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CHRISTCHURCH
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Site report by Nick Henderson, pictures by Steve Mantz. Location: Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand. With a population approaching four hundred thousand, Christchurch New Zealand has always been a great place to play pinball.
On a recent visit there I decided to hunt out some machines for people to play. First we start at Christchurch International Airport at the end of Memorial Ave. There I found a Flintstones and a Junkyard in the domestic terminal and in the international terminal a Sharkey's Shootout and a Fishtales. They were all located in the two "Timezone" game areas. Then it's off to the 87 store Westfield Mall on Riccarton Road where we find a Star Wars Phantom Menace at "Timezone". Before you get to the mall though drop in at Gary's Takeaways, same road, where you'll find a WWF Tag Team. Next it's the three level bar and nightclub The Holy Grail in Gloucester Street, which harbours a brand new Playboy, with absolutely no tilt and lovely bouncy rubbers.
With eight machines left to play we happen upon "Timezone" in Columbo Street, with an Addams Family and a South Park. This place is right in the center of town. Time for a coffee? It's the C-1 cafe in High Street with two machines, The Twilight Zone, and another Junkyard. Still in High Street there's Pockets pool hall with a Star Trek TNG. Your elbows not sore yet? Well, try the mint condition Roller Coaster Tycoon at the Hoyts 8 cinema on Moorhouse Ave or the two machines at the other cinema at Northlands Mall's Hoyts 6 on Papanui Road. Here you'll find a South Park at their "Timezone" whilst upstairs at the cinema a World Cup Soccer, the last on our pinball crawl.
As usual with pinball, the condition of these games varied from hard to play to really enjoyable and addictive. That's the fun thing about pinball, every machine is an individual, literally. Faults on machines can bring out extra skill. As for the number of machines found, Christchurch has long been a great place to play pinball so I'm sure there are more machines out there. If anyone wants to let me
know e-mail me, Nick, on pinballpilgrimage-at-hotmail.com
© Pinball News 2003 |
