Manitoba Pinball League tilts classic game into popularity

December 23, 2024 Canuck

In less than 15 years, David Morris has surrounded the inside of his home with a collection of 22 pinball machines, all varying in age.

“It’s very special to me, as this is what I do when I need to unwind and just come down and relax after a long day’s work,” said Morris, founder of the Manitoba Pinball League.

A 52-year-old machine titled Spanish Eyes lights up the basement with a rainbow of colours and a vintage 1970s charm. It’s one of the oldest machines in his collection.

Morris has restored these mechanical marvels from across the country since 2010. What started as receiving a 1972 Bally Time Zone machine as a housewarming gift from his dad quickly turned into building his basement into a pinball palace.

“What’s interesting to me is I enjoy fixing them almost as much as I enjoy playing them,” Morris said.

“I didn’t even know that my dad was into pinball. He had never talked to me about that growing up. We set it up and it kind of brought back memories for him, and we ended up playing it all night long. Next thing you know, he’s collecting games too.”

Morris started the Manitoba Pinball League to draw players in 2017. A dozen or so of his pinball pals began playing monthly tournaments across the province.

“We mostly began playing out of Half Pints Brewing Company at that time,” Morris said.

“They had four machines at the time, and we slowly grew out of that facility, but we still go there from time to time in play. We started with 10 to 12 people coming to a point now where we’re 25 to 40 coming to each and every event.”

Popularity has caught on, and the Manitoba Pinball League now features open, casual, and women’s league formats. Morris will also welcome people to his home for a special event he looks forward to every year.

“We just had the 13th annual Pinhead Cup here early in November,” Morris said.

“November 8, 9, and 10, we had 43 different people come out for that tournament. It was an amazing event.”

This year, 43 people took part in the 13th annual Pinhead Cup hosted at David Morris’ house in early November. Here are several pinball players in action during the event on Saturday Nov. 9, 2024. (Supplied Photo: David Morris)

What started as a labour of love turned into a business at The Forks. Phantom Amusement, which started as a pop-up arcade in 2018, garnered enough interest to become a full-time space.

Mark Jaslowski, owner of the arcade, partnered with Morris to realize his own dream.

‘You know, when you’re 14 years old, you know the best job in the world. I’d love to own an arcade’

I’d come down every Saturday, take the bus downtown and play pinball at all the arcades and it was amazing here,” Jaslowski said.

“You know, when you’re 14 years old, you know the best job in the world. I’d love to own an arcade.”

Walking inside the space, more than a dozen pinball machines are lined up in a row surrounded by several arcade games.

Jaslowski remembers a time when there were no shortages of arcades in sight. He would travel between Winnipeg locales like Long John Silver’s, Circus Circus, Solar News, and Mother’s Records, which was also home to an arcade.

After working for Manitoba Hydro for 35 years, Jaslowski retired and has since dedicated much of his time to expanding Phantom Amusement. Welcoming more guests and adding more arcade and pinball machines with Morris’ assistance has been a thrill.

“When we did our pop-up, we were only utilizing half the space; The Forks was using the other half as storage,” Jaslowski said.

“We needed more space. They were nice enough to let us grow into this space. We did renovations to put carpet down. We’re still doing a little touch ups painting. It never ends. There’s always work to be done. The energy at The Forks is amazing.”

Mark Jaslowski, owner of Phantom Amusement at The Forks originally started the arcade as a popup space in 2018. Six years later, the business has its regular share of players including hosting events for the Manitoba Pinball League. Here he is seen playing on the Pulp Fiction pinball machine on Wednesday Nov. 27, 2024. (Joseph Bernacki/CTV News Winnipeg)

While Morris enjoys the competitive nature of the league, he is encouraged to see the growth of the pinball community over the last several years, both at events and in local interest piqued by their business at The Forks.

“It’s the people. I just love coming and seeing the people every week, catching up on conversations, keeping in touch with them, and just having those relationships that are built from the community,” Morris said.

“It’s really become a close-knit community, and it’s a lot of fun.”

Phantom Amusement is not the only game in town waiting to gobble up coins like arcades once did for generations.

In the second of a two-part series, CTV News looks at a new business taking arcades to the next level.

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