Australia's got most of Iceland's pins

[Pavlov Pinball]

Did you know that there are only 60 pinball machines in Iceland, because ten years ago someone shoved the other 150 odd pins that were in the country into containers and sent them to Australia?

I talked to Iceland's only pinball repairman who is singlehandedly battling to keep the ones that are left working, and he said that among the machines that emigrated down under back then was Iceland's only Theatre of Magic, which he never got a chance to play. So if you've got a ToM that smells of sulphur and volcanic ash he'd probably like to hear from you.

You can read about pinball in the land of fire and ice at http://pavlovpinball.com/?p=879

[Strangeways]

The games were part of a bulk deal that included some Arcade machines. They were put on eBay and from memory purchased by Bike City Warehouse here in Melbourne.

I remember the eBay pictures of the storage room with an IJ covered in dust.

[Freiherr]

Not many left then in Iceland. Better look after the ones you have and keep them warm and away from moisture. How did TAF legs cope after the filming?

[pinball god]

Wow only one repair guy, here's my opportunity for employment. Just think, repair one or two games a month if lucky, and pull in maybe $300.00. That buys lots of whale meat. Fried whale and eggs for brecky sliced whale meat sandwiches and a whale steak for dinner. What a life  

Might even get a chance to meet a nice Icelandic babushka to boot. That's a double  

Then there's the lifestyle, ice fishing, taking your pet seal for a walk at nights that last 23 hours sometimes, and in summer ice skating in shorts and being awake for 23 hours a day. Lots of leisure time for pinballing.

I can see the travel brochure in my head.

[Marty Machine]

Good luck learning the language, iclandic is the hardest dialect to learn on Earth.

[pinsanity]

Good luck learning the language, iclandic is the hardest dialect to learn on Earth.

Or spell. Zing! 

They left one behind.

[Marty Machine]

Good luck learning the language, iclandic is the hardest dialect to learn on Earth.

Or spell. Zing! 

They left one behind.

Tilt, Tilt, Tilt !

[Pavlov Pinball]

Not many left then in Iceland. Better look after the ones you have and keep them warm and away from moisture. How did TAF legs cope after the filming?

I wasn't there when that photo was taken but I did ask Throstur about that and he said that it was a fresh water pond and the machine was only in the water for a few minutes so guess they survived...

[Strangeways]

Good luck learning the language, iclandic is the hardest dialect to learn on Earth.

Or spell. Zing! 

They left one behind.

Oh the humanity 

[pinsanity]

Good luck learning the language, iclandic is the hardest dialect to learn on Earth.

Or spell. Zing!  

They left one behind.

Oh the humanity  

I should come clean on that one. That photo was actually taken in Ireland, not Iceland. The local pub has gone broke (yes a pub in Ireland can go broke!) and the owners as you can see had quite literally thrown everything out the back door and closed up shop which was scheduled for demolition.


A local pinhead spotted it, took it home and cleaned it up. Most of the valuable parts had been stripped and the gold token dispensers had been emptied out (real gold doubloons? ).

But he did get it up and running.