Date: October 2023 Location: 755 Prior Avenue North Suite #004, Saint Paul, MN 55104, USA INTRODUCTION Can Can Wonderland (CCW), the vision of co-founder Rob Clapp, was established in an old historic tin can factory within the Prior Works’ northernmost building. The Can Can Wonderland logo LOCATION CCW is located in the Hamline Midway neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. By keeping an eye out for the ‘monumentous’ smokestack, you can’t miss the location. The view of the location from the north The view from the south Maybe the keen among you spotted the secret front entrance in the view from the South? CCW’s ‘secret’ entrance Additionally, there is a third fairly indirect elevator entrance down a long hallway from the Yellow Lot. PARKING There is a small parking lot next to the building. These select parking spots fill up fast Stairs leading to parking across the street and one of those ‘sign spinners’ with helpful information But, there is free underground parking as well. Fairly steep inside parking ramp The ramp leads to basement parking. Just some of the free underground parking spots To avoid accidents stemming from their being only one ramp, underground parking is controlled by a light system based on the game you learned as a child. Red light/green light The colour-changing sign next to the basement entrance hints at the lively things to come. A hint of things to come Through the door and you’re into the main hallway with bathrooms and the entrance to CCW. The main hallway Once fully inside, this is the view: Pay your admission fee and get a wrist band the front desk Can Can Wonderland is a cashless venue with no tipping. Admission costs: $10.00 per person on Wednesday $13.00 per person Thursday through Sunday No cover for children 5 and under The artist-designed 18-hole mini golf costs: $13.00 for children under 12 $15.00 for anyone over 12 There is a military and seniors discount of 20%. Mini-golf info CCW’s schedule is as eclectic as their amusement area. Monday and Tuesday: Closed Wednesday and Thursday: 4pm until 10pm Friday and Saturday: 11am until 1am(21+ only Friday and Saturday after 9pm) Sunday: 11am until 7pm Hours of operation The depth and diversity of Can Can Wonderland’s entertainment makes it suitable for both young and old alike. In fact, it is part of their mission to whimsically bridge the generation gap by having something for everyone. Allowing grandparents to play alongside their grandchildren. This is their grand vision and enjoyable intent. Hard-working proof were the staff who kept circulating to ensure everything was squeaky clean for everyone. SWAG Can Can Wonderland is sooo fun and inclusive, you can make it a staycation. You can even have them host your own private event. And, don’t forget to buy your souvenir from the swag shop or on line. Swag from CCW and artists works, all for sale One interesting souvenir is this sticker designed by one of the employees, Ruben. Cute and cool sticker FOOD Tasty fare is available via a kiosk. A group ordering yummy, chef-made food There’s a more conventional printed menu available too which includes vegetarian options. Food available to order from the kiosk We tried the signature burger while we were there. The CCW Burger is one tasty burger DRINK Self-pouring taps with thirsty-six handles. Sorry, we meant to say thirty-six. Possibly the world’s funnest vending machine Here’s the menu of CCW themed drinks available from the full-service bar. CCW speciality drinks The full-service bar for those with a ‘21 and over’ wrist band SEATING Once you’ve gotten your food and/or drink, you can head over to the seating area. The seating area across from the bar There are many other places to set down your drink, you can take it with you. A shelf and seats next to an artist’s sculpture Many of CCW’s pinball machines had drink holders fitted, so you could take your beverage of choice with you while you played. Just two of the many pinball games bookending an arcade machine THE VENUE Can Can Wonderland takes up a large portion of the basement. This is because it is literally built around an eighteen hole miniature golf course. CCW is a whimsical and colourful place, usually packed with a ballyhoo of people. This wasn’t even one of their busier Sunday afternoons The inclusion of the creativity of local artists and community is very much the vision of the business model. The art is all around, in the golf course and on the walls. The art changes every four months – or so Artist and in-house technical staff work together to create installations such as murals and golf hole themes. ‘Hole 11’ is pictured above and below This hole offers the ‘Putt Stop’ a staffed mini-bar Here’s one of the staff-created amusement machines, called ‘Blow Ball’. This little one came to play This big fluff is CCW’s unofficial mascot, Don the Mastodon. OK, its name isn’t Don. We just decided to call it that. Nicknames have to start somewhere. Not “a Don”, just ‘Don’ The ‘golden throne’ makes up the last mini-golf hole. Whimsical and creative, hole 18 Game Room There is a hall leading to the arcade. Just a short stroll to even more fun Paid admission gets you free play on all entertainment machines. This, of course, includes the pinball games. Just press to free play any amusement machine The picture below shows just part of a room full of games. These are just some of the sit-downs PINBALL After that l-o-n-g introduction, it’s finally time for the part in which you pinballers might be most interested. All of the games played well, with just one pin turned off. There are even pinball-like games. A group of three games with long playfields There are sooo many pinball machines, some are grouped by theme. Fun at just one of the pinball theme spots Here’s another group of pins. A half-circle consisting of eleven EMs There were a half-dozen more modern digital pinballs. Just one of six electronic pins grouped together For pinball machines alone, there were just too many to fully cover in one article. Please click the thumbnails below to view all the pinball machines CCW had to offer during our visit. Electromechanicals: Dodge City & Argosy Funland, Zig Zag & Spin Out Flip a Card, King of Diamonds, Spin-a-Card & Top Card Liberty Bell & Rollercoaster Super Spin , Old Chicago & Pioneer Pioneer Super Spin Old Chicago Rollercoaster Liberty Bell Liberty Bell’s bell Plunge to ring the bell Argosy Dodge City Funland Half the semi-circle of EMs The other half Electronics: Wipe Out Super Nova Elektra Evel Knievel The Six Million Dollar Man Party Animal Close Encounters of the Third Kind Alien Poker JUST TOO MUCH CCW offers much, much more than ‘can’ be covered in this article. The Smash Room – just one of the many, many fun things to do at CCW To find out more, Pinball News spoke to Can Can Wonderland’s Jeannie Kenevan, who is their Director of Marketing & Special Projects. Who started Can Can Wonderland? The four founders are Rob Clapp, Chris Pennington, Jennifer Pennigton and Christi Atikinson. Rob is the sole owner of Can Can Wonderland now, seven years later. How would you describe the business? Can Can Wonderland is within an old tin can factory, hence the name Can Can Wonderland. In its heyday, the building had been the largest can manufacturing site in the country. After it closed and sat dormant for years, the concept of Can Can Wonderland started to take shape as a large venue filled with an epic 18-hole indoor mini golf course designed by teams of artists. The mini golf course is surrounded by a retro arcade of 125+ machines rescued, collected, and repaired, plus some of our own one-of-a-kind games made with spare parts from machines and the factory. Is the range of attractions fixed, or are there rotations of the games? There are some games that are mainstays and others that rotate through. If a machine goes on the blink, we pull it off the floor into the workshop for repair and bring out another machine to put in its place. Sometimes we do special groupings and features depending on time of year and other factors. How are down or troublesome games reported? If reported by a customer, we first send a staff member to verify that it’s not a matter of operator error or a power source issue. If we cannot roll it off the floor into the workshop immediately due to public foot-traffic surrounding it, then we flag it with a note that it is temporarily resting or out of order, and as soon as we can swap it out we do. We have a large workshop where five electromechanical specialists work on the machines throughout the week and weekends. Why choose ‘retro’ electromechanical arcade machines as opposed to more modern versions? Part of our mission is to repair, reuse, and restore. We are the anchor of a revitalization project within an era-specific building brought back to life for utilitarian purposes. People have their own access to what’s current and new. We provide access to what’s retro and rare. It also spans the generations nicely to focus on the games that are a walk down memory lane for those who grew up with them, and for the kids of today there is a novelty in that they don’t play at home on their modern gaming devices. Tell us about one of your electro mechanical specialists, ‘Jonny Pinball’. 8-year-old Jonny was walking along the alley with his grandpa, “Pops,” as he called him. They saw a pinball machine kicked to the curb. Pops said, “Jonny, you’ve gotta learn how to fix stuff. People are throwing valuable things away because they don’t know how to repair them.” Jonny was willing to learn. Pops showed him how to replace broken bulbs, worn-out gaskets, buttons, wires, levers, & springs. By the 4th grade Jonny was doing maintenance at the local bowling alley after school in trade for free-play in the arcade. He fell in love with the game of pinball. He now gets calls from all over the world and has rescued thousands of arcade machines from our disposable culture and restored them to continue bringing people joy. Your self-serve beer wall seems like an innovative concept. How does that work from a customer perspective? Customers go to the Tap Wall Attendant counter to obtain a plastic tapwall card by opening a tab with their credit card. The customer then walks up to any of the 36 taps. The beauty of the tapwall is that guests get the chance to try as little or as much of any of the tap selection as they would like! They use the digital touch-screen above the tap faucets to choose how many ounces. If they’re just trying it they can choose to pour just a small sample size. Of note, it’s not just beer on the tapwall, there are ciders and seltzers too! Do you have any reciprocity with your neighboring businesses? We compliment each other well. A lot of guests come to play mini golf, pinball, and other arcade games at Can Can and then go down the hall to do the Puzzleworks escape rooms or the FlannelJax axe-throwing or upstairs to BlackStack Brewing or Fly Freak Studios.. We have had performers from Collide Theatrical Dance and Fly Freak Studios perform at Can Can, and we’ve had staff from the other business come to order food, etc. We order coffee from True Stone Coffee Roastery, J’s Kombucha and The Donut Trap have vending machines along the way into Can Can Wonderland, and we do work with several of the independent artists within the building. Tell us about your community involvement. Can Can Wonderland is the first arts-based public benefit corporation in Minnesota. We are an economic engine for the arts. We give money back to local artists and art-based organizations. We also donate to a lot of charitable organizations in the form of prizes, events, etc., and we participate in a number of off-site events within the local community. Besides the many pinball games, is there anything you believe makes Can Can Wonderland stand out among other entertainment choices? The mini golf, for sure. The built-in programming and entertainment. The arty, retro, quirky décor. A truly one-of-a-kind place with one-of-a-kind attractions within. Can Can Wonderland is a place where guests can discover and experience games and amusements that exist nowhere else. For example, The World Famous Golf Ball Bazookas, or Caraoke (karaoke within a retro car – a 1976 AMC Pacer), or The Smash Room where people 18+ can throw breakable objects down a walled-in lane ending with gears and other old factory parts., The Band-o-lier, where you can make musical instruments hanging from the ceiling play unique songs, or Hee Haw – a throw-the-ball-at-a-target game that makes mechanical donkeys react when you hit the target hard enough. And there’s more still being conceptualized by the Can Can Dream Team to be built by the Can Can Fabrication Team. Oh, there’s just one last thing. There is a standing invitation to Bill Murray to come play mini-golf. “So I got that going for me, which is nice”
