Hola Goofenbachers,
Welcome to anyone new who found us through Cary Hardy, who did a nice lil’ review of us on his Youtube channel. He also pressured us into re-releasing Nudge 1, and I have some news on that — it looks like something like that is gonna happen. Now, to any folks who already HAVE issue 1, know that you should hold onto those. We’re going to be doing some stuff to make sure those stay special.
Oh and if you want more special things, why don’t you go buy our freakin’ magazine, you vultures? JK, unless that works for you — because then I’ll trash talk. I’ll trash talk like you’ve never heard. You… dick.
We’ll work on it.
So what do we have this week? Only one of my favorite bits of travel journalism we’ve done in a minute. Dave Zuchora is an amazing dude who runs a traveling arcade. Yeah, that’s what it sounds like. He goes to events, be they expos, cons, whatever and sets up dope ass Japanese candy cabs, arcade stuff, and pinball machines. He also sometimes gets to do that at punk festivals.
Hell, I’ll just let him tell it.
Riot Fest - Logan Arcade X Psychic Drive. Pinball gets nuts.
So last year Riot Fest partnered with Logan Arcade and absolutely frickin’ gobsmacked everyone by including an arcade tent in the festivities. What’s more punk rock than arcade machines next to quarter pipes while Descendents plays? Not a lot. Turns out a music festival is the perfect place for people to take a break from the sun to appreciate the interactive art that is an arcade machine. So who the hell am I and how did I get here?
My name is Dave Zuchora and I run a traveling arcade based in Detroit called Psychic Drive. I mainly collect imported Japanese cabinets but the more I played pinball, the more I fell in love. My GF Megan Haare is an important member of the team – she knows how to drive the truck, move machines, and always remembers to take pictures!
This year, I was psyched to bring a few games from my own collection along for the ride! We love working with the Logan Arcade crew, to put it as simply as possible: they’re driven by the same desire we have to do cool shit. I think that’s what makes an arcade so special. It doesn’t matter how jaded you are, an arcade will turn you on, dude.
It ain’t easy, and it’s plenty sleazy:
I won’t lie, last year at Riot Fest was brutal – even for someone who travels and works events full time. This is a totally different atmosphere that the gaming and anime convention weekends we normally bring our arcade to. The tent itself was surrounded by trees and mud which made bringing the games in with the truck insanely difficult. The floor of the tent was not level at all.
We walked miles each day - barely surviving on beer and the occasional extremely sus food truck meal. Hard on the wallet, gnarly on the stomach. You make it outta that hellscape, you got the bands to deal with. I almost broke my foot in the mosh pit during The Misfits. We attempted to load out during a heavy downpour, which was ultimately canceled due to lightning. After it was all over we still all shared a celebratory drink at Logan.
Doing this stuff, you learn to adapt. Something I figured out on this trip is that the smaller box trucks have catalytic converters that are much easier to access. Guess how I found out?
It’s the morning of the first day and we’re going to load in. I’m thinking, “why is my truck so incredibly loud?” At first, I thought maybe I was just a bit more hungover than I thought, but as we start the drive, people keep staring at the truck.
Another hot tip: if your catalytic converter gets stolen from your rental truck, Penske will say, “Just keep driving it!”
For the next 4 days, the truck sounded like an attack chopper on approach, I put earplugs in after the first morning, but the show must go on. That said, moments like this fade. In the end, I didn’t care at all – we had a helluva time.
Stern HQ for Foo
Setup included a visit to Stern headquarters to pick up four brand new Foo Fighters pinball machines since the band was headlining on Friday. The game was brand new at the time. As someone who doesn’t set up a lot of new machines, it was awesome to share the experience of unboxing and testing all four of them!
Eventually, the folks at Riot Fest listened to our feedback: the tent was much more accessible with the truck and the floor was actually as level as you could ask for being in Douglas Park.
On Friday Megan and I saw Jack Danger playing one of the Foo Fighters pinball machines. We introduced ourselves when he was done playing and he noted that the lock bar button wasn’t working. He offered to help fix it. There was something special about watching him work on the machine he designed!
Chicago’s Harriest Cover Band: The Biscuits
The crew at Logan Arcade decided to up the ante this year by doing something they’ve never done before, traveling with their animatronic house band, The Biscuits! They were as popular as the arcade machines. It was like traveling with an actual band. People were singing along and taking selfies with them all weekend. So wild.
If you’ve never been to Logan you owe it to yourself to check it out, it’s my favorite arcade of all time. Their secret ingredient is love, but then their other secret ingredient is malort. Not gonna waste time on describing it. Just brush your teeth with the toilet cleaner and that’s the general idea.
I can confidently say their games are more well-maintained than any other location I’ve ever visited, thanks to the hard work of techs, Tom and Robby. It’s wild to see the respect. People treat it as an arcade first and a bar second. Chicago is a short drive or train ride from Detroit, where I live, so I get to visit frequently. Maybe no better review than this: We closed Logan down five nights in a row during Riot Fest (that’s right: the night before setup, after each day, AND the night after teardown if you’re counting).
We were exhausted. We got frustrated. Sometimes it got a little hairy. But honestly, seeing people’s faces light up when they get lost in a game DOES make it worth it. Is that cheesy? Who fuckin’ cares. Everyone on the Logan Arcade crew shares that vision. It’s about curating an experience. You know, crafting the perfect environment for these games. I felt absolutely inspired after working with them. See y’all in the pit next year.