks were funky.. registering locks and kicking out, but not consistently... the pad didn't seem to ever raise up either....

[ROM]

Sounds like the drop targets on Shrek are fixed.

[JeffK]

demo man is out, TZ is in. It was off as of when I left last night, but apparently it's HUO and quite the site to behold, so says art.

On another note, it seems that GK is now charging a small cover on weekends, I think it was 2 or 3 bucks (as soon as the doorman said cover, I left). I love GK and I don't want to be a grump ass but I think that is a little bit silly. When I got to GK, I usually spend money on both games and booze. Free play night I totally understand the cover because the games are, well, free. But paying a cover to then go in and pay for beer and pinball and video games, seems a bit much. I think I might just have a sense of entitlement considering how much money I've dropped there, its feels almost insulting to get asked for money for the opportunity to then spend more money inside. And yes, I understand that there are roll ins from couture and barradoucha and what not in the neighborhood that go in, drink one beer, kick a coin door or two, and then leave. But that's not me! Ah well, can't wait to play that TZ. I'll be heading over there tonight to check it out (unless they are charging a cover).