Date: November 2023 New Location: 2021 Hennepin Ave S., Minneapolis, MN 55405, USA INTRODUCTION LITT is the vision and fluid growth of the former TILT Pinball Bar by co-owner John Galvin. The official announcement of their move was made publicly via LITT’s preferred means of communication, Facebook, but they also have their own website. LITT’s announcement on Facebook LITT on the web LOCATION With just a one day delay, as of Thursday, October 12th at 11am, LITT officially opened at their new location in the historic Lyles Liquor Lounge building. Liquor Lyle’s was a beloved Minneapolis dive bar for almost a half-century. The new owner wanted LITT to be a part of and for the neighborhood – and more. As for being part of the neighborhood, with a sense of humility, John told Pinball News he was glad the old building was brought back to life. The very next day after the grand re-opening, Pinball News paid LITT a visit to update their old article and, well… to play pinball, of course! The new location OPENING HOURS • Monday-Friday: 2pm-2am • Saturday & Sunday: 11am-2am (21 and over after 9pm) PARKING There is a small amount of city street parking in front of the building, and a very small parking lot in the back. More street parking is available in the nearby neighborhood just behind the building. This is the first of several big improvements of growth from their old location. Street parking in front of the new location The parking lot at the back Neighborhood parking VENUE We shook off the rain and first Autum cold as we walked into LITT Pinball Bar. A point of distinction, LITT is not a bar-cade. It is a pinball bar. When first inside the partially enclosed entryway we noticed an actual pinball mural and a custom welcome mat. One of the staff created mural… …and the welcome mat The interior was much more spacious than the old location’s players’ area. The immediate atmospheric was of two veins; up front was the large full service bar while the rest of the place was filled with pinball machines. These are two parts of the three part businesses, with the third being the full-service kitchen. The view from the entrance showing homage to the original bench seats, updated from Lyle red to LITT orange According to co-owner John, the three parts are his fluid business practice, with each component relying, in part, on the other two. He explained, “The bar wouldn’t be the same without pinball and the kitchen.” More on the pinball side. Though John earned a degree in General Business Management he stated, “I have that (mechanical) bug in me.” And he has the skill and personality to, “…figure out how things work and how they don’t work.” With the help of his skilled staff, John is the linchpin keeping all three parts together. FOOD All orders are placed at the bar. You can start a tab and have your food and beverage brought to your table or enjoy it while you play. Order at the bar You can sit and eat at the table or… …while you play LITT has grown from a place known to serve dogs-n-beer, to a place with full service bar and kitchen choices. Full drinks and food menus The usual bar fare plus specialty items were available. Paying homage to the original hot dog service and in keeping with the theme of the place, they have the ‘Both Flippers’ hot dog. ‘Both Flippers’ hot dog Last time we ordered one of the hot dogs for which the old TILT location was popular. With the extended bar and kitchen menus, this time we skipped the signature hot dogs and had a burger-n-beer. The burger smelled (and tasted) too good, had’a take a bite before taking a picture DRINKS LITT has a full-service bar. The draft menu LITT features a unique draft bar. More than just beer available at the bar’s bar Specialty drinks are available as well. Notice the ‘Skill Shot’ SEATING Seating is mainly available in the bar area. At and near bar seating In the back, the old bar top was up-scaled into three new tables. The old bar top is now three tables Pictured below, one of the little details that lets you know you are at a true pinball bar. LITT PINBALL BAR branding CHANGE MACHINES All pinball machines are quarter play. With the exception of the single EM at $0.25 per play, most prices ranged from $0.50 per play (for older games) to $1.00 per play (for newest games). Various game pricing plus Stern’s Inside Connected pricing card Although there are two change machines, you can also ask for quarters at the bar or while settling your bill. Change and ATM machines TOUR Collaged below are pictures of the ol’ once around. Player 1 or Player 2? From the bar and back again Pictured below, the main pinball area directly opposite the bar room. Three sides leading to the main entrance The fourth side near the back of the bar There was even an additional back room full of pinball machines. A four-bank of modern machines Many of the newest games are along the long back wall. Ten of the latest releases PINBALL LITT now operate their own pinball machines with many updates like ColourDMDs, alternative backglass artwork and complete playfield LED kits. Two-and-a-half technicians keep the games running. One such pin-tec is the owner, John. He is pictured below attending to a coin chute issue. This is expected with sticky food hands gumming up the works. The owner servicing a coin chute During or first time at LITT we found every single one of the pinball tables looked as the food tables – literally clean enough to eat off of. Accounting for their age, all working games played well. Two games were quickly and skillfully serviced. Only one game was out of commission and turned off. When service can’t be completed quickly and safely, the game is temporarily put Out of Order (OoO). An old OoO tag from the TILT days Downed or even troublesome games can also be reported online. Online game-issue form The staff at LITT are all well in tune with the three-phase vibe of LITT. A stuck ball can easily be remedied by asking any of the staff for help. By way of example, a stuck ball was reported by Pinball News to one of the bartenders. She kiddingly teased, “That’s a good place to get a ball stuck”, then immediately and happily removed the glass from the game and properly placed the ball into the shooter lane. She then quickly and skillfully reassembled the game, turned and gave a smile which let us know the game was back ready to play. This instant service and skill to correct are something we would never expected from bartenders elsewhere. Stuck ball Though not always entirely current, LITT takes the time to update their line-up of games online. The impressive line-up LITT rightfully boasts of having just shy of four dozen pinball machines on location plus about another dozen in-waiting. The current line-up (at the time of writing) The current line-up The current line-up The current line-up The current line-up The current line-up The current line-up The current line-up The current line-up More games in the main area There are more games in the back seating area. A six-bank of older machines Pictured below are some of the newest games along the long back wall. Some of the newer games These games have overhead cameras to show the action on screens above INTERVIEW When the owner, John Galvin, had finished servicing a game (pictured earlier) we sat down with him for an interview. Pinball News: Our big question is for you to explain the name and location changes. Would you start with that, please.John Galvin: The name change was necessary for legal reasons. Pretty cut and dry. The location change was something we had been planning for, in some way, shape or form, for a while. Our original location was almost like a test run, in that we weren’t sure how it would perform. Pretty early on we could see that there was support for more space and more machines, so we decided to keep an eye out for a different space that could accommodate us. The old Liquor Lyle’s building seemed like a perfect fit for us and our players! Pinball News: Please tell us a little bit about your fluid vision for LITT.John Galvin: LITT will continue doing what it has for years. There are always new and different machines to bring in for players to enjoy. We plan to foster a welcoming environment for all people to experience pinball both casually and competitively. We offer great food and beverages too. 🙂 SUMMARY In summary John ended with a bit of irony. With LITT having mostly digital pinball machines, in John’s words, “It’s a nice escape from the digital world.”. Though, we quite agree. LITT is very much dedicated to pinball with related events such as general and special tournaments, launch parties, and monthly women’s tournaments. In our opinion, LITT is not just a bar, not just a restaurant, not just an arcade. To quote John one final time, “LITT is a full on pinball experience.” That being said, and as much as we agree, LITT is not stuck being a pinball bar only for serious players. It’s a place for meeting new people who enjoy a shared hobby. It is a clean fun environment to romantically date. Due to it’s new location, it’s a great place to wind down on the way home from the city after work. A place where you and your family can get out and take advantage of the extended kitchen service; while enjoying a friendly family rivalry for house pinball champ!
