Latest news with #pinball
BBC News
21-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Retro gaming arcade in Salisbury saved from immediate closure
The owner of an independent retro gaming arcade which was on the brink of permanent closure said he had been "blown away" after more than £3,000 was raised to save Score Arcade in Salisbury, Wiltshire, closed in June due to running costs and low footfall. However following a "make or break weekend", which involved two open days, its immediate future has been owner James Petherick said: "Locals, businesses, and supporters around the world have come together to keep something special alive for Salisbury." Opened in the Cross Keys Shopping Centre in August 2024, the arcade features a carefully-restored collection of classic pinball and retro gaming to the open days, which took place on Saturday and Sunday, cost a minimum of £1, with other donations made via an online arcade said it would now work to update its booking system, reopening with updated times on its website and social media arcade said it was "excited to welcome the community back through its doors".
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Appeal to gamers to help save unique retro arcade
The gaming community has a final chance to save an independent retro arcade from closing for good. Salisbury's only pinball venue, Highest Score, was forced to close last month due to running costs and low footfall. The owner, James Petherick, is urging people to support the arcade over two open days on 11 and 12 July in a last-ditch effort to keep the arcade alive. "This weekend is about showing what's possible when people come together. If there's ever been a time to visit, it's now," he said. More news stories for Wiltshire Listen to the latest news for Wiltshire The arcade, in the Cross Keys Shopping Centre, opened in August 2024 and features a carefully-restored collection of classic pinball and retro gaming machines. "When I closed, the whole community was, like, 'wow, we can't afford to lose this'", said Mr Petherick. "There are three generations of children and adults that have never seen a pinball machine and I built Highest Score to bring back real, hands-on gaming and community fun to Salisbury." Mr Petherick said the open days were an opportunity to raise awareness and prove that independent shops can survive when supported by the people and businesses around them. The invitation is for "anyone aged eight to 80", with games available for all ages. Entry is a £1 minimum donation for an unlimited time and an online donation page has also been set up to help secure the arcade's future. "If I can raise enough over the two days, I'll be able to keep the arcade going for at least another week, and then hopefully into the summer holidays and beyond," he added. Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. City venue has 'so much potential' say new operators Museum to reopen following £5m renovation School launches Dungeons & Dragons games for pupils Highest Score Arcade
BBC News
12-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Appeal to gamers in Wiltshire to help save unique retro arcade
The gaming community has a final chance to save an independent retro arcade from closing for good. Salisbury's only pinball venue, Highest Score, was forced to close last month due to running costs and low owner, James Petherick, is urging people to support the arcade over two open days on 11 and 12 July in a last-ditch effort to keep the arcade alive. "This weekend is about showing what's possible when people come together. If there's ever been a time to visit, it's now," he said. The arcade, in the Cross Keys Shopping Centre, opened in August 2024 and features a carefully-restored collection of classic pinball and retro gaming machines."When I closed, the whole community was, like, 'wow, we can't afford to lose this'", said Mr Petherick."There are three generations of children and adults that have never seen a pinball machine and I built Highest Score to bring back real, hands-on gaming and community fun to Salisbury." Mr Petherick said the open days were an opportunity to raise awareness and prove that independent shops can survive when supported by the people and businesses around them. The invitation is for "anyone aged eight to 80", with games available for all ages. Entry is a £1 minimum donation for an unlimited time and an online donation page has also been set up to help secure the arcade's future."If I can raise enough over the two days, I'll be able to keep the arcade going for at least another week, and then hopefully into the summer holidays and beyond," he added.
CBC
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Pinball museum in Alfred, Ont., a 'portal back to the mid-70s'
Mike Loftus grew up playing pinball in Ottawa. Rob Illuiri played the same arcade games in the northern suburbs of Montreal. Decades later, the two met through their shared passion for collecting and refurbishing pinball machines and formed Pinball Medics, a repair service. Their latest collaboration is the Canadian Pinball Museum in Alfred, Ont. It's a place to display their collection of more than 70 pinball machines and arcade games from the 1970s and '80s, all meticulously refurbished and in working order. "You get to touch them, feel them [and] play them," said Loftus, 59. "They're all dialled in, souped-up and play better than new." For Loftus, the machines are a portal back to another time before the Xbox. "It's nostalgia, from a simpler time when things were more tangible," he explained. "You had to actually go out and … play the games together in person. It's all about getting back to that experience." Alfred is a small community 70 kilometres east of Ottawa and 120 kilometres west of Montreal. Prior to the construction of Highway 417 in the mid-70s, the "old" Highway 17 that forms Alfred's main street was the main route linking those major cities. Motels and restaurants catering to interprovincial travellers lined the road, but most faded away when traffic moved to the new highway. Among those shuttered businesses was a roadside diner called Cardin Bar-B-Q, which closed around 1980, according to Illuiri. The former restaurant, with a modernist chevron-style roof, remained empty for 38 years until Illuiri bought it and began the process — slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic — of renovating and restoring it. Much of the building was preserved like a 1970s time capsule, complete with stained glass transom windows, brown striped carpet, rec-room-style wood panelling and textured plaster walls. "It's not just reproduction '70s," Loftus enthused. "This is actual, real, vintage '70s all the way. It looks, smells, tastes like the '70s. It is the '70s." The arcade aficionados considered it a perfect setting for a pinball museum to celebrate the game's golden era — not to mention their own heydays. "I had hair down to there, some kind of freaky printed shirt and mirrored glasses — considerably different than I look right now," said Loftus, whose greying hair is now close-cut. I have memories of my buddies I used to play with back in the day. It's like they're here with me. - Rob Illuiri Illuiri, 57, also recalled his pinball-playing days in suburban Montreal, when he wore concert T-shirts and listened to Black Sabbath, Kiss and Deep Purple. Now, surrounded by some of those same machines, he's awash in nostalgia. "I feel like a kid. I feel like I'm back in time," said Illuiri, who still wears his hair long. "I have memories of my buddies I used to play with back in the day. It's like they're here with me. Good times, when life was easy." Nor did you need much money, he recalled. "We'd ... go to the arcade and try to stretch the dollar as much as we can." Loftus said they're trying to revive the feeling of that simpler time. "We're hoping to create a time portal back to the mid-70s," he said. "Every machine basically tells a story, something about what it felt like at that time." Besides the pinball machines, their collection includes such classic arcade games as Asteroids. "I remember playing it at Skateway Roller Disco in the west end of Ottawa," said Loftus. "It came out around the same time as Star Wars, so you got to be Han Solo flying through the asteroid field."
CBC
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
A trip back in time at the Canadian Pinball Museum
Friends and longtime pinball players Mike Loftus and Rob Illuiri have opened a museum to their favourite pastime in Alfred, Ont.
