Unfortunately, Facebook (or the “artificial stupidity” in charge) has decided to mark the post to the Facebook page for the July 2 recap as spam, hiding it from everyone except the page owner (me). I can’t guarantee this won’t happen again in the future; I have far more confidence that Automattic will not arbitrarily censor announcements of new posts that come directly from the site. The email subscription form is in the upper right corner of the home page at the very top.

As evidenced by my post history on Rant Roulette, I consider censorship to be quite odious and have opposed it in many instances. This one is no different.

Edit 2024-07-14: The repost also got removed as spam. I’m at a complete loss as to what is tripping the artificial stupidity to call it spam. Apparently it’s perfectly okay to post diet pill/gummies ads, seedy online casino ads, and whatever else, and tag 99 people (the limit) for maximum annoyance. But $deity forbid a pinball wizard from Houston post a couple of arcade visit recaps, that’s a mortal sin in Facebook’s world. </sarcasm>

The story continues on the Tuesday evening of July 2. I made two pinball-related stops this evening, an earlier stop at Eureka Heights again, and then a later one at Little Dipper for the planned weekly tournament. Of note was my 2.93M+ on Pulp Fiction and 54.6M+ on Star Trek (Stern), the rest I can take or leave.

These are just kind of scattered around and random.

On Thursday, June 27: The Simpsons Pinball Party and a (Stern) Kiss (the latter not played/pictured) were spotted at Go Kart Raceway on West Mount Houston/Texas 249 near T.C. Jester Boulevard. This location had been on Pinball Map in the past. I’m not sure if they just didn’t have pinball for a while or if someone removed old games without adding the new ones that replaced them. Either way, it’s good to see they have at least a couple of pinball machines once more.

On Saturday, June 29: Little Dipper gets Pulp Fiction, and I get to play Star Trek for the first time there since it was brought in a couple of days prior.

On Sunday, June 30: I check out Okashi, an “all you can play buffet” style of arcade (a la Cidercade) featuring Japanese  video games (either exports or US versions of fighting games like Tekken 7). The score picture of their DDR game (I think the version is called A20 Plus?) is the only score picture I was able to get, most of the others I didn’t bother taking. I spent most of my time playing Initial D which doesn’t really lend itself well to score photos. Incidentally this is my first time trying to play DDR in well over a decade. None of the songs I knew well from prior versions of DDR were in this version (My Summer Love, Only You, and Upside Down just to name a few).

June 11, Little Dipper and Del Mar Lanes:

One of my better runs on Indy 500, a decent run on Stars, followed by a pretty solid run on Godzilla over at Del Mar. Not bad for an evening, I say.

June 16 Einstein’s Katy:

(On Stars I was player 2, 199k+)

Some of these are ho-hum but some are surprisingly decent, such as the score on John Wick, one of the first few times I’ve played the game. There may have been higher scores but for some reason some of the pictures didn’t take properly.

June 25, Little Dipper:

(I was player 1 on both Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean.)

Most of these weren’t too bad, though my performance on POTC was handicapped by a couple of dumb shots that ended in drains.

June 26, Eureka Heights Brewery:

I came here mainly to play Pulp Fiction as this game is not available on location anywhere else in the Houston area that I can access to the best of my knowledge. I played The Munsters because it had ¾ of a credit (75¢ of $1) on it, Rush because it had 2 whole credits left behind, and Toy Story 4 as I wanted to play one that I felt had a reasonable chance of being properly maintained. (Cidercade is an “all-you-can-play buffet” location and while they do their best, they often get behind; Einstein’s Richmond does have the game but I rarely make it out there.)

The above 1.96M+ score represents the best effort out of 10 games, 5 of those at $1.50 apiece (coins), then 5 more for $5 ($1 apiece) via the card reader. The newer games are $1.50/play and the slightly older games are $1.00/play, with discounts for multiple games purchased with credit/debit card.

Most of this will be photos without commentary as I am once again running behind on updates.

May 14 Little Dipper:

This, unfortunately, will be the last appearance of Terminator 2, as shortly after it developed an issue rendering it unplayable, and it was replaced with Indianapolis 500 by the operator.

May 19 Einstein’s Katy:

May 28 8th Wonder Brewing and Little Dipper:

June 4 Little Dipper:

Not bad for my first few games on Indy 500 in a long time.

June 6 Cellar Bar:

(TL;DR: Rusty Key made an unwarranted attack against my good name and in light of the lack of retraction and apology, I am asking for a boycott of his businesses including but by no means limited to The Game Preserve.)

My apologies if this seems long but I feel like it needs to be said. While a lot of this occurred last (2023) August, making it a few months old by now, I have never received an apology for what has been directed at me.

Anyway, back in 2023 August, the Space City Pinball League was gifted a pinball machine by the family of Tyler Hunter who had, at that time, just recently passed away from an illness. The idea was that those in charge of Space City Pinball would find a new home for the game and raise money for the family.

So far, so good. This is great and I have no objection to either of these in principle. There are a number of ways to accomplish the goals of both finding a new home for a pinball machine and raising funds, while remaining within the boundaries of state law.

One way would be a silent auction. While Texas does require an auctioneer’s license for live auctions, there is no such requirement for silent auctions, sealed bid sales, and the like. Individuals and for-profit corporations have free reign to run a silent auction. There is no requirement to be a non-profit or charity for silent auctions.

A second way would be to give the machine away as a prize in a fundraiser pinball tournament. Price entries at, say, $20 each (maybe even offer 3 for $50, etc) and do something like the qualifying at TPF or PAPA, with the final 4 players playing in perhaps the highest-stakes group matchplay playoff in greater Houston pinball history. A bona fide contest of skill if there ever was one, so completely legal.

A third way would be to involve a qualified organization (QO) under the Charitable Raffle Enabling Act (Texas Occupations Code § 2002.003) and run a raffle. This would require re-gifting the machine to that QO with the understanding that QO would award the raffle proceeds as a grant to the family (presumably, pursuant to its mission).

So given these choices, what did Space City Pinball choose to do?

Apparently, they chose to cut corners. Space City Pinball held a so-called “raffle” without the QO. Unfortunately, no QO means no legal raffle, and instead it’s an illegal lottery, which is a big problem. Everyone involved in selling tickets committed a class A misdemeanor (Texas Penal Code §47.03, Gambling Promotion). Anyone who allowed tickets to be sold on premises likely committed a class A misdemeanor (Texas Penal Code §47.04, Keeping A Gambling Place). Finally, anyone who bought tickets likely committed a class C misdemeanor (Texas Penal Code §47.02, Gambling).

Flaunting the law like this is completely unfair to the organizations that go out of their way to comply with the law and hold legal raffles. This is also a slap in the face to those who go out of the way to act as ambassadors of pinball and reassure new players that it’s a game for law-abiding citizens. It devalues moments like Roger Sharpe’s plunger skill shot for the ages in a Manhattan City Council meeting. It’s a big “**** you” to those who care about morals, ethics, citizenship, and decency.

Rusty Key took the side of Space City Pinball, both when he allowed tickets to be sold at The Game Preserve and when he attacked my good name without justification. Presumably, he’s the one that spread a rumor that I objected to raising money for the Hunter family–a gross misrepresentation of the facts and circumstances.

What I did do was ask who the QO was for the raffle. I wanted to confirm this before I bought a ticket. I also felt was a legitimate question everyone should be willing to ask, especially when the answer means the difference between a legal fundraising raffle and an illegal lottery. The former of these, we as a community should be proud to support; the latter, we should reject.

No QO means it’s an illegal lottery. The only winning move when it comes to illegal lotteries is not to play.

I asked for an apology and retraction from Mr. Key. So far my response has been radio silence.

I have no issue with people doing good things and having fun within the boundaries of applicable laws, reasonable moral and ethical standards, and a careful regard for the reputation of the classic arcade and pinball communities as well as the reputation of competitive/tournament pinball scene. This is completely the opposite of what Mr. Key said.

I have boundaries and I have standards. Mr. Key has violated both. This is unacceptable. I have not visited The Game Preserve since this has happened nor have I done business with either of his other two companies, Key Arcades or Adaptive Game Products. And until I get my apology and retraction, that’s the way it’s going to stay. I’m calling for a boycott of all three companies.

I realize Mr. Key is only a part owner of The Game Preserve. However, there’s no way around him getting a cut of the $15 per visit I would pay to play there. It is unfortunate that this also negatively affects the other owners for the moment. I have nothing against them, but it is what it is. Should Mr. Key sell or be bought out of his share of The Game Preserve, I’m willing to end that portion of the boycott (to be announced here). And while I hope this doesn’t happen anytime soon, should Mr. Key expire, the boycott will expire too.

(Just so we are clear: The boycott of Adaptive Game Products does not mean I am against people with physical issues being able to enjoy pinball. There is at least one other company making a similar alternative product, Inclusive Gamewerks, which I highly recommend.)

I didn’t really want to do this but the alternative was to let a violation of my boundaries and standards and an attack on my good name go unchallenged. I can’t do that. Not anymore.