Eric S.
Yelp
WAITING, ON "PINS" & NEEDLES
Following the conclusion of the Black Friday Ball in nearby Marionette Park, I decided to stop by the nearest business where I could get my pinball fix. RIPH popped up on the Pinside database as having 6+ pinball tables, so the choice was easy.
I walked in and saw that they were hosting a holiday event for charity, which was nice. They were doing a toys for tots donation, though the bouncer was cool when I came in empty handed. I made my way over to the bar and waited for a beer. And waited. And......waited.
And waited some more. A solid quarter hour passed before one of the bartenders finally took care of me; the 15 minutes was even rougher since I was parched and my earlier buzz was wearing off (oh the horror of sobriety!) The Bret Michaels look-alike barkeep tapped an Allagash White Ale for me at the standard price of $6.
As I made my way over to their rather impressive lineup of pins, I noticed one thing right away: none of them had cupholders! Any barcade worth its salt should know better than this, because the alternative is either
A) setting your drink glass on the ground, underneath the table, or
B) setting it behind you/off to the side/out of arm's reach on some random ledge. Unsanitary not to mention unsafe.
Tables were for the most part in okay condition: Elvira and the Party Monsters, South Park, (a gorgeous) Pirates of the Caribbean, Playboy, Jurassic Park, and Mata Hari, an older machine. Most were 50¢, the newest model (Kiss) was $1.00. Replays were set very high, which surprised but didn't deter me. Gameplay was pretty good overall for the tables I played.
Rock Island Public House is a decently cool place, but much to my dismay I was told that they don't have an on-premises kitchen. The lack of drink holders for their seven pinball tables is kinda jank (considering that having holders bolted on is the norm nowadays), it took forever just to order a beer, and the clientele was almost entirely townies.
All that said, I was on the fence about 3* or 4*. But the bottom of the receipt printout had an amusing note that made me chuckle juuuuust enough. It said: "oh sh*t, the holidays are coming!!" Funny stuff, so I'll give RIPH the benefit of the doubt.
If the bar/food situation was better, I'd return. Unfortunately, Blue Island is way too damn far for me to come back to just for pinball and a beer that may or may not take an interminably long time to procure.