Special When Lit: Pinball Electro-cade — Local services in King City

Want a tip on how to increase your gaming skills? I grew up in bowling alleys, shooting pool and playing #pinball! The only other games around back then was electronic shooters and later air hockey, then foosball! This was before PONG mind you! The king of these games was (and still is) pinball baby! You see, video game controllers evolved from pinball flipper buttons! If you want to increase your hand (button) to eye coordination, NOTHING compares to good, old fashioned pinball!!! My secret to consistently beat all the young kids playing #Fartnight and Call of Doody! If you love pinball or are just looking for an awesome time, Special When Lit will be like going to pinball heaven! Several of the machines I played over 50 years ago are there, working and looking like brand new! I would say there are at least 30 different vintage and brand new pinball machines and several old skool electronic video games! They even have the high scores from each machine posted on the big screen back at the snack bar! A great place to meet people and increase your skills...

When it first opened, my youngest and I were coming here at least once every couple of weeks. It had such a great selection of both pinball and old school arcade games. The food is fine; mostly what seems like microwaved food or popped into the oven. Whatever, food isn’t the main attraction. They have a bar which is fantastic. They have one tv. That’s fine, not the point to come here.

Yesterday, my daughter and I went and it appears as though they took out numerous arcade games including TAPPER. There is now a single table with four chairs in its place. I realized the original layout with rows of machines from the front door to the bar were integral to the vibe and feel of the place. I don’t know how to put my finger on it but it cut our gaming time down quite a bit. We were outta there in about 20 minutes and usually were there for about an hour and a half.

Update - we’ve gotten used to the seating and placement of machines. They have some newer games. Still a great local gaming spot with food...

I love the Portland pinball scene. We are truly spoiled. Today I checked out Special When Lit. They have a great selection of games. Unfortunately, most of the games I played were not working well. The sauce on the Flash machine wasn’t working. The top flipper on Flash Gordon was getting stuck in the up position. Three games ate my tokens. They really need a good way to report problems to their technician (a text # to report issues would be great). I talked to the guy at the counter a few times to get tokens back but eventually I gave up. I’ll try again down the road. I’d love to play some of...