I had some time to kill at Port Authority the other night. Instead of hanging out in the men's room staring at people (the main hobby for Port Authority denziens), I went to FRAMES -- the completely insane (and inane) bowling alley/bistro/dancehall/lounge near the gates to get to Pompton Lakes.
(The above paragraph is further proof that North Jersey rules. Even though PA is in NYC, I count it as North Jersey.)
Anyways, they also have a pretty crummy arcade at Frames. They had the NO FEAR pinball machine there.
A few things:
1) You can't just simply put in quarters or a single and play. At Frames, you have to put in money in some vending machine which gives you a card to play, ala Dave & Buster's. This is fine but the last thing I need is proof I hung out at Frames, since I always forget to leave those things out.
2) The card reader on the machine was not of the highest quality. It takes about 900 swipes before you can actually play the dumb machine.
3) NO FEAR is really, really, really dumb. The game says things seemingly at random like "Jason Winters, X-Treme Water Skiing." Also, the game play itself makes no sense. I wasn't playing particularly well but I kept getting multi-balls. I don't mind getting multi-ball but it didn't feel earned.
4) Also, I hate the machines where you hit a button to start. I guess it's easier for maintenance then the pull-back lever. But I always like a game where a good shot with the pull-back lever can get you some kind of bonus. NO FEAR naturally had the button.
I didn't see any other tables at FRAMES.
It's such a personal dilemna! I never really hang out in the city after work (I'd much rather hang out in Montclair or Caldwell or Ridgewood -- better restaurants). But on the rare occassion that I do, I almost always JUST miss the bus which means I'll have about an hour to kill. Sadly, I believe this will lead me to play more NO FEAR.
