Location: 300 W. Georgia St., Vancouver, BC V6B 6B1, Canada
Date: June 2014

Library Square is another well-regarded Vancouver pinball location, so on our way to Pub 340 we called in to check it out.

Library Square is a sports bar located at the base of an office block, directly opposite the huge Main Post Office building.

The Main Post Office building

Library Square at 300 W. Georgia St.

The entrance to Library Square

Inside, we find a modern, clean-looking sports bar, catering to a younger professional crowd.

Inside Library Square

The interior lighting is set low and the windows heavily tinted, so the interior is generally pretty dark. The volume of the sports showing on the multiple screens is turned up quite loud making it difficult to converse at times.

At the far end of the room as you enter are seven pinballs.

Pinballs at Library Square

When we arrived nobody was playing pinball, and the left-most machines were used as leaning posts by patrons overspilling from adjacent seating areas. They all seemed quite happy to move though, when we wanted to play the machines.

The games were priced at CAD1.00 per game or 3 games for CAD2.00, which seems to be standard for Vancouver and is a good price to someone used to paying CAD1.80 (GBP1.00) per game.

The selection of games was good. Machines available on this visit were:

The machines generally played well with few or no obvious faults, although the ball trails and blackened flipper rubbers suggested a clean was overdue. The games at the far left end of the row were harder to play, not just because of the other customers standing around, but also because the general illumination was not very bright on a few of them, particularly around the flippers. Black flipper rubbers against a black background with little illumination makes it difficult to aim your shots accurately.

Junkyard had a very dark playfield

Library Square felt somewhat impersonal and cold. None of the serving staff seemed the least bit interested in serving a drink or offering to sell food, so after half-a-dozen games or so we left for friendlier climes.

Overall though, Library Square was a perfectly acceptable place to play some pinball and - if you're lucky enough to get served - get something to sip and nibble. The do offer daily specials on both food and drinks, and have plenty of screens to watch the sports when your fingers are not on the flipper buttons.

© Pinball News 2014