Pinball Pete's — Local services in East Lansing

I loved Pinball Pete's growing up. The recession hit this business harder than most. It used to have a lot of personality in the machine selection but times being tough forced all of the heart into a corner.

There's maybe a tenth of the classic machines left (1 Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection cabinet and a Time Crisis Machine that eats quarters on 2P side). All of the sick Tekken, Soul Calibur and Gauntlet posters got replaced by some elephant mural. All of the games I used to love got replaced by quarter-eating Dave and Buster's games. It makes more money in the short-term but customers who love arcades feel forgotten about.

What this place really needs is a dedicated scene surrounding it. If the fighting game community in Lansing could host tournaments here they'd attract more consistent business. If the place had a subscription service for a certain number of tokens per month I'd subscribe. I already pay for stuff I don't use every month. Lemme subscribe to your arcade!

I'm sure plenty of gamers in Michigan would love the return of all the classic machines if they could just find a way to modernize the monetization of the space. I have a lot of useful ideas that may help but it doesn't seem like the business wants to try anything unsafe as it may cost them everything they've worked for. I'm afraid that staying the course might eventually rub enough old-school, returning customers away to do the same. I just wish there were more the city could do to help keep a landmark arcade like Pete's...

Pinball Pete's is a small arcade. They have a few popular games like skee ball, DDR, coin push games, claw machine games, motorcycle riding game, etc., but the real attraction is the pinball machines in the back section. There are quite a few. My favorites are The Addams Family, Adam West Era Batman, The Munsters, and The Hobbit. My son really likes Star Wars and The Mandalorian. They also have a Beatles one that I've tried. They have Attack from Mars, The Simpsons, and some others I can't remember right now. It's $1 per game of pinball, or 3 for $2 on the same machine.

The non-pinball games usually give tickets, and they have a small prize store. If you're in town just hanging out, stop on by. You can go in and look around for free. We come back every couple of months, and $10 is plenty to have...

Since the late 80's this place was a weekly event for myself (just a kid) and my Dad and Uncle. Always packed with people and loud music it was the hangout that everyone emptied their wallets out for. I even remember the old french fry machine. What used to be dozens of pinball machines and the latest cabinets has turned into a pool hall with tickets for prizes. Its no fault of the owners. In the old days the only way to get a good video game was to head to the arcades with friends. These days its all about online gaming from your dorm room. I still visit this place a few times a year but Im afraid it wont be around much longer. Its still a great place to visit and being an old school gamer I do like the fact they still keep the...