Location: 7759 S. Harlem Ave., Burbank, Illinois,60459, USA.
Date: July 2008.

UPDATE:

All the pinball machines have since been removed from this location.
Dan's report has been left here for reference and will be removed in due course.

Report by Dan Marquardt

While recently driving down Harlem Ave. in the south-west suburbs of Chicago, a large light-up sign in front of an amusement center caught my attention. It glowed 'New Pinball Bonanza'. I thought "What could that be about? A large sign advertising pinball on location? In 2008?" I had to investigate.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but the Chicago area (home of basically all pinball manufacturing over the years) has almost no decent places that I know of to play pinball on location anymore. While you can still find a pin to play if you look hard enough, more often than not the maintenance on the games is almost always nonexistent.

With low expectations that I would not even find one pin that would be playable, based on numerous previous on location experiences, I went into Haunted Trails to take a look. I was in for a pleasant surprise.

Haunted Trails is loaded with indoor and outdoor games, rides and amusements. I walked into the first building and looked around, a ton of fun arcade games but no pinball. My spirits sank.

I asked an employee behind the prize counter about the pinball sign outside. She said,"that is in our other arcade, next to the mini-golf." Hope was not lost, the inquiry continued.

I walked to the other arcade building and noticed a large yellow banner hanging from the top of the roof that read "New Pinball Bonanza" before I went in.

Once inside I saw a rare sight of a wall of five recent pins - The Simpsons Pinball Party, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Family Guy, Wheel Of Fortune and Spider-Man. Taking a closer look, it looked like they were just taken out of the box and set up. I bought some tokens (no dumb credit card or plastic key to play a game here) from the bill changer and played the games.

Clean playfields and glass, mechanical parts all working, all bulbs lit, and the volume set fairly loud on all five games made for an awesome on-location pin high.

I talked to the general manager Chris Sakowski. He stated that he feels pinball is making a comeback. His investment in recent pins proves he believes that is the case.
I honestly thought all the games were new but he explained that they are just well maintained weekly by his technician. He said he is planning to have pinball tournaments soon and he also mentioned that a new Indiana Jones may be added to the collection shortly.

For anyone in the Chicago area who wants to play some new era pins and not be disappointed with quality issues, I recommend a trip to Haunted Trails.

Their address is: 7759 S. Harlem Ave., Burbank, Il. 60459. Their website is www.hauntedtrailsfun.com and it provides directions and pictures, although there appears to be nothing on their website so far devoted to their pin collection.

Back to the sites page

Back to the front page

© Pinball News 2008