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AMERICAN POOL |
| Location: 9 Man Tai Street, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China. While pinball machines in arcades are not uncommon in many countries, they have yet to make much of an impact in the world's most populous nation. However, Pinball News reader John found one place where you can get to play the silver ball. Here's his report. The amusement arcade American Pool ("美國寶" in Chinese) is located at 9 Man Tai Street in Hung Hom of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China.
It has 4 pinballs, which are Tron LE, Transformers, Batman and The Rolling Stones. Each pinball costs HKD3 (about US$0.40) per 3-ball game.
It is the only site in Hong Kong which has pinballs and is open to general public. This arcade is operated by a pinball distributor and therefore all pinballs are always kept in good working condition.
In addition to pinballs, it also has many popular video games. It is definitely a good fun place for both adults and children. The next day after coming back to Hong Kong from the Japan Game Museum, I visited the American Pool arcade again. I found that the my favourite pinball - Tron LE - had disappeared and been replaced by another one - AC/DC Pro. The updated line-up was; AC/DC Pro, Transformers Pro, Batman and The Rolling Stones Pro.
After some substantial efforts, I successfully got the two grand champion records on Transformers and The Rolling Stones. My flipper skills were probably upgraded significantly after the three-day boot camp at the Japan Game Museum!
In addition, American Pool had also imported new models of video games from Japan.
This could be why it is always full of young people there. Here's some additional information:
I visited American Pool again on 2nd March 2013 and found that The Rolling Stones Pro had been replaced by a new game - The Avengers Pro. I was very excited indeed.
The updated line-up was; AC/DC Pro, Transformers Pro, The Avengers Pro and Batman.
It seems that Batman is the longest-lasting one so far, having been there since 2008. As I know, the Avengers Pro pin was only released in November 2012, and yet it was possible for it to be delivered to Hong Kong the following month. Is this because the demand for pinball really is recovering? I played the Avengers Pro pin for more than four hours until my lovely wife called me to come home. My thoughts about the Avengers Pro pin is good, and I love it very much. My highest score was only around 80M points and so I need to start studying the game's rules soon.
According to a staff member at American Pool, a Hong Kong company has ordered a Avengers Premium and placed in its office as free entertainment for its staff. I'm quite jealous about it (^_*) ! This time, I had a foot and body massage in the Lucky Foot Massage Centre (足如飛) during a break from playing pinball.
This shop is nicely decorated with a high quality of service, so I highly recommend it to all of you. It is located at 1/F, 32 Wuhu Street, Hung Hom.
© Pinball News 2013 |
