Some things belong together
Peanut Butter & Jelly. Draught Beer & Pizza. Wine & Cheese. Some things are meant to go together.
Rock and Roll & Pinball belongs on this list. Some clever Pinballers in Opelika have made the perfect case in support of this.
Check out Rock ‘N Roll Pinball the next time you are in the Opelika, Alabama region.
There’s something idyllic about being able to text your friend group “Hey, want to meet up for drinks?” and that is all that necessary. They already know the place, they already know the time.
”..where everybody knows your name..”
The How I Met Your Mother crew had McLaren’s Pub. (McGee’s IRL) The Friends crew had Central Perk. The Cheers folks had… well, Cheers of course.
I’m constantly searching for my “Cheers”. Alas, living in a rural suburbia nightmare hell-scape of poorly engineered traffic flow (Mobile, AL area), I always come up empty-handed.
“..and they’re always glad you came..”
Like a Collection
Rock ‘N Roll Pinball is more like visiting someone’s private collection than visiting a bar. Though, they do have a thought out selection of drinks to choose from as well. It creates a nice family-friendly vibe without being too stuffy. (more on that below)
Say what you will about Nic Cage’s acting career. He makes me actually feel a little sorry for this car salesman. That’s something.
But what kind of collection?
I’m fortunate to have gotten to visit a bunch of Pinball and Arcade collections. They typically range anywhere from
“Come check out my pinball shed”
- (which is pretty close to my gameroom vibe)
to
”Be sure to wash your hands and wipe your feet before you enter the pinball wing of my mansion.”
On the Roger scale (see video) Rock ‘N Roll Pinball falls into the connoisseur side of the scale.
When you have a place with The Beatles, Deadpool, Tommy, The Incredible Hulk & Grand Prix under the same roof, you can just tell: “Yeah, these people actually play pinball here.” The selection of games feature a great variety of era, design & gameplay type. The type of insights you really can’t gather by buying games out of the Pinside Top 100 which always skews towards recently new-in-box titles.
No Quarters Needed
My good friends know that I keep a pill-bottle full of quarters in my 4Runner just for classic arcade and pinball discoveries in the wild. But I’m a weirdo.
The guys at Rock ‘N Roll Pinball have removed the pain of quarters through a simple and very reasonably priced wrist-band. Options available for hourly play or all-day.
Why wouldn’t you do all day? I mean. Do All Day. Right now. Go. Play.
Why are you still reading? :)
Game selection aside, the games are well maintained. From every game I played, the switches and lights worked, you could progress through modes and each table was balanced, despite historic-era flooring beneath the leg levelers.
They really sweat the small stuff.
Keeping 30 games across 4 decades under one roof in playable condition is no small feat. Seriously - bravo guys!
Ran by Pinball People; for Love of Pinball
It has been pretty common to see barcades and pinball spots pop up from people that are in it from an outside perspective or who make a half-hearted go of it. Locally, we had an out of state attorney who, in his retirement, opened a Barcade downtown for about a year. His heart wasn’t into it and you could sort of feel that vibe based on the game selection and quality.
The thing that strikes me about Rock N’ Roll pinball is you can tell they are in this for the love of pinball and you can feel that in the bones of the place. From awesome decor and creative lighting, to great game selections and machine quality - this place really impressed me.
I tell you with no reservation, if I lived closer Rock N’ Roll pinball would absolutely be my weekly hangout spot.
One of Rock ‘N Roll Pinball’s co-owners and fellow acolyte of the silver ball showed Nathan and I around and was just super gracious with his time. Pinball people are the best people and Ernie really exemplifies what keeps me in this hobby. In an after-hours hang session Ernie took us to school on Beatles and we had a killer time!
Rock ‘N Roll
Balancing live performances, loud music with a room full of Pinball machines can be a real challenge. The people that want to play pinball want to hear the games (and the music, usually); the people that are in it for the band, might just want to hear the band.
Put yourself in the band’s shoes, would you want to play a gig on a casino floor over all of the electronic sounds and bells?
These guys have an answer for this two. Enter, The Jail House.
Through the back door of the pinball room there is an extremely cool courtyard and a second building. The Jail House has a cozy bar, extra seating, awesome murals and a nice performance stage. While we were there, they were using the space for Trivia night but I could see this being an awesome place for live performances!
Smiling Faces Enjoying Pinball!
I left my camera on one of the tables while we played. A cute family started playing with it, taking pictures, passing the camera around.
It is pretty awesome to see families playing pinball together! Look at those smiles :) Legit.
A Bar, without feeling like one
I can appreciate a drink menu with a sense of humor. The beer cocktails are clever and tasty. Given Alabama’s tiered liquor license extortion scheme, this is a great way to get mileage out of a beer and wine license.
The Millennial menu is worth a laugh but also has some great choices.
They also have light snacks and the surrounding area has several eateries within walking distance. This part of downtown historic Opelika is very cool.
