Location: Playland Arcade, 350 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California 90401, USA

We last looked at the Playland Arcade back in 2004 but in the eight years since, the number of machines - and some of the titles - have remained unchanged. But there are some new arrivals too, as Pinball News's roving reporter John discovered.

The main entrance

My wife and I visited Santa Monica on 24th September 2012. Our first destination was the Playland arcade at the Santa Monica Pier.

The Playland Arcade

There were 8 pinball machines at the Playland arcade: Star Wars Episode 1, Austin Powers, The Addams Family, Terminator 3, Elvis, South Park, High Speed 2 - The Getaway and World Poker Tour.

The pinballs at Playland are priced at 50c per game

In general their working conditions were fair, but we only stayed there for around one hour.

More games in Playland

More games in Playland

There were some good restaurants at the Santa Monica Pier where we could enjoy delicious meals with sea views.

The pier

Others were also looking for a good meal

Our second and final destination was Santa Monica downtown, where there was a good selection of pubs and outlets. My wife liked it very much.

Santa Monica

Both the Santa Monica Pier and downtown were clean and wonderful, so it is definitely a good place for visitors. If you do not have a car in LA, you can choose to take the following buses:

• Bus 720 from the Wilshire/Western Metro station to Santa Monica pier...

The 720 bus to Santa Monica Pier

• or the Big Blue Bus R10 from LA downtown (Union Station on the Metro) to Santa Monica pier.
  

© Pinball News 2012